Most travelers would find a lot to do between Penang and Kuala Lumpur, assuming, of course, they were far enough off the beaten track to be in Malaysia. There are national parks, beaches and the Cameron Highlands, but we have been to many similar places - or will be going to even better ones - so we went straight through to the capital. The outskirts of KL remind me of San Diego with freeways and lush hillsides and high rise buildings. By contrast we are staying in the heart of Chinatown. Kuala Lumpur is expensive by SE Asia standards and most of the budget hotels are here. Our windowless (not only cheaper but quieter) 12 x 12 room costs $35 but has AC and hot showers. The street it faces turns into Chinatown’s version of a Middle Eastern souk every evening and you can’t even see the pavement. We had to play ‘Shoots and Ladders’ by entering through another hotel then up and down stairways and finally into the market before we found the entrance to our place. Then we went back into the melee to have dinner – Chinese, of course – and tried to orient (no pun) ourselves. Hanoi and Saigon can’t hold a candle to this. You can buy anything your heart desires – jeans, shirts, shoes, watches, handbags, DVDs – all with phony labels. Just beyond the food stalls we also found a touch of home; Starbucks, McDonalds, and KFC. Sometimes you just gotta do it!
Kuala Lumpur is a real mixing pot of cultures and people. Indian women in saris, Muslims wearing headscarves, Malaysians in western clothing, young Chinese ladies in skin tight jeans, and European backpackers all flip-flop around the busy streets. It is funny that flip-flops, the only affordable footwear in many developing countries, are the shoe of choice for wealthy tourists. Lonely Planet makes a point of insisting that walking is not viable in KL; better to take the monorail, city train, or the 'hop-on, hop-off' bus. Well, you can walk although it can be a sweaty proposition so after breakfast we headed off for the twin Petronas Towers, usually visible between or towering above the lesser buildings. For years it was the tallest building in the world but will soon be reduced to third by the new monster in Dubai. People line up early to score one of the 1400 passes to go to the 47th storey connecting bridge for a view of the city. We skipped the madness and instead took photos of the towers rather than from them.
It is a long walk back through Chinatown to Lake Park where we spent the rest of the day. The National Mosque doesn't compare to some of the others we have seen around the world but the Museum of Islamic Art more than makes up for it. The spread of Islam from India through China and into Malaysia is depicted through architecture, calligraphy, textiles, jewelery, ceramics and metalwork. I was especially impressed by the Chinese calligraphy of passages from the Qur'an. It is always interesting to add new information about Islam to what we learned during our travels in Egypt, Turkey and the Middle East.
The Kuala Lumpur Bird Park is billed as the world's largest enclosed free-flight bird park. While it doesn't have as many species as the park in Penang, the birds have room to fly and seem happier. We spent most of the afternoon amazing ourselves with how many species we could identify. It is a good way to add to our knowledge of local birds and to see others like the birds of paradise that we will not get to see on this trip.
