the long-awaited KL, part I

Ever since coming to Malaysia, and even before, I've heard a ton about KL. No, not heard, but been asked. The most common question-- Have you been to KL?
No? When are you going?

Well, for starters, KL is on peninsular Malaysia, and is nowhere near where I live. However, I could not live in Malaysia for a year and not visit the capital or West Malaysia.

This week was reading week at STS, so I got together with Kelsey and Erika (two fellow volunteers), and we headed off to explore Kuala Lumpur for a few days of touristy fun.

We flew out on Wednesday night after work, and reached our hostel. We had decided on staying at the YWCA, a transit hostel for women and families. I think we all got a kick out of the place; it's defined as a "throwback to another generation" and we were all seconds away from singing "it's a hard-knock life for us..." Even so, it was in a great location, provided memories of freshman year of college, and gave us a bed to sleep in; who could ask for more!

Thursday we started bright and early getting to know the city. It was really easy to travel around as there are buses, trains, and taxis everywhere. We started our day getting free tickets to the sky bridge of the famous Petronas Towers, then headed over to the Lake Gardens. The gardens were established by the British, and now have varying gardens, parks, and sights to see. The highlight for me was the chance to canoe! Us ex-camp counselors were in heaven, to say the least. After that, we saw the main sights of KL, including the Central Market, Masjid Jamek Mosque, the colonial district, and Independence Square. We finished our day meandering down the crowded stalls of Chinatown, bargaining for deals. And like true Malaysians, we stopped for "supper" at 10pm at this delicious Indian restaurant.

Friday was a unique day in traveling. I'm grateful we waited until now to travel to KL, because I think it was extremely fun to visit a place when you are already familiar with the culture (and have a fluent Malay speaker, thanks to Erika). KL is really unique in that there are huge Indian, Malay, and Chinese populations. Since we were a little bit savvy in communicating and getting around, we traveled north of KL to the Batu Caves. The Batu Caves are a Hindu temple and shrine, which host the huge festival of Thaipusam each year. There is a giant shrine of Muruga, and we climbed 272 steps up to the caves. While it is simultaneously a worship space and a tourist attraction, it was really neat to see.
After the caves we headed even further north to a place called Templer's Park. Luckily some local kids had the same idea, and when the bus dropped us off on the side of a highway with only monkeys in sight, we followed the group of eager kids to the rumored waterfall. This was one of my favorite parts of the day-- we had stumbled upon a park where the locals go to picnic and spend the day swimming. It was refreshing and fun to befriend some local students our age, and splash around with the kids.
That evening we walked around Little India, and then ended up in an area called Bukit Bintang, which is well known for its malls, nightlife, and live music.

Saturday we took a day trip to the historical port city, Melaka (Malacca). Melaka was formally a huge trading town because of its position on the coast. Melaka also has huge influences of each of its colonizers, emigrants, and local people-- all over the city you can see Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese and Islamic architecture. We spent most of the morning lost in the city, wandering from one sight to the next. There were many churches, temples, mosques, old forts, and museums to see, as well as a big Chinatown and a street full of neat little art galleries. Overall, it was incredibly touristy, but good to see the beginnings of Malaysia. A funny part was when we stopped for lunch at a little Kedai Kopi; they realized rather quickly we weren't tourists when we ordered things like duck rice and three layer tea, and knew when our order was wrong. A delicious find in Melaka-- fresh, hot pineapple cookies.

After a day full of walking, we took the bus back to KL for one more evening there (Melaka is a different state from KL. Malaysia has 13 states altogether, with Sarawak and Sabah on the island of Borneo). We spent some time people watching at the City park, and then headed over to a place called Kampung Baru for the night market. Kampung Baru is the Malaysian section of town, and I have to say, it felt like home. If I didn't look up to see the skyline, it was just another quiet evening in the kampung. If you haven't gathered by now, a huge part of the culture here is the food. At the night market there were stalls and stalls of food, with people just sitting and enjoying each other's company. It definitely had a different feel than Chinatown or Masjid India. Unfortunately I had already eaten my fill, and just had to enviously eye the fried bananas, noodles, satay, and teh tarik.

I definitely enjoyed visiting KL, but I have to say I am tired out from the sightseeing and walking. Upon our return to KK, it was a welcoming sight to see the smiling faces of David and Awm Kee, two friends from Myanmar, to pick us up at the airport. While the weeks of teaching ahead do seem a bit daunting, I know Easter is right around the corner. My traveling bag will be empty for a while, with a few adventures hopefully planned for the end of May.

Anyway, if you're looking for a fun and cheap vacation spot, KL comes highly recommended.