KL in a Nutshell.

Though this was technically our third time in Kuala Lumpur (KL), this was the first time chance we got to explore the city. Our first experience with KL was a 24-hour layover in the low-cost airport en route to Indonesia. The second experience with KL was just spending the night before meeting our friends Soon Kit and Chin en route to Taiping (see last post.) This time we meant business, and we spent almost two weeks here. What is there to say? We love cities after all.

Kuala Lumpur is the capital of Malaysia and is home to 10% of the country's population. It is the melting pot for the three main ethnic groups who live in Malaysia: Malays (mostly Muslim,) South Indians (mostly Hindu,) and Chinese (mostly Taoist and Buddhist.) Though these communities have their own neighborhoods, community organizations, and languages, you can find all of them shopping at the same malls, frequenting the same clubs, and eating at the same food stalls. Well, up to a point. When we first arrived, it was refreshing to be in a city with sizable minorities making a visible impact on the culture. Seeing different ethnic groups with very different histories eating, working, and walking with one another was in stark contrast to the countries we had previously visited. However, as we learned more about the culture and politics of Malaysia, we found that while on the surface things might look integrated, Malaysia is still a very sectarian and racist society. Relationships have improved in the last few years with the various ethnic groups of the country, for example there is seldom violence between the groups, but some basic inequalities still define Malaysia. Chinese rule the business world, Malays are heavily favored by government economic and education policies, and Indians are viewed as the lower class. The Chinese population's business success has a foundation in their historic role as merchants and traders. Long before the Portuguese, Dutch, or British colonized Malaysia, the Chinese had set up profitable mining and trade operations throughout the country. The Malays, the native people of the land, remained mainly in agricultural and traditional industries until recently. The Indians initially came to Malaysia as cheap labor; the main Indian neighborhood in KL is called the Brickfields. Many other Southasians, such as Nepalis, Pakistanis, and Sri Lankans still emigrate to Malaysia on 3-year work contracts, with the intention of returning to their home countries with a wad of relatively high Malaysian currency. (Which by the way, is called the Ringgit, and at the time of writing is approximately 3.59 RM to the USD. Compare that to the Indonesia, which is around 10,000 Rupiah to the USD.) In conclusion, Malaysia is a complex society and we just scratched the surface. On to the pictures....

Queueing up at KL Sentral Bas Station. No, those aren't typos.

"East" meets "West." Malaysia attracts many Middle Eastern tourists, especially from Dubai, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. The tourism department makes an effort to attract such guests who feel comfortable in a familiar Islamic setting. Most tourist maps and signs are in both English and Arabic. You can walk around the street in a burqua without attracting much attention. You can also walk around in a mini skirt without much attention as well. Malaysia, interesting.

Israelis are not allowed in Malaysia. Period. Clearly anti-Semitism persists. We saw a lot of these "Think Local" stencils combined with the "no Jew" sign around KL. This was disturbing an a little scary for us. We never felt personally threatened by this, but then again, people always assume we are Christians because we are White. However, as Max's beard continues to grow to astronomical proportions, his ethnicity is often questioned. Beards are generally associated with devout Muslim men, so many Malays began to ask if Max was an Arab. Considering this stencil, and the anti-Israeli propaganda on television, he always said he was "American" and left it at that.

A canal near our guesthouse. The dome is Masjid Jamek, one of the most popular mosques in KL.
The street in front of Masjid Jamek on a Friday afternoon. Friday afternoon prayers are similar to Sunday Mass in that they are the most popularly attended service of the week.
The Brickfields, KL. Here you can find garlands of marigolds and jasmine. In Indian Hindu culture, flowers have many different uses. Many similar stands dot the streets of little India.
Sarees, Salwar Kameezes, and Indian Threading Salons. Kara was so pumped. In fact, it was the main reason she wanted to come down to little India on the first day. Eyebrow upkeep! Max really wanted to watch as Kara did a little self-maintenance after 6 months of traveling, however, Indian beauty parlors are usually off limits to men. Max is concerned that no one knows what threading is, so we will explain. Threading is an ancient Indian hair removal technique in which two twisted threads are used to grasp individual hairs and pluck them from their root. Threading has become extremely popular in New York, as it creates cleaner and more specific eyebrow shaping than waxing. Kara suggests you all try it. Kara wishes she was in India right now so she could get it again.

Enter Linda, our fabulous host in KL. Before we came to KL we tried to arrange to stay with a couchsurfer. He was unable to host us, but invited us out to a food night, which was a bit like "couchsurfing show and tell," with hosts bringing their wards to meet and eat. Linda was there that night and after hitting it off, told us to pack our bags and come stay with her. We were delighted. This picture was taken before Linda took us out to a club, something we hadn't done in months. Linda dressed Kara up in hot pants, high heels, and encouraged her to wear makeup. Thank you Linda, Kara says. Linda is both down to earth and knows how to have a good time. We really loved staying with her.

View from Linda's apartment. She lived on the outskirts of town, where the city is vastly expanding.

Linda adopted a kitten in the week we stayed with her. It was refreshing to join her on such familiar errands as picking up cat food.

Kara got a haircut, with Linda's encouragement.
Walking to the National Museum. The official route takes you on a twisting path that as you can see is right on the freeway. The walk was well worth it; KL's National Museum is informative, cheap, and interesting. The museum is inside the Lake Garden, an all-in-one tourist destination which includes the National Islamic Arts Museum, the National Mosque, the Bird Park, the Planetarium, a Museum dedicated to Malaysia's first president, the Butterfly Park, and of course, the Lake.

At the Butterfly Park. Over 5,000 species of butterflies are free to fly around this large netted area. We learned that the butterflies kept here have a much longer life than the ones in the wild, mostly because there are no predators here. The average lifespan of a butterfly from conception is about 5 days! Inside the butterfly park, some butterflies live up to 14. We were concerned that it would be an underwhelming experience, but luckily we were proved wrong. The air is teeming with exotic butterflies and it was very magical.
Butterfly face!

Inside the educational exhibit, Kara asks Max to take pictures of her with various butterflies for her sister, who loves butterflies more than anyone she knows. Michal, this is for you.
The exhibit included not just butterflies but other weird and wonderful insects. This beetle, is very large, as you can see.

Kara's childlike wonder makes this one of Max's favorite pictures.

Rush hour in KL. This is the morning we went to the world famous Petronas Towers.

They are massive. They used to be the tallest towers in the world. Since Taiwan now holds that title, the Petronas Towers now claim they are the tallest twin towers in the world, a title not likely to be challenged anytime soon.

WHOAAAAAAAAAAAA. So big, right?

You can only ascend as far as the sky bridge, which connects the two towers together. At 47 stories tall, it is still less than halfway up the towers. You may remember this sky bridge from the movie, "Entrapment," starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Although the movie reveals nothing about Malaysian culture, it was many people's first introduction to these towers.
Inside the towers is a giant mall. UGH.

Linda threw a pot luck party in our honor. Did we mention she is great? Many couchsurfers from KL came, as well as Linda's other friends. She told everyone we were vegetarians so we were well fed. We made guacamole again. Kara tried to make a key lime pie but after 2 days of attempted coagulation, the pie was abandoned in triage. Apparently Linda had boasted that Kara was going to make this pie, and when it didn't show up at the potluck, Kara was ashamed. Max blames this on the lack of familiar ingredients and Kara's inability to taste the dish due to her wheat allergy.

The National Mosque. It was closed for us non-Muslim tourists when we arrived. There are non- Muslim visiting hours, but with a 5X/day prayer schedule, the hours were fairly limited.

So we just walked around the outside. It was big, it was beautiful, and it was a Mosque. In the background is the building that used to be the tallest before the Petronas were built. After learning this, we realized what a huge impact the towers had on the skyline. Though more skyscrapers now crowd downtown KL, the Petronas towers are still by far the biggest tourist draw to the city.

Club night! We never made it to the island of Borneo, however we made it to this club that bore the same name. This cover band was really good. Linda pushed us out on the dance floor and we had a great night. She was a very good influence on us and made us feel at home. We're trying to get Linda to come to Burning Man next year. Linda, thank you for everything, we can't wait to see you in the States!

Oh yeah, so at some point before we went to Taiping, our friends Soon Kit and Chin (see last post) brought us to the Sultan's palace. We found out that just a couple of hours after we left, this site erupted into a mass protest against the expansion of English language subjects in public schools. Soon Kit told us about this and said that we were lucky to have just avoided the madness. Max and Kara were bummed to have missed it.

Our last night in KL, we met up with Soon Kit and Chin for a vegetarian meal. The fish looked and tasted so fishy that we questioned its vegetarian credentials. The rest of the meal was awesome, and the company was even better. It was our send off to Soon Kit and Chin, as they were also headed on a journey on their own journey...to Australia. It was fun to make friends with another traveling couple. Travel to America, guys!

Batu Caves. After walking up around 300 steps, you arrive at the mouth of a giant cave. There are three in total, but the main cave is free and is always open to Hindu worshipers and tourists alike. We had just missed the festival of Thaipusam, which is celebrated by mostly the Tamil community. (Tamil Nadu is a state in Southern India. Most of the Indians in Malaysia and Singapore are Tamil.) During this festival, devotees perform various acts of self-mortification. From carrying milk ontop of the head, to dragging carts attached by chains to hooks in the skin. This festival is dedicated to Murugan, the youngest son of the Hindu deities Shiva and Parvati. This gold statue is the largest Murugan statue in the world.
The Petronas Towers reflected in a near by office building.
We left KL, thinking we wouldn't be back...

Until next time,
K and M