Dataran Merdeka

Dataran Merdeka, which means Independence Square, is the location where the Malay flag was raised for the first time on August 31, 1957. The flag itself is about 95 meters tall, one of the tallest in the world.

I am walking toward Dataran Merdeka.

95 meter high flag

Sultan Abdul Samad Building

This square is famous for the Sultan Abdul Samad Building which was built from 1894-1897. Of course the square was once a white only club and cricket ground when Malaysia was under the control of the British. Seriously? cricket???? I'll take baseball any day. cricket.... lame. anyway.... ;-)

Some info on the Sultan Abdul Samad Building.

A middle eastern family probably vacationing in Malaysia. I was told Malaysia is a popular vacation spot for middle easterners because Malaysia is an Islamic country and tropical. I was also told that some middle eastern women will throw off their robe thingy and walk around in regular clothing like western women (unlike the woman in this photo).

Turtleology

Apparently I may have had a small hand in helping someone start their own vagabonding trip. This person emailed me about a year ago with some questions. I tried to answer him to the best of my abilities. I don't know how helpful I was but I'm glad he's on his trip.

The interesting thing about his travels is that he is going without a backpack. Yep, bag-less. He's traveling with nothing but the clothes on his back. Check out his blog The Art of Turtleology.

Masjid Jamek

The first mosque I visited was Masjid Jamek. It was located very close to my hostel, maybe about a 5 minute walk away.

Masjid Jamek is one of the oldest mosques in Kuala Lumpur (KL). It was built in 1909 by a British Engineer named Arthur Benison Hubback. It served as KL's main mosque until the National Mosque Masjid Negara was built.

Entrance to Masjid Jamek.

If you are showing your knees, shoulders, hair if you're a woman, or anything else that's inappropriate you will need to cover yourself with one of these robes. I had to wear one due to my shorts.

Some info on the mosque.

People come in here to pray. No shoes inside.

This woman tourist had to cover herself with a robe and scarf so she could walk around.

You'll see quite a bit of these stations in mosques, at least I did in Kuala Lumpur. They are feet washing stations. The foot is considered one of the dirties parts of the body in the Islam religion I think (and agnostically speaking, everyone considers feet dirty) so you gotta wash them dirty feet before you step in god's house! Well.... that's my guess.

Sounds from the Mosque.

This pamphlet was available in the mosque for visitors. It's written in english so I assume it's targeted towards outsiders or non-Muslim Malay in Malaysia. So I guess Christian get ready to be pissed out! Here it is: the pamphlet about Jesus Christ being a Prophet of Islam.

Inside the pamphlet.

Outside the pamphlet.