Petronas Twin Towers

The Petronas Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004 when they were surpassed by Taipei 101. They still remain the worlds tallest twin buildings in the world though. Most people seem to come here for the mall inside, movie theater, etc. There are places of business there obviously, but of course I was not privy to any of that as just a tourist. The area surrounding the towers is KLCC park where you'll find families and friends hanging out, children playing the water, and tourists taking pictures with the towers.

In the mean time here are a bunch of pictures I took of the towers and KLCC Park.

Petronas Twin Towers

Take the elevator up to the sky bridge at the twin towers.

The view from the twin towers skybridge.

The view from the twin towers skybridge.

The view from the twin towers skybridge.

The view from the twin towers skybridge.

The view from the twin towers skybridge.

Just outside the twin towers at KLCC

KLCC Park

Map of KLCC Park

Kids playing in the water at KLCC Park

Petronas Towers

Petronas Twin Towers

More Petronas Towers

At the base of the towers...

More twin towers

I didn't get my camera out in time to get the husband shooting a picture of his wife. I thought it was funny when the husband was taking a picture of his wife who was covered from head to toe. How could anyone tell it was her? Well, I suppose that is culturally insensitive of me, but it was a new experience for me.

I thought one of the cooler aspects of my trip was meeting up with Nicole in Kuala Lumpur. I met Nicole in Tokyo at the Sakura Hotel where we both stayed. She told me she was from KL, and when it was time for me to head to Malaysia I asked her for some tips on on what to see. Truth be told... it seemed that I knew more touristy things to see than her, but of course she was able to point out the subtleties of the country that only a resident would know. I did not research to verify the validity of what she told me, but she said Christians were allowed to build churches in the country, just not out in the open. Churches need to be hidden from open view. While drinking alcohol is not permitted by the Islamic religion you could find some young muslims sneaking a drink or two in the clubs. Males and females should not show affection in public especially if not married. If you pay attention though, sometimes you will see some young muslim couples, too young to be married, ever so slightly touching fingers so the, i guess moral police do not get them into trouble. Nicole was nice enough to treat me to dinner at Madam Kwan's where I got, what else, Nasi Lemak of course. As always, this dish was quite delicious.

Nasi Lemak, the malaysia dish

Nicole got me to try this dessert. I no-longer remember the name of it, but..... it wasn't something I was crazy about. There are asian desserts like this where I grew up and I've also gravitated more towards american desserts, obviously.

Not a great picture, but this is the Traders Hotel. The owners of the hostel I stayed at said it had the best view of Twin Towers. I totally agree with them, but in order to see the view you'll need to get to the lounge. Unfortunately access to that floor is only granted to guests through an electronic card reader in the elevator. Luckily for me I was in the elevator with a guest of the hotel that was nice enough to grant me and Nicole access to the deck.

I couldn't take any really good pictures from here because of the glare from the windows and not being able to hold my camera still so these are the best I could do. Despite my crappy pictures hopefully you get an idea of the view.

Kuala Lumpur Tower

I only have two pictures of Kuala Lumpur Tower, aka Menara Kuala Lumpur, aka KL Tower. I didn't actually end up going to the actual tower since I had already visited the Petronas Twin Towers and was just not that interested in seeing it.

I'll have a post with way more pictures of the Petronas Twin Towers in a future post.

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.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

After the overnight train ride was over we pulled into the main train station in Malaysia: KL Sentral. Yes, they spell "central" with a S. There are quite a few words where they use the sounds of English as their spelling in different ways than I'm used to.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I made it! This was my first view of the city.

This was my second.... Now I believe POS Malaysia is their Postal Service. Do they know POS is an acronym for something else? Well, at least it is in my mind....

After disembarking from the over night train at KL Sentral I was greeted with this sign. That's kinda f-ed up.

I bought my ticket from KL Sentral to Masjid Jamek where my hostel was at.

Map to my Hotel: Serrai Inn

I made it to my stop Masjid Jamek without any problems. However, finding my hostel: Serrai Inn was not easy. The hostel provided me with this map, however I had the damnest time finding it. In other words I couldn't. I was quite lost. By this point I considered myself a veteran traveler and being lost wasn't a problem. Generally I could figure my way around with maps or ask for directions. however this map... well, it sucked. It wasn't to scale and I couldn't find the streets. I ended up wandering around the edges of the Chinatown there before heading in the right direction. People I asked kinda pointed me in the direction but didn't seem to know where it was. I was lost, hungry, and I just wanted to relax. I gave up and hailed a cab. I negotiated the rate before hand, which was a total ripoff because the cab driver drove like 1 block and I was there. Oh well, go figure.

So anyway Serrai Inn was a nice place. I opted for the shared rooms as it was pretty cheap. I don't remember the price anymore but I wanna say it was from 5-8 US Dollars a day. I met some really nice people there. I'll get to that later or just update this post. Right now I'm lazy.

Serrai Inn was run by a nice Chinese Malaysia Couple, as in both of them are ethnically Chinese but citizens of Malaysia. The Malay people are the majority in the country, but after that there are quite a few Chinese people that migrated to and now live in Malaysia. Most are from either the Fuken or Canton Province I believe. Unlike most Asian Americans I know, the Chinese Malaysians can still read, write, and speak Chinese.

The bunks in my room.

Computers in the lounge area. There was also wifi.

TV area and Dinning table. Everyone used their computer on the table when it wasn't meal time.

Our little breakfast area.

Outside the hostel the streets looked like that.

Yep, Malaysia is a Muslim country. Look at the mom with her kids. See how she's dress? All covered up and with a shawl to cover her head and hair. Notice that she dresses more colorful than the traditional image we're used to seeing of Muslim women in America: as in she's not in all black.

Next up.... I visit my first mosque.