Day 57 –Kuala Lumpur

Oct 24th

Kuala Lumpur
KL emerged in 1860s when band of tin prospectors turned the lure of ore into a brawling, noisy boomtown, successively tempered by the rule of sultans, the establishment of British trading posts, a Japanese invasion in WWII and finally unification by UMNO, Malaysia's ruling party. Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, is called the ‘Garden City of Lights’ and consists of about 2 million.

Menara KL Tower
We had breakfast just outside our hotel in Chow Kit. Falyn introduced us to a fluffy white dough with bbq pork rinds inside. It was absolutely delicious, although a quite unusual breakfast. We also ordered a round of vegetable fried noodles with scrambled egg and natural mango juice. (Americans have separate breakfast foods, but most Asian countries eat the same things each meal.) After fueling up, we walked to Menara KL Tower, which at 421 meters is the 4th tallest tower in the world, to get a bird’s eye view of the entire city. At the top there were pineapple trash cans, which we thought were a little weird, but then remembered that pineapples mean good luck. There was an excellent view of the Petronas Twin Towers, which are the tallest buildings in the world.

City Tour
Afterward, we found a taxi driver named Ching to take us through the city to the famed Railway Station. Along the way, we saw the Sultan Abdul Samad building, which is an blend of Victorian and Moorish architecture. It was formerly the Secretariat edifice for the British administration, but now houses the Supreme Court. Nearby is the old City Hall and behind the Sultan Abdul Samad building is Masjid Jamek, the most delightful ‘Friday Mosque’. Built in 1907, its onion domes and striped minarets are characteristically Islamic. The temple marks the location where KL founders first set foot in the town and where supplies were housed for the tin mines. Once we got to the station, we discovered a huge, pink fluffy pile of cotton candy (or so we thought), before taking the underpass to KL Central Station. This was the main hub of the train system and was filled with little craft shops and a large, reliable food court.
For lunch, we tried sizzling chicken and mushrooms over noodles along with ‘100 Plus,’ which is a soda that tastes like a watery spirit. Upon further investigation, we discovered that Asian companies don’t use as much corn syrup in products, hence the lighter taste. After our city tour, we headed back to Chow Kit (Chinatown) to walk Jalan Pertaling, which is lined with street shops. Each little shack was filled with fake Rolex, Lacoste shirts, Prada bags and the like. Sara and I sampled the fruit stalls and discovered the most amazing lychee, mango and drangon fruit I have ever had. It was wonderfully ripe and fresh.

Massages?
While Goldie, Sara and Becca headed to nap back at the Dragon Inn, Brit, Falyn, Molly and I decided to indulge in some TLC. We found a reputable reflexology parlor and discovered a special for a 1 ½ hour full body massage along with 30 mins of ear candling all for $20! How could we pass that up? It being my first massage experience ever, I was totally thrown for a loop at how much (and where) they touch you during it. It was actually a little painful when they chop you. I had to pee so bad during it that I made her stop (which was awkward bc she didn’t speak English) so I could run to the bathroom. It was hilarious trying to motion that to her, but she understood. We stumbled out and burst into laugher as Faln shared “I think I just had sex with a girl!” Apparently, the fact that we got boob, stomach and full thigh massages was NOT like a normal massage in America. I was so happy to hear that, seeing I was about to swear off all massages for the rest of my life. (O, and ear candling is when they burn a waxy paper in your ear to suck out all the debris in there. Really strange. Just sounds like a firecracker in your ear the whole time.)

Dinner and Out
After recovering from our experience, we headed to dinner at an outdoor fondue hawker stall on Jalan Sultan. We selected our kabobs of vegetables balls and chicken stripes off the cart and then sat to boil them in the pot in the middle of our table. Each of the chutneys had a distinct chili or spicy flavor. We also split a wonderful plate of our favorite: sweet and sour chicken with vegetable fried rice. Before heading out to Rum Jungle for the night, we enjoyed Stanley Morgan cocktails. (Yes, the cousin of Captain Morgan.) Jalan Pramlee, the beach street where Rum Jungle is on, was a lively area with colorful Christmas lights covering the trees and buildings. There were tons of restaurants and dance halls to visit, but most impress of was the glowing Petronas Twin Towers that shot up starkly above the area. After some dancing, we headed to a more low-key Raggae club back in Chow Kit before bed

Highs and Lows
My “high” was being able to hold back laughter for the entire 2 hours I had that “massage.”