Round the World in 150 days!: Days 77 to 80

Selamat Pagi (good morning) in Malay from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia! We only dipped our toes in what Malaysia has to offer with a short three-day stay in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s largest city and its capital. This city was actually founded by Chinese tin miners, is referred to by everyone in Asia as KL, and houses one of the few elected monarchs in the world. We were both fascinated by the history of Malaysia, gaining its independence together with Singapore in 1957 from British rule, and following the separation of Singapore, became the federation of Malaya.

We stayed in the neighborhood of Bukit Bintang, home of world-class shopping, hotels, and food. Kuala Lumpur is the retail and fashion hub of Malaysia and has over 65 malls, including the world’s largest mall, with over 5 million square feet of retail space (don’t you feel informed?). Korey doesn’t feel the need to state what Ines chose to do with her time in this city…..(there’s some new clothing going forward in the pics!)

That not said, Ines would like to point out that Korey fulfilled one of his interests in this city as well. Kuala Lumpur is home to the Petronas Twin Towers, two of the tallest buildings in the world, and still hold the record for tallest “twin" buildings in the world. As Korey is fascinated with the architecture and engineering of tall buildings, we were quick to make this a must see in our travels. We learned that the buildings were created in collaboration, with one funded by the Japanese Hazama Corporation and the other funded by the Korean Samsung Corporation. Towering above KL, it produces a very modern skyline to be envied. We opted away from waiting in the hours-long tourist line that gains us access to the skybridge connecting both buildings and instead made our way to a nearby rooftop hotel restaurant to enjoy the view of the impressive KL skyline that holds the Petronas Towers as a skyline centerpiece. This was an experience in and of itself, as the rooftop lounge of the hotel was built around the hotel pool and was partially outdoor. Pool by day, lounge vs. club by night! We nestled ourselves in what can best be described as a poolside cabana couch, over 40 stories above ground, with a partially open window serving as the backrest to the cabana. Ines was pretty sure we should have signed a waiver of liability before seating ourselves (comfortably? fearfully?) against what appeared to be nothing more than a simple windowpane and a few pillows separating us from a long fall down. Nothing could have surprised us more then when the lights were turned down and replaced with remixed electronic dance/pop music and a multicolored strobe light aimed at catching the rippled peaks of the pool water lapping across and over to its infinity edge. Then it happened…a torrential rainstorm complete with booming thunder and lightning. The pool started to overflow as rain poured into the open air rooftop and we started to melt as water fell on us through the open portion of the window/backing of the poolside cabana couch. This made for one of our more interesting nights on this trip!

The next day brought us to the Batu Caves, one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside of India, that includes a steep flight of 272 steps that enters into a series of caves and cave temples in a limestone hill just north of KL. Halfway up the steep incline, Ines had a flashback to Kilimanjaro and called out to Korey "Pole, Pole". As she did so, she leaned herself against the concrete step banister separating visitors moving up the steps versus those moving down, and paused to catch her breath. When Korey made his way back down to her, he noticed she had positioned herself within inches of a Macaques monkey, clueless as to its presence. Let’s just say no more pauses were needed as she ran up the rest of the steps with Korey-like speed upon Korey informing her of her new friend.

One of the main reasons for putting Malaysia on the list of travels was to eat one of Ines’ favorite southeast Asian delicacies, Roti Canai, a type of Indian-influenced flatbread and sauces found in Malaysia and traditionally considered a staple food of the Malay. Ines was out to have the real deal, and so we found ourselves on the hunt for a “Mamak” stall- yes, another street food adventure. We located one that was highly recommended near where we were staying and happily seated ourselves on makeshift street side table and ordered two roti’s each (sauces are free with purchase). We gulped it down and were thrilled when our bill totaled $4 US. Best roti canai ever, according to Ines. Later that evening, our gastric systems disagreed (no more to say, really).

Adventure abound in the KL! We had some good times with what little time we had here, and are off to Thailand next.

Things we learned: 1) we seem to be very good at constantly challenging our fears (gluttons for punishment?) by partaking in new experiences at great heights, 2) going forward, Ines will always take in her surroundings before stopping to rest, 3) not all street food is agreeable, and so we take back what we said in our earlier post about our stomach’s getting stronger (we spoke too soon).