26 Jan 2003 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

[Eric's journal]  We arrived yesterday on the bus from Malacca.  Another smooth trip; walked to the bus station, got tickets on the bus leaving in 15 minutes, another comfy air-conditioned bus.  We had traffic coming into Kuala Lumpur (KL), you could see the Petronus Towers in the background.  We wandered around Chinatown and had a good Chinese.  For the Saturday market they close off the streets.

Today we wandered through the colonial district.  Very funky old train station, looks like a mosque with all its towers and minarets.  We went through the Islamic Arts Center.  Very impressive architecture, large glass windows, domes, all white floors and walls, the brightness blinds you.  good views across the street to the National Mosque.  The center had a great display on different tents used by Muslims around the world throughout history.  There was also a good exhibit of models of mosques from around the world.  Very worthwhile to see.  The mosque where the two rivers meet ( the city gets it name Kuala Lumpur, "muddy confluence") is picturesque with all the palm trees and the Petronus Towers and other skyscrapers in the distance.

You didn't see many Muslim women in Malacca with the head scarves.  Here in KL they are all over.  It is very different from the middle east as the scarves do not cover their face, just hair, ears, and chin.  There are also lots of Muslim women working; in stores and behind the counters at McDonalds ( not that we would eat at McDonalds!).  You see them with their arms around their husbands, or walking and talking with other men.

This reminds me of our flight on Qatar Airways.  They have the screens on the TV monitors where they show the map of where the plane is, show the altitude, airspeed, miles to destination, time to destination, then they have another screen where they show a picture of the plane and which direction Mecca is and how many miles away it is.

Malaysia is a Muslim country yet you can get beer anywhere and we had good sweet and sour pork for dinner.  It really appears that the Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Taoist, and Christians all seem to get along and live intermingled amongst each other, each respecting the other's customs and lifestyle.

[Emma's journal]  Onto KL.  We caught the bus from Malacca to KL- again a fantastic coach; more legroom than you could even hope for.  The trip took us 2.5 hours and only cost $2 each.  The traffic coming into the city was horrendous.  It's amazing that just about anywhere you go in the world there is traffic!

My first impression of KL was- blah!  We did a walking tour of Chinatown and it just seemed hot, sticky and noisy without too much character.  I guess when it is your fourth Chinatown in less than two weeks it has to be something very special to beat the previous three.  Maybe if it had been the first one then I would have had the same opinion of one of the others.  We had a great Chinese dinner sitting outside a restaurant on one of the main streets and then played a game of chess with a beer on the hostel's rooftop beer garden.  It's amazing when dinner costs the same price as your room.  The hostel is fine- once again the shower head comes straight of the wall in between the sink and the toilet- this is starting to feel normal!

On Sunday morning we walked to the Islamic Arts Museum.  The Lonely Planet mentions that KL is not the easiest city to walk around since it is sliced up by lots of freeways.  We confirmed this today when what looked like a simple walk turned into a bit of an adventure trying to find our way across the roads; but we made it without any injuries.  The museum was great.  The building was very impressive and had only been completed in 1998.  They had an interesting display on the different types of tents used by nomads in Islamic countries.  They had life-size models and explained how they were made and used.

After the museum we did what the Lonely Planet labelled "The Colonial Walk".  This took in some older buildings including the "Padang" where the English use to play cricket ( there was a similar thing in Singapore; but there they still do play cricket) and the Supreme Court.  We then continued on up into Little India which was much bigger than any of the others we have seen so far or at least seemed so.  It may have been that we were walking around on a Sunday afternoon and therefore there were just a lot more people.  Had another great dinner in Chinatown.