Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Well, I know this post is way over due. I'm sorry. I was pretty busy when I returned from Malaysia and it was just an easy thing to put off.

I was in Malaysia for almost a week. I met Colby in port at Kuala Lumpur (KL) the last week in August 2007. We had a great time. It is an amazing country. I always do my homework before visiting a new country. You never know what kind of dress is appropriate (especially in holy places like churches and temples). But, this was the first port I have visited where the Navy gave briefings. I was a bit taken aback. Malaysia is a Muslim country, so there are many, many cultural differences. We are guests in their country and do not want to do anything offensive. The main issues were to dress conservatively. Always have you shoulders covered and don't wear anything too revealing. Another difference is that the left hand is considered 'dirty.' The left hand should never be used in handling food or in greeting. People point with their thumbs and not their index finger, this is considered very rude.

One of my biggest surprises came with the language barrier. There really wasn't one. The primary language is Malay, but most people speak English as a second language and they speak it very well. It was absolutely not a problem communicating! That was a big stress relief. The reason so many citizen speak English is that Malaysia was a British colony until 1957. We were actually in Malaysia as they were celebrating their 50 years of independence. It was fun to see all the festivals, parades, and fireworks going on around the city. Many high ranking officials were also there. I heard that the Prime Minister of Australia was there along with some British royalty.

Another nice feature is how cheap it is to travel there. We stayed at a five star spa/hotel and paid only $80/night. We could go out for dinner and have two main courses and a bottle of wine and pay under $20! Amazing.

I flew into KL on Monday afternoon. Colby arrived the next morning the sightseeing began. KL is the capital of Malaysia so there is a lot of museums, shopping, and historical sights. Of the most popular attraction is the Petronas Twin Towers. If you have seen the movie "Entrapment" (Catherine Zeta Jones and Sean Connery) you might know these towers. The Petronas Towers were only a block away from the hotel, so we made numerous visits there. They are just amazing to see in person. There were the tallest building in the world, from 1998 to 2004. I think currently, they are now third on the list. But, they are still the tallest twin towers in the world. On the bottom level there is a huge shopping mall. They had everything from Fendi, Coach, Armani to Gap and Auntie Anne's pretzels. Now, earlier I talked about how cheap everything was...this does not apply to imported clothes. Most things were comparable to the US. However, a pair of Gap jeans would set you back over $100 in Malaysia.

While shopping for clothes is expensive, other items are a bargain. Malaysia is a huge melting pot of Asian countries. They have a huge population of Thai, Chinese, and Indian. So...you can shop your hearts out at Chinatown and Little India. We managed to buy a few presents and a few things for ourselves. One thing Colby and I try to do is buy one nice souvenir for every country we visit. We left Malaysia with a beautiful, hand carved wooden window screen. We have just recently hung it up in our apartment and I love looking at it. It is 3ft by 3ft. so it is a pretty good size.

On Thursday, we decided to book a city tour through our hotel. It was a five hour tour and cost us $40 ($20/person). We were expecting a big tour bus and many other tourist. But...nope! It was just us in a luxury car. Very nice. We had our own private tour of the city. We saw the King's palace, Merdeka Square (Independence Square), the National Mosque (Islamic temple), and our favorite Batu Caves. The pictures are of Merdeka Square (on the left) ready for the big celebration on the August 31st. On the right, is Colby and I at the King's Palace.

Batu caves are limestone hills north of KL. The cave is one of the most popular Hindu shines outside of India. There are 272 steps you have to climb to reach the largest cave and temple. The one thing you really have to watch out for are the monkeys. They were everywhere. They sat on the steps and handrails and would allow the tourist to get pretty close before running away. And while some tourists think it is fun to feed them, they quite quickly become violent to get the food. A small, high decorated passageway lead into a massive cave with a huge vaulted ceiling. In the cave, there were many niches, each with a Hindu deity. Straight ahead, at the back of the cave was another set of stairs leading to another cave. At the top of this staircase was a Hindu temples. There were a few monks tending to the alter. Sunlight streamed through the rocks in the ceiling, creating an peaceful glow.

Well, those are the highlights of our trip to Kaula Lumpur, Malaysia. It was such a great country to visit. Due to the mixture of cultures the food is amazing, the people are incredibly friendly, and it was very affordable. Do I sound like a travel agent?! It really is an amazing country. We had a great time. And if the opportunity comes around again, I would love to return.