Kuala Lumpur
Monday, December 27th, 2010Inter continental travel can be very tiring, demanding and other words with negative connotations.
In my case it was setting itself up to be even worse than usual. I was to have a lay-over of 18 hours. Leaving the Netherlands in a blizzard and headed to South korea, where the temperature also expressed itself in a negative sense, I was to spend 18 hours, 18 miserable hours . . . in Malaysia.
Let me illustrate this.
This was the Netherlands when I left
This was Korea when I arrived:
And Kuala Lumpur is best represented like this:
I could post a picture of my sweat soaked T-shirt, but I think we’re all happier if I keep it abstract.
Now, I had the option of sitting the 18 hours out in the wonderful international terminal of KL Int Airport (which has won “world’s best airport” award repeatedly) or I could hop out and explore.
Tough one.
Due to weather conditions in Amsterdam at the time of take of however, I was not to have 18 hours of gallivanting. I was to have 15. Plenty.
Raph has actually lived in this city and therefore had some recommendations. Like go to the Petronas Towers on time.
Again, due to weather conditions in Amsterdam I was not able to do this. 15 hours was all I was destined to get. The last 5 hours were to be spent in the international airport anyway. After a 16 hour plane-ride, making the absolute most of a city trip is just not what’s foremost on your mind.
But for now: I give you Kuala Lumpur.
I first ambled over to the fabled Petronas Towers. I would have been more impressed though if I’d not recently visited Taipei 101, a tower which stands over 50 meters higher. Still, that’s just one tower and this is 2. The damping required to keep these things from tumbling down in a stiff breeze is actually done by the bridge . . . bridging the two towers. Very ingenious. But as reported, I was not to climb these towers. They sell tickets for the entire day early in the morning and if you show up at 10:00 . . . you’re simply too late.
Instead I went to the KL tower. It’s observation platform is quite a bit less elevated than that of the Petronas Towers, but it is helped by the fact that it’s on a hill making the observation platform higher than those silly towers. It was cheaper too. And it came with a “free” zoo visit. All the pictures of this can be found in the link under the boldface Kuala Lumpur earlier in the text.
This guy though, deserves special mention.
Yes, those are two heads. I suppose someone was trying to make his own ninja and failed.
I spent some time in parks, enjoying some shade
Walking around in the National Temple.Very nice place.
Touring the small markets and generally roaming the city.
On my own and Raph’s advice I ate streetfood. And I nearly got my meal right. I mean I don’t speak Bahasa Malaysian, but most of the stuff is also described in Chinese (Who knew that one day I’d be walking in a foreign city glad of CHINESE descriptions of stuff).
At 18:00 I was still 6 hours from departure but my brain had shut down and I wasn’t actually in an exciting new city anymore, merely in a place with people and buildings that wasn’t home. I needed sleep.
And a wintercoat.
And a dry shirt. Ew
My flight to Seoul departed 20 minutes late, arrived on-time and had me home in time for a nap at 09:00.
It’s a nice place though. If you have a 18 hour layover anywhere, KL isn’t a bad place for it.
=====================================================================================
Quote of the Day:
Hey, can you tell me what’s your name? “My name is Roosevelt E. Roosevelt.” Roosevelt, what town are you stationed in? “I’m stationed in Poontang.” Well, thank you, Roosevelt. What’s the weather like out there? “It’s hot! Damn hot! Real hot! Hottest things is my shorts. I could cook things in it. A little crotch pot cooking.” Well, tell me what it feels like. “Fool, it’s hot! I told you again! Were you born on the sun? It’s damn hot! It’s so damn hot, I saw little guys, their orange robes burst into flames. It’s that hot! Do you know what I’m talking about?” What do you think it’s going to be like tonight? “It’s gonna be hot and wet! That’s nice if you’re with a lady, but ain’t no good if you’re in the jungle!” Thank you, Roosevelt.
- Robin Williams, Good Morning Vietnam
