Luisa woke me up at 12 last night and said we had missed breakfast because she thought it was 12 midday - so as you can guess her body clock was a bit off!
We began our first full day in Malaysia early by leaving the guest house at 8:00 am. The streets were quite except for people going to and from work. We decided to check out some of the sites today so we strolled to the 'colonial district'. Basically at centre is a huge square (Merdeka/Freedom Square) surrounded by all the old buildings that were constructed whilst the British ruled over Malaysia. They are stunning and include buildings like the National Gallery and Sultan Abdul Samad Building. Although they were built during the British rule they have a beautiful Islamic style of architecture. Most of these buildings are around 100 - 110 years old but they are surrounded by ultra modern sky scrapers so it makes for a very interesting sky line.We then strolled past the 103 year old Jamek Mosque and jumped onto a train to the KL city centre.
When we jumped off the train we found ourselves in a 6 story shopping mall (the train stop was on the ground floor) called KLCC Suria. This 140,000 m2 beast had shops from all over the world - Armani, Louis Vitton, Burberry, Jimmy Choo etc and made Gateway in Durban look like it's very poor cousin! After a very expensive cup of coffee (basically the cost of a whole meal at a street side diner) we stepped outside and realised that the mall was between KL's most famous land marks - the Petronas Towers. Honestly you had to almost lie down on your back to see how tall these amazing towers are.
Our next stop was the KL Menara tower standing at 421 meters. It looked like it was just around the corner but after about half an hour of very sweaty walking we reached the bottom of the road that led up to the entrance to the tower and failed to see the sign for the free shuttle service to the top so we carried on walking. Let's just say that by the time we arrived at the top of the steep and winding hill we needed a tank of oxygen and a change of clothes as the ones we had on were sopping wet! Luisa's feet had blisters as the intense heat and humidity had made her feet swell so the shoes we bought in SA were not so comfortable anymore. After rehydrating and walking around for a bit we realised that a trip to the viewing deck was not in our budget and we did not want a pony ride or to try out the F1 simulator so we decided to leave. At least we got some exercise. Luckily this time we caught the shuttle.
After an afternoon nap we decided to get some dinner and had read about a small Indian restaurant in the guide book, Lakshmi Vilas, so we decided to find it. There was a light rain but we powered on and we eventually found it in the heart of little India across the road from a bollywood DVD store. We were the only westerners in the whole place but were shown a table and after staring at the menu on the wall we were a bit clueless. The waiter, who could barely speak a word of English, noticed this and said "masala dosai - very nice potatoe" so we said bring us two! Well the meal was absolutely amazing. It was basically potatoe with spices in a huge pancake. We finished this off with a lassi (a yoghurt type drink), paid our 10 Ringitt (about R25) and left very satisfied.
All in all a fantastic day of exploring.
Phil
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