I always had this idea that Malaysia was a third world country or at best, a second world country.  Maybe parts of it are, but Kuala Lumpur surprised me.  It’s cleaner and nicer than Thailand.  The guesthouse I booked is not wonderful, but it is ok.  I have always wanted to see what it would be like to travel abroad alone.  After almost 2 months of it before, and now, I’ve decided it’s not wonderful either.

I’m excited to see the Patronas towers.  They use to be the highest building in the world, but aren’t anymore.  I had found a website with the top 10 rooftop bars in KL.  I thought that sounded like a worthy goal to find all 10.  I was going to do 3 the first night.  The second one was difficult to find since google maps is useless once you lose the wifi signal.  So I skipped the third one.  The other nights I gave up altogether.  Being sick and drinking very expensive drinks alone didn’t turn out to be as fun as it first sounded.  I still think it’s a worthy goal and suggest someone else attempt it sometime.  And I got to see a roof top that is a heli pad by day and bar by night – brilliant idea.

I either lost my jewelry or packed it in the bag that I left in Thailand.  So, I found a cheap place in the mall and bought some new earrings.  I also did some shopping for things I can’t get in Thailand such as face products without bleach in them and hair jell for curly hair.

The park near the Patronas towers is wonderful.  I also went to the bird park and the butterfly park.  I walked a lot and got lost a lot (I blame google maps).  There’s a tourist bus that goes to all the tourist spots.  You pay one price and can get on and off it any time all day.  I never found it.  I went to the top of the KL Tower – great views but not worth the price.  I went to the top of the Petronas towers – very expensive, but for some reason a better experience than the KL Tower.  I went to Batu Caves – a famous cave temple.  It involved a lot of stairs.  It was under construction/repair.  It smelled like garbage and was a total waste of my time.  I ate roti after and that almost made it better.

I slept late every day.  I got a pedicure finally.  I got to wake up at 5:30 every morning to hear the muslim call to prayer or whatever that was.  I saw another movie.  I got a body scrub and they got most of the Thailand off my skin.  I ate either salads or Indian food.  Halfway through the antibiotic and I feel much better.

Random notes:

1. Malaysian men are quite a bit more masculine than Thai men. People are rougher here too – not mean, but just have an edge to them.
2. In general, Asians who are traveling are rude. I got my table taken several times or got cut in line or people just bump into me and don’t acknowledge it.
3. There are a lot of Muslim here and the women are covered with long dresses or pants and head scarfs. They work and are very nice when you interact with them.  But, I wonder what they think of me and other women like me.  I’m dressed conservatively for me, but my hair and arms are showing.  They don’t seem offended or jealous, but I still wonder.  I saw one woman completely covered except her eyes.  She was on the top of the KL Tower and they were taking pictures together.  She had sunglasses on so her eyes were technically covered too.  I wondered how your family ever knows that’s a picture of you when you can’t see anything but black fabric and sunglasses.  She didn’t seem unhappy about it as best as I could tell.  I wonder if there is a sense of safety being so covered.  Do Muslim women get less sexual harassment?  Do they feel safer walking around a big city than non Muslim women do?
4. There was one train I took that had a woman only train car.
5. Here’s a lot of photos:

(c)All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore