Malaysia: My 24 Hour Adventure in Kuala Lumpur
“Travel. As much as you can. As far as you can. As long as you can. Life is not meant to be lived in one place.” – Anonymous
This was my first trip visiting Asia. A wild, 24 flight adventure to get there. Lots of journal writing, movie watching & book reading.
My brother is a chemical engineer and at the time, was spending approximately 6 months a year working overseas in Singapore, overseeing various projects. I was between jobs at the time, and my brother invited me over to experience Singapore for myself. During the trip, we decided to take a short, 24-hour trip to Malaysia, so I could experience one more country before I left for home. Here are some journal highlights from that adventure.
Kuala Lumpur Highlights:
Petronas Towers
Lake Gardens
Herb Gardens
General Park
Butterfly Gardens
War Memorial
Central Market
Menara Kuala Lumper Tower
“Top Hat” restaurant
“Chile” curry restaurant in Petronas
From my journal entries while visiting Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia:
4/20 1:53 AM MST (Malaysian Standard Time) – Saturday into Sunday
“Sitting in room #922 at the Concorde hotel in Kuala Lumpur or KL as the locals call it. Can’t believe I’ve now officially visited Malaysia. All of the different places I’ve been. From Middleboro, MA to Malaysia. Springfield, MA to Sydney, Australia. From Lakeville, MA to London. I have been so lucky to have the fortune of traveling around the world… arrived here earlier tonight in a rainstorm. Spent two hours driving from the airport to downtown KL. Apparently, it’s some sort of holiday for the country and the traffic getting into the city was gridlocked. I fell asleep for most of the ride into the city.”
“…when I woke up, I did watch a lightning storm off in the distance. It was amazingly beautiful. I love watching nature. Arrived at the hotel. The city reminds me of Vancouver, just way more crowded. Like with Singapore, there is an eclectic group of people who live here. I find everyone from southern Asia incredibly friendly. We went to a restaurant called Top Hat. The food and the ambience were great. Both the chicken satay and the tenderloin steak were prepared perfectly. The servers were incredibly nice. Later we went to a bar, but I only stayed for one drink. In the time I stayed there, I must have got touched, shoulder rubbed or propositioned at least a dozen times…” [that is a story for another time.]
“I left the bar and wandered around the city alone for over two hours to take pictures. It was quite the adventure. I met some pretty interesting people. I’ll write those stories up tomorrow. It’s 2:21 AM; I’m tired and need to go to bed…”
4/20 8:00 AM MST (Malaysian Standard Time) – Sunday
“Sitting in the Melting Pot restaurant in the Concorde Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. What a truly interesting experience eating breakfast this morning in what can only be considered a truly cosmopolitan setting. I am an American eating cereal, toast, and drinking pink grapefruit juice & coffee. To my right, two Malaysians are enjoying fried rice and other food items I don’t recognize. To my left, a middle-aged Chinese man is eating a bowl of broth with noodles + some sort of meatballs. I see more Malay, Chinese, Japanese, Singaporean, and Arab people represented in the restaurant. Everyone is doing the same thing – enjoying an early morning breakfast, reading the Sunday paper, reading a book, watching other people or having conversations. It really makes me wonder why there is so much violence of any kind in the world. In this setting it is so peaceful & tranquil. Too often we read about violence overseas in restaurants just like this one. Most people are just trying to do the right thing. Make a living the best they can, enjoy time with friends & family, purchase a few material goods, worship whatever God suits them, and look to get a little inspiration from the world around them; make an impact or difference; feel connected & welcome…
…last night I decided to leave the bar and wander around the city for a couple of hours by myself… from like 11:30 PM to 1:30 AM… to take pictures. 24 hours in Malaysia. Literally one day of my life – so relatively short when I think of all of the days I’ve spent sitting alone in my apartment, doing nothing; I decided to get the most out of my night by walking around to take pictures of the city and talk to people. I had a lot of fun and always felt safe. I talked to a bunch of food hawkers.
They were all outgoing and very happy for me to take their picture. One set of four brothers even let me walk behind the counter. They showed me how they cook, gave me a live demonstration [& even let me cook with them!]. Others were also very outgoing with me. It’s always encouraging to see how open and willing people are to let you into their lives when you show a little interest in what they do and who they are.
I also go to take some pictures of some teenagers on bikes. They were quite friendly, even “hammed it up” when I talked to them. Later I saw them all trying to sneak into a club... clearly, they were all underage. It’s funny what you can see, when you take the time to look.”
“At least for one night I really felt I had gotten a sense of one street in Kuala Lumpur; it’s rhythm so to speak. It’s interesting how every street in the world has the same type of “ebb & flow” to it. How many nights have I spent out on streets just like this one in different cities trying to capture their feel? From New Orleans to Washington, D.C. From London to San Juan?”
“The Petronas Towers looked beautiful at night. I had a conversation with some twenty-somethings as I was looking for the right shot. They were all very curious as to how the pictures were coming out. Heading out to the Bird Park, more later…”
4/24 3:34 PM Tokyo Time – Tuesday (Flying back to the United States)
“…I wandered out to the bellhop and told him that I wanted to go to Lake Gardens. He promptly whistled down a taxi driver. I got into the car and that is when Yusof, the Muslim taxi driver, was introduced into my life. I told what I wanted to do & where I wanted to go, and he said, given the area, the way I looked (like a tourist) & the chances of me getting a cab back, that I would be best served to hire him for two hours, so could go from one place to another. He said he’d also be willing to serve as my guide. I agreed and off we went. First, we went to a War Memorial, commemorating three wars involving their fight for independence. Then we stopped at an Herb Gardens, where he pointed our various medicinal and edible plants and then proceeded to break a number of them off so I could taste & smell a number of them.
We talked to one of the gardeners who had been tending the same area over 30 years. She took so much pride in the health and well-being of the plants and proceeded to tell us when each one was planted and how old each one was. She was very happy to talk to us about her life’s work. We then walked around the park some more talking about the Muslim religion. Yusof had completed the major spiritual journey to Mecca and was allowed to wear the right hat. We talked about daily prayer, taking care of his family, and looking out for others. Every sentence ended with, “yes my brother.” We also had a very interesting talk about American politics, George Bush Jr., what do Americans think, “Dallas”, the tv show, and things like that.
Finally, we ended up at a Butterfly Park. Absolutely beautiful. So pretty. Actually, it was so calming to see all of the butterflies flying around in this incredibly tranquil environment. I could have sat there all day, lost in my thoughts and the beauty around me. Sadly, I needed to leave and meet up with my brother & Alan. On the way out we saw a troupe of monkeys sitting on the sidewalk next a picnic area. Some of the females had little babies. Took my customary “Big Head” picture with Yusof before he left. Hugs all around.”
