Kuala Lumpur

I left Thailand on my first getaway just a week and a half after arriving. With one weekend still left in last year's re-entry permit, how could I refuse when my good buddy James invited me to visit Kuala Lumpur (KL as the cool people call it) with him, his wife, and her family?

I had spent one night in Malaysia last year, but had never been to KL, despite how relatively close it is to Bangkok (just under two hours by air). After just a long weekend there, I'm still unsure quite what to make of it. My impression of KL as a city is that, like its geographical location, KL lies somewhere in between Bangkok and Singapore. With it's British colonial past and modern skyline, Malaysia actually shares a common culture with Singapore, which was, for a few years at least, part of the country before being kicked out and becoming its own city-state.

It's also home to what was from 1998 to 2004 the world's tallest building: the Petronas Twin Towers.

Petronas Twin Towers

The Towers are now the ninth tallest structure in the world, but still hold the title of the world's tallest twin towers. Unfortunately, you have to reserve tickets to go up to the observation bridge a few days in advance, and we didn't have enough time. There's a nice mall at the bottom of the structure though, and I did get to spend some time there.

But that's not all that KL has. The city also has numerous other interesting structures, including old colonial government buildings and beautiful mosques. Malaysia, of course, is a predominantly Muslim country, although due to the country's colonial history, the people, culture, and religions represented are quite diverse. There are three main ethnic groups that make up the country; the Malay (generally Muslim), Indians (generally Hindu), and Malay Chinese (generally Buddhist). The architecture downtown however definitely reflects a classical Islamic influence.

downtown KL

Malaysia National Masjid

Malaysia, it seems, is crazy for durian! Known in Thailand as the "King of Fruit", durian is famous for it's rather offensive smell. If you can get past the smell, it really does taste good, although not many foreigners can handle it. A lot of Thais can't stand it either, and there are signs in the Bangkok metro banning it from being brought on board the trains. It's much more widely accepted, and even celebrated, in Malaysia. My friend James incidentally loves the stuff, so while we were there, I had the opportunity to try durian chocolate cake, durian coffee, and a durian pancake (fresh durian and creme wrapped in a type of crepe). I'll admit that it's starting to grow on me, but I doubt it'll ever be my favorite tropical fruit. Give me a mangosteen any day!

durian pancake

After a long and exhausting day exploring the city by foot, we stopped in at Chinatown for some delicious Malay beef noodles. Thai food doesn't often use beef, so the flavor was really different from what I'm used to. I really liked it.

After dinner, it was back to the Twin Towers to see them all lit up at night. Because of their height, it's really difficult to capture the entire towers in a photo!