Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur: Peaceful Harmony Amongst Diversity

Kuala Lumpur - Modern Metropolis In A Jungle Landscape

We set out for Malaysia's largest city (1.4 million and growing) by flying back from Bali, Indonesia on Air Asia, a budget airlines in Southeast Asia which is comparable to UK's easy Jet. Upon arrival in the low-cost carrier terminal at Kuala Lumpur's main airport, we took a bus to the city centre, in order to check-in at our hostel and start exploring the city which was founded in the 19th century. Dan had gotten very excited to spot the Petronas Twin Towers for the first time, and Kyle had looked forward to reminiscing about the month he lived in Malaysia back in 2000.

Though multi-racial and of different religions, the people live in constant peace and harmony where exchanges of warm smiles and friendly greets are customary.

Kuala Lumpur is made merry by the ethnic diversity of its multicultural backdrop, and is populated by the major races of Malays, Chinese, and Indians among other races. The city is fast-becoming a modern metropolis and Kyle was very surprised about the growth the city has taken since his last visit 7 years ago. Better known as "KL"by the city folks living there, Kuala Lumpur by virtue of being the hub of the nation is widely regarded as one of the safest tourism destinations in the world. Though multi-racial and of different religions, the people live in constant peace and harmony where exchanges of warm smiles and friendly greets are customary. It was very refreshing to visit a city so diverse and yet so peaceful.

KL has a monorail system which spans around the city centre and therefore it is easy to find your way around the city as long as you know which direction the monorail tracks are heading. However, we didn't really "get" this until day 4 of our journey there. We think that it wasn't all down to us, though, as we believe that Malaysians have a bit of a problem giving directions; at least the ones we met did due to a cultural difference between us and them. Culturally, Malaysians don't point their fingers at anyone or anything as it is considered very rude, and instead, they point at things with their thumb which are pressed down against their fist. This approach was not that clear to us on several occasions and we discovered after a few (very) long "shortcuts" around the city that we had better figure out the monorail directions through the city centre so we could find our way around easily.

On our first day in KL, we walked along a Heritage Site trail which led us to some very beautiful, old historic buildings. One of the sites we visited was Merdeka Square which is where the UK's Union Jack flag was lowered and the Malaysian Jalur Gemilang flag was hoisted 50 years ago to celebrate Malaysian's independence from the British. This is Malaysia's 50-year anniversary as an independent nation and therefore there are a lot of celebrations and changes occurring this year throughout the country. The Malaysians are taking great pride in their nationhood and this country is definitely one to watch for future growth and prosperity.

After the Heritage Site walk, we ended up at the Bird Park within Lake Gardens Park, but we didn't end up going in due to dead camera batteries. We made a decision to go later in the week which turned out to be a good decision as we were able to view many strange and interesting native birds to Malaysia (and capture them all on film with a fresh battery!). Other sights that we saw during the week we were there included the Malay National Museum, several mosques and adorned government buildings and many shopping malls to rival (and possibly beat!) Singapore's shopping malls. In fact, right across from our hostel was Times Square West, a huge 10-storey shopping mall which has an amusement park on level 5, complete with a roller coaster that spans all the way to level 10 before dropping down suddenly and into a huge loop. All of the malls in KL have huge food courts, cinemas and many, many, many shops.

One of the most spectacular sights in KL would have to be the Petronas Twin Towers. These amazingly striking and tall skyscrapers are connected by a sky bridge, and are a stunning work of architecture, particularly at night when they are lit up. The 2nd tallest buildings in the world, you have to witness the view of these skyscrapers up close to appreciate their magnitude. The only building in the world which is currently taller is Taipei 101, which we will be visiting in May. The other equally striking structure within KL's skyline is KL Tower (think Seattle's Space Needle or London's BT Tower if you are lost at this point), which is the 5th tallest tower of its kind.

KL has its own Chinatown (Kyle bought some more cheap DVDs here) and Little India area. We had some great Indian food at a restaurant just outside KL's Central Market, which is a two-storey complex with Indian, Chinese, Malay and other Asian crafts. We were able to pick up some good things here, and the best shopping experience we had in KL was with a Chinese woman in Central Market who was very friendly and explained a bit about the upcoming Chinese New Year (to be celebrated from 19-21 Feb this year). The most common greeting during Chinese New Year would be to say "Gong Xi Fa Cai" which means literally "to wish you wealth". This phrase seems to be popping up more and more on buildings and people's houses as Chinese New Year decorations go up.

We stayed in KL at a place called Equator Hostel, which is run by Phil and Hady. They were really great and helpful, and we would highly recommend this place to anyone looking for very fun, clean and laid-back accommodation. Phil and Hady are full of information about Malaysia and traveling around the country as well as to other Southeast Asia countries. We met quite a few people here including a couple of Taiwanese girls living quite far from Taiwan (Australia and the UK), a guy from China whom we ran into later in Malaysia, and a guy from Norway named Erik, who we ended up seeing again in Cameron Highlands and on the streets of Georgetown, Penang.

We did make it back to KL's Bird Park as mentioned above. This is one of the largest covered bird parks in the world, and inside we were able to see many varieties of hornbills. It was so great to see them up close after spotting them from such a distance in Borneo! We even got to feed one of hornbills some papaya up close! After spending a month in Malaysia we have come to assume that macaques are like stray cats, they seem to be popping up everywhere we go. While having some ice cream and taking a break in the park, a couple of long-tailed macaques ventured into the area where we were sitting in order to raid the rubbish bins for leftover food.

A couple of nights before we left, we visited the ultra modern and clean KLCC Suria shopping complex which conveniently sits at the base of the Petronas Twin Towers. We headed to the mall in anticipation of some really good food somewhere. We both had cravings for something more "familiar" and therefore we were very chuffed ("pleased" to the Americans reading this) to see a Chili's right in the centre of the mall. We know you may think it is sad to have a meal at Chili's while we are in Southeast Asia but we think in 5-1/2 months over here, we will be entitled to a few exceptions. And we both have agreed that this was one of the wisest choices we could have made for dinner that night. It was a Friday night and the place was packed full of Malaysians enjoying their "western" dishes and trendy night out, and the food we ate (a lot of food too!) was the best Chili's meal either of us had ever had.

We had a week in KL and as this was a long time to spend in the city, we decided to take advantage of our days and the close proximity to other Malaysian destinations. We therefore incorporated day trips to Melaka and Kuala Selangor, and you can read below about these two towns. We have included a number of photos from both of these destinations and for those of you who are keeping up with our monkey stories, you will be pleased to see many photos of silver-leaf monkeys and a description of our antics with them in the Kuala Selangor section further below.

Day trip from KL to Melaka - Anyone for Fungus Soup?

We set out for the old Dutch colony town of Melaka as a day trip from the hustle and bustle of Kuala Lumpur. Melaka is situated on the west coast of peninsular Malaysia and is 2 hours by bus south of KL. We arrived just before lunch and set out walking towards St. John's Fort, which actually let us down once we arrived there. The walk there was over 3km in the blazing hot sun and following Malaysian "directions" meant that we actually walked what felt like double the distance. Upon arrival there was not really much to see except a small, white fort with a few cannons and an obstructed view with several overgrown trees around us. We would suggest that any visitors to Melaka stay within Melaka town centre as there are many more enjoyable things to see there, including an old Portuguese fort which we recommend viewing over the out-of-town St. John's Fort!

There are many remnants of Dutch colonisation still present in Melaka. Malaysians have done an excellent job preserving the town and its historic architecture, and it was strange to see European-style architecture in Southeast Asia. Once back in the centre of Melaka, we walked through the historical district and passed by the key sights Christ Church, Stadthuys (the town hall and governor's residence), St. Paul's church and many others.

You may be wondering about what we enjoyed most about Melaka, and even if you haven't been, we have decided to tell you anyway - we really and truly enjoyed Melaka's Chinatown. It was, at the time, one of the best Chinatown's either of us had been to, with really ornate temples and a cosy, friendly feel to the place. We stopped off for an afternoon snack at a restaurant and we were feeling fairly brave, so we tried some very interesting sounding soup called "lotus seed, lily bulb and white fungus soup". You will see from the photo in our album for this journal, that the soup did not look too scary, despite the name. To our surprise, the soup was chilled, contained crushed ice and was exceedingly refreshing after trudging around the blazing hot town of Melaka for over 4 hours. We also enjoyed a prawn dish and baked crab claws, both of which were great.

Malaysia's oldest Chinese temple, Cheng Hoon Teng, dates back to 1646 and has been remarkably preserved, and we were pleased to have visited Melaka and this famous and beautiful landmark in Chinatown. We also passed by a small shop selling Chinese New Year sweets and the woman baking them allowed us to try several varieties. Our favourite that day was definitely the pineapple pastry rolls (made with lots of butter!) and we bought a plastic container full of them to enjoy for the next few days. After a nice, slow stroll through the remainder of Chinatown we headed back to the Melaka bus terminal in order to catch a bus back to KL.

Day trip from KL to Kuala Selangor's Melawati Hill - Silver-leafs vs Macaques

We took another day trip on the last day of our week in KL, this time to the town Kuala Selangor and its own Melawati Hill. The town caters largely to tourists or local travelers on a trail of seafood binging. Kuala Selangor town is not particularly big and we were able to walk easily around without a map or a guide. Kuala Selangor is an old royal capital of Selangor and it was conquered by the Dutch in 1784, when they successfully attempted to expand from their base in Melaka to control the tin trade of Perak and Selangor, two states in Malaysia.

Bukit Melawati is a hill overlooking Kuala Selangor and the Straits of Malacca. The Dutch destroyed the existing fortifications on the hill during their 1784 invasion, and built a European-style castle, naming it Fort Atlingsburg after their commander. The fort was fought over repeatedly by the Dutch, the Selangor and later the British, until all that remains today are some scattered ruins. However, these scattered ruins were not the reason for our visit to this area. The primary reason for our intended visit to Melawati Hill was to play with some gentle silver-leaf monkeys, a different variety to the macaques with which we were becoming all too familiar.

Nearby Kuala Selangor, seafood restaurants are located in a small fishing townlet called Pasir Penampang. The seafood restaurants here serve halal seafood and you can see many local Malay Muslims eating there together with Chinese and Indians. Located within Pasir Penampang, there is a small seafood market where villagers as well as people from KL go to buy seafood which is freshly caught by the fishermen which berth in the nearby river. Unfortunately, we spent all of our time on the hill with the silver-leafs, so we will have to enjoy seafood in Pasir Penampang the next time we are in Malaysia.

To get to Melawati Hill, we took a local bus from KL to Kuala Selangor, which is on the western coast of Malaysia. Our bus driver took us on an interesting 2-hour journey. He had an extremely heated argument with someone at a bus stop, and fists were flying. Also, a 30km journey ended up taking 2 hours due to heavy traffic and the fact that we were on a local bus which stopped everywhere along the way. The insane bus driver and equally crazy ticket collector laughed furiously when the bus driver decided to bypass a few km of traffic by driving along the soft shoulder in the middle of the highway. We guessed the reason they were laughing was because the middle part of the highway was very much under construction and not really safe for a bus full of people to be cruising along!

We arrived in Kuala Selangor and got completely suckered into taking a taxi to the trolley which would take us up Melawati Hill - for 6 Ringgits! We literally sat in the taxi, shut our doors and by the time our seat belts were buckled, we were at the trolley point. As the trolley approached the crest of the hill, we saw a couple of silver-leaf monkeys in the distance. We thought we might be in luck in our desire to spot some of these creatures, and at the time had no idea what we were in store for...

Silver-leaf monkeys, as described in our Kuching travel journal are black-haired monkeys which have a silver tinge to their fur. That is, except for the babies who are an adorable bright orange colour until they enter the stages of monkey puberty, or whatever it is properly called, and start growing their own black/silver fur. The silver-leafs are much gentler by nature than other monkey species and they do not posses the long, sharp canine teeth which macaques possess (and use). We were, therefore, able to get extremely close to these monkeys and have a great time playing with and feeding them.

We were overwhelmed by the number of these cute, cuddly monkeys as they surrounded us when Kyle pulled some bread out of his backpack. However, there was one moment which was very shocking. This poor, poor silver-leaf approached us and scared the living daylights out of us! You see, the little guy had been hit by a car and was missing the entire part of his face below and around his mouth. We cruelly have nicknamed him Zombie Monkey as you could see his skull around his mouth and he had several bits of skin, muscle and cartilage hanging off his face. The sad part of this is the fact that he was just as sweet and gentle as the rest of the group, but when he came towards us... we freaked a bit. As we were feeding the monkeys, we didn't forget him and we threw bread and fruit and other things out so he could eat alongside the rest of his friends. But, we did not get close enough to touch him as we couldn't get a horror film out of our mind, where we would turn into zombies or something like that - something all too familiar after we both took part in the filming of "The Zombie Diaries".

For the few hours that we spent on Melawati Hill, we only ran across Zombie Monkey a few times. The majority of time we spent feeding and playing with the silver-leafs, and there was also a group of competitive macaques trying to steal our attention, and the silver-leafs food. After we ran out of bread to give the silver-leafs, we noticed some of them eating leaves off some of the bushes at the top of the hill, and we soon learned that they will very kindly eat leaves you give them. This means that anyone visiting the monkeys can feed them without bringing or buying food for them. However, be aware of your surroundings as monkeys are pretty intelligent beings and very humanlike, and are able to figure out where you keep your stash of goods for them. The monkeys surrounding us soon wised up to the fact that we were keeping food in our pockets and, soon, a mischievous little macaque open the buttoned, side pocket of Dan's shorts to see what was in there!

You can see some of our best photos of silver-leafs in the photo album for this journal entry, including photos of the orange babies. The mothers were so intent on accepting our food offerings that they didn't mind us stroking the babies clutching onto their stomachs, and we were even able to hold the little babies' hands while the mothers were distracted with the food. It was very much like playing with a little human baby when they reach out and squeeze your finger.

When we decided to leave Melawati Hill, we walked to the trolley stop and ended staying another 30 minutes feeding the monkeys more treats. Kyle bought some long green beans and some roasted peanuts, both of which were an instant hit to the silver-leafs. The poor Zombie Monkey reappeared then and kept coming over to get food but the sight was so bad we kept having to throw his food on the ground in front of him before running away from him. It was SO creepy with the bottom of his face missing!

At the bottom of Melawati Hill, we decided to try one of the cheap eats in Kuala Selangor. We were not disappointed when we tried a new version of mee noodles called mee bandung. Mee bandung is very spicy, sweet and tasty and the example in the photo album does not give it the credit it deserves. After eating, it was time to get a bus back to Kuala Lumpur and so we headed to the bus station. Although we had not seen any of the other sights which Kuala Selangor has to offer, we left completely satisfied with our monkey experience and would not have had it any other way. At the bus terminal we met an Italian guy named Marco who was traveling in Malaysia for the month, and had been in some of the same places as us at the same time. It is funny how coincidental traveling in Southeast Asia can be, as many people seem to think the same and take the same routes at the same time of the year.

For those of you who are still reading this, thank you for taking the time to read through our KL, Melaka and Kuala Selangor adventures. We are sorry that the journal entries seem to be getting longer and longer, but we are trying to preserve some memories of our trip and we foster a "more is better" philosophy, so that we don't miss anything when it comes to recapping our year of traveling in 2007. We hope that you continue to read through our journals and we promise to try and keep everything fresh and interesting for you all!