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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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And my first thought when I came here was of a cartoon that someone back in the office introduced me to, it can be found here and don't ask me why I thought of it after all this time...
Anyway, KL is a mini Singapore except its a little less sanitised and a little bit more real to me, although the smog reminded me of Beijing, at least it wasn't a permanent fixture to the city.
It's an interesting mix of chaos and consumerism, in the heart of the shopping malls everything is ordered and neat, in fact the more exclusive the shopping mall the more air conditioned it seems to be, but at least the traders in the shops aren't as pushy if you are just looking round - and no, my credit cards were safe.. I learnt my lesson after carrying my extra heavy backpack round with me.
The Chaos comes in the form of transport, cars and mopeds/motorbikes weaving round the roads and I swear pretending they didn't see the lights turn red and the 4 light rail systems that form the "integrated" network, however, integration means you can buy a weekly or monthly pass for all the lines, but if you want to change lines then you leave one station, walk to the next and board another train.
Generally this means a 5-10 minute walk to the next station, unless your very lucky and then you just have to cross the road, still all makes for a fun trip, especially when you shopped too much in Singapore, still I have learnt that lesson.... for now.
But this city feels more alive and real, more lived in than Singapore did, and I can't really pin point why I feel this way, but I just do, I guess it felt that Singapore had a manicured veneer of shopping and eating that I never managed to get beneath, ahh well, there's always next time.
Having said all that, it's still a major shopping centre and the throngs of tourists going into shops they wouldn't dream of back home is funny to watch, especially those that seek out the cheapest item in the shop so that they can say "I shopped at ......"
But outside of the malls you can spend some time just mooching down the street and seeing the Mosques and temples, the mixed architecture and the people making their way round their own lives, probably cursing the tourists like me who decide to just stop and watch the world go by for a while.
At night the streets get lit up and the fun is deciding which hawker stall you plan to eat at, encouraged by the people waving the menus to sit at a table (on the street of course) and eat from "their" stalls. There is no nicer way to try local food than Al fresco dining taking in the smells of the stalls and the chatter of the locals around you. :-D
Anyway, it's late and I need to head off, so the photo's from KL can be found here as always
previous travel blog entry
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