Clark & Rachel: Southeast Asia Part III: Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur is...amazing. Seriously you guys, we had a blast exploring this city. Kuala Lumpur is the capital and largest city in Malaysia. LOTS to see and do, and LOTS of shopping. Since this world seems to be one gigantic shopping mall, it's no surprise that there was tons of great shopping everywhere in SE Asia.

The coolest experience by far in Kuala Lumpur was the Thaipusam Indian festival. That was an event I don't think Clark or I will ever forget. I'll try to get Clark to insert some thoughts on this experience later. He's working tonight, though.

So the KL airport is nowhere near the city. It's nearly a 45 minute drive away, but luckily organizing transportation to and from our places of accommodation was never difficult at all. We took a bus for very cheap to the KL Central train station. From there we took a taxi to our hotel. We stayed at the Silka Maytower Hotel, which claims to be a 4 star hotel but we considered it roughly 3.8 stars. I believe we were staying on the 25th floor and the view from our widow was pretty sweet. We didn't have a view of the Petronas Twin Towers, but it was nice, nevertheless. Luckily the hotel offered complimentary bottled water because we were dying of thirst when we first arrived and tap water isn't drinkable in Malaysia. Also, it was late by the time we checked in and we didn't feel like exploring city to find water at 10 pm.

Our first full day in KL we set out with certain destinations in mind. Clark was in charge of the map, which was a mistake from the beginning. My husband isn't exactly a natural navigator. (I still love you Clark, please don't be mad! The truth hurts sometimes!) At some point along our way, we veered off on a completely wrong road. To his defense, the roads in KL are really confusing. Naturally, I was irritated with our detour, and we had to stop at an Indian restaurant for some refreshing drinks. Have I mentioned how hot and humid it was during our trip? Clark got a Mango Lassi, I got a delicious shaved ice, which was so much better than the shaved ice I had tried in Kuching.

Once I was in control of the map we successfully made our way back to Petaling Street, which is located in Chinatown.

Knock off items galore.

After Chinatown we headed over to the Central Market.

Which is where we bought this awesomely sweet dessert called puto bamboo ( I think??). These desserts are cooked in cylinders of bamboo and and have a strong coconut flavor. I think they are based off of a Filipino dessert called puto bumbong. Clark had a couple of bites but I easily devoured the rest on my own.

So content with my puto bamboo.

Making our way to the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, we spotted this architectural beauty with the mustard yellow shutters. She's a beaut, ain't she?

There it is: the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, named after a reigning sultan during the time of it's construction in the 1800's.

Before taking more photos of the sultan's building, we decided to seek some air conditioning at the Kuala Lumpur gallery, which turned out to be a place to buy fantastic--and classy-- souvenirs.

The ARCH collection consists of wood veneer products that have been hand-assembled and created right in Kuala Lumpur. You can even watch men and women behind a glass wall working at creating these lovely products. They sell 2-D wood "prints", bookmarks, 3-D objects, etc. Honestly, I wish everyone could come to our apartment and see the awesome 2-D memento we purchased. I know I could just post a picture of it, but that's not as fun.

This flagpole located on Merdeka Square is where the Malaysian flag was raised for the first time in 1957. Way to gain your independence from the UK, Malaysia!

The old railway station from Merdeka Square.

Somehow we never got a picture of scooters waiting at a red light. Like I mentioned before, scooters weave in and out of traffic and are always the first to go on a green light.

The beautiful Sultan Abdul Samad Building, and Clark. Waving.

Kuala Lumpur originated right here, at the confluence of the Klang and Gombak rivers. Just beyond is an Islamic mosque that is extrememly beautiful, but was not easy to capture.

Walking back to our hotel, we easily spotted the Twin Towers! We had every intention to photograph them at night, but we just didn't get to it.

Apartment buildings along our walk.

The next morning we met up with Ivan and Joanne at the Petronas Twin Towers. Clark and I contemplated going up to the skybridge that connects the towers, but it was a little pricey and it would have thrown our whole schedule off. Plus, the skybridge isn't even that high.

Trying to capture the perfect photo for Ivan and Joanne.

So modelesque.

A park near the towers. There was an amazing running trail here with an actual track, but alas, I only ran twice on this trip and this trail wasn't exactly convenient to our hotel.

After taking a million photos of the Petronas Towers, we climbed in a taxi heading for the Batu Caves, which is a limestone hill with caves (obviously) and Hindu shrines. Little did we know that we were wanting to visit with just a couple of days left leading up to the Thaipusam festival. Thaipusam is a Hindu festival that takes place during the full moon of January and commemorates when Parvati gave Murugan a spear so he could conquer an evil demon. All of that information has been derived from wikipedia because at the time I had no idea what we were actually going to or even any idea as to what Thaipusam meant. The cab driver was hesitant to even drive out to the cave because he said that it would be too crowded and we wouldn't be able to see anything. We all agreed that we wanted to go anyway, and as we got near Batu Cave, cars were parked everywhere, blocking traffic at some points. Our taxi driver just parked on the shoulder of the freeway and agreed to wait for us for 2 hours. This is a photo we took as we started to walk toward the Batu Cave from the taxi. None of these cars are moving, all are parked. Yearly, approximately 1 million Hindus make a pilgrimage to this site to make offerings to their God.

By mere fortune we timed this trip too perfectly. I mean, where else would we have been able to see a festival like this?

I believe this is a statue of Murugan.

Decorated canopy's called Kavadis are carried on the shoulders of devout Hindus. These Kavadis bear the picture of Murugen (I think).

Some devotees had piercings all over their back and chest, much like this man. Piercing one's skin is considered an act of devotion. Only at festivals in Mayalsia or Singapore are these types of masochistic actions of faith allowed.

Thousands of tourists come to see this site every year.

Carrying their offerings to God. The man to the right has a shaved head, which is also considered an act of devotion.

A women performing a dance along the procession route. I'm not sure if she had any piercings. I'm actually not sure if women are allowed to perform those acts of devotion or if it's just extremely uncommon.

Beginning our ascent up the 272 steps to the Batu Cave and Hindu shrines.

The men carrying Kavadis were always preceded by men playing music. Along the pilgrimage route, which actually starts 15 kilometers away in the heart of the city, the Kavadis-bearing men will perform dances. I felt like they were stopping every 50-100 meters. If that's the case, their pilgrimage must have taken all day.

The taxi driver was right: it was very crowded. I can't imagine how claustrophobic it must be on the actual date of Thaipusam. Clark and Ivan watching the procession with disconcerted looks.

The young and old alike made their way up the steps.

View inside the cave from the top of the steps. So many devotees, it was just unbelievable.

More monkeys! These guys must be very well fed during this time of year. People kept giving them bananas and coconuts, though they seemed to prefer the bananas.

Heading down. What an experience unlike any other!

The man with hooks in his back was likely pulled by the man holding the ropes of the hooks behind him. I assume that he doesn't have to pull while going up stairs.

If I was smarter I would have recorded the dancing and the men proceeding with hooks on their bodies.

It's never to early to show acts of devotion. Also, is it legal to have that many people on a motorcycle?!

A head being shaved on the right side of the photo, people bringing offerings on the left.

Walking back to the taxi, we saw this truck having one hell of a time passing through the parked cars. Seriously inches away from cars on both sides.

Back in the city we ate and then parted ways, as Ivan and Joanne wanted to do a little shopping. We weren't in the shopping mood and wanted to walk around more of the city.