Malaysia - KL

We arrived in Malaysia in the wee hours of the morning, and really had no plan of what to do until we got on a bus later in the afternoon to head to Malacca, where our friends Dave and Teresa live. We both knew for months that we were going to spend the better part of a day roaming around Kuala Lumpur, but for various reasons, we never did any research on the city or even made a loose plan of what we were going to do.

From the airport, we took a taxi to the bus station and bought our tickets, hoping that the bus station could be a starting point for our wandering. It turns out that the bus station would have been a fine starting point, but it was under construction, so all the buses were now operating out of a temporary (and frightening) station in the middle of nowhere, leaving us just as clueless about what to do.

After buying our bus tickets, in a moment of uncertainty, we jumped into a taxi and told the driver to take us to the only thing we knew of in Kuala Lumpur: "Petronas Twin Towers, please!"

By this point it was only 6 something in the morning, so we had no idea if anything would even be open. (Nor did we have any idea if the Twin Towers were more than just office buildings.)

First view of the city and our destination

Petronas Twin Towers
The world's tallest buildings!
(between the years of 1998 and 2004)

It turned out that heading for the Twin Towers was a fine choice. Along with offices, they also housed a mall, hotels, a subway station, restaurants, etc, so we were able to eat a leisurely breakfast and watch as thousands of Malays streamed by heading to another day of work in one of the 88 (x2) floors above us.

During our breakfast and people watching (rush hour people watching is some of the best!), we managed to pass enough time where things would be starting to open, so we headed out to begin our exploration of Kuala Lumpur.

First Malaysian street food experience

Two plastic bags of goodness
(did not have a clue what we ate here)

Helpful...kinda

Malaysian 7-Eleven's have Slurpees!
And meatballs on sticks!!!

Friends Forever!

Mmmm, a broccoli juicebox!

Snack Time!

Soto Ayam

A basic, Southeast Asian chicken soup with a hard boiled egg and vermicelli noodles seasoned with turmeric.

Super salty, but super delicious!

Roti Canai

A flour and egg based flat bread generally served with a dhal (lentil) based curry sauce, however many sweet and savory versions of the bread and sauce exist. It's fatty, greasy and delicious!

cheezels

Kraft Cheezels Biskitz were advertised on almost every bus stop we saw, so we had to try them. They tasted like crackers smothered in Kraft Mac N Cheese powder. Not good. They were too cheesy (rarely a bad thing, we know) and left a nasty film in the mouth. We really thought you were someone we could trust, Kraft...

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When our wandering time had elapsed, we got back into a taxi and headed once more for the temporary bus station. That morning, we found the bus station to be a pretty scary place. Then, it was quiet and mostly deserted. When we arrived there the second time, in the late afternoon, we discovered that our fright that morning was nothing. This time, it was hotter than hell and chaotic. The place was packed with taxis, buses, cars, trucks, travelers, hawkers, bus company workers, and even a scattering of crazy/scary people that just seemed to be hanging out there. It was not a nice place.

The buses in Malaysia are privately run (read: The buses in Malaysia are frightening and confusing.) The tickets we bought that morning were for a specific bus and time, even though the hand-written tickets/receipt we were given didn't have a company name, a date, a time or even a destination. We didn't have a clue what to do with them or where to go. We showed our tickets to the most official looking person we could find - a man holding a clipboard. Without really even looking at them or listening to us, he pointed at a tent with some plastic lawn chairs. Not helpful. But, we didn't have any better ideas, so we walked to the tent and sat down. A little before our bus was supposed to depart, a few buses with "Malacca" written in windows pulled up. We picked one, handed our tickets to the driver and took a seat. We had paid for an express bus, but had no idea if were were on it or not.

The bus

Sitting down, it was obvious that our bus had been on fire at some point in it's career. Lots of exposed wires hung down and most of the carpet on the ceiling was charred. We were feeling really safe and comfortable at this point!


By the grace of God, our bus ended up being an express bus like we had wanted. It was a good thing too, because that fire not only destroyed the carpeting, but the A/C as well. Any more time on this thing and there would have been tears from both of us.
After riding the bus from hell (again, there was fire damage to prove it), we made it to Malacca and into the safe and loving arms of our favorite* back-country Canadian hillbillies, Dave and Teresa!
*Favorite by default. They are the only back-country Canadian hillbillies we know.

The view from their 18th floor balcony