Posted by: Jonathan
First off we want to give a shout out to my mom for our week in a baller resort on Tioman Island - Thanks Mom!
We hesitantly left our gated resort and took a boat/bus combo to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital. Once we checked into our hotel, we headed across the street to the Berjaya Times Square Mall and Hotel to find some food. It is owned by Berjaya who also owns the resort we had just left behind in Tioman, further reminding us of our return to budget backpacker status. The mall itself turned out to be a sight being the 13th largest in the world. Ten stories of shops serviced by a network of escalators acting as arteries pumping people from one level to the next.
First off we want to give a shout out to my mom for our week in a baller resort on Tioman Island - Thanks Mom!
We hesitantly left our gated resort and took a boat/bus combo to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital. Once we checked into our hotel, we headed across the street to the Berjaya Times Square Mall and Hotel to find some food. It is owned by Berjaya who also owns the resort we had just left behind in Tioman, further reminding us of our return to budget backpacker status. The mall itself turned out to be a sight being the 13th largest in the world. Ten stories of shops serviced by a network of escalators acting as arteries pumping people from one level to the next.
Both Jenn and Mom were too overwhelmed to even begin shopping. Any mall that has an indoor theme park complete with roller coasters getting inverted is fine by me.
The next day the three of us toured the city in a very unconventional way (at least for Jenn and I). We took the hop on hop off guided city tour bus for the day (our first guided city tour in 11 months of travel).
Our first stop was china town where we wandered the streets overflowing with stalls selling knockoff items for what ever price they could gouge a tourist for.
Then to little India, Independence square, a craft market, and several other places.
Our last stop of the tour was Petronas Towers, which was (several years ago), the tallest building in the world standing at 1483 feet high. Mom had gotten up extra early and secured us tickets to ride up to the 41st floor to walk across the sky bridge that connects the twin towers. Almost as awesome as the view itself, was the documentary video and displays demonstrating key concepts to the engineering behind the buildings' design. Even after being a full time traveler for 11 months the engineer in me still creeps out from time to time.
Before heading back to the hotel to get spruced up for a night out, Jenn and mom accompanied me to a walk in's welcome barber shop. The trim job went without issues and I especially liked the industrial sized hoover vacuum used to clean up the trimmings still on my head.
That evening Jenn and I dressed in our nicest clothes (which doesn't say much for me) and went to the roof top Sky Bar. The center of the bar was a pool with narrow walkways on either side. This design has lots of potential for singling out the person who drank too much. The bar was great but the view was outstanding.
Unfortunately, the cheapest beer still cost more than our hotel room so we sipped slowly.
Milking our hop on hop off tour bus tickets, we set out the next day to see a few more sights. Our leisurely walk in the botanical gardens was cut short by a torrential rain storm that held us hostage under a ten square foot gazebo for over an hour.
Once back in the city we explored the concrete jungle a bit more before we found our way back to the Berjaya Times Square Mall where dinner consisted of sushi on a conveyor belt. As each plate approached, you had to identify the dish, note the color of the plate to determine the price, and then make the game time decision while it was still within arms reach.
I branched out and tried a jellyfish roll which was (believe it or not) actually far worse than it sounds.
We had a long day on our feet, luckily the Deluxe Massager 2000 came to the rescue.
From KL we head straight back to Singapore to see mom off, as her three week backpacking extravaganza has come to an end. She was a real trooper adapting the the public transport riding, food stall eating, and shared bathroom lifestyle of a budget traveler.
A few things that we found interesting about Malaysia were:
It is far more westernized than the rest of South East Asia (excluding Singapore). An example is the streets and highways not only have painted lines (haven't seen that in months), but also the motorists moderately abide by them. In addition, signage both on the highway and in the cities was far superior than what we are accustomed to.
Malaysia was our first predominantly Islamic country on our tour. It was really interesting seeing all the women in burqas, a solid colored (often black), loose fitting, full body gown worn in public. Muslims get this tradition from the Quran and I quote:
And say that the believing women should lower their gaze and guard their modesty that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands.
Like every religious text their are different interpretations. Some had not an inch of skin showing while others only had their hair and part of their face covered. Still others would have the all black burqa on but would have Jimmy Choo shoes poking out from underneath, a coach purse on their shoulder, and be standing in the Louis Vuitton store texting with their iPhone. When they ate in public they would have to use one hand to hold the cloth away from their mouth several inches while using the other had to deliver food.
A few things that we found interesting about Malaysia were:
It is far more westernized than the rest of South East Asia (excluding Singapore). An example is the streets and highways not only have painted lines (haven't seen that in months), but also the motorists moderately abide by them. In addition, signage both on the highway and in the cities was far superior than what we are accustomed to.
Malaysia was our first predominantly Islamic country on our tour. It was really interesting seeing all the women in burqas, a solid colored (often black), loose fitting, full body gown worn in public. Muslims get this tradition from the Quran and I quote:
And say that the believing women should lower their gaze and guard their modesty that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands.
Like every religious text their are different interpretations. Some had not an inch of skin showing while others only had their hair and part of their face covered. Still others would have the all black burqa on but would have Jimmy Choo shoes poking out from underneath, a coach purse on their shoulder, and be standing in the Louis Vuitton store texting with their iPhone. When they ate in public they would have to use one hand to hold the cloth away from their mouth several inches while using the other had to deliver food.
The bus system is awesome. Almost all long distance buses are only three seats wide giving plenty of elbow room, equipped with leg rests, and have 140 degrees of reclinability.
Malaysian people don't point with their finger because they consider it disrespectful. They make a fist with their thumb resting on top and the direction it points shows the way.
Malaysian people don't point with their finger because they consider it disrespectful. They make a fist with their thumb resting on top and the direction it points shows the way.