LATER IN THE DAY

When Paul and I were in Kuala Lumpur, we did most of our exploring in the morning and in the evening. Our afternoons consisted of a little wandering and a lot of napping. Again, not even the hotel concierge could recommend things for us to do in the afternoons other than shopping.

So we went shopping.

We went to Times Square the first day and had the best pizza I have had in almost a year. Thank you, Papa.

My how I missed that garlic butter sauce! This is how fast food pizza should be served.

We filled our bellies to the max with the pizza, the cheesy garlic bread, the onion rings and three Cokes, so we needed to walk it all off for a bit so that the food coma would not set in.

This mall was huge. There were at least eight floors and there were wings. I thought the Times Square Indoor Themepark sign was funny, so I took a picture. What kind of theme park awaited us? A couple dinky rides? Weird.

I chuckled when I saw this sign above the entrance. And then, I walked in. To my amazement, there were all sorts of rides and games in this four-story space. There was even a roller coaster that twisted, turned and flipped above everyone’s head.

For dessert, after we burned some calories walking all over the mall that would give Manhattan Mall a run for its money, we headed to Paul’s favorite eatery, Krispy Kreme. While he was boring and selected three glazed doughnuts, I was adventurous and selected a classic (dipped in sugar), an apple-filled doughnut and one topped with icing and Oreo crumbs. Mmmm.

Look at the minis!

The next day we went to a different mall at the base of the Petronas Twin Towers, one of Kuala Lumpur’s most recognized edifices. Paul decided that this mall would put Easton (for those familiar with Columbus) to shame. Many stores seen on Orchard Road also appeared here at Petronas.

What I enjoyed most, however, was the line of restaurants placed along the outside perimeter looking out into a park that reminded me of Boston Common. Ponds with water features and layers of trees were placed in front of the downtown cityscape. After we enjoyed our dinner, we walked around the park and an even larger landscape was revealed to us.

Runners steadily passed us along the walkway as the rain gently fell. We decided to take a few photos and then head back to the hotel before the monsoon approached.

Later that evening, we headed into Chinatown to see what crazy deals we could find. Before we moved to Singapore, the only Chinatown I have previously encountered was the one in Manhattan so I guess I was expecting something like that. I was also expecting something similar to Singapore’s Chinatown but, since nothing really opened until 6 p.m., I guess I knew this was going to be a bit different.

In Manhattan, there are lots of signs written in Chinese, fabulous authentic Chinese restaurants (not American Chinese, either – the real deal). There were a few ladies who ran tents with pretty bags hanging inside. The Chinatown in KL was nothing like the Chinatown in NY.

In this Chinatown, we were greeted from the second we each had one foot out of the cab. We were approached by several young men right off the bat who immediately inquired about what we were looking for. “CD? DVD?” “Handbags! Handbags!”

The truth is that we had no idea what we were looking for. We had not even had a second to take a look around and just experience our surroundings. But we quickly learned that we had to move, so we just walked on.

From every booth we passed, someone inside came out and yelled in our ears, “Handbags! Hermes! Gucci! Prada! We have. Which one you like?” “CD, DVD.” “Watches, wallets…” OMG! I get it!

The first section was  very open. There were some shops on either side of the two-lane road and a line of tents were set up in front of the shops on the street. Before we were event halfway through the first section, Paul and I started joking about how we needed to know a language other than English because everyone here obviously spoke our language.

The next time he was approached, which was, of course, about four steps later, he started spattering out German 101.

“Sprechen sie Deutsch?” Paul asked.

“CD? DVD?” the street guy pressed on.

“Deutsch?”

“Uh…CD?”

I just walked away. Obviously this guy had no idea but, then again, that was the point. So I just pretended that I did not understand English until I found a tent worth looking into. I am happy to say that my approach worked quite well. The vendors may have thought I was rude by not responding to anything they yelled at me, but I just continued to walk, not make eye contact and just act like I had no idea what anyone was saying. Like a charm.

The back section of the street was much more crowded than the former. In addition to the shops on either side of the street and then tents in front of the shops on the street, there were two more rows of shops back to back in the middle of the street.

Walking through tiny pathway reminded me of walking through Little India – there is enough for one person and one person only to make his or her way down the tunnel-like corridor. Once we made it down the block, that was it. We looked out and saw nothing but dark streets and dark buildings on three sides.

We were interested in a couple of items and, I have to say, I was quite surprised by Paul’s desire to drop some cash in Chinatown. He was haggling so crazily that I was embarrassed to stand next to him but he came out on top every time. The one time I tried to negotiate, I left the tent empty handed. It was fine, though, because I really did not want the item – I just seemed to like it because it was there and not $15,000. We quickly realized that it seemed as if we were spending the money just to spend the money, so we quickly lost interest in a few things.

We did come out with two new umbrellas and a couple Christmas gifts (ssshhh). All in all it was a pretty good experience but I can say with certainty that one trip to a Chinatown like this one is enough for me.

Wednesday morning, we awoke and took our time with breakfast. I packed up and headed off to the airport in my ironically overpriced-yet-falling-apart taxicab. I had never been so excited to get on a plane and get back to Singapore. Kuala Lumpur was OK. I am glad that I made the trip but I have no desire to return anytime soon. When I returned to Singapore that afternoon, I knew I had a big day ahead of me but I was excited for my upcoming favorite holiday and my first Singaporean Thanksgiving.

BATU CAVES

After consulting Trip Advisor, I found three interesting tourist attractions. First on my list was to explore the Batu Caves in Selangor, about 18 km north of our hotel. Paul and I ventured out the second morning of our three-day KL adventure.

My eyes fixated on the plateau-shaped mountain as we were coming out of the city. I could see the large mass from a distance and, since I have not seen a mountain like this in a year or more, I thought it was just beautiful. The top of the mount was covered in trees while the sides revealed the limestone structure underneath.

As we approached the entrance, we were amazed to see a giant gold statue of Hindu god Lord Murugan enclosed in scaffolding standing in front of the nearly 300 steps that led to the cave’s mouth.

Temples and street shops lined the entrance to the caves on both sides. Many visitors took off their shoes and entered the temple with their families. There were temples insides the cave as well.

We were reminded several times that monkeys ruled the mountain. Some casually sat on perches along the steps while others ran back and forth playing, not caring who may have been in their way. Others were excited by all of the people and interested in what they were carrying. On a few occasions, monkeys jumped onto bags that people were carrying, causing the people to scream.

The view inside the mouth was pretty amazing. The caves were not completely enclosed so light broke from the ceilings 100 meters above our heads.

On our way down, we noticed that a previously-closed gate was open, so we ventured on another path to see what was ahead. We discovered another set of caves, known as the dark caves, that were closed to visitors not participating in a tour. Knowing that the world’s rarest spider awaited us, we were OK skipping out and heading back down to earth.

The view from the mouth of the dark caves gave us an opportunity to see the heart of KL from a distance. There was a bit of a fog or haze over the city throughout our trip, but we were able to see the two tallest edifices, the Menara Telekom tower, somewhat resembling the Space Needle on the right, and the Petronas Twin Towers, which we managed to visit later in the day.

THE TRIP

It was 8:30 p.m. Sunday. I was packing for my 6 a.m. flight to Kuala Lumpur and realized I was missing something – my passport. Of course, my passport had to go and lose itself about 10 hours before I would be off to another country. Not cool.

Paul made fun of me because my first reaction to losing my passport was that I would lose the best ID photo I had ever taken. My second horrified reaction was that if I lost my passport, I would lose the two stamps that I had waited 29 years to obtain. My heart sunk and I frowned at Paul with this realization.

We searched for about an hour, turning our house upside down and moving everything around three times. We said lots of prayers, talked about how maybe I was not meant to go, wondered if I threw away my passport with a stack of magazines I had tossed days prior and finally, I gave up. I said to myself that I was going to stop looking and just rest.

Thirty seconds later, I followed Paul into the spare bedroom. I leaned up against Paul’s back, tilted my head on his shoulder and noticed my wristlet, which had also gone missing, on a closet shelf. I picked up the wristlet and found my passport. Crisis averted.

The flight was short, a mere 45 minutes at most. My time in the immigration line was almost as long as my flight. As I stood in the sea of faces, ages, skin tones and dress, I found myself once again counting white people. There were three besides me at first, and then some more joined the line after a while.

I saw older men in long linen pants and tunics that were almost down to their ankles. They had fuzzy beards, darker skin and wore flat linen hats. I saw one girl wearing three shirts – two verifiably long sleeved – and a long skirt over a pair of jeans. I didn’t get that one.

Our hotel

Kuala Lumpur was, in my opinion, hotter than Singapore, though today I might have changed my mind. It was a city unlike any I have seen to this point. KL is Malaysia’s capital city so I was excited to see the metropolis. Within hours of arriving, however, my excitement dwindled immensely.

I originally thought that our hotel was simply in a semi-depressed part of the city. Upon exploring, I realized that most of the city looked run down. Buildings were old and dirty and some were falling to pieces. Poverty was evident; we saw a man sleeping on a sidewalk and I am certain I saw a man relieving himself in a vacant lot.

Cabs were horrendous. Even though the cab doors read, “This is a metered cab. No haggling,” more than half of the drivers we encountered refused to use the meter. One cab driver told us it would be 15 MR for a trip downtown. Not knowing what the fare should have been and realizing that the fare was relatively low, we accepted the rate. On the way back to the hotel, we hailed a cab and discovered that the actual fare was only 3 MR. We could not believe the guy charged us five times the actual fare!

My 75 MR fare from the airport to the hotel was pre-paid through a cab company at the airport. The cabby outside our hotel the morning I left set a 90 MR rate and then charged me 100 MR upon arrival. I did not want to fight with him but I did give him a stern “Really?!” look as I handed over the bill. The cab, by the way, was falling apart – the trunk had a bungee cord holding it down (not closed) and the seat belts did not work. 

After walking the terminal from one end to the other and back and not seeing my airline at any of the check-in counters, a concierge told me that I was in the wrong building. No cabs would take me as a passenger because the area was designated drop-off only. Luckily, a woman exiting a cab next to where I was standing told me where to find an available cab. I may have pouted in frustration. I ended up paying an additional 45 MR to get to the other terminal. Thirty minutes after I arrived, I was finally where I was supposed to be.

Traffic was thick at all hours. One afternoon we racked up a 25 MR fare before our driver was able to push the gas pedal for more than three seconds.

Malaysia was not all bad. I did really enjoy the drive from the airport to the city of Kuala Lumpur. The grass was green, there were short, fat palm trees that made me laugh. I saw a herd of cows lounging beside the road. I was excited to see mountains – ok, hills – in the background.

We walked around the shopping Mecca for a while and wound up at a place called Times Square. In a country that is 99 percent Muslim (I may be exaggerating but that has to be close), we were quite surprised to see the mall all decked out for Christmas.

We had lunch at Papa John’s and picked up some Krispy Kreme next door on our way out. We felt right at home.

There was not a lot to do in KL (even the hotel concierge had no afternoon recommendations) but we had some fun exploring. The number one thing on my list – Batu Caves.