Hanging Out in Kuala Lampur

So yesterday we ventured out into KL and saw many of the sights. For a city of 5 million with a reputation for bad traffic, I though getting around town was very easy. We walked a bunch and took the subway/elevated trains a few times and covered almost all of the sights. First we visited the Historic District including stops in Chinatown and Little India. Malaysia is a very diverse country with Malays, Indians, Chinese, and Thais to a lesser extent all very involved in the countries culture/leadership. We also ran into our first knock-off market. They had near replicas of tons of famous brands for dirt cheap. Fernando is much more into shopping than me so he filled me in on the slight differences to detect fake from real. To me, its all the same, clothes. After seeing the different cultural parts of town we visited famous landmarks such as the Railway Station built in 1889 and the National Mosque. It was my first time being in a mosque and nothing too special. They tried to promote their religion a bit, but I sympathized as it was like a visitor going to one of our Temples. From here we caught the train to the new part of town with lots of tall buildings. The highlight of this area was Petronas Towers, but there were lots of other cool sights. At the base of the towers was a big mall that Fernando loved. He enjoyed seeing all the brands that he hopes to wear one day, but was disappointed when the prices were the same or more than in the US. It started downpoaring a few minutes after we got to the Towers so we stayed inside for a while before picking up tickets for the 6:15pm group to visit the Towers' skywalk. We caught a taxi back to our hotel since it was still raining and relaxed for a couple hours before heading back to the Towers. Our evening was spent at the Towers and then walking around downtown looking

at the nightlife and such. We ate dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, which costed well more than our hotel room and everything else we had purchased that day. Malaysia is very inexpensive and I think would be a great place to visit in the future. If I ever come back I will only spend 1 or 2 days here in KL before heading out to the jungle/National Park area and then another nice stop at a resort on the beach. Our hotel here is suitable but nothing amazing. While we have more space than our hostels and a free breakfast for $12 a person, we also have a leaky sink. For the price, I don't care a bit. Things are going well here and we have a fun day on tap including massages and seeing a few more sights.