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Other entries in Kuala Lumpur

I surrender the map

So we leave Penang on Tuesday to go to Kuala Lumpur (here after known as KL). 

 A 5 hour bus ride later and we are there.

We get off the bus and have no idea where we are.  We decide to call the hotel and ask what the nearest sky train (think MARTA) stop is.  The woman who answers the phone asks where we are.  I tell her I don’t know, but I am sure we can manage.  She rattles off the name of some station that starts with a “P” and then the name of the street that we are supposed to walk down, that also starts with a “P.”  You can see where this is going, right?  I mean, come on, it is me on the phone.  Scott asks me where we are going.  I rattle off the best pronunciation I can of what I think the woman has just told me.  But I assure him I am sure that once we get to the station, I can look at the names and work out which one she actually said. 

Shut up, I know you are laughing. 

KL has about 4 different types of sky trains and a real train.  So we trek to the nearest sky train station.  As we’re standing there looking at the map, I find a stop named “Petaling,” (*THAT SOUNDS FAMILIAR* the little voice in my head shouts) that is on another line.  We go to the ticket counter and ask the woman how to get there.  She tells us we have to get off 2 stops down on the current line we are on and follow the signs to the train station.  Sounds simple enough. 

And off we go.  Turns out the next station is the real train station.  As we are sitting there waiting for the train (it is taking a really loooong time) I decide to pull out the map.  I look at where we are supposed to be going and it is not the same place as where the train that is currently pulling into the station is supposed to be going.  I bring this to the attention of Scott by pointing out that I think I confused the sky train stop with the name of the street we were supposed to be walking down. 

This is where I surrender the map.  Ok, that was the nice version I like to believe in my head.   Scott took the map to check out my revelation and never gave it back, for the rest of the trip.  Can you blame him?  Turns out if we had gotten on that train and went to the Petaling stop we would have been in another city.  Oops.

So we backtrack to the sky train, go back one stop, and get off at the correct stop of Pasa Answa (or something equally as confusing to pronounce) and there are thunderclouds.  We stand in the entrance of the station for an hour and a half while watching the downpour.  I apologize sheepishly.  If I hadn’t gotten us lost on an hour detour we would have been comfortably eating dinner and watching TV instead of a downpour. 

And bless his heart, Scott didn’t lose his patience or get irritated by any of this.  He just shrugs his shoulders and says, “I don’t feel like I’ve been to a city unless I get lost.”  Whew.  I think Chrissy and I would still be pissed off about this 2 months later. 

So when it finally stops raining we find a hotel, in Chinatown, this seems to be the theme of our trip.  We go to dinner and I have Taiwanese food.  And I liked it. 

The next day we plan out our trek around KL.  We end up walking the entire city.  Literally.  It wasn’t nearly as big as we thought it was. 

Then we take a walk through a park that is supposed to have a butterfly park, a deer park, and several flower gardens.  In case I haven’t mentioned this before, maps, signs, and generally directions in SE Asia usually suck.  And while these things were on our map, the signs to indicate them in the park were basically non-existent.  So we missed them.  And by the time we figured it out, we didn’t want to backtrack. 

Next stop is the war memorial and the statue by the same guy who created the statue of Iwo Jima.  I didn’t know this when we first came upon it, but the similarity to Iwo Jima was the first thing I noticed. 

Then we wander and find a random little outside restaurant with a lunch buffet.  I have no idea what I ate, but I know it was Malaysian, and it was good.   

We keep walking and come to the Merdeka.  It was an area dedicated to Malaysian Independence and had some museums that we opted out of.  Instead we decided to go to the KL Tower that has a viewing platform where you can see the whole city. 

So we walk to the nearest sky train stop and take it as close as we can to the KL Tower.  Or so we think.  Turns out we would have been better off getting a taxi to take us to the top of the hill as there is only one road up this hill and the sky train stop is on the opposite side of the hill.   

So Scott thinks it will be a good idea to take the less traveled path.  Straight up the side of the hill.  Oh, I am sooo not kidding.  There was a path with stairs and a bridge.  But in case you missed it the first time, IT IS UP THE SIDE OF THE HILL.  So off we embark on this trek with 3 boys, probably about 8 years old.  The boys easily pass the both of us, while continually hollering, “Hello!”  Scott is taking these stairs two at a time.  Grr. 

We all knew I would be the last one up this damn hill.  And when we finally get to a plateau, there’s Scott with a shit-eating grin on his face.  Yeah, he think’s is F@#&^* hilarious.  And if I could breathe, drink water, and hurl curses at him at the same time, I would.  But as I am occupied with the first two, I don’t have time for cursing.  But I do send him plenty with my eyes.  Most of it consisted of “eat shit and die.”  He is fully aware of my thoughts on hiking up this hill without my verbal expressions.   

And then we have to go down some stairs.  What?!?!  I just spent 15 minutes hiking up stairs and now I have to go back down?  *At least they aren’t still going up* the little voice in my heads says. 

Well, the boys had waited for us.  And the lot of them (Scott included) kindly let me go first.  Yeah, that didn’t last long.  Scott immediately starts the jumping, which of course gets the boys jumping.  So, basically it was like trying to walk on a trampoline.  So, I kindly let all of them pass me.  I am trying to keep my sense of humour about this as I can see the end of this trek.  And I’m not sure I would have if the boys hadn’t been so funny.  And Scott hadn’t been acting their age. 

So we finally make it to the top of this hill and to the top of the KL Tower.  We get a quick 360° view of the city and then the rain sets in, again.  But at least this time we are inside. 

Rain stops, we have dinner, and go see the Petronas Twin Towers.  These might look familiar if you have seen the movie “Entrapment” with Sean Connery and Katherine Zeta Jones.  I’m still trying to figure out how to work my camera, so that’s why I have the dark and light shots of the Towers.

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