I spent the majority of the day wandering around Petaling Street where Chinatown is located and tried to find some of the tourist sights in the vicinity.
I had some delicious Hainan Chicken at one of the busy restaurants in Chinatown before heading to Central Market, an old building full of vendor kiosks and small boutiques selling many different Malaysian souvenirs. The building is over a hundred years old, having opened first in 1888.
The rains decidedly came at around 1PM, when the sunny clear skies quickly transformed to a bleak and murky environment. I was stuck at the LRT train station for about 45 minutes, waiting for the rains to stop before heading back out into the city to check out some more sights – including a train station, a textile museum, the Petronas Tower (again), and others that I would have known the names of had I had a guidebook with me.
For dinner, I met up with my host at a restaurant near the KLCC Mall. Other Muslims were also seated and ready to have their first meal after dusk. Everyone ordered their meals when they arrived, but only received their dinners at around 7:20pm. It was interesting to observe everyone waiting until the moment when it was deemed acceptable to begin eating. My host called his mom to ask if it was time yet, and she confirmed it. Since we were at a mall, we weren't able to hear the mosques outside, or listen or watch some type of media that would notify Muslims when it would be OK to eat. Although I cheated by eating and drinking during the day, it was great to be able to pseudo participate in the Muslim culture at dinnertime.
