Day 97 – KLCC Park and Changkat

Turns out I wouldn't be taking the “hop on hop off” bus afterall. I
looked at the map and noted that I saw a good 50% of the attractions
that were listed on the map, so I wondered if I actually really wanted
to spend the money to go to the other destinations. I waiting for
about 45 minutes at one of the stops, and no bus came, which made it
easier for me to decide to skip it. No one else was waiting with me,
which made me think that business was slow in this season, and there
weren't many buses running. There would probably be long waits at
every stop I take.

I roamed around KLCC Park, which is a large business park completely
surrounded by skyscrapers in every direction. There was a running
track for midday jogging, and a mosque nearby. I walked around on a
Friday at 1:30pm and saw many Muslims walking towards the mosque. It
was probably time for one of their daily prayers. It was incredible
just how many of them were in the small mosque, with hundreds of shoes
lined up outside.

Afterwards, I headed to the cinema to watch an Arab movie called
Captain Abu Raed. Not a very popular movie amongst the locals, I had
the entire theatre to myself like it was my own living room.

At the end of the night, I headed out with some new friends to the
Changkat area in Bukit Bintang to have drinks and party on my last
night in KL. The area is a major expat area, with many European pubs
lined up on the street. The clubs don't close until around 3-4 here,
and we stayed until very close to the end, settling for some drunken
Malaysian food afterwards to soothe the drunkenness.

KL Tower to the Left, Petronas Tower in the Middle, and Mosque on the Right

Ramadan Performance at KLCC Suria Mall

Friday Prayers at the Mosque - Look at all the shoes!

Day 95 – CS Meetup in KL

I finished my first leisurely reading book in probably over 10 years,
which is a big accomplishment in my mind. It took me over three months
to finish Pride and Prejudice, even though I had ample time throughout
my travels to do so. I think the free time in Myanmar and here in KL
helped elbow me forward in finishing the book. Hopefully this leads to
more reading... I downloaded Kite Runner on my kindle, since I'd heard
from many people that it was a good read.

I spent the majority of the day around Chinatown and KLCC again. It's
just so easy to find a place to sit and use the (free) internet or
read a book!

Later on, I joined a Couchsurfing Meetup around Bukit Bintang and we
had dinner and drinks. I met some locals there and we shared some of
our couchsurfing experiences and I got some advice on some of the
places I should visit while here, even though I'm running out of time!
I also got a little insight on the recent rally that occurred in the
city about a month ago, which lead to hundreds of people detained by
the police. The rally was to call for cleaner elections, but the
government never allowed the rally to occur in the first place because
they didn't issue a permit to the group responsible for holding the
rally. In Malaysia, any meetup with more than 5 people required a
permit (technically even if you and 5 of your friends go out for
dinner, for example). Once the rally occurred, the government blocked
many of the roads into the city center, and stopped the train and rail
lines into the city. They randomly arrested many people who were at
the scene of the rallies, even if they weren't participants. In the
end, both sides were wrong for what they did. One, the group didn't
obtain a permit, and two, police shouldn't have handled the even in
such a way because there wasn't a national security issue.

I wish I was there at the time it occurred! I might have even gotten
arrested, since I could pass for a Chinese Malaysian easily.

Hindu Temple near Petaling Street

Day 93 - Petaling Street, Chinatown

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.