Kuala Lumpur - Terima Kasih

Koh Lipe Longtail Boats at Night

Before I begin about Malaysia, a word (or 70) must be said about the trip here.  We left Koh Lipe on a sunny morning by ferry, destined for Lankgawi - an island in Malaysia where we would go through customs and catch a very short flight to Kuala Lumpur.  Ferries on the Andaman Sea are usually like canoeing on a placid lake, but not this time.  Our trip of a bit over an hour consisted of huge waves (so huge that the captain had to cut the engine to avoid I don't know what).  We were tossed and thrown by huge waves and people were getting ill so frequently that they ran out of bags (no further description necessary).  I now feel I could go into any cowboy bar and ride a mechanical bull with no trouble at all.  I was thankfully spared seasickness, but thought I was gonna die!  Add to that a (less than a minute) turbulence unlike anything I've ever experienced as our AIR ASIA flight was landing, and I was happy to be on the ground!

Now, back to Kuala Lumpur.  I like this city!  We are staying near the Petaling Street (yes, that's how it's spelled) which is supposed to be famous worldwide.  It's in Chinatown and mostly stalls hawking everything you can imagine, but great food.  The city, being a combination of Moslem, Chinese, Indian and having a British history has some really interesting architecture.  There is also a lot of money here so many new and fancy skyscrapers just finished or being built. 

Petaling Street

City View with Famous Towers



City View With River and Mosque

Train Cars for Girls Only - Yes!

My friends took me to the second holiest Hindu site yesterday - Batu Caves - which is really incredible with a combination of natural formations and brightly colored Hindu statues.

Entrance to Batu Caves

Monkey God



Monkeys at Batu Caves

 Today we went to the Bird Park which is over 20 acres in the city with over 200 different kinds of birds from all over the world in a beautiful setting with waterfalls and lush gardens and birds roaming freely thanks to huge overhead nets. 
 
 
 

I think one could spend some time here and find a lot to do and see; however, we are off tomorrow to Sri Lanka and a new adventure - hopefully calmer traveling than what we experienced getting here!
An addition - This is the famous Petronas Towers - at one point the tallest skyscraper in the world.  It is a very beautiful building and we went to see it last night.  These towers are on every t-shirt and souvenir for Kuala Lumpur.  And here they are: