Things I have learnt about Malaysia today:
Stairs – oh god the stairs. All train and monorail stations have stairs. If you can’t climb stairs in many cases you can’t access the station. I don’t know how people who are unable to walk unassisted manage (I’m guessing they use taxis a lot). So my new years resolution of climbing more stairs has had several extra months of stairs tacked on, and we’re only in day 2 of the trip.
Lonely Planet and I don’t necessarily agree on what is interesting. Scott and I followed the Little India walking tour from their guide to KL, Penang and Meleka. It wasn’t boring (it was hot), but it wasn’t as interesting as I thought it could be. Next time Little India and myself will just wander around together and I’ll spend more time in the heart of the district versus skipping along the outside.
The Police Department has a mosque. We heard the Azan while walking through Little India and then came across a beautiful blue and white mosque, attached to a beautiful blue and white building.
I felt really guilty when absolutely starving at 6:30pm, wander into a restaurant (and making decisions when surrounded by choice is quite difficult also), and order food and eat… then I notice the restaurant slowly filling up and people sitting at the table patiently waiting, not touching the food or drinks in front of them, even when their meals arrive, because the prayer and the end of the fasting period (7:30pm here) has not been made. They were more likely hungrier than I.
The more tired I am, the more unable I am to divide by 3 – which makes my ability to compare prices from RM to AUD additionally difficult.
Compared to Australia there are so few people smoking. Most enclosed shopping centres and buildings are smoke free, but even on the street there are so few people smoking.
I’ve spotted a very small number of people sleeping on the street, and no beggars. I’m guessing the police move them on, away from the areas I’ve been to so far.
A full body massage is a lovely thing, and now, I’m going to go and sleep the effects of it off so I can function tomorrow. We hope to go to the Petronas Towers observation deck and bridge, and then perhaps China Town, since much of that was closed tonight (goddamn Mondays).
Keep enjoying KL and ignoring the Lonely Planet. If you only do one thing, make it the Islamic Arts Museum. Completely beautiful; I went two days in a row… x