Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Take Two!

I am not going to lie, I have a very clear and favorable bias towards Malaysia.  I find the culture inspiring, the food beyond delicious, and the people to be some of the nicest that I have interacted with in any country.

I decided to bring my friend to Malaysia, just so that she could experience the culture and food of one of my favorite places.  I am quite glad that I did.  My second time here was just as pleasant as the first, and my trip was far more quirky.

While I had a few things planned, for the most part the name of the game was to eat as much Indian and Malaysian food that our bodies could handle.

We decided after landing that we would make our way via the train to Batu Cave (mostly to see the monkeys hassle tourists).  Honestly, Batu Cave is very pretty, but the best part of it is watching packs of monkeys attack the unaware tourists and steal their things.  Not going to lie, I had far more fun doing that than anything else that day.

We decided on day two to meet up with an old friend, which turned into lunch at a wonderful Indian restaurant, then on to an aquarium, and finally to see the stand-up comedy in which said friend was taking part. 

Needless to say, the day was quite long, but we both agreed that it was one of the best memories of the trip.  

Lunch was great.

The aquarium was very interesting - especially getting to watch them feed the piranha.

This lady might have the only "feeding frenzy selfie" in existence...

I saw her setting up for this photo, making sure all the angles were right, and I knew I needed to roast her via my very limited exposure blog.  Just... yeah... 

The above video is in case you ever wanted to see a school of piranha devour a dead fish at the Aquaria KLCC.  I know that is on so many bucket lists - you can thank me later.

The comedy show though took the cake, I was so much better that we even expected in our wildest dreams.  To put this in perspective, I am usually asleep by about 10pm.  I like my sleep, and I HATE staying up late.  I was up until 2am that night, laughing so hard I thought I was going to have a seizure.

My friend Prakash was the emcee for the evening, so I really only took videos of him when he was on stage because he has also been a friend of Danielle's for about ten years, but honestly, the stand up performances were comedy gold.  

If you are ever in Kuala Lumpur, make sure to check out 1 Mic Stand.  Trust me, best choice you can make in Malaysia.    

After my rather late but quite enjoyable night, we took a pretty lazy day the next day.  We set out to locate some desired souvenirs at a local market, and then made an attempt to go up KL tower.  Needless to say, the cost was damn near insane, and we did not go up.  Instead we decided that we had enough luck for one day, and geared up for our last full day in KL, which we decided would be featuring a visit to the KL Bird Park.

We also threw in a quick trip to the National Mosque of Malaysia, and met up with a great guide there who had actually been to Hawaii, and did an amazingly great job explaining modern Malaysian Islam, the architecture of the National Mosque, and answered a lot of questions in a very neutral way.  

Now, when visiting mosques, it is always best to dress conservatively.  My friend and I chose to wear clothing that would be both covering and non-offensive in nature.  Part of being a good traveller is knowing the local area and dressing as best as you can to blend and not offend.  In places like Malaysia, that does sometime mean wearing head coverings for women, and not wearing shorts that we might consider more fitting for the ultra-hot region. 

Also, drug references are usually bad, along with skin-tight short dresses.  

This photo is taken near the entrance to the national mosque.  Pretty sure the girl in the sleeveless, bra-showing, skin tight, very short, pot leaf dress did not get the memo...

I am very much not into shaming someone for their choice in clothing or body-type, but there is fashionable, and there is stupid.  This lady is just stupid.  I really did stand there for a few minutes and thought to myself, "was there any part of her that wondered if she ought to pick a different outfit to visit an Islamic Mosque?"

Oh well...

So, on to the KL Bird Park.

I am not a fan of big birds, small birds, flying birds, etc.  They have beady eyes that always look like they are contemplating taking their beaks and using them to violently bring about the end of mankind. 

KL bird park is quite cool though.  It is acres of open-air sections that just have different birds... everywhere.  Honestly, it would be very cool to not only bring a kid or a school group on a field trip, but just to wander around and take photos.  You could easily spend a day here, but could rush through it as well in about an hour and a half

We left just as the skies were about to open up again and pour on us, so we took shelter in a museum that SHOULD NOT BE MISSED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES while in Malaysia.  

I love museums.

I love museums that have been curated well.

I love well organized museums that have cataloging numbers.

I could go on and on about my OCD about great museums. 

This museum met all of my OCD needs and then some.  I was beautiful, there was an amazing mixture of Malaysian and Islamic history.  The displays were wonderfully done, the artifacts were impeccably cared for, and the historical narrative was in a very neutral tone.  

If you find yourself in Kuala Lumpur, spend the time and the small amount of Ringit and visit the Islamic Arts Museum.  

 Another amazing trip to Malaysia, and I honestly look forward to the next one.  Seriously, this has to be one of my favorite countries. 

Putra Mosque

After spending a day getting completely burned in Malacca, we decided to take it easy and stay somewhat in the shade around Putrajaya.  The Putra Mosque was well worth escaping the shade of the trees and risking more skin cancer.  Not only is is a wonderful example of architecture, but it also is strikingly beautiful in the downtown government district of Putrajaya.  The area was designed to house a lot of the government offices to move them away from Kuala Lumpur,  It has a lot of the feel and beauty of the other federal districts that I have been to, mostly filled with art, official looking buildings, and very well maintained parks.  

I of course had to take the time to pick up the one geocache in the area.  I was also quite glad that it was in the shade.  I am sure you cannot tell from this photo, but my level of burn was downright painful.  I have only recently stopped shedding like a snake.  

After cooking outdoors for a few hours, we retreated to a local mall to wait for our flight.  I just thought that the bamboo walkway looked very pretty in that light, so we did what all the tourists must do - take a selfie!

Wandering Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur is the very definition of an ultra-modern city with all the amenities that one does not think of when one has never been to Southeast Asia.  While we tend to think of Southeast Asia as a developing part of the world, the transit and infrastructure is on par with, or better in some cases than a lot of Western locations that I have visited.

One of the first stops we had to take was to visit the park by the Petronas Towers, as it seems to be in just about every single photo of Kuala Lumpur.  I also had the ulterior motive of visiting the park in the area to grab a few geocaches, so everyone was happy.

Although the towers were quite cool to look at, I have to admit that the artwork in the park was just as cool, if not even better.  I mean, look at that whale!  The park also had a great kids area where there was a wading pool and some awesome swings and play structures.

As Malaysia is a predominately Muslim country, we also thought that it would be good for Danielle to get some head-scarfs in case we wanted to venture into any mosque or their surrounding areas.  There are countless shops that sell any color or pattern you could ever want.  After buying a few, we were on our way!

We ended up spending a bit of time wandering around the National Mosque, and got lucky enough to have a tour by a few of Danielle's friends from when she visited ten years ago.  They were an awesome group and the tour was very interesting and entertaining to say the least.

Kuala Lumpur is a beautiful and modern city that totally defies what any person who has never traveled to Southeast Asia might think.  It is clean, bright, friendly, and has a great balance of old culture and customs while still creating a society that integrates the many different groups of people that find themselves living there.  The Islamic, Indian, and Malay styles mesh beautifully together to create a hybrid of cultures, food, and help to make Kuala Lumpur one of the most friendly and open cities that I have visited.

The Ultra-Modern World that is Malaysia

I am sure that the content of this post will be both naive and wishful due to the fact that I only was able to spend three days in Malaysia, but in spite of that lack of time, I can honestly say that this is one of the most pleasant countries that I have ever visited. 

We traded in the orange robed monks of Thailand and went for a Saturday-to-Monday trip to various locations in Malaysia. I must first admit before writing more that this is my first experience in a Muslim majority country, and as such I honestly did not know what to expect. I have many friends who are Muslim, but this would be my first experience in a country where it is more normal for a woman to wear a head covering than not. 

As I sit here in Starbucks, gleaning off their free WiFi, I am able to look around the store and count about twenty women with head coverings of some kind, and two without, one of which is my wife. 

The west tends to view the headscarf as a sort of oppression, but in all honesty, I think that they are extremely far from the truth. I realize that my knowledge of equality and privilege are skewed, but in Malaysia, these women seem to use these head-scarfs as a sign of individuality. Aside from the more formal solid colors, the fabric is all individual and comes in all colors of the rainbow. They seem to be a culturally appropriate way to represent the individual. 

We in the West tend to over-simplify things to make it easier to stomach.  Yes, cultures are quite different, but in order to rationalize this difference we tend to just lump that culture in as being evil or bad in regards to our "true" religious beliefs and our more "civilized" culture.

Examples:

Muslims - Bad!

Women wearing some form of covering - Oppressive!

Etc.

I was openly invited into many different mosques, met Muslims who lived by many different interpretations of their own culture and code, and had the opportunity to listen many times to the truly beautiful call to prayer.

I am by no means trying to say that the whole world is quite like this, nor am I saying that all of the Islamic world is as peaceful as Malaysia appears to be, but I am saying that the average person seeks peace far more than they seek any sort of divisive nature. 

I have long been a proponent of befriending people outside of ones own culture for this sole purpose. 

One of my friends that I used to work with said it the best - "The laughter of children sounds the same anywhere in the world."

The only difference between this Starbucks in Putrajaya, Malaysia, and any other in the world is that I am paying in Ringgits, and that the food they serve is halal. 

A coffee is a coffee, and free WiFi brings people inside regardless of the color of their skin or their choice to wear a hijab. 

Moral of the story - everyone loves coffee, and just perhaps free WiFi is the route to more peaceful interactions across cultures. 

Also, Starbucks cannot spell your name right anywhere in the world.