Day 13 - Sun 24 Nov: Kuala Lumpur

Fine in the morning with an afternoon thunderstorm the same time as yesterday, 24 to 33 deg.
Walk: 5km

Today the guide is going to show us some sights of KL, no riding involved. Although they do have some cycleways, they don’t look all that user friendly and don’t cover all the places we visited.

I was up before the sparrows as usual and went out for a quick five km walk. Saw the Bike 2019 event in action where they close a circuit around KL to traffic and allow thousands of registered cyclists to race or ride steadily around the big smoke. I saw numbers on the bikes from one to well up over 3,000 so it’s very popular. Called into Saint John’s Cathedral for a bit of quiet time and some prayers, seeing it’s Sunday. Not a grand cathedral by any means but large and light.

So four of us, Ken, Dogan, Kev and I met up in the foyer at 8am. The others elected to have a real rest day, and I don’t blame them for that.

First stop was just around the corner for a traditional Malay breakfast of fried rice, eggs, roti and crispy chicken. Of course, with tea and coffee. We’ve learned that unless you specify that you definitely don’t want any sugar in your beverage, you’ll get it, by the tablespoons. At first no one was particularly hungry but once the food started to arrive the appetite kicked in. It was all very nice.

We walked back to the hotel just to check none of the other four had surfaced, they hadn’t, so we set off in the minibus. The main attractions we visited are below, others I’ll just include a photo.

The new Grand Palace could only be admired from the outside as it had never been opened to the common folk in all the time since being opened in 2011. It cost a measly 800 mil to build.

Next stop was the Thean Hou Chinese Temple, which you can enter without many restrictions. The sign says just don’t be “obscene”, no chance of that. Sunday is the time for the local Chinese to tie the knot, so we shared the temple with lots of happy and I’d guess, hopeful couples and their wedding parties.

The next port of call had a few more restrictions on our entry, the National Mosque. Kev and I had to wear full length robes as our shorts were not long enough. A very immaculate building but by no means grand, which I believe is a great way to go. Some places of worship, of all persuasions are well over the top when it comes to size and grandeur.

No visit to KL would be complete these days without a viewing of the Twin Towers. Ramish explained the Muslim architecture involved in the design of the towers, which strangely enough were built by two separate companies, one tower each. The bridge between the two towers is completely free-standing so if it fails it won’t bring the towers down.

As we were still fairly full of breakfast (and dinner last night) we decided on a coffee and a snack at a nearby “Coffee to Go”. It was good.

It was then back to the hotel for some quiet time. I went for a wander mid-afternoon but the rain sent me back to the room to get ready for dinner.

St John's Cathedral

Breakfast

Kings Palace entrance

Thean Hou Temple

A sort of lucky dip to see your future; I got 12, which happens to be my lucky number: "Peace and Harmony ahead"

My Year

The Mosque
The full-length getup I had to wear

KL's original Town Hall

One of the closed streets for the cyclists

The reason KL is so named - means Muddy River

Central Markets

A local sweet we tried at the markets; a pastry thing with palm sugar rolled in coconut

Couldn't pass this opportunity

Those towers

A public pool in a lovely clean park at the toweers

Dinner - fresh coconut, chicken and beef satay, Malaysian fried rice dish wrapped in an egg coating with plenty of satay dip

Cooking the chicken and beef satay

Dinner venue

Some artefacts at the entrance of the restaurant


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