Last Friday night, after a 45 minute flight and two extremely efficient airports, we arrived in KL.
We were not expecting to be all that impressed with the Petronas Towers, but we were enamored of them. They are incredbly imposing, other-worldy, and spectacular at night. After a room change, we wangled our hotel to give us a room with a view - here was the view from our window:
One of the highlights of our weekend was seeing our friend Kamel who was in KL for business. The three of us hired a taxi to take us on a tour of the city - luckily our driver, named Jaya, was very knowledgeable. We saw the King's Palace (the king is a figurehead who changes every 5 years), an old Chinese temple, the war memorials (this year Malaysia celebrates 50 years of independence from the British), the KL Tower, and every other major sight there was to see. We even saw monkeys beside the road. 
Then, in true fashion, we went to a Lebanese restaurant for a long leisurely lunch. KL is a big destination for Arab tourists - so we felt like we could have just as easily been in Dubai. By the time we finished, it was time for Kamel to get ready for his trip to Tokyo, and for the two of us to rest up before dinner!
We took a taxi to the suburbs to meet Freddie (the mother of a good friend- Nicole - who Mo went to school with in Dubai) - big shopping malls just like U.S. burbs along the way. Freddy took us to a local Indian restuarant and then she insisted we go to a Malaysian shop to have ice kachung for dessert. Truth be told, this was a dish we had been trying to avoid in Singapore! Ice kachung is basically a pile of shaved ice (much nicer texture than a snow cone - smooth, not gritty) covered with sweet syrups, all kinds of brightly colored gelatinous oddities, beans, and canned corn. Very odd, but depending on what you get a spoonful of, actually quite tasty.
Sunday morning we walked to the Sentral Market and to Chinatown - we are beginning to learn that Chinatowns all over are very similar - the sale of knock-off handbags and watches are the defining feature.
KL is similar to Singapore - extremely diverse with Malay, Indian, and Chinese influences. There is a larger Muslim population (about 50%) and fewer people speak English. For a much larger, poorer country, KL seems to be in a boom. Posh shops, fancy malls, and luxury cars abound. The political life of citizens there is much more dynamic (the election is coming up), people openly criticize the government, whereas THIS PASSAGE HAS BEEN DELETED FOR YOUR OWN PROTECTION.
A few more shots of the Petronas Towers: (Tim - try and not get too excited here)
Soo...there was an earthquake a few hours ago, just off the coast of Indonesia. Apparently felt by everyone in our building except for us. We were playing tennis. Just assumed it was our awful game.
One last note - read Calvin Trillan's column in the Sept 3 & 10 issue of the New Yorker - it is all about Singapore street food!
We will begin compiling our very own guide to Singlish - the language spoken here in Singapore. Ok-lah...that's all for now.
Love,
L & M
