The wait was worth it … my room is at the top of the hotel - I know it’s high up because my ears pop in the lift on the way to and from my floor! I’ve got the absolute best view too - day and night. My first trip out was to the shop for milk so I considered just sitting, drinking delicious tea in front of my amazing view for 4 days! I also had a bit of time sitting by the pool - even did some exercise in 2 laps of the pool, got very bored and had forgotten how slowly I go just swimming without fins to propel me. It was exhausting (thanks to a combination of the size of the pool and my motivation!) so I got out and read my book instead, enjoying the great views from the pool too.
After dragging myself away from the viewpoints, I got my full tourist on and and bought a hop-on / hop-off bus ticket and proceeded not to hop on or off even once and just sat my way round the route enjoying the sights!
Today, I’ve made further use of my bus ticket and moved a little more from the closest chair I could find in any place but did a few ‘hop offs’ so visited a few of the attractions:
Central Market … endless tat shops full of treasures. I was conscious of my already heavy and over full bag so refrained from too many purchases. I did visit their food court for breakfast though … and had chicken and rice, which is what I also had for dinner last night and will likely eat most days - mainly because variations of that are the only menu item in most places! The lady handed me my tray and proudly also gave me a fork along with my chopsticks and said ‘so you can eat it’ with a massive smile! She wasn’t wrong. My food also came with a little bowl of water with a bit of green in… I wasn’t convinced what it was for and wondered if it was perhaps a finger bowl for washing my hands in. The person at the table next to me drunk hers. I tried a tiny bit and it seemed to just be warm water … still not sure which of us had the right idea for what it was for!
Petronus Towers…just a quick photo stop as I’m going back to go up them tomorrow. There are an array of men there who accost you the minute you step off the bus and offer to take your photo. It seems they’ve actually got a virtual background of the towers which you are super imposed on to so that they can actually get you and the full towers in. I politely declined … then just shuffled off with them all still trailing after me & repeating their offers while thrusting their phones in my face for me to see what they mean!
KL Tower … another photo stop and walk round the base of the tower. There is also a canopy walk there which is fun. They are proud that it’s the only small part of original rainforest in the whole of the city - because they built all over the rest. It was a cool walk though … until a few spots of rain came. I’d finished my walk and was on my way back up the steep hill to the entrance as it started to rain. It wasn’t too bad and the trees provided quite good shelter. I am also no good at all at getting up hills so I was plodding along slowly. The rain got a bit heavier so I sheltered briefly under a big tree … when a massive flash and thunder boomed round the world. Since everyone knows there is almost a virtual certainty of being struck my lightning if you stand under a tree in a storm, I panicked, probably did a little scream and then miraculously ran the rest of the way back up the hill. Fortunately there was a little toilet block at the entrance that I sheltered in ….
Just as well as the ‘passing showers’ forecast for today turned out to be a mega storm and the entirety of all of the fresh water in the whole of Asia plummeting out of the sky. I had been considering going up the KL tower but since the visibility was reduced to about 7 metres and there was an immense weather event, I was not about to go up Asia’s 7th largest lightning conductor!
The inner Sara (the mother) in me knew I should really strip down to my pants, put everything else in a plastic bag and make a run for it. However, since I try to dress at least fairly modestly here with knees and shoulders covered, and I haven’t fully regressed into becoming my mother just yet, I waited the storm out. Plus, I’d have had to panic and thrown myself flat on the floor with every lightning and thunder so I’d have got ever so dirty and it really would have taken a while to get anywhere!
Eventually, the rain eased, I purloined a plastic bag from the cleaning supplies I found in the toilet block (it was an emergency 🙈) and emerged to find a taxi home. I was going to try and navigate the monorail but it was a long walk and it’s a large metal box hoisted into the air here, which would go whizzing through a storm. Not for me! I’ve seen the Simpsons, I know how disasterous those things can be.
On my way home in the taxi, I listened to the radio that was on and was interested to note that the adverts, which play after every song, are all ones basically just trying to get people to behave like proper humans:
Remember to keep washing your hands after you’ve used the toilet. We all learnt to wash our hands after we’d been to the toilet during covid (surely we’d all been aware of that little pearl of wisdom prior to covid??) but even now covid has passed, you could spread other germs or diseases so keep washing them.
The mirrors on your car can be really useful - try to make use of all of them when you’re driving, whether turning, moving lanes or at junctions. Indicating can be a further really useful tool to avoid accidents. (I’m not convinced the drivers here are aware there are lanes on the roads or that they do, in fact, cross or change between them so that whole advert is largely pointless).
They don’t seem concerned with health safety around the roads in general really. Any workers who have the misfortune of having to work on or near the roads just do so, with the cars whizzing about them. Some of them wear high vis - some don’t, or presumably they’re not expected to survive long enough to be given one.
As with the rest of Asia, there are a variety of zebra crossings here - some are white and some are yellow. I’m not sure on the distinction but I think it may just be they thought yellow would brighten it up a bit and make these road decorations look a bit more attractive. They are certainly not anything to do with crossing roads or safety so I assume are just further aesthetically pleasing additions to the road ways. Much like the rest of the markings and lines they have on them.
I’m terms of street decoration, I have noticed the excellent street lighting efforts here - near the botanical gardens and park, the street lights are poppies. And around the central mosque, they are ornate and pretty. It seems like a fabulous idea - we’ve got to have the street lights everywhere, we should really featurise them! I’ve decided to write to the council once I’m home and suggest they start with the ones in my road, which I shall propose should be dressed to appear as shooting stars I think.
There are quite a lot of police around - they’ve painted the skyscrapers that are their police stations all blue to you can spot them. The ones on foot tend to be a bit scowly - but then I would be too if someone made me wear a full thick uniform, mega jacket and knee high huge boots in this heat. A bit like working at my old school with the ludicrously unnecessary uniform requirements designed, one assumes, just to show how little the staff are cared about when health and safety and what’s ‘right’ are the priority. The police cars here have blue lights and sirens but again, these seem no more than decoration. Occasionally, the cars put their lights on - and just remain sitting in traffic. I’m not sure if it’s to brighten up everyone’s commute or just a crowd mentality display of refusing to give way to the police. If the motorbikes go by though - full lights and sirens, usually in a pack of 4-6 with a super blacked out, mega posh, black van in their centre, everyone has to move out of their way as they move traffic, block junctions to create clear passage and generally barge through everything. I’ve seen it happen twice today. Must be what the real ‘emergencies’ are here in KL! Perhaps it's what happens when someone runs out of tea and they've got to get to the shops for more sharpish.
Speaking of tea, I'm going to make myself a cup and sit and look at the view for a bit longer!
Love the photos Pip! Especially looking up at the tall buildings and the fancy street lights and views from your room night v. day.
You didn't say what you did with the plastic bag you stole from the toilet block?? did you strip off clothes to keep them dry as you should? or perhaps you put the plastic bag over your head??!
Looking forward to the next instalment! xx