KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA
I left Singapore by luxury bus for the five-hour ride north to Kuala Lumpur (or just KL), Malaysia’s capital. My seat on the bus was one of those Sharper Image massage chairs, except the massage buttons didn’t work (on any of the chairs). What if they had? Seriously, what premium would you pay to ride (or fly) reclined in a massage chair? It reminded me what a civilized part of the world I was in. On arrival in KL, I made my way to Number Eight Guesthouse on touristy Tingkat Tong Shin.
I found Kuala Lumpur a clean, modern city perhaps striving to have, but not quite achieving, the efficiency of Singapore. KL’s public transit train and monorail systems are modern, but less convenient than Singapore’s MRT. Connections between lines are non-existent; to change trains you must exit one station, walk a block or two outdoors, and then enter another station (and pay again). Many of KL’s neighborhoods are cut off by highways or skyscraper construction. And many, but not all, of its taxi drivers are touts who overcharge tourists by demanding a flat fee usually three-times the meter rate. In such instances you should demand they use the meter and hold your ground.
Still, Kuala Lumpur has every modern convenience you could imagine, including some world-class (air conditioned) malls and excellent food in somewhat similar ethnic proportions to what I found in Singapore (Singapore has a greater proportion of Chinese while Malaysia, unsurprisingly, has a greater proportion of Malays and seems to have more Muslims). Indeed KL, like Singapore, has a Chinatown, a Little India, and probably other ethnic enclaves. But my favorite feature of KL was its friendly people, most of whom spoke excellent English.
The same day I arrived in KL, my friend Carol flew in from London for a long weekend. Before jetlag set in, we managed to explore Chinatown, enjoy the market and a tea house there, have dinner at Old China Café, and admire nearby Jamek Mosque (one of the oldest mosques in Kuala Lumpur).
The next day we hit the ground running, well sweating really, spending most of the day at Lake Gardens (a large park created by the British so they could escape the baser races). Today it’s one of those great city parks full of gardens, museums, a planetarium, you know, all that stuff they cram into large urban parks these days. We stopped first at the Orchid Garden before crossing the street to KL Bird Park, the highlight of which was the eagle feeding.
The midday heat and humidity dictated that we hit a museum next, so we visited the Islamic Arts Museum, which was packed with mostly Muslim visitors. Muslims make up more than 60% of Malaysia’s population. It might be surprising to some, but not to me or most people for that matter, that Malaysia is one of the most peaceful nations in Southeast Asia (historically) and probably one of the safest and most comfortable to travel in.
Every religion has its extremists, or perhaps it’s better to say every extremist has his religion, which he invokes as justification for his actions. From what I’ve seen of Muslims in the Malay Peninsula, they are peaceful, friendly, hard-working family-oriented folks who laugh a lot. It would be as unfair to judge Muslims by the acts of a few terrorists invoking Islam as it would be to judge Christians by Quran-burning whackos, pedophiliac priests, and bigoted Bible-thumpers.
Our next indoor spot, a real find, was the Coliseum Café. Established in 1921, this place exudes atmosphere, with old clippings and caricatures on the walls and a nice range of cocktails flowing from the bar. It was once the colonial-era haunt of Somerset Maugham and other colonial types. A historic hotel and cinema are attached as well. Here’s Frommer’s review of the place:
Okay, the place is 90 years old, and so is the staff (seriously, some have worked here forever). Located in the grottiest hotel I've ever seen, with stained white walls, worn tile floors, and threadbare linens, this is KL's authentic "greasy spoon." It sounds dreadful, but the place is legendary, and someday it will be gone and there will never be anything else like it. It used to be the place for the starched-shirt colonial types to get real Western food back in the day. Now it's a favorite with the locals, who come for enormous sizzling steaks (which fill the place with greasy smoke), baked crabmeat served in the shell, and the house favorite caramel custard pudding.
Next we visited three high places. The first was the Petronas Twin Towers at KL City Centre (KLCC), the tallest buildings in Southeast Asia and the tallest twin towers in the world. OK, we never actually made it up the Twin Towers, but we “visited” them. Instead we wandered around the upscale KLCC mall at the base of the towers. The mall’s interior resembled the main reactor of the Death Star. A friend who saw my photo of it commented, “I bet Obiwan could shut that thing down.”
Indeed, I recommend against visiting the Twin Towers themselves. Tickets are free, but there’s only a limited number and you have to line up early in the morning to get one. Also, the public is allowed only halfway up the towers to the connecting bridge. That’s the real downside for me. And finally, when you are in the towers, you can’t see the towers, and they pretty much make the skyline what it is.
I’ve asked myself the philosophical question: Is it better to be beautiful or appreciate beauty? Well, I’m stuck with the latter. But whenever I have the choice, I choose the latter anyway. In New York City, I say you’re better off at the Top of the Rock observation deck enjoying views of the Empire State Building than visa versa.
The next day we visited our second and third high places: Batu Cave on the outskirts of KL (one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India, it’s dedicated to the Hindu deity Murugan, whose 42.7-meter gold statue stands watch at the foot of a 272-step staircase up to the cave and shrine – hot, sweaty climb to a humid cave); and KL Tower (the 421-meter communications tower in the center of the city – air conditioned elevator ride to the top).
Although visiting KL Tower is not free, it’s worth the price, especially if you combine your visit with a meal or tea in its revolving restaurant, which only costs a few dollars more than visiting the observation deck alone. For example, visiting just the observation deck runs MYR 38 (about $10), but having tea and dessert at the KL Tower restaurant costs only a few Ringgits more (perhaps $3 more), gets you past the lines, and includes the observation deck. If that doesn’t convince you, this should: the KL Tower observation deck is actually higher than the observation bridge between the Petronas Twin Towers.
That night we met up with my friend Sharon and her partner AJ and enjoyed the kind of night on the town you can only have with local friends: liars dice and drinks at The Social in Bangsar Village, a visit to the nearby night market where we ate Cameron Highlands corn (so sweet, it can be eaten raw and tastes amazing) and two kinds of snails (toothpicks essential – you can’t get the meat out by blowing or sucking, as I found out), then dinner and karaoke into the wee morning hours.
Carol returned to London the next day, and I did an overnight trip to Melaka (see next article). When I returned from Melaka, Sharon and AJ took me to Mak Alang grilled seafood restaurant, a mostly-Muslim seafood joint on the outskirts of KL where we pigged out on several kinds of fish, snails, and other deep-sea delicacies for less than $10 a head (our heads) including drinks and dessert. Look, I know it can’t be that interesting to read about my meals in KL, but I hope at least I’ve impressed upon you just how civilized KL is.
A word about Sharon and AJ, my wonderful lesbian-couple friends in KL: Despite the fact that homosexuality is officially prohibited in Malaysia and punishable by caning, Sharon and AJ were quite open about their relationship, holding hands and even kissing in public, and no one batted an eye. They are truly in love, and hopefully love will triumph over outdated “traditional” views about who can be a couple and who can marry.
In my own country, there are still a great many people with those views. Like our Supreme Court, they often turn to “tradition” to justify discrimination that can’t be justified under notions of reason, liberty, equality, or compassion. Fortunately surveys show that such outmoded views are on their way out, with younger generations being far more accepting of gay marriage. I suspect the same is happening in Malaysia too, starting in the cities.
Sharon and AJ are in love and that’s what counts. They, like all loving couples everywhere, should be entitled to the same legal rights currently reserved only for certain “acceptable” couples. Contrary traditions should fall the way of other pernicious traditions: slavery, racial and gender discrimination, male-only rule, genital mutilation, and the prohibition of interracial marriage to name a few.
Enough of my soapbox. I eventually pulled myself away from KL to visit Georgetown, the Cameron Highlands, and Taman Negara National Park, all to the north and northeast of KL.
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