| Kuala Lumpur |
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| Kuala Lumpur |
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On our way to
New Zealand, we had a two-day stopover in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. We expected we would be exhausted from the flight, so the only thing
we would probably see was the inside of our hotel room. Fortunately, the flight
wasn't too bad. After a few hours sleep, we were ready to see some of the sights
of KL.
The most famous sight of KL was easy to see. We just had to look out of the window of our hotel room to see the Petronas Twin Towers. But you can't explore a city by staying in your hotel, so let's get outside. |
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| We left the hotel and just walked around for a while. On the streets of KL, there's lots to see, with a lot of variation. Modern office buildings, little food stalls, a large bus station (with lots of food stalls), ancient temples. Within the hour we agree: KL is cool ! |
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In the
National Museum we learn more about Malaysia. In the main building there is
a very interesting exhibition about the diversity of Malaysian culture,
which is very rich because of the many ethnic groups here: Malaysian, Chinese,
Indonesian, Indian, Portuguese, etcetera, etcetera. Strangely enough, in one of the museum's other buildings, there is another exhibition about Malaysian culture, which is almost an exact copy of the exhibition in the main building. The Malaysian culture isn't that diverse after all, we guess ;) |
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The best chance to see some of the colourful Malaysian culture, is in Chinatown. Colourful indeed; it appears that shops are sorted by colour; one shop only sells red items, another shop specializes in green things. |
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| A bit out of place in
Chinatown is the Sri Mahamarammian Hindu temple. On the other hand, it's a
good example of the diversity of Malaysian culture we learned about in he
museum. So it's not out of place, after all. From the outside, it looks like
a very holy place, until we see one of the monks carrying a garbage bin.
We're invited to take off our shoes and have a look inside.
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As a tourist, you definitively want to visit the Lake Gardens, or Taman Tasik Perdana. This large park area houses many interesting attractions. The National Museum we mentioned before is one of them, but there are lots more, like the planetarium, the museum of Islamic art, a deer park, and so on. |
| If you only have two days
in Kuala Lumpur, it's impossible to see everything in the Lake Gardens,
unless you skip the rest of the city. Don't miss the Bird Park, which is the
largest of it's kind in the world. All these different kind of birds,
definitively worth a visit. Skip the bird show, however. This is exactly the
same parrot show you've probably seen on the
Canary Islands. The Orchid Garden is worth a visit too. It's located just opposite the Bird Park. |
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The last thing in the Lake Gardens we go to, is the Butterfly Garden. A few months before we came to Malaysia, we visited a place just like it, in Drenthe in the Netherlands. We prefer the Malaysian Butterfly Garden: it has a lot more different species and the garden itself is more beautiful. And you don't have to step into the freezing cold at the end. |
| The Malaysians consider
eating a very important part of their life. Therefore, you're never far from
a restaurant. Close to our hotel, we found this street: Jl Bukit Bintang,
with all these Chinese foodstalls. A great place to eat outside; it has a
wonderful atmosphere, you don't even mind the cars racing by.
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| After just two days we had to leave KL again. We had to catch a plane to New Zealand. Pity we didn't book another stopover on the way back. Well, there's a good chance we'll come back some day, we definitively want to see more of Malaysia. |
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