The flight from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur was an easy 9 hours. The KL airport looks like something out of a science fiction movie and was our introduction to how ‘modern’ this part of the world is.
Our decision to spend time in Kuala Lumpur was based on our need to get visas for Uzbekistan. I don’t know that we would have included it as part of our trip otherwise as the idea of a big Asian city was not particularly appealing. On a recommendation from a friend in Whitehorse, we stayed at a great hotel that turned out to be perfectly located. The first thing we noticed when we got into our room was an arrow on the ceiling showing the direction of Mecca. Of the 22 million people who live in Malaysia, 15 million are Muslims. We also found out the KL is a very popular place for vacationing Saudis.
Our first task was to locate the Uzbek Embassy – not an easy task as a Google search listed 6 different addresses. But with the help of the hotel concierge who had to make several phone calls we got an address way over on the other side of the city. We also found out that the Embassy wouldn’t be open for visa applications until the next day and that the visas would take 4 business days to process. Not much we could do but set our minds to enjoying our longer than expected stay. We spent the afternoon at the Islamic Arts Museum and the KL Bird Park. Both were great. There was a tremendous thunder storm while we were at the bird park and we found ourselves sharing a rain shelter with a very nervous peacock.
The next morning we opted to hire a driver to take us to the Uzbek Embassy and bring us back into the hotel. It seemed pretty expensive at $50 but we decided we needed some help negotiating the journey. Our driver’s name was Tan and he turned out to be a lovely guy. When we arrived at the Embassy we were told that we could have our visas issued on the same day! But first we had to go back into town to deposit the fee into their account and return with the receipt. At this point we were very happy that we had Tan to drive us all the way back into town, then back to the Embassy and back to town again. By noon we had our visas!
Later that afternoon we checked out the Petronas Towers – KL’s main landmark. We also went to see the Old Railway Station. Barney’s Dad was there in 1946 with the Royal Air Force and he asked us to stop by and have a look. It’s no longer used as the main station but there was still plenty of colonial atmosphere about the place.
Once we had our visa we were free to KL but decided to see a bit more. Tan suggested we booked a trip the following day to the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary, about a two hour drive out of KL. It was nice to get out of the city and see a bit of the country side. En route we stopped at the Batu Caves and climbed the 272 steps up to a Hindu Shrine. Next stop was a place that Tan called a ‘deer park’. He said they have ‘bears’ but we were stunned to find a number of sun bears. One of the bears had been hand raised and was quite happy to be petted and fed by the tourists. Quite shamefully I took part. It was actually delightful to be able to touch him and feel his gentle tongue investigate by hand and leg.
The highlight of the excursion was the elephant sanctuary. There are 12 elephants there that have all been ‘rescued’ for one reason or another. There were about 50 visitors that day and we all got a chance to feed, ride and swim with the elephants. The swimming was quite the event. We sat on the back of one big elephant who then lay down in the river, pitching us all overboard. Later they brought some of the younger elephants down to the river for a bath. It may sound like a bit of a gong show but it was really a great experience. The entire place had a really nice atmosphere. The elephant keepers were obviously very fond of their charges and all the visitors were thrilled to be able to interact with the elephants. One other note- it was incredibly hot all day- about 35 degrees C. But it was the humidity that made it really nuts. I had sweat pouring down my face for hours, running into my eyes and dripping off my nose. It gave’ hot and steamy’ an entirely new meaning for me.
Back in KL (our last night) we decided to try out a fish spa. It was hilarious. We put our bare feet into tanks where many munching minnows set about enthusiastically picking off all the dead skin. Three different tanks with different types of fish – 10 minutes per tank. We followed this up with a 30 minute foot massage. All in all, a very full day.
The food in Malaysia is fabulous. Lots of fresh seafood and veggies served with rice or noodles. Every night in KL we found somewhere fun to eat and tried out all sorts of unusual but extremely tasty dishes. More about Malaysian food later.
The morning of May 14 we flew to Kuching in Borneo.
Some pictures of our 3 days in KL....
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