Off to KL again

KLIA Concorde

Work sent me to Kuala Lumpur again for, but this time it was for 2 weeks. I got a 1 and half days off to get into the city proper. I got to wander around instead of just hanging within a 10 km radius of the airport. Otherwise it was 10-14 hours spent inside the control room at the under construction KLIA2 terminal.

Not a great day, but not the worst.

KL is experiencing a major drought and while I was there a forest and peat soil fueled fire that basically destroyed the air quality. Most days it was just a thick haze and we questioned if they could land a plane. I'm pretty sure visibility was less than 500 meters at some points. There was a couple downpours while we were there and it allowed me to have a nice Saturday in the city.

Massive park just outside of KL Sentral

I took the express train into the city, which took about 30 minutes and cost $35 for a one-way trip. The train gave you some cool views of the surrounding area moving from farm to city. Off in the distance were large hills. Before you knew it you were at the main station. KL didn't seem the most friendly city to walk in. It took me a while to find my way out from KL Sentral. I ended up walking like a local down the side of the street past a cabbie who pulled over for a bathroom break on the side of the road. Glad I was wearing my shoes as I was walking in the "water" in the street. Who knows what else lurks on the street. Most of my afternoon was spent wandering the parks, museums, and area around KL Sentral.

Planetarium recreations

A short walk away you'll find Lake Gardens, KL Bird Park, The National Planetarium, and National Museum of Malaysia. There is also a bike trail going through the park. The park had a sign for my arch-nemesis, the monkey. There was also a section of a zoo where you could see roosters and deer. Well those were the ones that I could see on my brief walk through the section. I also wandered through several museums and learned a lot about the area and the people.


Saturday night, my coworkers and I went into KL for dinner. We went to a section of town that reminded me of New Orleans. It was nothing but bars offering happy hours and people trying to get you in to drink. Once we sat down at one of the bars, the waitress tried to keep pushing the drinks on us. The street was lined by tourists looking to get loaded and watch either soccer or rugby. We ventured across the street to the Black Forest, where we had an very good meal. On our way back to the car, a woman whose affections were available for purchase wouldn't let one of the older gentlemen out of her site. She was like a dog with a bone, but he wasn't having any of it. We made it back to our car and our night just got a lot longer.

Tasted like Squirt

I don't recommend getting into a fender bender in a foreign country. We were hit on the highway by a young lady who tried to merge onto the highway and then cross 2 lanes. She smacked our front passenger tire and then we pulled over. Waited on the side of the road until her brother dropped another young lady off before driving to the police station to report the accident. We had to type our own incident report on the computer. Then we were given guff for not having an international license nor our passport on us. We had to go back to show the passport and then had another meeting scheduled to take photos of the damage. The photo meeting was canceled and the girl was found at fault.

Sunday, I went back into KL and wandered even more. I was in search of finding street food. I got off at KL Sentral again and made my way to the big pointy things in the sky. I found a market and ate with a bunch of locals. It was tasty fried chicken, coconut milk and artichoke hearts over rice, and hard boiled eggs and egg plant covered in chili pepper paste. After lunch, I was checking out more of the sites and I was approached by a guy who didn't speak english, but gave the international sign of take a photo. I assumed he wanted me to take a photo of him. Nope, he wanted to pose for a picture with me. I took off my sunglasses and he gave me a big hug as he snapped the photo. Afterward he gave me a big 2-tooth grin. I continued on my way and made it to the Petronas Towers, which I was shocked to find a large mall in the bottom several floors. I then happened upon a ramen shop a little way from there. Would a 95 degree day with tons of humidity stop me from indulging in a hot, spicy bowl? Nope.