Bye Kuala Lumpur...

Note to future visitors to Kuala Lumpur:
If you decide to stay in more affordable Chinatown, the smell of Chinese food will permeate everything you own and all of your pores.

Needless to say, we moved to a hostel down the street after 2 nights at our first place...and I had a very unscented sleep last night, yes!

Today is our last day in Kuala Lumpur. We are taking a 9am bus to the Cameron Highlands for a few days, which I am really excited about. The area is known for its sprawling old tea plantations, strawberry farms, and some cool hikes and jungle walks. It will be nice to escape the city once again. I find myself easily caught up in "trying to see everything" when in "city-mode" and we often feel pretty grimy after traipsing around to try and absorb all that cities offer, which is A LOT to take in!

Yesterday (before the hostel switch), I woke up for a run in Kuala Lumpur to try and shake out the remnants of my crazily-influenced dreams centered around Chinese dragons and lo mein. The run got a me a little turned around...okay a lot turned around...and I ended up by the Petronas Towers, the tallest DOUBLE tower in the world at 452 meters. It worked out, though, because tickets to go up into the buildings are free, but you have to get them early in the day to visit later. So I waited, scored tickets for noon, and then got a very nice cab driver to take me back to Arati at the hostel despite the fact that I had no cash on me...faith in humanity = reinforced. Don't worry, I paid him when I got there, with plenty of ringgit.

After breakfast of lots and lots of peanut butter and honey toast and a cup of Nescafe (free at our new place, the Monkey Inn, which I'd definitely recommend), we took the subway to the Petronas Towers, which were pretty cool to see. They are 88 floors high, and there is a skybridge that tourists can go out on at the 41st floor. One of those "must-see" activities a la the Empire State Building or the Sears (I forget its new name!) Tower. Anyway, I think it's always fun to be up high looking out at things!

We then visited the Masjid Jamek, a historical mosque in the center of the city. When we went here and when we visited the National Mosque yesterday, the staff provides huge robes and scarves for you to cover up with so that you can walk around. However, since it is still Ramadan, there are very special visiting hours, and non-Muslim tourists are not allowed inside all the way. We walked around and took pictures, and then I managed to collect lots of free pamphlets about Islam - why and how Muslims dress, eat, and act - to read along our subsequent city bus ride to the Batu Caves - a large Hindu temple in huge caves with a 272 step staircase and a huge golden statue of Lord Murugan. As I mentioned earlier, a big mix of Chinese, Indian, and Malaysian culture and religion here!

In fact, yesterday we visited the Islamic Art Museum, which was really interesting and I learned a lot more about the religion and its spread. There were tons of replicas of famous mosques around the world, and lots of textiles, jewelry, and manuscripts from all over the world. Arati and I felt a little like we were on a field trip, but we were actually paying attention and learned a lot (You when we were kids on field trips we didn't internalize everything?!).

Now, we are leaving bustling Kuala Lumpur - I'm going to opt out of a morning run today and wait for the Cameron Highlands and some fresh air (and avoid the potential of getting re-"turned around"!).

Until next time...