We safely arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia today around noon (NOTE: Malaysia Airlines has AWESOME food and the plane seats are all colors of the rainbow!), and we have had quite the culture shocking day.
We left bright and early from Phuket Airport, landed in Malaysia (ahead one hour), got some ringgit out of the ATM, found a hostel in Chinatown in downtown KL (in a really old, cool building with weird knick-knacks all over the place), and then meandered around Petaling Street (which is like Canal Street of NY - think "Tiffanys," "Rolex," and "Lacoste" everywhere...). Then we walked to Little India.
Um, overwhelming.
Just a little!
Anyway, Arati and I are pretty much out of energy to say the least, and our beautiful Phuket beaches are in the past. However, we are really excited to explore the Malaysian culture here in Kuala Lumpur (I keep thinking of the designer in Zoolander...), visit the nearby town of Melaka, and do some jungle, hill tribe? and cave exploring in the Cameron Highlands. Fingers crossed that that all works out.
So far, the biggest standout differences in Malaysia vs. Thailand have been:
- there is a lot more English and the alphabet is the same!
- people AND vehicle traffic is really, really nuts to walk around
- It's Ramadan in a Muslim country
- now we divide money by 3 instead of 33
- there are still 7-11s all over (so that's not a difference, but worth noting?!)
So, clearly, we haven't been here very long yet!
Our next plans are still in the works, but for now, we are just breathing the sights, sounds, and smells of the new city in.
Keep in touch!
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