July 23- Singapore

We are back, and ready to tell you about the rest of our adventures in Malaysia and Singapore. We flew in to Kuala Lumpur and arrived in the early afternoon on Wednesday. After getting settled in our hotel, we took a wander through the streets of KL to get a feel of the flavor of the city. Our hotel was located right in Chinatown, which was a bustling area with a huge street market selling "same same" versions of all kinds of goods. Some were better than others, but you could find yourself watches, jeans, backpacks, sneakers, purses, DVDs and cheap street food.

We walked through the financial district, passing by some beautiful mosques before coming to Little India. We have become mildly obsessed with the Little India neighborhoods of the Southeast Asian cities that we visited. The bright colors of the saris, the scent of jasmine garlands adorning the temples, and the spicy Indian food make Little India a feast for the senses. We were a little disappointed by KL's version, but mostly because the one in Penang had been so awesome. (We even came home with Indian music from Penang.) In continuing our practice of trying new street food, we had to try the Indian deep fried bananas and tapioca balls. Deep fried anything is good, but deep fried Indian spiced bananas are stellar.

After some much needed alone time, we headed back to the hotel, and met up with the group for dinner. We had been disappointed with a lot of the restaurant choices of the tour company, and we had low expectations going into the meal, but we were quickly proven wrong. We walked to the Central Market, a few blocks outside of Chinatown, and walked into a restaurant decorated with exuisite Chinese antiques, with Andrea Boccelli playing over the stereo system. It was the perfect combination for us because Ari loves old Asian decor and Jillian loves blind Italians. The food was equally as good, and since no one else in the group liked tofu (Aussies eat steak three meals a day, seven days a week) there was more than enough for us.

Since we were already in the Central Market, we naturally just HAD to go shopping after dinner. After passing through stalls filled with handmade kites, cheap pashminas, and "same same" antiques, we came upon the Malaysian CD shop of Ari's dreams. He has been amassing a collection of hip-hop from around the world, and we were determined to find Malaysian hip-hop (assuming it existed). The guy working the shop could have been the clerk in any music shop anywhere in the world, because he had nothing good to say about the local taste in music. He readily directed us to the only decent Malaysian hip-hop group, Too Phat, and we have to say that we really enjoyed the CD. On the album cover, the rapper is wearing a flat brimmed baseball cap with the letters, "KL" across the front. Needless to say, our mission for the following day was laid out before us: find that hat for Ari.

After shopping, we met up with some people from our group at the Reggae Bar, back in Chinatown. Caveat: Because Malaysia is a Muslim country, there is a heavy "sin" tax on alcohol, so there are not many choices for good bars, outside of the expensive and glitzy Golden Triangle district. The only reggae song that we heard was Bob Marley's "Stir it Up." After that, they played some Ace of Base, Michael Jackson, Men at Work, and even some unkown hard rock. Oh well.

The next morning we hopped in tourist vans for a whirlwind tourist's tour of KL. Our first stop on the ride was the Grand Palace, which is not actually open to the public, but there was a lot to see in the Parking Lot. There are 9 sultans who rotate playing the role of king every five years. The Grand Palace is where the king lives, and there are other residences for the other Sultans around Malaysia. From what we could see through the fence, this was a pretty nice palace.

More interesting than the distant palace was the royal palace guard. Every country has its own version of the costumed guard standing outside its palace. In England, all of the tourists take their picture and try to taunt the Bobby into smiling. In Malaysia, all of the tourists take their picture with the guard as he falls asleep standing on his feet. We felt a little bad for him- he was wearing a skirt after all- but not really. It was pretty funny.

Even funnier than that was the Chinese tourist who thought Jillian was special. She insisted on taking several pictures of the two of them together, all in different poses. They even held hands in one. She even wanted Ari in another photo. Then we watched her grab on to the palace fence seductively for a few more glamour shots.

Back in the van again, we headed to a memorial for the Malaysians who fought against a domestic communist uprising. It was really picturesque, situated on a hill overlooking KL, with onion domes covering the pathway leading to the statue. The monument itself was designed by the same artist who created the famous American Iwo Jima statue, and this one had a very similar dramatic feel.

Our next stop was at the KL court building and the royal cricket field across the street. At one end of the field flew the Malaysian flag, on the tallest flagpole in the world. (This was not our only witnessing of a Guiness Book record holder for the day. Read on!) The court building was really beautiful too, and if we had a better internet connection we would show you our pictures. It was built in a blend of Portuguese and Muslim styles, with the tell tale pointed arch windows.

Next we headed to the Menara Tower, which is the fourth tallest communications tower in the world. Situated on a hill, it overlooked the entirety of KL. We took an elevator ride to the top (87 storeys up), for an audio tour and panoramic view of the city and its impressive skyline. The views were breathtaking.

From there we headed to the Batu caves, just outside of KL. These were only discovered about 100 years ago by an American (holla!). Soon after they were discovered the Hindus built lavish shrines inside the caves and carved into the side of the mountain. We put up a picture of a Hindu shrine at the very beginning of our trip (from Bangkok) and you can see the intricate ceramic figures painted in bright lifelike colors covering the shrines. The shrines at the Batu caves were no less brilliant and contrasted nicely with the bare stone of the mountain. Of course, to get to these caves, we had to climb up 272 steps, which we shared with the local monkeys.

Even more impressive was the immensely large statue of Shiva in front of the cave entrance, and next to the staircase. This statue was covered in gold leaf and had only been placed at the cave's entrance less than a year ago. (It wasn't even in our guidebook!) This statue extended 75 meters or more into the air, past the top of the stairs. To give you an idea of its size, standing on the top step, you were eye level with the statue's shoulder blade.

Our next stop was the Pewter factory, where Malaysian tin was made into fine pewter objects. Not exactly our cup of tea, but we had fun goofing around the museum anyways. Once we passed through the exhibition hall to the actual factory we were intrigued. There were demonstrations of the techniques used to make and decorate the goblets, door handles, coins, and other pewter tchochkes the factory workers produce. The gift shop was totally hokey, but outside, we hit world record holder number 2. This time we were privvy to see the world's largest pewter beer mug. In case you hadn't been already, we bet you are jealous of our vacation now.

Our second to last stop was the Petronas Towers. The Malaysians advertise these as the "world's only twin towers," which we found somewhat disturbing. They are built with the Muslim flair for geometric architecture, with an eight sided star as the base of each tower (think: two squares overlapping one another). This figure was a prominent design feature throughout the city. Each tower telescoped upward with five segments each, representing the five pillars of Islam. There was a glass bridge connecting the two towers on the 42nd floor, but one panoramic view of the city was enough for one day. When they were built, which was fairly recently, they were the tallest buildings in the world, but now a building in Taiwan claims this distinction. Jillian was starting to wilt a little (it was nearly 2pm and we hadn't had lunch yet) so she ran through the fountains with an umbrella as her only protection from the water spouts. This was a successful attempt to stave off the approaching crankiness. (Thank goodness we weren't in Singapore yet, or she would have been caned!)

The fountain trick worked (and so did the umbrella) and we made it to our last stop of the day, the Islamic Art Museum. We headed straight for the museum cafe, so we didn't pass out before exploring the galleries. At the cafe we found a veritable Middle Eastern feast, complete with hummus, baba g., foul, vegetarian and meaty stews, saffron rice, lentil soup, and baklava. The food was so good that we asked the chef for his recipes.

We stuffed ourselves silly and then headed out to tromp through the museum. The museum itself was a beautiful space, and there were exquisite displays of ceramics, textiles, illuminated Qurans, jewelry, and furniture from all parts of the Muslim world. The collection of Chinese style Arabic calligraphic poetry was quite extensive and something we had never seen before. The textiles were also amazing. The special exhibit was a display of Ikats from around the world. Ikat refers to the way these garments were dyed. The threads were painted and dyed before the fabric was woven. Once they are woven, they create beautiful designs, each garment being unique.

After the museum, we headed to the National Mosque, which was closed for prayer time. We walked around the beautifully landscaped grounds for a little while and then headed back to the Golden Triangle, the high end shopping mall district anchored by the Petronas Towers, to fulfill our mission from the night before. We used our trusty Lonely Planet to pin down which shopping mall would be most likely to have the KL hat. All seemed lost when we were 100% disappointed with the floor that was touted as the trendy teenager floor. We headed down one level, and at the bottom of the escalator, as if by a miracle, we found a streetwear shop with fake graffiti all over the walls. If the hat was in KL, it was going to be in that shop. Lucky for us, it was. Ari was a happy camper all thugged out in his "fresh" hat, with the sticker still on it and the brim as flat as the day it was born. Mission accomplished.

Still rolling through city, full from lunch, we headed back to Chinatown to meet up with our friends for an evening stroll through KL. The city was all lit up at night, and it was a pleasant evening to see our newly familiar digs streaming with Christmas lights.

All this talk of food has made us really hungry, so we will have to tell you about Melaka and Singapore later.

Lots of love,
Jillian and Ari