Malaysia Wrap Up:
What a complete shocker arriving to Kuala Lumpur and it being completely, 100% opposite of all the countries we had been in for the past 2 months. I kind of felt like I was in a very tropical Scottsdale, Arizona -- beautifully paved highways, people obeying the rules of the road, palms trees everywhere, sidewalks you could actually walk on, large malls, and tons of chain restaurants including Chili’s, TGIF’s, Starbucks everywhere, Coffee Bean, etc! The people were an interesting array of Chinese, Indian, Malay, and many more – this country by far seemed to have the most eclectic mix of cultures. People were generally welcoming, although not out of their way friendly as in Vietnam. The absence of street beggars was interesting, since this had become second nature to come across in the other countries. The humidity and heat were terribly uncomfortable, but as in most the other S. East Asian countries we’ve just gotten used to being in a constant state of sweat.
Highs/Best Moments: driving on a nice, paved highway; realizing we could easily walk around the towns b/c they had sidewalks; the Mandarin Oriental upgrading us to a beautiful corner room; insane breakfast buffet spread at the Mandarin; everything about the KLCC mall, especially the one store Cold Storage supermarket; being able to order a Diet Coke in a restaurant (most the other countries didn’t even know what a diet drink was); being able to choose any kind of food we wanted to eat; walking to the KL Tower; the view of the Petronas towers; dinner at Frangipani, dubbed our best meal ever; Jonker Street in Melaka; our trishaw rides; black peppered crab in the Portuguese Village
Lows/Worst Moments: no more days of very cheap prices; the intense heat; our whole experience at the KL bus station – complete chaos; disgustingly awful drinks at that bar our last night in Melaka; slow elevators at the Hotel Equatorial; fighting for toilet stalls; not knowing what time the bus left from Melaka to get to Singapore, since the hotel staff was a little inept in the “information sharing” arena;
Sights: palm trees lining the highways; skyscrapers; Pertronas towers; trishaw’s; Western restaurants; normal cars (verses only motor scooters in other countries); pedestrian crosswalks; the KLCC mall; range of people from all different cultures;
Food and Drink: Malay food; chicken rice balls; Singapore Lapse; delicious French wine at Frangipani; fresh fruit smoothie at Limau Limau in Melaka; lychee’s in our chicken salad; black peppered crab and herb and buttered prawns; the doughy balls filled with jam at the bus station in Melaka; dessert sampler at Franipani especially the French toast and chocolate covered marzipan; sardines that were actually tasty
Favorites:
Towns: Melaka
Accommodations: Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur
Food: Tea Smoked Salmon at Frangipani and black peppered crab at the Portuguese Village
Restaurants: Frangipani
Drink: Lychee martini at the Mandarin Oriental
Activities: wandering around town for hours; going to the top of the KL Tower; exploring the KLCC mall; trishaw rides; hike back from the Portuguese Village to Jonker Street; shopping for presents; haircut for Jason at the KLCC
Internet Connections: The Equatorial Hotel, Melaka
Least Favorites:
Towns: There really wasn’t anything we didn’t like about Kuala Lumpur, it just felt a little generic– nothing differentiated it from so many Western cities
Accommodations: The Equatorial Hotel in Melaka – although the suite was nice that they upgraded us to, everything else about the hotel was off including the service, the slow elevators, and the fact they couldn’t figure out getting us an adapter like every other hotel
Food: shrimp at the Bijan restaurant that were mushy and undercooked; some of the other Malay food where the spices were too strong for me
Restaurants: Little Penang Kafé in the KLCC Mall
Drink: the disgusting drink at the bar in Melaka that was a concoction of about 6 different types of alcohol – Jason was quite sick the next day
Activities: finding air conditioned respites; taking the bus from KL to Melaka; attempting to get an outlet adapter from the hotel, which never actually ended up happening
Internet Connections: Mandarin Hotel, since they not only charged for the connection, but it wasn’t very fast
Exchange Rate: 3.38 Ringits equals $1 USD
