Kuala Lumpur -- The Big City

**Before I continue, I was asked why I seem to get ripped off a lot by taxi drivers. I guess since I don't know how far a destination is, and since the taxis sometimes aren't metered, I don't have much of a basis from which to haggle from. Only after the ride do I realize how much the ride should have cost. So, it is partly my fault for not researching enough. I just feel stupid paying a couple of dollars for a 3 minute taxi ride.**


October 14th (Friday)

Slept very very wel last night after watching the lightning storm. After a quick dolse for breakfast, I circled around and around the area trying to look for the Nature Park. The directions in the Rough Guide were horrible! Once there, I was immediately attacked by mosquitos which followed me around for a while despite my DEET protection. Sheesh. There are supposed to be quite a number of bird species in the park, over 700 if I recall, and I saw maybe a dozen or so. More like, I startled maybe a dozen or so. The sounds of the different birds were quite something though. Oh, and there are monkeys, which were kind of cute, but kind of intimidating. [add in picture of monkey] They're in the trees, and then all over the visitor's center clanging on the roofs. Add in a few komodo dragons, and there we go.



The bus into KL hit traffic. And this isn't normal traffic. It was post-Friday mosque traffic. Not nice. Add to the mix a bus with no AC and it was horrible. Took over three hours to get into town, including two bus transfers.

So, my first impressions of KL weren't too positive. Once in town, I checked in at the Red Palm (RM 25 for a dorm bed). The workers here are really sweet and the atmosphere they create is warm and welcome. It's too bad there isn't much in KL for me to do, otherwise I would stay longer.

I visited the Menara KL (the 440 meter tall tower) and the Petronas Towers (the 450 tall twin buildings) at night. I only went up the Menara (the towers need tickets which you get at 8:30 in the morning), but the views were fantastic and the audio guide was quite interesting. The towers are gorgeously lit and I tried to capture its magnificence in my pictures. [insert feeble picture of towers]




Almost on a whim, I bought my bus ticket to Kuala Lipis for the following day, meaning that I'll be heading up into the jungles for the next few days. I'll be back to KL again on my way south to Melaka.

**By the way, there are lots of Andy Lau posters (huge massive banners) around town. I guess he's coming to town in December and he's quite famous. The posters probably subconsiously influenced my choosing to watch his newest movie, "Wait 'til You're Older." It's like "Big," only more depressing.**