A Run around the Park, Up the Tower, and all Over Town

October 18th (Tuesday)

What a day! Too intense in fact because my head started pounding.

It started with an early invigorating run around the KLCC park (they have a rubber track). I probably did about 5km, though not at full speed and broken up into intervals. Unfortunately, while I was running, people were already inside picking up tickets to the towers. By the time I got mine, there was only the 11:00 opening available, meaning I had an hour or so to kill. Instead of heading back to the guest house and showering and picking up stuff for the day, I decide to hang around the shopping mall. (The biore soap is cheap.)

The towers are really impressive. Even though we could only go up to the sky bridge (at the 41st and 42nd levels, out of the total 88 stories), it was still quite high. The amazing thing is that the towers aren't actually attached to either tower, but instead are allowed to slide and roll as the towers waver in the wind. Also, the Japanese built one tower and the Koreans built the other tower, as well as the sky bridge.

From the towers, I decided to go straight to the museum. That was a good idea, until I got sidetracked and started shopping at the Pasar Seni, a great place for crafts and cultural artifacts and what-not. By the time I was done, I was down to RM 4.70 (a little over a dollar). . . hmmm. . .

So, I start to walk back to the guest house, only I get lost. Majorly lost. I pass by Chinatown. I pass by Little India--twice. I'm hot and dehydrated and broke! Some mango and water plum and a subway ride later, I end up back at the guest house, late into the afternoon. I'm grumpy, but I really want to see the museum, so I catch a taxi which ends up costing RM30 (about $7.50, a fortune!)

But, it was worth it. The museum is quite something. It is the Islamic Art Museum, and among the various sections and exhibits, I highly enjoyed the ones on architecture (some of those mosques are magnificient!) and the calligraphy. It's a shame that I was the only one in the entire museum; most foreigners just skip it in favor of shopping and food and the towers and what-not.



Too bad though that the planetarium was closed. I was looking forward to learning about how Islam developed its astronomy.

(Oh, and by now I'm in a pretty good mood. So good in fact that I didn't mind getting lost *again* wandering through the ritzy apartments just behind the guest house.)

But, that's it for Kuala Lumpur. It's an interesting city, with enough to amuse somebody for a week or so. It was good to come and see it once.