Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Downtown Kuala Lumpur with the Patronas Towers (once the tallest in the world)

Scott and Jamie's apartment

View from our guestroom out to the golf course across the street

 We have just returned to Scott and Jamie’s  home in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia after 10 days in Cambodia, which I will write in length about on the next blog post.   But first we wanted to send a few pictures of our several weeks in Malaysia where we have been graciously hosted by my brother and sister-in-law.  We arrived just before Chinese New Year weekend which meant that Scott and Jamie were only working for a few days before they had four days off and could take us around their adopted city.  For those who don’t know, Scott and Jamie have been working at the International School here for the last 13 years.  They have a beautiful apartimet which they designed and remodeled in wonderful Asian style and have an outrageous view out into the jungle surrounding a golf course.  We have had our own “suite” to stay in while we’ve been here and it has been like a 5 star hotel, with maid service and all.   While they worked the first week, Tom and I entertained ourselves figuring out the local transportation and taxi systems and wandered around the downtown.  This is such a modern city, which steel and glass and outrageously shaped buildings, with more going up all the time.  It seems way more sophisticated than anywhere we’ve been recently in the USA.  

View from the forest near Scott and Jamie's

MaCaw Monkies hanging out near our morning walk around the golf course

Hiking in the rainforest

We drove out of town one day to hike to a waterfall, but it had rained so hard that we had to abort, as we were supposed to cross the river several times.  It was still fun checking out the local jungle.

Silverleaf Monkey or Wookie? in the neighborhood

Jamie and Scott at downtown shopping center 

year of the Dragon

Eating out in China Town around the Chinese New Year.  We had fried stingray and chicken fish.  It was yummy~

Downtown KL at Chinese New Year... very international

Chicken Fish

We’ve been enjoying the food!  Wonderful curries, Indian food, Thai and Japanese, Chinese cuisine.  The great part about KL is that it seems to be a melting pot of multi cultural ethnicity.  You go to a food court and there are people eating Asian food with chopsticks, Indian food with their fingers, and other food with fork and spoon.  Malaysia is a Muslim country, so there are lots of women with scarved heads, but there are also Indian ladies in Saris, sprinkled amongst other modernly dressed, classy looking city people.

Getting an after dinner Thai foot massage

 We made our way out to the Batu Caves, which is a famous KL site where there is a set of steep stairs that lead up into some giant limestone caves.  There are holes in the cave roof several hundred feet above, which let in light and you can observe the Indian people doing prayers, honoring statues of their gods, and other religious rights.  It is a holy cave for the Hindu and you see many people dressed in their Indian wardrobes, many with their children, praying at the shrines or visiting with holy people inside.  Many of the men have shaved heads which they smear with yellow paste... maybe butter? or flower pollen?  A lot of the women wear chrysanthemums and strings of flowers in their hair.  The buildings around the caves are decorated with elephant and monkey  and other deities all painted in a confusion of color.  All very interesting. 

Behind us is the famous Batu Caves, an Indian sacred site. Climb up the stairs into the caves to check out the devout Hindu

Hindu elder giving blessings inside the Batu Caves

  We will be back and forth to KL between our trips out to other places.  Next stop: Cambodia. See you there!