Catching Up....Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Ok, so I've been super lazy lately and took a break from blogging. Time to catch up a bit. We're actually in Bali, Indonesia but I need to get up to speed. So over the next week, I'll get it up to current. Here we go.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Ahhh Kuala Lumpur, hello again advanced civilization. Greetings intricate city planners and engineers. Kuala Lumpur or KL is a massive city, sprawling, tidy, fairly organized, about as clean as you can ask for a city this size. We were transited into KL via bus from Tanah Rata, and it was nice to start off with the comfiest seats, clean, good air con, smoothest riding bus we’ve experienced in 3.5 months….by far. We hopped off at the bus station (like a well run airport), and trotted 15 minutes on foot around the corner to an area of KL, affectionately called “China Town”. It appears about every city has a China Town, and its where the travelers can find, cheap accommodation, cheap food, knock-off shopping, and the likes. We found a hotel, a bit pricey at $17 per night, but with air-con and a great hot-water shower, and situated right in the middle of everything, it was hard to pass up.
We figured our the LRT (public monorail system) easily, as it was, easy to follow, (thanks again city planners). We made our way to several stops over the next 4 days and explored only a portion of KL but easily the typical tourist highlights. We visited the Planetarium, the Mouse Deer Park and public lake areas, the Bird Aviary, the impressive Islamic Museum of arts, the famed Petronas Towers, the ritzy Petronas Tower shopping mall, and the 4th largest communications tower in the world, pigging out at a rolling sushi buffet, and most areas of China Town. We stayed pretty busy each day walking and exploring.
One of the highlights was definitely just seeing the Petronas Towers, both in day and again at night. The stainless steel behemoth is just plain cool to see, particularly lit up at night, pictures only do it partial justice. The mall inside and beneath it was a high fashion ritzy dream world. Mostly shops we couldn’t afford to even step inside to look  You name the brand, and they were in there.
I’d say our second favorite was the open air Tropical Bird Aviary. It was the size of a city park and was “netted in”, so the birds were actually free to fly around certain areas and some free to interact up next to you. The raptors and owls and ostriches were caged in, but most all others were free, flying around. It was our first chance to really see such tropical birds up close and we got the chance to watch them feed the eagles. Christina even participated in a small silly bird show where parrots and other birds did tricks etc. Christina got to hold up a stick with a piece of meat on it and they whistled in an eagle and it flew in from afar and snagged it right out of her hands in flight, very cool. She was the star of the show 
Third on the list was probably a combination of the Islamic Museum (it was well appointed and just beautiful historical pieces), as well as pigging out at the sushi buffet twice, and downing some more amazing Indian food at one of the local eateries. We just can’t seem to get enough Rotti and Naan, Dahl and Indian spiced curries, chicken and Indian tea. Mmmmmm.
KL was the first time we felt we were really back in the “western world”. They had a fantastic airport, transit system, fantastic bus stations that were nicer than most airports we’ve been in, and the city was well planned and developments everywhere. The communications tower was no doubt high up and allowed for striking 360 views over the entire cityscape, but it was a bit pricey for a ticket up and back down @ $20 each. Given the exchange rates, that’s a pretty high cost for the trip, but we did it anyway.
We’re out of time and need to be moving on, KL was worth a 3-4 day visit to explore, but at last, it’s still a big big city and time for us to find a beach or a quiet fun town elsewhere. Off we go.

Next Stop Malaka, only 3 hours away.