Got on the TV and newspaper news for Chinese new year while hanging out with couch surfers at an open house. An open house on CNY is
where they have dragons dancing and political people and free food! They saw us multinationals and we each got interviewed on camera and we all had a photo-op with oranges they where handing out :)
Went on a heratage tour led by a CSer who has lived in KL for most her life. She took us to a local malay market to taste some of the local foods unique to Malaysia. Blue rice with herbs and chilli stuffed with coconut filling, and some deserts.
Highlights of the walk:
- Masjid Jamek (the oldest mosque in KL)
- Old KL Town Council theatre
- St. Mary's Anglican Church (the oldest brick church in KL with the antique wind pipe organ made by the same makers of the wind pipe organ at St. Paul's Cathedral in England [where Prince Charles & Princess Diana got married] and the grand piano at the Royal Albert Halll on London)
- Sultan Abdul Samad Building with a clock tower dubbed the Big Ben of Malaysia. It's design has Moorish influence.
- Royal Selangor Club, a social club housed in a Tudor-designed building. This is where the internationally known Hash House Harrier (3H) started its life
- National Mosque, with post modern design running away from the typical dome designs of most mosques
- Railway station (check out the huge punch card from the 1950s and the hip bone of an elephant which is about 100 yrs old)
- Railway HQ
- Central Market (former wet market in KL, now an arts market)
Other stuff:
Ginormous shopping malls w/many many stories high. They even had a sit down Papa Johns restaurant!
Found an area with second hand clothing down a back alley. I got disoriented w/outdoor stalls block after block of jeans, leather coats and T-shirts. I also
found some really cool used Japanese baseball jerseys, but, of course, most where Asian size.
Nigerian men dont wash and feel that its an aphrodisiac for women. And I heard some seriously dangerous stories about how Nigerians are the most cunning scammers.
Checked out the Batu caves with some other CSers (Batu means stone in Malay), its the location of some Hindu temples. It was a v.v. HOT/Steamy day so of course we had a race to the top of 272 steps. Didnt win this one, but I came in second place!
(out of two :( )
