After we got things started at the airport, we decided to go stay in China Town. We chose China town because it seemed like it was central to many areas and it was one of two areas which has budget accommodation. The other area with budget accommodation is called Golden Triangle and seems to be nearby the Patronas Towers. China Town, like other China Towns we have been too, was essentially a place where people come to buy cheap counterfeit goods. In fact, at night this China Town was packed with people shopping so much so that, it would take an hour or more to walk from one end to another and back and the total distance was about a kilometer. Some of the items on the street were of high quality, but for the most part, it was the same items that you could get at any market in China and we did not buy much there. Actually, most of the sales people were of Indian decent, not Chinese...ironic.
During this time, the city was filled with Arab people on a shopping holiday because it was "Sale Season" in Kuala Lumpur. We found out that in July and August every year, things go on sale and huge discounts on every sort of item is available and we did a fair share of shopping ourselves. We did not waste much time on the items in the street market, we went to the mall and got authentic and high quality items for a minute price. If you can get to Kuala Lumpur during this time of year, it is brilliant for shopping and all of the name brands are authentic in the real malls.
We did most of our shopping in an area called Imbi, which is only one station from China town. During this time I filled my whole new work wardrobe for the year, got two pair of glasses, we got new luggage and Jiao Jiao got tons of new and very unique clothes. We spent about 500 dollars on all of this shopping and for the quality we got, it would have been worth a thousand dollars.
In plan, I did not want to spend too much time in Kuala Lumpur on our vacation, I wanted to go straight to the beach. However, our unfortunate baggage issue caused us to need to stay in Kuala Lumpur for a bit longer. Our original plan had been to take a bus to a port city and then a ferry to Tiomen Island, but this was modified and we took a flight to Tiomen instead. There is one major discount airline working in Malaysia, that I know of, and that is Air Asia...they are actually expanding their business into China. www.airasia.com. You can book flights on the net or they have an office in the Central Station of Kuala Lumpur.
However, this airline does not travel to Tiomen, so we had to book with a much smaller airline called Berjaya Air. I am not sure about their website, but they had very simple service and you could basically just go to their little airport and jump on the plane for a 40 minute flight.
Anyway, we did not do a lot of things in Kuala Lumpur as we were busy with luggage stuff the first days and busy with shopping the last days. Here are some pictures of the city and the things we did, followed by a video of the roller coaster inside of the mall at Imbi station.
The Gates of China Town
A Temple on the way to Imbi Station
A sign on the subway, classic!
The Petronas Towers
Me in front of the Petronas Towers
A couple of buildings around the towers, beautiful blue sky.
The towers at night, from a distance.
The food street perpendicular to the shopping street of China Town.
A beer that is insanely expensive. Since Malaysia is a Muslim country, vices such as beer are very expensive. However, Tiomen island is duty free and so the alcohol is cheap. However, the locals do not participate in those sorts of activities. Also, they do not look kindly upon sexual extravagance. One American dive instructor on the island was beaten up by the local men for his philandering ways. Much different than other South East Asian nations we have visited.
Here is a picture of our toilet in the hotel room. I have taken this picture because it is a good example of the toilet habits of the nation. You notice that the wall has a hose, this is for washing your butt after you have a movement. Every toilet we entered had a hose, but maybe not tissue paper. It began to gross out Jiao Jiao when she would enter a toilet and the floor was covered with water. The natives use their right hand to eat, bare hand mind you, and their left hand for washing after their business and thus, it is not polite to wave or offer something with your left hand. Takes all kinds. I guess they save on waste paper though.
Here is the video of the roller coaster in the mall.
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