And the evening went with packing.
I brought my backpack to the embassy on Friday to be able to leave for the airport right after work and a small trip to Oakwood.
Even though it had been raining and it was Friday, the trip to the airport went fast without any trouble, which meant that I arrived at the airport way to early and had lots and lots of time to wander around, look at stuff, have “dinner” and buy myself a book – Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclipse_(novel) ). THE BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER! I am totally hooked! I’m thinking about that book all the time. And I feel almost bad about it. Am I really still such a teenager?! And even though I have been in K.L. during the weekend and seen a lot of stuff, I have soon passed the first 400 pages in my book...
The flight went nice and in K.L. Benny (a friend of Heidi and now also one of my friends) picked me up at the airport and took me to the hostel, he had booked for me, in his car – telling me scary stories about hunted roads and black magic and small baby zombies during that trip. So I was happy to see that my room had windows covered with bars!
My hostel during the weekend was Green Hut (www.thegreenhut.com) in Bukit Bintang, K.L. The room was small and not very exciting, but on the other hand very cheap!
After checking in and bringing my stuff to my room, Benny and I went to have some typical Malaysian food in a street restaurant! Really good! And without Benny I had most likely not dared to eat there. But it was a big success.
We drove around and Benny took me to SohoKL (http://www.sohokl.com/) in Mont’Kiara, where we had a cup of coffee, before he drove me back (by incidence on the way back, I saw a guy on the street, who I knew from Jakarta – Juan – and three of his friends). I spent some time at the computers in the hostel – being annoyed by a drunk Arabian guy and I went to sleep around 4.00 in the morning (again after reading in my new book...).
Saturday morning I went to have a one hour foot massage in one of the many massage clinics around K.L.! K.L. has a massage clinic on every corner, like Copenhagen has 7-11’s! And actually they even have many more foot massage places than we have 7-11’s!!!
It was amazing! I can recommend that place to anyone who ever goes to K.L.! It is called KLValley and it is placed on Plaza Danau 2!
I went back to the hostel to sit outside and write some post cards until Benny would arrive. In the mean time I met another friend from Jakarta. Apparently he stayed at the same hostel – again: What a coincidence!
Benny came and picked me up and we went to the Petronas Towers / KLCC / Kuala Lumpur City Center.
“KLCC Petronas Towers are with their 452 meters the world's tallest twin towers. On the 41st floor a bridge connects the two towers, and here there is a very beautiful view of Kuala Lumpur.
The Petronas Towers are housing the beautiful Petronas Philharmony, home of Malaysia's National Philharmonic. Of exhibitions to be seen are Petronas Gallery, which exhibits Malaysian and foreign art and Petrosains Interactive Science Discovery Center, which examines the route of oil from the underground to processed products.”
When we arrived there were no more tickets to get up into the towers. Instead we walked around the towers in a park (where Benny proved his skills as a total paparazzi...) and were inside the towers in KLCC (a shoppingcenter), where we also had our lunch at a Malaysian restaurant.
After KLCC we drove to the Batu Caves Saturday afternoon.
“The large Batu limestone caves north of Kuala Lumpur are a natural wonder.
Already on the arrival to the caves they are impressive with the wide, 272 steps high staircase, which almost disappears into the mountain.
The actual caves consist of three main caves and a small part. Among the open holes is the 180-meter Cathedral Cave, where many meters long stalactites are hanging from the ceiling. The visit here is unforgettable.
The cave system was discovered in the late 1800s by Amercian William Hornaday.
The many monkeys in the area bring extra colour to the visit.
The impressive Batu Caves are a sacred place for the Hindus of Malaysia, and in the beginning of the year they have the great religious Thaipusam festival here.”
After the Batu Caves we went to a mountain near by. Here they had a few restaurants and people come up here to eat and to watch the skyline of Kuala Lumpur – which is definitely worth a look! It was very beautiful!
After this Benny drove me back to my street again and I had another massage. This time one hour wasn’t enough. Instead I had a half hours shoulders and back massage, a one hours foot massage and a one hours ear candle and head and arm massage treatment. Ear candles are amazing! It was my first time trying it. And I actually didn’t know for what purpose they did it until he afterwards opened up the rest of the candle and showed me...
This one is a very critical article about it. But it worked for me and it was indeed very nice!
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_candling)
I went back to the hostel, read my book and slept.
Sunday morning there was no water in the hostel – no flushing the toilet, no shower, no washing hands... That ends up being quite disgusting with so many people on so little space...
But luckily I had a bit of water left in a bottle.
It had been hard to get up anyway because all my muscles either hurt or were too relaxed from the massage the night before...
Benny came to pick me up and we drove to his church, where I saw the service. It was so much different than in Denmark – even though it is exactly the same religion. People were dancing, singing and mumbling things with closed eyes as their prayer. It was like some of the movies we see on TV. I had just never believed that it would actually be just like that! But it is!
Benny was holding a speech in the Youth Church. Again there were jokes and a loose atmosphere with singing and music.
There had been around five attacks on churches in K.L. that weekend and cars with Christian symbols had been smashed. Benny had already told me a bit about it Friday evening when I arrived. But I didn’t think that it was as bad as I realized during the service.
And here I was: Sitting in a church in K.L., while churches in K.L. were being attacked...
About the attacks: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/01/11/church-attacks-malaysia-deepen-racial-tension.html
But Benny’s speech was quite impressive! I got introduced to everyone! And the church was a totally new experience for me. So a very good start of the day!
After church we went to a Chinese area – though not Chinatown. There were also no tourists in this area, only me. Already on a distance I could smell the lovely smell. And the smell came from the restaurant where we were going to eat Chinese food! It was the best soup I’ve had so far! Even better than Rawon.
We drove around the city and Benny showed me a huge mosque, Little India and more or less all the important buildings in K.L.!
Our destination was the Central Market, where they sell handicraft. To me it seemed as if they only sold Indonesian handicraft. But again that is the huge dispute between Indonesia and Malaysia. They have exactly the same cultural stuff and they argue about where it originally comes from!
I bought a Chinese umbrella (I think it is Chinese...).
And I met a Danish couple travelling through Malaysia.
We drove on to Chinatown, had something nice to drink and walked around to look. I nearly had two men on my side all the time – people that wanted to sell me some fake dvd’s. But actually the fake dvd’s in Jakarta are much cheaper than in K.L.!
And then it was time for going back to the airport. Benny took me there and we had dinner at McDonalds, before we said goodbye and I went to the gate.
The flight was nice. I had a space at the window again. I really prefer sitting at the window!
In Jakarta I was trying to get past the taxi drivers with their “Miss! Miss! Miss! Taxi? Taxi? Miss!” as usual. But there was a guy in a blue Bluebird shirt who asked if I wanted a Bluebird. Here I turned around and thought that I could skip the standing in line and waiting, and I followed him to his car, which showed to be a private car... I looked at him – disappointed – and told him that I knew how a Bluebird looked and that this was not a Bluebird. But he gave me a fair price and I didn’t have to stand in line, so I took the car. Anyway he looked small enough that I would be able to defend myself, if he would kidnap me or try to rob/rape me!
He spoke quite good English and it showed that he was from Samosir, where I had just been during Christmas. He was also Christian. We had a nice talk during the whole trip where he told me about some astonishing theories about why the earthquakes happen where they happen. And I must say that I don’t really believe these theories...
And when we where half way home, he said: “Miss?”. “Yes?”, I replied. “I’m sorry that I said it was a Bluebird, Miss.” He sounded so regretting that he had tried to pull money out of me with the nice talk we had had all the way. I ensured him that it was ok and it made him loosen up again.
I got home safely and with the best taxi ride through Jakarta so far!
I unpacked my stuff and went to sleep!
The flight was nice. I had a space at the window again. I really prefer sitting at the window!
In Jakarta I was trying to get past the taxi drivers with their “Miss! Miss! Miss! Taxi? Taxi? Miss!” as usual. But there was a guy in a blue Bluebird shirt who asked if I wanted a Bluebird. Here I turned around and thought that I could skip the standing in line and waiting, and I followed him to his car, which showed to be a private car... I looked at him – disappointed – and told him that I knew how a Bluebird looked and that this was not a Bluebird. But he gave me a fair price and I didn’t have to stand in line, so I took the car. Anyway he looked small enough that I would be able to defend myself, if he would kidnap me or try to rob/rape me!
He spoke quite good English and it showed that he was from Samosir, where I had just been during Christmas. He was also Christian. We had a nice talk during the whole trip where he told me about some astonishing theories about why the earthquakes happen where they happen. And I must say that I don’t really believe these theories...
And when we where half way home, he said: “Miss?”. “Yes?”, I replied. “I’m sorry that I said it was a Bluebird, Miss.” He sounded so regretting that he had tried to pull money out of me with the nice talk we had had all the way. I ensured him that it was ok and it made him loosen up again.
I got home safely and with the best taxi ride through Jakarta so far!
I unpacked my stuff and went to sleep!
That was the trip to K.L.!
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