KL and Home (sweet?), home. (Vacation part 4)

We arrived in Kuala Lumpur in the middle of the afternoon. KL, like many Asian cities, is building at an amazing rate. The one thing they aren't building fast enough, is the regional bus terminal! The bus station, and the roads leading to it, were so clogged with traffic and so poorly laid out that every passenger from every bus was jumping off 3 blocks early, grabbing their bags and walking to the Puduraya terminal in order to sidestep the queue of 20 – 30 buses waiting admission to the terminal. Lucky for me, I was with Steph, and she had again pre-booked a hotel across the road from the terminal (I know… what is it that I bring to the relationship? I’m the bodyguard!)

The Katari (3° 8'46.04"N 101°42'3.84"E)was an oasis amidst the chaos, and I do mean chaos. People were everywhere, wandering aimlessly, looking for taxis, looking for tour buses and generally not too sure what they were doing. To KL's credit, there were an equal number of people trying to show the wanderers the way (out of their money).

Virginia wasn’t too fond of KL, and we could definitely see her point of view. KL has large pockets of chaos (normally around transportation hubs and its many markets), amazingly developed high quality zones (like the Petronas towers and Bukit Bintang) and large swaths of not-much in between. We quickly realized that as long as you stick to its amazing elevated light rail system, KL has a lot of amazing sights.

We spent our three days there shopping, shopping and shopping. Oh, did I mention the shopping? Besides the Chinatown market and the little India bazaar where I almost bought a $3500 Tag watch for $60 (how long would that watch run for?), we spent a huge part of our time at the amazing Kuala Lumpur City Center (3° 9'27.92"N 101°42'41.95"E. The two amazing towers were accented by a giant 5 story mall and a giant public park. We tried to visit the suspention bridge spanning the 55th floor of the towers and the Patronas theme park on the 5th floor of the mall, but were thwarted each time (too busy or too closed!). Instead, we visited the KL Aquarium (which was cheaper and better than Singaopre's), the KL Tower(3° 9'10.13"N 101°42'12.74"E), which gave us an amazing view of the city, and the Independence square, where we accidentally caught some fireworks as part Malaysia's independence week celebrations. Independence square sports the tallest flagpole in the world and Malaysia's supreme court, as well as a huge open field and some great water fountains (3° 8'51.88"N 101°41'35.88"E).

We spent the rest of our time gorging on as much India, Chinese, Malay, Thai and Western food as we possibly could. One night we dined in this amazing underground promenade of upscale restaurants (which were still dirt cheap by Canadian standards)in StarHill Gallery, at an Arabic place. The Hummus, Baba Ganoush, fatoush salad and pita bread left Steph and I waddling home. Another time we found a place that served Hummus and Indian food! It's amazing how much you yearn for that multicutured food selection when you can't get it.

Our last day came quickly and we had to leave for the airport at 5am. After a series of stupid moves on my part (I'm dumb in the morning, and Steph is grumpy - a bad combo), including convincing Steph to give her subway pass, and trying to take a cab to the airport, only to realize I didn't have nearly enough money, we finally make it to our plane. The trip back to Busan was an uneventful one, and we took the KTX train back to Mokpo as soon as we could. I realized, as soon as we got out of the airport, that my Korean cough was back. Awesome. Although we were a little happy to be home, we felt a little less charmed by the cool stares of the many Koreans we passed. Had the Singaporian and Malaysian hospitality and warmth spoiled us? Or was this a little "post trip depression" setting in. We will find out soon enough.