Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia is known as the garden city. As you explore the large, hectic, winding streets, you begin to feel like you're in a jungle that someone brought buildings to. Huge trees line the streets on both sides and down the median. They've decorated their street lamps to look like big plants, and have overall tried to let nature maintain its dignity within the confines of a big city. It was quite impressive for that reason, but for the most part, KL is just another huge city. I say that with utmost respect... kinda. I'm just not a city girl at all!
There are enormous buildings, a few of which boast of records for their height. The main building that people would recognize if they've ever seen Malaysia on the television (I'm pretty sure it was the starting point of The Amazing Race:Asia edition) would be the Twin Petronas towers. They're a major part of the Kuala Lumpur skyline, and rightfully so. They're downright impressive!
I arrived in KL late the first night, and just watched the news from my hotel room. The government has announced that the flight that's been missing for weeks now ended it's journey in the Indian ocean. The somber mood in the airport was enough to sober anyone. My typical excitement at being in a new country was just overshadowed by this tragedy.
The next day, I'm not going to lie... I slept all day. I left the room to walk around downtown a bit, and ended up eating at Outback Steakhouse, but then settled back into my bed for the remainder of the evening. I've hit a wall that seems to be preventing me from having any motivation whatsoever. It's a vacation though, so oh well!
My last day in KL, I got on the hop on, hop off bus, and made my way around the city. The weather wasn't great, so I was thankful to be under the cover of the bus instead of wandering around in the rain! As the bus came back around to my initial stop (it took about 3 hours), it was time for me to head to the airport. I showed my cab driver the e-ticket, and he said ok, KL international airport. We got to the airport and there was no sign for my airline. The driver talked to some other drivers and realized we were supposed to be at a different airport! By the time we got there, I was running late, but didn't think it would be too bad. The self check in computers were broken, so even though I had no luggage to check, I had to stand in a disastrously long line to get my boarding pass. The lines to get through customs and security were equally bad, and by the time I got to my departure gate, everyone was gone. A couple and I were frantically convincing airport staff to let us get on the plane. Finally, they said OK, run. Typically there is a bus that takes you out to the plane, but since we missed that, we had to run across the tarmac, passing plane after plane until we reached ours. I haven't been that out of breath in a LONG time. Running is one thing... But running with a heavy book bag is a completely different ball game! In the end, disaster was avoided, and my short stay in Malaysia was definitely memorable.
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