Kuala Lumpur (Day 1)

Last night before going to sleep, I signed up for a walking tour for today.  This morning I got the confirmation that it is on, so at 2:30 PM we are going for a 3.5 hour guided walking tour of Kuala Lumpur.  Before that, I have our own walking tour of Chinatown planned, so we got up, ate breakfast (rice triangles from 7-Eleven, and headed out around 10:30 AM.  

Pretty much the first thing you see is this new skyscraper in the Kuala Lumpur skyline. This is the Merdeka 118.  It is a 118 story mega-skyscraper that is the second tallest building in the world after Burj Khalifa building in Dubai.  The Merdeka 118 is 2,227 feet tall...wow!

We walked for 20 minutes and arrived in Chinatown.

The first stop of my self-guided walking tour is Chan See Shu Yuen Clan Ancestral Hall. This clan house represents the surname Chan, Chen, or Tan.  Since we toured a clan house in Penang, we decided not to enter this one.  Oh...notice that Merdeka points up out of nowhere here,

The next stop was this old hotel facade dating back to 1969.  A new owner bought it in and restored it to keep it's old charm. Today there is an award-winning restaurant housed inside.  Oh look...Merdeka is here again.

The walking tour mentioned this restaurant and I had to post about it because I love the graphic logo.  This restaurant was founded by Ali, Muthu & Ah Hock, a Malay, a Chinese and an Indian guy.

We wondered around a bit and came across an alley that was very nicely decorated.  At the opening of the ally sat this beautiful woman:

She was overlooking this very picturesque bridge:

This bridge led to an amazing alley tucked behind older buildings that was decorated with murals and plants.  There was music piped in through speaker that just set the entire mood of the place.  This was how Chinatown looked and felt back in the day.

What an amazing place.  We then continued up the street till we hit the famous Petaling Street.  This street is a well known tourist spot with venders selling counterfeit goods such as Tiffany jewelry and Gucci bags.  Buy the time we hit the end and "no thanked" every vendor along the way, we were hot and thirsty.  Luckily there was a vender selling mango and lime-mint drink.  I opted for the lime-mint.  This icy cold cup of lime-mint juice cost 4 MYR => $0.89 USD and was worth every penny.

Around the corner was a very nice Buddhist temple called Guan Di Temple. The deep red of the exterior and interior felt good, especially with the scent of burning of incense in the air.

I was standing in front of those boxes on the left trying to decide what to do with it. Each box is numbered and the canisters in front of it has sticks with numbers on them.  I thought maybe you draw a stick and then pick that fortune?  A young man told me that you grab the canister with two hands, bow down in front of Guan Di on the right and shake the canister until one of the sticks falls out.  That is the number of the fortune you read.

We thought about doing it, but changed our minds. It seemed like a very loud thing to do in this quiet, serene setting. 

Next we entered Kasturi Walk, an obviously newer pedestrianized street.  The draw of this area is the light blue building. This is the Central Market.  It used to be a wet market selling meat, fish, seafood, and produce.  It has since been cleaned up and now houses multiple venders selling Malaysian arts and handicrafts.

Hum...I guess I didn't take any photos inside Central Market, but I did manage to take a photo of my lunch.  This is called Fish Bamboo Biryani. All that rice, fish, and egg came out of that bamboo container.  It was delicious.

OK...enough of me being a tour guide.  It is time for us to leave the job to the professionals.  We found Ian on GuruWalk. I highly recommend this website when you travel and want to find a tour guide. 

​This tour started with Ian explaining the meaning of the Malaysian Coat of Arms which was on the wall surrounding the Tugu Negara.  

The Tugu Negara is a national monument dedicated to the 11,000 lives lost during the Emergency AKA Anti–British National Liberation War.  The civil war was mounted by Malay communist guerrillas trying to take over the country, kick out the British Empire, and establish a socialist economy. ​

Can you tell that this sculpture was designed by the same person that designed Iwo Jima?

This was our view with our backs to Tugu Negara...wow.

Next we entered the Colonial District of Kuala Lumpur.  This is where the Brits took up residence when Malaysia was a member of the Commonwealth.  It is considered the City Center where Kuala Lumpur was founded.

This building was barracks in the day.

Across from the barracks is Merdeka Square with Independence Flag.  It was here that Malaysia declared itself independent from British control in 1957.

To the left of Merdeka Square is Sultan Abdul Samad Building, built in 1897 and features Islamic and Moorish inspired architecture.  It was designed by A.C. Norman, a British-Colonial architect.  He also designed most of the other buildings in this area.   Ohh...there is Merdeka again.

Just in time for the eminent rain, we popped inside the City Gallery...wow...the air conditioning felt great!  Inside were some historical picture boards, but this model of the tallest buildings in Kuala Lumpur caught Tim's fancy.

We thought that model was cool until we went to a room behind it where there was a model of the entire Kuala Lumpur cityscape.  It is hard to see from this photo, but this model is huge and impressive.

The City Gallery also had displays to take photos with...of course we had to do it.

By the way, Kuala Lumpur means "muddy confluence."  It was founded here, at the confluence of the Gombak and Klang rivers.  Back in 1857, 81 Chinese tin miners were sent downriver by a Malay ruler to find more tin.  They were forced to stop here due to the river becoming too shallow to continue.

​Do you see that small looking mosque behind us that looks like a small-scale model?  Well...it is an actual mosque (Masjid Jamek), and it is not small.  It is a full size building, but the huge cityscape behind it makes it look small.

We finished the guided tour at the same place as Tim and I started our self-guided tour this morning, at Chan See Shu Yuen Clan Ancestral Hall somewhat being overshadowed by Merdeka Tower....the old and the new.

During the walking tour, Ian pointed out a stall in Chinatown that sold Asam Laksa, a noodle soup with a mackerel-based, sour, tangy, and mildly spicy broth.   It sounded incredible, so we walked back to the stall and bought a bowl...well...I bought a bowl and Tim looked on dreaming of pizza.  :-)

It was so good.  This may be my favorite dish I have had in Malaysia so far.  The tamarind, lemongrass, fish, shrimp paste, chili peppers, pineapple, and whatever else they put in this broth works so well.

After I ate, it was time to find food for Tim.  He noticed a food court in Central Market so we headed over there where he found a Chicken Teriyaki Bento Box...I think he will enjoy the food of Japan better than here.  After dinner, just when we were going to walk home, it started pouring.  I ordered a Grab (Uber), probably at the same time everyone else did, so it took about 30 minutes to arrive.  We were home in 10 minutes, and spent the rest of the night catching up on YouTube and blogging.

Tomorrow morning we actually have dentist appointments which we are a bit nervous about since we are outside the United States.  Hopefully everything works out.  Until then...