C & C globetrotting around the world…

We took the bus back from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur for the last 2 days in Asia. We went to Bintang, the touristy area of KL with lots of shopping, restaurants, bars and a general backpacker scene. There is also a huge shopping mall on 12 stories (and there are another 5 malls just around the corner)! For dinner we went to a “food street”, a street filled with hawker stalls offering a myriad of dishes. Not only can you eat there one of the millions of Malaysian dishes, but there are also other Asian specialities on offer, such as Thai and Vietnamese dishes. It’s a foodie’s paradise, but also very dangerous for the waste line 😉 . Every mini-restaurant offers about 20 different dishes and there are around 40 mini-restaurants to choose from. To make things even more difficult, all dishes are very very tasty. On the last day, we had a full schedule again. We went to visit some sights before we closed off our Asia Trip. After Central Market, we went to Merdeka Square, the Independence Square. This is where the Union Flag was lowered and the Malayan flag hoisted for the first time on August 31^st, 1957. The square symbolized British sovereignty as it was a cricket ground for the colonial administrators. The 95-metre flagpole is one of the tallest in the world. Flanking the square is the grand and beautiful Sultan Abdul Samad Building, one of the most significant landmarks built by the British completed in 1897 and inspired by Indian Moghul architecture.

From there we walked to the National Mosque of Malaysia, Masjid Negara. It has a capacity of 15,000 people and is situated among 53,000 m² of beautiful gardens. The mosque,, built in 1965s a bold and modern approach in reinforced concrete, symbolic of the aspirations of a then newly-independent Malaysia. Its key features are a 73-metre-high minaret and an 16-pointed star concrete main roof of green and blue tiles. The umbrella, synonymous with the tropics, is featured conspicuously – the main roof is reminiscent of an open umbrella, the minaret’s cap a folded one. Across the street is the Railway Station, a pretty building showing a mixture of Eastern and Western designs. From there we wanted to go home or to Bintang, but to get there was extremely complicated. We (especially Cecilia) got really annoyed by the stupid organization in KL. We had to walk along a highway, jump over railings and walk 20 minutes to connect between metro stations. We knew that the 3 metro systems are not interconnected the way they are (and should be) in any major city, but this time it bothered us even more. For dinner we went to the food street again to indulge in some yummy dishes. We also saw some people eating durian with plastic gloves. Durian is widely known and revered in southeast Asia as the “king of fruits”. The durian is distinctive for its large size, unique odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk. The edible flesh emits a distinctive odour, strong and penetrating even when the husk is intact. Some people regard the durian as fragrant; others (like us) find the aroma overpowering and offensive. The smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust, and has been described variously as almonds, rotten onions, turpentine and gym socks. The odour has led to the fruit’s banishment from certain hotels and public transportation in southeast Asia. It is understandable, as it can be smelled from far away and the smell lingers (hence the plastic gloves for eating it).

From there we went back to the hostel to grab our backpacks and hooped on a bus to the airport. Our flight was leaving at 3am, so there was no point in paying for another night at the hostel. We had been 7 times at the airport in KL, but always only at LCCT and this time it was the first time at the big airport (KLIA – KL International Airport). It is big and new and we surfed the internet and ate some mango sticky rice (best Asian dessert ever!!!) we had bought before coming here.

After 254 days on this continent, it’s time to say Goodbye Asia!