Kuala Lumpur

While Paul stayed a few more days in Singapore, I took a short trip to Kuala Lumpur (KL for short). The city is just a few hours bus ride away from its neighbor, Singapore, which actually belonged to Malaysia for a short time. (Only two years after Singapore got rid of the British rule and got incorporated into the Malay Federation, they were simply expulsed, thus Singapore became the only country in the history of the modern world to gain independence against its own will.)

Unfortunately most of the time I was staying there, it was raining cats and dogs, which not only turned streets into rivers, but the pavement also got so slippery, that skating was the safest and most efficient form of pedestrianism.

The most emblematic building of the city is the Petronas twin towers. They are the tallest twin buildings of the world and were the tallest buildings until 2004. Visitors are only allowed up until the 41th floor, where the Skybridge joins the two towers. Be prepared that the time you can actually enter the elevators will be printed on your ticket and can be more than 3 hours later than the actual time of purchase.

Second to the twin towers the city also features the KL tower, which itself is the sixth tallest telecommunication tower in the world. Although it looks actually taller than the twin towers, it’s just because it was built on a hill.

In terms of food, just like Singapore, KL also offers a wide variety of Asian dishes, including halal and Indian muslim specialties. Maybe the most famous local delicacy is the nasi lemak, which is rice cooked with coconut milk, served with anchovies, roasted peanuts, eggs and sambal sauce, all wrapped up in a banana leaf.

Also worth mentioning the newly constructed monorail system, which eases the task of getting around in peak hours, and the somewhat unheard of Malaysian automobile industry, which is represented by the locally popular brands Proton and Perodua.