Posts filed under 'Kuala Lumpur'
Well that’s what ‘Kuala Lumpur’ means in Malay and I’m not making it up. It was named that because of 2 rivers that come together in the center of town. Anyway I’ve left the ‘Muddy Confluence’ aka KL and am currently heading north into the jungle of Taman Negara National Park.
I first took a 4-hour bus ride from KL to a small town on the river and I’m now on a 3-hour boat ride into the park. Remote? Yes.
The bus was full of ‘Top Shelf’ tourists as I like to call them…mostly all of them having stayed at the posh Istana Hotel where the bus left from. They’re all on package tours with the park, with $100 - $200/night rooms and scheduled times for guided nature walks each day. I’m the only backpacker chump who came up from Chinatown to crash their bus and I’m staying in the park dorm for $12/night (which is a bit pricey for my budget but hey), and I’ll be doing my own days trips from there.
I chose to raid the top shelf holiday bus because their hotel was much closer to where I was staying than the local bus station and I figured it’d be a much nicer bus which it was.
It feels good to be out of the city, sitting here on the open boat, taking in the jungle views. Don’t know exactly how long I’ll be staying in the park - it will depend on whether or not I can book a 7-day trek to the summit of Gunung Tahan, which, at 2187 meters (over 7,000 feet), is the highest point in Peninsular Malaysia. Will have more details on that later today. The jungle in this park is claimed to be the oldest in the world, having existed as it is for the past 130 million years. It was never affected by any glacial melt or volcanic activity as many other forests have. I think they have some really big bugs here too. Yeah, I am ready for some pristine primary rainforest experience.
3-hour boat ride into the park
Taman Negara National Park, Kuala Tahan
This shit cracks me up (durian fruit tree above)
June 21st, 2002
Still in KL…I’m a bit tired at the moment after a long day of touring the town. Yesterday was spent mainly relaxing and recovering from the night before. Anders and Nils (the 2 Danish guys) and I had gone out to a blues bar and I was very pleasantly surprised to see some really good live music. I tend to consume more beer when the good tunes are playing and the guys were pretty much doing the same. It was one of those nights where we covered the gammut in deep conversation, from women’s suffrage to world hunger to family values and I think we even covered a few more but the details are somewhat blurred.
Anyway we all rested up yesterday and the guys left last night on a night train to Singapore.
This morning I got up early to get to the Petronas Towers in order to get one of the 1290 tickets that they give out every day to visit the building’s observation deck. At 452 meters (1483 feet), the Petronas are considered the highest buildings in the world. But the tourists only get to go to the sky bridge on the 41rst floor. Still a good view.
After that I went to see a Chinese Medicine doctor for some acupuncture. It was the real deal, in the back of a ginseng tea and bird’s nest soup shop in the heart of Chinatown. He put 1 needle in the nerve of my’gimp’ foot (see the Appalachian Trail section of my site, under FAQ’s for full details) and proceeded to wiggle it around every few seconds to’send energy to the brain.’ It was REALLY painful. I was sweating profusely and breathing very heavily, but somehow I got through it. And it did feel better afterward. This guy I went to, Dr. Lee, taught Tai Chi and Meditation at the University of Michigan for 8 years. Really cool guy. He told me all about the benefits of meditation and how we as humans are’addicted to thinking.’ He’s going to recommend a few meditation centers to me in Thailand which is really great because that is where I was headed next. The acupuncture, by the way, cost about $8 USD and Dr. Lee gave me 2 books on Buddhism included in that as well.
What else…more walking around the town, running errands, getting good coffee, doing internet, etc etc and before you know it another day has gone by. One more day in KL for me and then I think it’s off to Taman Negara.
The Skybridge at Petronas Towers, an architectural feat apparently
Looking down
They havent changed the sign yet, and yes I was feeling nervous up there
June 19th, 2002
No more clean, fresh Highland air… I’ve left the land of wild flowers and tea plantations and entered the land of concrete, metal, exhaust, and electronics. Took the bus here today from Tanah Rata. Passed the 4-hour ride chatting with Anders, a Danish guy that was staying at the same guesthouse as me. He had been to KL before and knew of a good backpacker place in Chinatown so we are both staying there.
Last night Anders and I and Nils, another Danish guy staying at the same place, all went out to dinner and then to the Reggae Pub for some drinks. Don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet but World Cup Fever has hit everywhere is SE Asia and last night was no exception. We watched Ireland lose to Spain and the whole place was packed with travelers cheering and yelling.
Today I got up early and ventured into town. I wanted to go to the observation deck at Petronas Towers but it’s closed on Mondays, so I wandered around the 6-story KLCC mall next to it instead. Then I walked over to KL Tower and went up to check out the view. At 421 meters (1381 feet), the KL Tower is the 4th tallest communications tower in the world. (The tallest one, by the way, is the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada, at 531 meters.) The KL Tower was opened in 1996 and it’s construction is based on a type of Muslim architecture called’Muqarnas’. Anyway it’s a nice 360 degree view of the city. The elevator man was very proud to tell me that the lift operates at a speed of 6 meters/second, so I thought I’d pass that info along as well.
Resting up now after all that walking and sightseeing…will probably go out with the Danish boys again tonight.
Kuala Lumpur Tower, all 1381 feet of it
View from the top, looking over to the Petronas Building (highest in the world)
June 17th, 2002
