In spring 2016 we planned to have a driving vacation. The Death Valley, Zion, Bruce Canyon and Capitol Reef National Parks were on our bucket list for several years. We were dead serious about going there this time.
One day my husband Sergey came home from work and said that he saw online cheap tickets to Malaysia. The temptation was too great. Once again we decided that Nevada and California could wait and bought the tickets. For the record, we visited these National Parks one year later in April 2017.
The flight was leaving in 2 weeks. Sergey worked hurriedly on the itinerary and hotel bookings. When we travel together he takes care of all trip planning. My help is considered a nuisance and annoys my husband. He also tries to plan my solo trips for me, but here I put my foot down. If I travel by myself I will see the places that I want to see and not what he would see if he was traveling instead of me. I listen to his suggestions because of his experience, but make my own decisions.
Sergey made hotel reservations only in three cities to which we were flying and therefore we had a firm arrival date. They were Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Colombo (Sri Lanka) and Singapore. The rest of traveling would be done by trains and buses which introduced the element of uncertainty. We could get stuck in some place or have a sudden change of plans. It was better not to book accommodation in advance and to find it on arrival.
We were going to Kuala Lumpur via Dallas and Hong Kong. The flight Dallas/Fort Worth to Hong Kong was the second longest non-stop in the world. Its duration was 16 hours. After watching 3 movies back-to-back I felt like being in a flying movie theater that also served meals. The seat next to me was vacant, a big piece of luck in the days of overbooked flights. I lay down and put my feet on Sergey’s lap ignoring his protests. Despite the relative comfort I did not sleep. My husband claims that he never sleeps on the plane, only rests with his eyes closed.
We flew over Kamchatka and Sergey took several excellent photos of the volcanoes.
The flight Denver – Dallas was 2 hours plus 3.5 hours to get from Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur. When we finally reached it we spent the total of 21.5 hours in the air and were glad to get out of the confined space.
The flight arrived after midnight, too late for the hotel shuttle to run. We did what we usually do in such cases – walked. Of course, there was no sidewalk. This area was not meant to be pedestrian. We cut across some fields until we came to a highway and walked alongside it. Likely, there was little traffic at that hour and the shoulder was wide enough for walking. The night was balmy; the humid fragrant air of the tropics was pleasant to breathe in after the air-conditioned planes and airports; the temperature was mild since the sun did not beat down on us. Palm trees grew on both sides of the highway forming small groves. It seemed like we could stay under those trees and the velvety black sky and did not need a hotel bed.
It was 1.30 am when we got to the hotel without meeting a single soul during our walk. We were tired, but could not sleep because of the time difference. Our body clocks knew that it was midday in Colorado.
The Concorde Inn hotel at the airport was average and the room rate was modest, but the breakfast buffet was extraordinary! The quality and variety of food were overwhelming. The buffet had everything one could think of including soups, never mind that it was breakfast time. Deserts melted in the mouth. It was a foodie’s paradise. We regretted that we were staying at this hotel for one night. If only we could eat and store up food in advance to use it later…
Filled with copious amounts of excellent food, we dragged ourselves out of the breakfast area, checked out, left the backpacks at the reception and took the hotel shuttle to the airport.
A high-speed train connects the airport to the city center. On the platform we noticed the sign that some cars were for ladies only. Malaysia is a multiconfessional country. However its official religion is Islam. Many women wear brightly colored beautiful clothes that cover the entire body. Their headscarves are a fashion statement; the faces are usually not covered. The ladies of Malaysia can ride separately from men if they wish. This rule did not seem to be strictly reinforced. We saw guys in the “ladies only” cars.
At the KL Sentral Station we changed trains to the KTM Komuter line and rode to the Batu Caves station.
Batu Caves, a large complex of natural caves located outside of Kuala Lumpur, is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Malaysia. It is a Hindu religious site. The caves are converted into shrines and temples. The most famous of them is the Ramayana cave dedicated to Rama. The cave depicts the entire story of Rama’s life in a series of dioramas. Each scene has a detailed description in English. We spent more than an hour in the cave following the signs and studying the dioramas. The cave is also an interesting sight by itself.
We wanted to see another cave for comparison, found one to which admission was free and it was great too.
Our photos do not give justice to the grandeur of the caves partially because it is difficult to photograph them and also because we were equipped with an ordinary camera.
Monkeys were everywhere, live and depicted. They are part of the Hindu Epics. Hanuman, a man with a monkey face and a tail, is a central character of the Ramayana. An army of monkeys helped Rama to rescue his wife and so on. Many stories from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata involve monkeys. Real animals live around the temples. They are quick to snatch a snack from someone’s hands or a pocket.
From Batu Caves we returned to the city center. Our flight to Sri Lanka was in the evening. Before heading to the airport we planned to see the landmark of Kuala Lumpur – the Petronas Twin Towers. They were the tallest buildings in the world until 2004 and still are the tallest twin towers. The 88-floor Petronas Towers were easy to find. They are visible from anywhere. It is possible to buy tickets to go to the Skybridge that connects floors 41 and 42, the highest skybridge in the world. When we were there all tickets for the next 2 hours were sold out. We could not wait that long and risk being late for our flight, so we took pictures of the Towers and viewed them from outside.
We took a walk along the streets of Kuala Lumpur, a modern and high-tech city, before returning to the hotel where we left the backpacks and going to the airport.
That was as much as we could do during our less than a day stopover in Kuala Lumpur en route to Sri Lanka. Of course, it was just a glimpse of Malaysia which is one of the most developed and prosperous countries in Asia.
