Kuala Lumpur memories

There is so much more to say about our time in Kuala Lumpur (KL) I could never share it all. But here are a few memories I would like to hang onto.

We stayed at the Brickfields YMCA. The location was wonderful - only a few minutes walk from the KL Sentral (railway and light rail hub) in downtown KL.  It is a three story building set among a bunch of skyscrapers.

Breakfast was included and was a choice of a Malayasian idea of a western breakfast or something more traditionally Malaysian which would generally be rice based.  The first day they served the coffee with a load of sugar all ready in it.  After that we asked for white coffee, no sugar.  I often wore my sweater inside to keep warm inside.  Remembering to take it off before going outside was a challenge but if I forgot it did not take too long to realize my error.  Going outside felt good because of the warmth - that lasted about 30 seconds then it was just plain hot.

Sean Connery's train

Travelling around KL was an adventure.  We rode on the same train that Sean Connery used in the film (but we did not see him or Katherine Zeta Jones).  Taxi rides were like a lottery as you never knew whether the driver really knew where you wanted to go.  The group would use several taxis to get to a museum with 4 or 5 to a taxi.  It was always interesting to compare fares and to see who got the lowest. In one case my cab got there first with a low fare while the cab John Evans was in got lost and took 3 times as long and cost 3 times as much.  But even at that, he still only paid 14 RM ($5) so the stakes weren't too high.

Hindu temple with John Evans and Kathleen

We also walked quite a lot despite the heat. You can walk for half an hour or so without too much trouble but by that time stopping in an air-conditioned building is very welcome.  After sucking in the cold for a few minutes you are ready to go back out into the heat.  On one walk, John Evans took us to  the central market and then to a market in China town.  Near China town we visited a Hindu temple - a first for both Kathleen and me.

At the Muzeum Negara (National Museum) our guide was a retired Royal Navy (UK) officer. He filled in a lot of the blanks in Malaysian history for us. For most of the museum visits, our students wore their uniforms (white top, black bottom) so looked like a pretty sharp group.

Muzeum Negara

Lectures were given every second day and held at the YMCA so they were easy to find.  Most of them were excellent and I learned more about Malaysian history, culture and politics in the one week than I ever would have in several months as a normal tourist.