Malaysia Part One: Kuala Lumpur

Petronas Twin Towers

Malaysia is such an amazing country!  I was so surprised how much I loved it – I think one of the best things about living in Asia (as opposed to just traveling) is understanding the region better.  I never would have even thought to visit Malaysia if I hadn’t been brainwashed by the Starworld (one of our Western television channels) ads:

For my four day trip, I based myself out of Kuala Lumpur – but I did quick day trips outside of the city for two of the days.  Kuala Lumpur is one of my favorite cities I’ve ever been to.  It was really clean, organized, and almost everyone I met spoke great English.

National Textile Museum

I was struck by how pretty KL is.  The architecture is a really nice mix of Islamic/Moorish, Dutch colonial, and modern sky scrapers. I had a really great time just walking around and seeing how everything fit together.

Masjid Jamek

Some of the buildings really stuck out to me -I’m not sure if it’s just because I’ve never really seen a lot of Islamic architecture before, but I thought it was just so beautiful.  There was a huge mosque near my buidling called Majid Jamek that was really impressive.

Sultan Abdul Samad Building at Merdeka Square

Merdeka Square – where the Malaysian flag was hoisted for the first time after independence from the British – was about a ten minute walk from my hotel.  Sultan Abdul Samad Building – an important government building – overlooks the square.

In front of the Petronas Twin Towers

The Petronas Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 – 2004.  I thought it was really interesting to see because (although KL certainly has other skyscrapers) they aren’t jammed together like how I’m used to seeing big buildings in New York.  I think being able to look at the building on its own makes it easier to realize how ridiculously large it is.

Mall in the Petronas Towers

One of my favorite things about Malaysia was the shopping malls!  In Ho Chi Minh City, shopping is next to impossible – and everything is sized way down (for some reason having to ask “Do you have big size?” every time you go into a store makes shopping less fun).  In Malaysia there is no such problem.  Their malls are the nicest malls I’ve ever seen – and insanely big.  I spent time in the really nice mall in the KL Towers, and a more budget-friendly mall called Mid-Valley Mega Mall.  One of the really interesting things about walking around the malls is seeing how culturally diverse Malaysia is – there’s stores from America, Korea, Malaysia, Australia, Japan, India – all right next to each other!  It’s kind of cool walking past a Forever XXI with tube tops in the window, with a headscarf store right next door.

Islamic Art Museum

My time in Kuala Lumpur did have more substance than just shopping!  I spent an afternoon at the Islamic Art Museum and National Mosque (unfortunately my camera died halfway through so I don’t have a ton of pictures).  The Islamic Art Museum calls itself an “art” museum, but I think it’s focus is way more on history than art.  Modern Malaysian Islamic culture comes from three big influences – China, India, and traditional Malaysian  I actually had no idea that there was a big Islamic presence in China – it was a bit of a strange juxtaposition for me seeing copies of the Koran written in Chinese script.

Pretty Patterns

The textiles in the museum were really intricate and pretty – but the idea of wearing some of the head scarfs they had on display in the heat of Malaysia seems miserable.  I also really enjoyed an exhibit where they had models of famous mosques or other important Islamic buildings around the world.

Little India

Kuala Lumpur is the first modern Asian city (if I discount the twelve hours I spent in Korea) I’ve been to yet – and I was just so impressed.  In a few weeks I’ll be going to Singapore (KL’s close neighbor) and I’m excited to see how they compare to each other!

KL Tower

Tags: Islamic Art Museum, KL, KL Tower, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Masjid Jamek, Merdeka Square, Mid Valley Mega Mall, National Mosque, Petronas Twin Towers, Shopping, Sultan Abdul Samad Building, Teaching Abroad