Heading Out to the Big City

Salam,

Our travels to Bangladesh have taken us through Malaysia. Yesterday we had 8 and a half hours between arrival and departure in Kuala Lumpur (KL). Rather than sit in the airport, we were determined to go into the city and Ruth had said it was an easy trip in to the “twin towers” —in 1997 (but since surpassed), the highest building in the world. The five other delegates from LWF Cambodia agreed to go with us. So with big tall Papa Duck at the fore, the five little ducklings lined up, Mother Duck counting regularly at the rear, and headed out into the big city.

It was easier than Ruth thought, since there’s an airport Ekspres train that took us into Sentral Station, where we changed to the LRT for five stops to the Petronas Towers. Getting on and off the trains was always an anxious time when there’s seven people involved, but we made it. No sooner did we arrive at the Towers than we found the food fare in the complex of four contiguous malls–not just KFC (we have one of those in Phnom Penh now), but Pizza Hut, A&W, Chili’s, Haagen Dazs, and Starbucks were among the familiar names. After reviving, we seven set a time to meet again at our original entrance to the malls and the two of us headed out to explore on our own. 

The Petronas Towers are the jewel in the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) area of the city. All very upscale, all very polished. There are no plastic bags littering the gutters; there are no beggars here. There are plenty of foreigners (and we only recognize the Caucasians). This does not look like the developing world and indeed that’s one of the key points made in the Towers’ orientation centre — they want this to contribute to their status as a “developed nation”. 

Marcus was particularly disappointed that we were too late to get in on a tour of the building, in particular the skybridge between the towers at the 41st and 42nd floors.

There is poverty in Malaysia. There certainly is corruption in government. We just didn’t see it yesterday. Instead we saw the foyer of a concert hall in the base of the towers; we saw GAP, Prada, and Esprit Kids stores in the malls. (We even found Dockers with 34″ inseams! Marcus is so relieved.) 

We also got new nose pads for our glasses and I bought a new watchband. Yes, we could have got the same in Phnom Penh for a fraction of the cost, but the one eyeglass place I’d tried in PP didn’t have the right size and the last watchband I bought in PP lasted six months. Besides the convenience of doing this in one place when there were no other pressures on our time. 

After circumnavigating the buildings, and exploring the ground floors, we walked around the park, part of the way on the cinder jogging path, in the shade of huge indigenous trees (certainly more than 10 years old, so you can imagine the cost of planting them), and finally stopped to enjoy the elaborate dancing fountains in a manmade lake.

We found a restaurant where I could continue to watch the fountain for our fourth light meal of the day before gathering our ducklings back together for the LRT and train ride back to the airport. We were back in plenty of time.  

Filling in more time (the others ate), we eventually passed through security, learning from others’ mistakes what needed to be put through the x-ray machines and how, only to discover that we had to go through x-ray again at the gate. This time we knew for sure what to put in the baskets. How did those other people get here who were sent back time and again to remove their cell phones from their pockets?? Marcus dared to ask why there were two security checks. Well, the first one is to enter the secure area and the second to enter the gate. He tried again when presenting his boarding pass and was told the first one is to enter the secure area and the second to enter the gate. Don’t know if that’s a language or culture barrier!

Once on board the Airbus 330, we discovered that 14E and 14F –which had been great seats on the 737 from PP to KL– were the middle two seats in the centre rank of four! Fortunately, there was enough space that the fellow on Marcus’s right left after take-off and we moved over to have an aisle seat. Just in time for meal #5. This time for a Bangla meal of curried veg and lamb koftas, giving us a clear indication of meals to come. We think we were the only Caucasians on the entire flight (maybe 275 seats?) and perhaps in the whole city today!

But more about that later….
Now we’re here in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, with a population of 10+ million (a few million shy of the total population of Cambodia). 

We’ve passed through a very different world and returned to the developing world (down several steps from Cambodia).

Still enjoying the adventure,

we are
M&M out of KL