STAY TUNED PICTURES COMING SOON
We have our first good night’s sleep with no alarms at 5 or
6 am and John wakes up with fewer joint pains. Perhaps we won’t be seeing his cardiology friends at the
hospital today. We spend the morning relaxing in the fantastic Mandarin
Oriental Hotel, which feels a world away from Burma. On the 20th
floor I look out our window at all the skyscrapers and the park as the KLCC
lake symphony fountain does a showcase. It reminds me of Dubai. I am happy to
take the day off touring as I feel my brain hard disk is overloaded with Burma
information. However, by noon John is invigorated, rebooted and eager to see
more. He is out the door in search of a Starbucks while I blog. He comes back
disappointed that he could not find the Starbucks and waited so long for his coffee. He has discovered he can walk more
easily now with some pain but less like a very old man. We decide to have lunch
by the fountains.
Habits and
Rebranding
As we leave the hotel we notice some amazing cars lined up in
front of the hotel… such as Lamborghinis and Maseratis. This place feels like New York and
prices are similar. As we round
the corner a Starbucks pops up! I
ask a cute Malaysian girl server what an Asian Dolce Cappuccino has in it and
she tells me “creamer” and writes out the word for me. When I ask if this means
cream she says “no”. Perplexed I
ask if it has chocolate in it and she replies, “we don’t have chocolate” and
looks at me as if I am very strange. She asks if I want ice and I say, “no
thank you” worrying about the effect of ice on my intestinal progress. Okay I
ask, “what about a mocha? Does that have chocolate? Can I have decaf coffee?”
She looks perplexed by my ridiculous questions and explains that chocolate is
caffeinated. The line behind me is
lengthening. Okay I say, “not a
problem” I will have that and I feel guilty being such a creature of habit.
When my drink finally is served after three other people in the line behind me
have already received their drinks, it comes with ice in it. Hmm, I say as politely as possible, “I
didn’t know your coffee mocha had ice it and didn’t order ice but I will try
this anyway”. Another server tells me he will gladly make me another one. I
thank him commenting I am from Seattle where Starbucks was started ~ he also
looks at me with confusion and explains that coffee here is adapted to the
culture. We try to find a nonsmoking table only to discover such tables don’t
exist and many young people are smoking.
John is reading the Financial Times
about the housing bubble in Canada. He too is a creature of habit. As we are sitting right next to the
largest and most elegant designer shopping mall in the country I suggest that
since John has discovered he likes markets that we go to look for shoes. He
accuses me of rebranding shopping malls as “markets” and I argue they are same
thing. Needless to say we don’t go to the shopping mall.
Islamic Art Museum
We grab a taxi and go to the Islamic Art Museum, which is a
beautiful museum and has a special calligraphy show on display. Upstairs are
magnificent architectural displays of different mosques from around the world
representing different architectural styles. There are clear explanations of
each of these places with some interesting history of their development. Also
there are several hundred displays of the Koran ~ some as small as 1inch in
size and some very large. All painted and intricate and I can’t imagine how
long it would take to do one of these pages. We must leave the museum because it closes at 6 pm not
because we are finished viewing this elegant place.
National Islamic Mosque
Crossing the street to enter the National Islamic Mosque we are lucky to find this is open to tourists daily at the very hour we are there. How does my tour director know these things? He is prescient and feels lucky for this unplanned tour schedule. As foreigners we are not allowed inside the mosque but just to walk outside the hallways. This place doesn’t compare to the mosques in Oman where we were allowed inside to view the amazing walls and rugs.
National Islamic Mosque
Crossing the street to enter the National Islamic Mosque we are lucky to find this is open to tourists daily at the very hour we are there. How does my tour director know these things? He is prescient and feels lucky for this unplanned tour schedule. As foreigners we are not allowed inside the mosque but just to walk outside the hallways. This place doesn’t compare to the mosques in Oman where we were allowed inside to view the amazing walls and rugs.
Next stop is the Chinatown covered market where we search
for a bag to hold my monk puppet.
John negotiates the price and by the end of the walk we have bought 3
bags instead of one. I think we likely haven’t saved any money but now have
enough luggage to buy more things.
Hindu Shrine
Crossing the street we come across a Hindu temple we are permitted to enter and take off our shoes. On this Hindu holiday day this beautiful temple is buzzing with families and ceremonies we don’t understand. Sitting on the floor we watch these events and I feel amazingly peaceful. We later find out that this Hindu shrine, called Sri Mahamariamman Temple is the oldest in Malaysia. From Chinatown we hail a rather dicey and dilapidated taxi with a somewhat scary looking driver. He tells us he doesn’t have a meter but will take us for 10 ringgits (3 ringgits to a dollar). I imagine being James Bond if we are hijacked ~ but appearances are deceiving. We end up having a delightful ride home with a driver who previously worked for Malaysia Airlines and has traveled all over the world. He tells us about Los Angeles, Seattle, Las Vegas and his experiences. His wife is still an airline hostess and I suspect he is not a real cab driver but just moonlighting to keep himself busy while she is gone traveling.
Day 15 Bird Zoo and Friends for Dinner
I have taken a break from blogging and picture taking in KL.
I am hoping I can have John's pictures when we get home to fill in the day and our experience going to the world's largest bird zoo. However, I do want to mention that instead of going to the hospital to meet John's physician colleague to determine whether he had dengue fever or not John feels so much better that we go out for dinner with him. We meet Dr. Kannan Pasamanickam, his wife and 23 year old daughter and their two friends and go to an Italian restaurant. I find it funny that we would eat Italian food in Malaysia. Kannan is a delightful man who came to Seattle 25 years ago with his wife and children for a year and currently works as a cardiologist in KL. His wife is a nurse, his son in residency in Australia and his daughter in psychology in Scotland. We had a delightful meal talking about relationships between the different religious groups and learning about durian fruit.
Hindu Shrine
Crossing the street we come across a Hindu temple we are permitted to enter and take off our shoes. On this Hindu holiday day this beautiful temple is buzzing with families and ceremonies we don’t understand. Sitting on the floor we watch these events and I feel amazingly peaceful. We later find out that this Hindu shrine, called Sri Mahamariamman Temple is the oldest in Malaysia. From Chinatown we hail a rather dicey and dilapidated taxi with a somewhat scary looking driver. He tells us he doesn’t have a meter but will take us for 10 ringgits (3 ringgits to a dollar). I imagine being James Bond if we are hijacked ~ but appearances are deceiving. We end up having a delightful ride home with a driver who previously worked for Malaysia Airlines and has traveled all over the world. He tells us about Los Angeles, Seattle, Las Vegas and his experiences. His wife is still an airline hostess and I suspect he is not a real cab driver but just moonlighting to keep himself busy while she is gone traveling.
Day 15 Bird Zoo and Friends for Dinner
I have taken a break from blogging and picture taking in KL.
I am hoping I can have John's pictures when we get home to fill in the day and our experience going to the world's largest bird zoo. However, I do want to mention that instead of going to the hospital to meet John's physician colleague to determine whether he had dengue fever or not John feels so much better that we go out for dinner with him. We meet Dr. Kannan Pasamanickam, his wife and 23 year old daughter and their two friends and go to an Italian restaurant. I find it funny that we would eat Italian food in Malaysia. Kannan is a delightful man who came to Seattle 25 years ago with his wife and children for a year and currently works as a cardiologist in KL. His wife is a nurse, his son in residency in Australia and his daughter in psychology in Scotland. We had a delightful meal talking about relationships between the different religious groups and learning about durian fruit.
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