Our flight arrived in Malaysia around noon and we seriously could NOT believe how wonderful customs/immigration was. We legit got through customs in about 4 minutes flat, including stamps, and didn't have to pay a dime. We wish all countries could be that easy! From there, we hopped on the (VERY NICE) train to Kuala Lumpur Central. The train was seriously amazing - air conditioned to perfection, televisions on board, and FREE WI-FI. And the total cost? $15 a person for a 45 minute journey.
The LIRR has a lot to learn.
It was really amazing looking out the window during our journey. Kuala Lumpur has the COOLEST buildings. Jon and I were joking that there must be some pretty crazy/ingenious architects and engineers in the city!
From KL Central we hopped on the monorail to get to our hotel in the Bukit Bintang section of the city. Although there was a lot of construction, we were able to wander around the road blocks in the 90+ degree heat to find our hotel, located only a few blocks from the station. We checked in, dropped off our bags, and headed for the city center (different from KL Central which is actually just a HUGE railway station/mall) with the hopes that we could climb to the top of the Petronas Towers tonight.
We walked the 20 minutes through an elevated walkway (again, VERY NICE) and decided to eat in the mall we arrived in at the end of our journey. Apparently people in Kuala Lumpur REALLY like malls. Between KL Central, the city center, and right next to our hotel, there were about 6 malls, all huge with seemingly hundreds of stores. Seriously. BIG.
We ate a quick lunch at Fuel Burger (because we're still pretty sick of Asian food lol) before heading outside. Upon opening the doors - there they were - the Petronas Towers!
After seeing them in person for all of 5 seconds, I completely understood Jon's interest/excitement in seeing them. They are really beautiful buildings...and that's not something I say often. They have sort of a flower-like shape to them that makes them very visually appealing and they truly overpower everything else around them. After taking a few pictures, we headed towards them to purchase tickets to the top!
When we arrived at the ticket counter, we found out that tickets were already sold out for the day. BUMMER! So we purchased tickets for tomorrow (6:15 pm in hopes of seeing a bit of the sunset) and wandered downstairs to explore... the mall!
I know, I know. It's A MALL. But seriously - I think it was the biggest mall I've ever been in. There were 6 levels and it was fairly easy to get lost in there, even with a giant central arena.
We honestly wandered around the mall for probably 2 hours, just marveling in its construction, how many PEOPLE were there, and also THE PRICES.We had kinda thought that coming to Southeast Asia, things would always be cheaper than in the states. Not so when so much is exported from the states! A pair of Levi's jeans? Roughly $120 (in the states they are about $40). A shirt at Banana Republic? About $100 here. Just crazy. What's even CRAZIER is that we overheard people from Australia talking about how much CHEAPER items were here than in Australia! I think we're a little screwed when we get to Aussieland!!
After aimlessly wandering the mall, we decided it was time to head back. Neither of us was quite hungry after our huge lunches and we were feeling pretty tired after all our continuous travel as of late. We got back to our room around 7, showered, and enjoyed our speedy internet for a while.
Time for bed - lots of exploring to do tomorrow!
Jess' and Jon's highlight of the day: seeing the Petronas Towers!
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