By David, on October 6th, 2009Today I had a super enjoyable day with Yong Yang in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I haven’t seen Yong since he left iCrossing 2 years ago, so it was really nice to catch up – and also great to have some company. I’ve actually spent the last 5 days in Bangkok with my little sister Amy (which was just one big shopping session and piss-up thanks sis), so i’ve been pretty spoiled for company recently. Combine that with meeting Alex and Dorota in Sydney next week and it could be said i’m not really traveling alone!
Since leaving the UK, Yong has been working for a Chinese telecommunications company in Ningbo, China. Because of the difficulty with internet in China (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and most blogs – including Yong’s own football blog cannot be accessed within the republic) it’s been difficult to stay in touch, so we had plenty to catch up on. Yong was only in KL for one day after being on holiday in Phuket in Thailand for a week with a group of girls (he’s like some Chinese super stud 
), so timing was perfect. We met under the Petronas Towers, in the big KLCC shopping Mall which is like Churchill Square or any other UK shopping complex. There is a Body Shop, Gap, Marks and Spencer, Topshop, Esprit, Nandos etc etc. Another example of organised, clean, ‘western’ city here in the far east – just like Singapore and Bangkok, a million miles from Chennai!
Kuala Lumpur is a very strange city. Before meeting Yong I took a trip up the 450m tall Menora communications tower – the 3rd highest in the world. KL looks enormous – full of skyscrappers and big motorways, which stretches as far as you can see – even from the observation deck at 250m. On the ground however, KL is tiny. Almost everything is within walking distance of each other. We walked between all the major sights, Petronas towers, Menora tower, Jamek Mosque, Independence Square, National Mosque and China town – which is pretty much the full length of the centre – in just a few hours including photo stops. I walked from the Petronas towers back to my hostel – a fair distance on the map – and it took about 10 minutes. Kuala Lumpur really is the smallest big city i’ve ever been in.
After a tasty Chinese tapas in Chinatown, we stopped off to take some photos of the Petronas towers at night, which are like two bright white ornate space ships – they’ve got to be the world’s most attractive office buildings? I mean, Canary Wharf or the Empire state have a certain something but they don’t look like oriental spaceships at night now do they!
I’m not sure what to do tomorrow. I think i’m going to try to head for a nice Malaysian beach as I have two more days here in Malaysia but have seen most of Kuala Lumpur. I hear Pangkor is a beautiful island only about 4 hours from KL, so may try to head there. Shame I never made the Perhentians really, but time is just too tight trip. Perfect excuse for another adventure in South East Asia next year
I know exactly what you mean – so much more developed than London (in terms of skyscrapers) yet its so small. Hope you went to the Batu Caves – they’re fanstastic.
Fella. Looks like you are having an amazing time! Good luck with the next part of your trip!