Malaysia - land of... shopping?

Well, as I mentioned, our hotel was in a mall, which was in a mall, in a larger set of malls. Confused yet?

Stay away from the light!!

Shopping is undeniably fun - as is Air Conditioning, fried food, and not getting stared at 24-7 - but it was time for a break. We decided to travel outside the touristy hotel-mall and head over to see the Twin Towers.

The eye of Sauron... whoops... no, that's Aidan.

No, not the Two Towers from The Lord of the Rings, the Petronas Twin Towers! Interestingly, to get there, you travel mostly underground through a large tunnel system, complete with exits for Taxis to drop you off so you can climb back to the surface. I wonder if they were built by dwarves.... Hmm.

Bright shiny!

Moving on - the Towers themselves are a marvel of engineering, not to mention a tourist trap. 88 stories high, the towers offer the best view in the city. Also, being composed mostly of shiny metal, the towers themselves are ironically the best thing to look at in the city. No, don't climb to the top and crane your head over the ledge to look at them. You can't fly, and I'm not going to catch you.



Here you can come early and get a ticket to cross the Sky Bridge (the thingy in the middle there) or pay 40 Ringitt to go all the way up. You can only stay 10 minutes on the observation decks though - people have offices and businesses up there you know. How would you like a bunch of gawky tourists roaming through your cubicle every day? Right.






In the middle and slightly before the towers themselves sits - you guessed it - another mall! Now, you would think endless shopping malls would get tedious after awhile. Honestly, it doesn't. The shops inside are all unique in their own way, and still very distinctly Asian. In Malay, you have the added benefit of a heavy Indian influence. This means colorful clothing, and great snack foods in the food court! Have some Naan bread and rich coffee while you rest your feet from all the walking. Awesomeness.

No, no... no.

Of course, there are some things I could've done without... ;)

It's like futureworld at Disney in these malls. Really!

Outside the towers, you'll find a nice park with dancing fountains, and scenic photo-ops of all kinds.  Most notably, there's a blond-haired child who is willing to take pictures with you if you smile enough.

Celebrity dude.

We aren't sure why, but the Malaysians and tourists all seemed to think Aidan was a celebrity. The patterns were similar - a group would approach slowly, stop and take pictures of something else, then scoot closer to him. Eventually, they'd muster the courage to ask him to join them in photo taking. This happened multiple times on our journey, but Aidan didn't really seem to care. Maybe he was born for this sort of thing...?

Aidan is way cooler than a fountain. Just sayin'.

The dancing fountains are a nice attraction. Bring a friend, date, or spouse to one of the seating areas, grab a bite from a local cafe, and enjoy the show. There's even picnic-perfect grassy knolls and plenty of birds singing. You'd almost forget you were in the middle of a metropolis...





...well, if it wasn't for the massive skyscrapers and oddly-shaped buildings anyway. Hey, it's still quaint, and would make a great spot to relax!







As adventurous as I am, I found the process of walking through malls to be more cathartic than anything else Malaysia had to offer. It was so relaxing that Aidan and I decided to stay back at the hotel-mall while the others went to a place called Little India - a section of town supposedly known for quaint shops and good Indian food. I'll go into that on the next post. For now, enjoy the thought of visiting here and being able to after-Christmas-sale shop without having to find parking!

 

Merry (late) Christmas!