like it or lumpur it

I had just a day to spend in Kuala Lumpur before getting an overnight train to Thailand.

Having perused my guidebook, the most obvious destination seemed to be the city's Twin Towers, which up until very recently were the tallest buildings in the world. It would, if nothing else, make for some great pictures from the top. So I checked out of hotel around 11am and got the efficient, cheap and clean metro train the few stops up to the nearest station...

The towers (see above) were indeed an impressive sight. I was really looking forward to the view from the top. Imagine my disappointment then to get to the ticket office and find that, despite tours of the top floor running for another five hours, they had sold out of passes for the day. I couldn't quite work out why this was, but hey ho. This was one view I wouldn't be experiencing.

Feeling a bit forlorn, I strolled into the huge shopping complex beneath the towers. It was scarily huge and possessed so many familiar stores I couldn't quite believe I was in South East Asia. They were all there - Topshop, the Body Shop, Pizza Hut, Prada, Nandos ... I could go on and on. It didn't come as a huge surprise, having previously witnessed a Tesco in Thailand and a Subway in Goa, I was well aware of how Western companies had invaded this part of the world. I also don't have particularly strong feelings about it. If it's ok for me to buy clothes from Topshop, why should I turn my nose up at here and somehow expect people to be different? No, what really pissed me off was the sight of so many westerners snacking in places like Dunkin Donuts and stuffing their faces in American themed burger bars. I don't get it. Why come here if you are just going to enjoy a slightly cheaper version of what you can get every day at home?

Anyway, rant over. It was still an impressive place to walk round the shops, and I even managed to come across a bank with a Western Union facility. This enabled me to transfer some much needed funds across from my bank account (see posts below about my banking difficulties). It was worth a trip to the shopping mall just to do this, and I felt considerably more relaxed afterwards.

After a pleasant walk I then made my way back to the Chinatown area, where I had a terrific dinner washed down with a couple of cold beers. I sat for around two hours just watching the variety of different people stroll past, taking in the atmosphere. This was more like it...