The last two days of our vacation we spent in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. According to my guidebook, Kuala Lumpur (or KL) was founded as a mining town in the mid-1800s and has grown today to a city with a population of four million people that includes many ethnic Malays, Chinese, and Indians. According to my friend Bill, the U.S. is Malaysia's largest trade partner and their biggest export is computer chips.
Our KL hotel was located directly across the street from the Petronas Towers which for a time were the tallest buildings and played famously in one of the many Bruces Willis Die Hard movies. These are a spectacular looking structure on both the beautiful sunny day above and also when lit up at night. The Petronas observation deck is on the bridge between the two towers at about the 40th floor. The 40th floor seemed too low a spot for an observation deck, so instead we went to the Menura KL tower across town. From there we were able to see the entire city including the Petronas Towers - this was the better move.
You can see Joseph there climbing a flag pole in Merdeka Square while behind him is the tallest flagpole in the world, standing at 310 feet
We had a good relaxing time at the afternoon high tea at the Carcosa Seri Negara. This location used to be the hilltop residence of the British governor of KL but is today an exclusive hotel. Above you can see Maria practicing her etiquette and keeping her foul language to a minimum.
At night we checked out the Central Market and the night markets. Kathleen was able to find a pewter plate - pewter is one of the handicrafts that KL is famous for, deriving from the tin mining industry here. Each of the kids was given a budget of 20 Ringgit (about $6 U.S.) to spend at the market. Maria bought a lollypop, Joseph bought chocolate, Marco bought a digital watch, and Juliana bought some proper souveniers. For myself, I bought a couple wooden masks, as I now have a bit of a collection from our Pacific Island adventures.
Several more pictures of KL and environs are posted at snapfish.com.
Our KL hotel was located directly across the street from the Petronas Towers which for a time were the tallest buildings and played famously in one of the many Bruces Willis Die Hard movies. These are a spectacular looking structure on both the beautiful sunny day above and also when lit up at night. The Petronas observation deck is on the bridge between the two towers at about the 40th floor. The 40th floor seemed too low a spot for an observation deck, so instead we went to the Menura KL tower across town. From there we were able to see the entire city including the Petronas Towers - this was the better move.
You can see Joseph there climbing a flag pole in Merdeka Square while behind him is the tallest flagpole in the world, standing at 310 feet
We had a good relaxing time at the afternoon high tea at the Carcosa Seri Negara. This location used to be the hilltop residence of the British governor of KL but is today an exclusive hotel. Above you can see Maria practicing her etiquette and keeping her foul language to a minimum.
At night we checked out the Central Market and the night markets. Kathleen was able to find a pewter plate - pewter is one of the handicrafts that KL is famous for, deriving from the tin mining industry here. Each of the kids was given a budget of 20 Ringgit (about $6 U.S.) to spend at the market. Maria bought a lollypop, Joseph bought chocolate, Marco bought a digital watch, and Juliana bought some proper souveniers. For myself, I bought a couple wooden masks, as I now have a bit of a collection from our Pacific Island adventures.
Several more pictures of KL and environs are posted at snapfish.com.
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