December 28, 2003

Royale with Cheese

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Well actually, it is called a Quarter Pounder, despite the metric system. But it is the little things that make it different. For instance you can also get Ayam Goreng (chicken and rice) and Lime Juice.

The day started with an exploration of Chinatown, right on the doorstep of my 16 Ringgit guest-house (about $6), then on to the historic section, with a few remnants of colonial days.

From there is was a quick trip on the super-modern monorail to the heart of the business district. Best known for the huge Petronas Towers. Despite being a Sunday the park out the front was alive with people enjoying the sunshine, and their children enjoying the pools and fountains.

I was just thinking that the towers didn't seem as large as I expected when suddenly someone was plummeting from near the top. They passed the connecting bridge half-way up and the stopped with a jerk as their parachute opened. A base jumper. Over the next half-hour another dozen or so came down as they held a competition for who can land the closest to a mark on the ground. Sometimes it seemed like they were competing for who could go closest to the bridge whilst still free-falling. It was scary even from the ground.

Eventually high winds put a halt to the competition so I wound my way back across town to see the quite new Islamic Art Museum. Quite impressive, not least for the quality of their air-conditioning.

Finally I headed back to Chinatown and had a celebratory beer for my birthday. It came in at 8 Ringgit (happy hour prices) which just made me realise how cheap the accomodation is.

Tomorrow I'm off to Taman Negara National Park. At 130 million years of age possibly the oldest forest on the planet. It's near the east coast and it's much wetter over there (they keep mentioning "monsoon") but they don't call it rainforest for nothing.

Posted by David at December 28, 2003 12:29 AM