KL

Lewis and I finally arrived in KL after 35+ hours of traveling, and made our way by train and monorail from the airport to the center of the city - an area called the "Golden Triangle" and found a guest house. As we remember from being in Bangkok, everything is more expensive in the city, and the exchange rate is not working in our favor! We stayed in a place called Number Eight which advertised free breakfast, and for the most part crashed in the air conditioned haven for the night. Our luxurious breakfast consisted of sliced apples and oranges, and white bread (toasted optional) with butter and jam - not the full meal deal Lewis was hoping for! It was fine for the first night but at $35, it's way above our price range. We have moved on for today to a bigger room with a private bath - of course this means that we have ditched a few creature comforts! We have to walk up three flights of stairs to get to the room, and it's a creepy hospital-light blue type color...But there is air conditioning which is our requirement, so it'll work.

We hope to find some interesting sights in China Town and Little India (both populations make up a good deal of the country's population) and then plan to move on to more relaxing towns. Lewis is studying the guidebook and plotting our next move.

One of the most interesting things to notice about Kuala Lumper - the contrast between the dirty, old city feel that is in many of the back allys, and the overwhelming amout of new construction and apartment buildings between the airport and the city. There must be a huge movement to modernize and accomodate the incoming population. The airport was also one of the most modern and beautiful that we had seen. Overall, quite a surprise!