Malaysia Journal

We included the Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia, to our list in order to take photos of two skyscrapers and to visit ‘’Petrosains, The Discovery Centre’’ located in one of these skyscrapers. After our research, we decided that one day was enough for this city.

Our journey started from Singapore at 04.30 with Jet Star Asian Airlines flight ended in Kuala Lumpur International Airport(KLIA) at 08.30. In Malaysia, almost every name has got an abbreviation. KLIA stands for the airport and KLCC stands for the city center. The majority of the population consists of Muslims and you feel this as soon as you step on this country. The city is connected to the airport via a high-speed train line so- called KLIA Transit. After 28 mins journey, you will reach KL central station. From this station, the city is surrounded by Metro and Skytrain network. The weather is humid and hot due to the effect of tropical climate. The only thing we saw from airport to the city center was tropical green trees. The scene we saw along the way showed us that this country might not be well- developed. Kuala Lumpur in our minds was different from what we saw.

You can reach KLCC station by getting on the metro again from KL Central station and you can visit Petronas Twin Towers, the most famous place in KL, and Suria Shopping Mall and the green park around. (http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Petronas_Towers) At about 10 o'clock, when we reached Petronas Twin Towers, daily reservations for Sky Bridge reservations had been filled. My dreams came to naught when no results could have been achieved. Taxis in front of Suria SM harassed us and tourists to get people on the vehicle. The traffic in Kuala Lumpur is extremely complicated. Kuala Lumpur is the only place having more complicated traffic than Istanbul that I have seen so far. I was so determined to make the taxi driver to start taxi- cab metric before driving. You should be really careful about this. Some victims were able to understand that they had been drawing a circle in the same place. After taking photos of the world's highest twin towers, we decided to get on a taxi to go to Menara KL (KL Tower). Although we insisted a lot, taxi driver did not start the taxi-cab metric and in the end we had to pay 50 MYR (1 MYR = 0,32 US$) for only 3 kms. Turkey and Malaysia have a lot in common.

Menara KL is a communication tower reaching a height of 421 m with its antenna. It is quite pleasant to watch the city and The Petronas Twin Towers located just opposite. Although the heavy rain, started while we were there, made it difficult to watch the scene, it was delightful to watch the skyline of the city from the top. After a while, we decided to step down from the tower and participate in the activities around it. We purchased 3-ticket package for the activities respectively the dance performance with local costumes, the visit to village houses with which a copy of local community's natural life was formed and the local musical performance. The most pleasant for us among them was the local dance. We also tried to accompany the local dances. People were very warm and the ladies were glorious. My spouse and I decided together that the most beautiful women in Asian countries were in Malaysia. Despite the heat and humidity, it was weird to cool off the hall with fans instead of air conditioners. Most of the audience watching the performance had to leave the hall without waiting the end of the performance. We found strange that avoiding putting air conditioners in the performance hall after building a 421 m- skyscraper. Malaysia was the country of contrasts.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuala_Lumpur_Tower)

After leaving Menara KL, we planned to make a tour in the streets and grap some pieces of the lives of the people from Kuala Lumpur. The hot weather, the sudden starting of the tropic rain and the tiredness of having started the day very early, told us to stop and take a rest. While taking a rest for about an hour and reloading energy on our seats in front of 7 Eleven at the roadside, we watched a couple having a video camera, who first had an intense discussion and then constructed their gloomy separation. The youngster worked meticulously and strived for perfection. The result that finally came up was unbelievable. When the youngsters, who were probably studying cinematography, finished their work, we were rested and ready to set off again. Our plan constituted of visit Petrosains, The Discovery Center.

After the rain ceased and ve had a short walk, we reached the Petronas Twin Towers again. Loosing your way in this city is very hard, because you can see the Twin Towers from every point in the city. Taking them as reference for finding your way is rather simple. Petrosains, The Discovery Centre was science museum at the 4th floor of the Suria shopping centre which was gained for the country by Malaysia’s biggest company called  Petronas.  (http://www.petrosains. com.my/) Also in concern of my occupation, a started to look forward to see this museum months ago. In the museum in various sections, you can meet different scientific researches and expositions of positive science in a range of topics being taught in secondary school until graduation thesis topics for faculties of engineering. Especially the demo of travelling with a helicopter to a complex bringing up oil from the sea and the researches being made there was amazing. But feeling strong earthquake through a device that was specially designed to present the intensity and effects of an earthquake was very creepy. Learning about the basic controlling of a model plane and leading and holding it in air in a wind tunnel was very exciting. I think that such a facility is the biggest present capital owners of a country can make to its youth. I’m sure that if I had visited this complex when I was 12, most probably I would be doing different things right now. Here we saw, tried and lived in two hours all the things that we learned in physics and chemistry in our secondary school and high school time. It’s impossible not to envy the Malaysian youth for possessing such a complex in their country. During our time there, hundres of students were coming for school excursion.

After leaving the science museum, we walked around in the supermarket of Suria Mall and bought some tropical fruits. Even if we didn’t have the courage to taste all the sorts we didn’t know, we were determined to do this in Thailand. Having eaten something in a fast food restaurant, at sunset we took our places in the green park around the Towers of Petronas to take some photos of the Twin Towers. It was possible to meet a variety of people that were sitting on the benches around the wide pool in the middle of the park, playing guitar, singing or reading a book. Many tourists were searching for the most appropriate place to take photos, just as we did.

In order to be able to catch our flight in the evening at 21.20, we had to depart without being able to fully catch the sunset. We used the route ve have been using in the morning and returned to KLIA. Having eaten something again in the renovated airport, we started our flight back to Singapore with Jet Star Asia. We left behind a tiring but beautiful day.  When we arrived at Singapore, we realized that we actually didn’t like Kuala Lumpur that much. Me and my wife shared the same opinion about that it was a good idea to make a visit for the day. Briefly, it was pleasant to visit Kuala Lumpur, see a different country and experience a for- the day- adventure. We even think that it would be enough to spare just one day of your life for Kuala Lumpur. If we had to stay there one more day, it wouldn’t be that pleasant for us.

THANKS !!!

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Many, many thanks.

Oktay.