Today was more or less an unsuccessful day for sightseeing, but turned out to be relaxing and entertaining.We started off the day with a decision to eat like the locals and defer from the everyday western breakfast with eggs, bread, and jam and go for more of a local taste and see what they do to ease their night weary stomach hunger.
We first went to a local market where they served a local favorite, consisting of what seemed to be a flour based flattened almost crust rolled and filled with radishes, bamboo shoots, something else I don't know mixed with spices and "spicy" The rolls were served with a bland tasting soup broth with some cabbage mixed in. The meal was... adventurous, exciting and different, we sat with nothing but local Malay people who were sincere and spoke to us as much as they could.
Following two rolls, 1 bowl of soup, three dropped chop sticks and and a bowl of oysters and noodles, we decided ti was time to leave and move on to our first tourist venture for the day. We wanted to go to the 41st floor of the Petronas Towers to get a grand view of the city from the sky walk connecting the two.
Upon arrival to the towers we were met with an hour long line of people who though it would be a good idea to do the same this morning. After about 10 minutes of waiting, a nice Malay man came out and informed the last three-hundred people in line would not be able to go to the towers that day because the tickets were already gone. This was disappointing considering this was one thing in which was highly desired while visiting Kuala Lumpur. Disappointing yet was the fact we were leaving tomorrow and would not have another chance to do this so needless to say, we were upset with the situation but were eager not to let it break down our spirits.
After the upset, we moved on to our last preplanned adventure of the Kuala Lumpur visit, the canopy walk through the jungle in which we were to cross over highly elevated rope bridges which "amazing" views of the surrounding jungles.
We hopped on a quick train from the central station and ended up in a town called Kepong, about 30 minutes outside the main city. From there we haggled the price of a cab for about five minutes until we decided the cabbie would just use the meter instead of trying to rip off another tourist.
Upon arriving to the national rain forest, we were met with unexpected fees in which were only required to be paid by "foreigners" or what I would like to say tourists. It was a rip off, and made me mad, but like usual I paid the BS fees and was "allowed" through the gates of the rain forest. If you really want to know, the price for a "non foreigner" was 1 Malaysian Ringgit (about 30 cents) and for a foreigner was 5 Malaysian Ringgits (about $1.50) I know, I know, not expensive by any means, at least in western standards, but still, as Steph said, imagine if we in America made foreigners pay more for products or services just because we "know" they make more... Whatever.....
So, anyways, we were let out of the taxi at the front gates of the National Rain Forest and walked to the point of the canopy walk. The walk was through beautiful, thick, lush, GREEN jungle. The Jungle was filled with many types of palm trees, waterfalls, bamboo (I initially argued with Steph and told her they were water pipes... :P) and little lizards squirming around. It was amazing, and serene. The sounds of the jungle what you would expect from hearing it in movies, however, being their, the scents of the flowers, the heat from the sun and the cawing of the parrots maximized our senses. It was beautiful, there is no real way to describe this experience in words.
Upon arriving to the canopy walk location, we found the ticket office closed. Nearby, I found an operation hours poster which stated it had just closed down twenty minutes before our arrival. I couldn't believe it. We had missed two of our desired attractions in one day!!! I was hot, tired, sweaty, upset and ready to relax, and this was really unneeded.
Without looking at everything so negatively, we decided to take advantage of our situation and take a walk through some of the pre-trekked trails leading through the jungle! No luck today Shaun, we not only did survived the jungle without being attacked by a tiger, we didn't even see one... :P
After the jungle walking we hitch hiked a ride from a humble Hindi Indian Man and his small, flatbed truck. He spoke little English but we could sense his amazing hospitality through his actions. I have heard before that humans around the world will give everything just to help others, even if they themselves do not have anything. This was the case here, he was caring and willing to help us get a ride from the middle of no where, back to the train station.
From the train station we went straight to the newly built-ultra modern mall and watched the new release Salt in the extra modern theaters. It was relaxing and exactly what was needed to wrap this beautifully unsuccessful night up.
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