On the way to Sri Lanka, I stopped in Kuala Lumpur and escaped the airport for a few hours to the city.
It cost 100 ringgit ($24) for the express subway. Not cheap, but not out of reach either. Worth it at least to see something new, as it’s a half-hour ride to the main terminal and then a short hop to Chinatown.
With only four hours, I had limited time to do some shotgun cultural sightseeing. I wobbled as fast as I could up and down flights of stairs and down busy streets. The muscles in my legs twitched in pain. I was still sore days after climbing Mount Rinjani in Indonesia, and there I was with my big backpack swaying around on the streets of Kuala Lumpur trying not to topple over.
The main coffee shop I had hoped to see – Kafe Old Market Square, known for its heritage photos and old-fashioned ambience – was closed. But the picturesque Masjid Jamek Mosque was just next door, painted in the soft afternoon light. I had just enough time to hobble down a few blocks to a row of Chinese shop houses, which remarkably hadn’t yet been razed. In their primary colors of red, blue and yellow, the shop houses looked like children’s toys next to the development of the enormous Swiss Garden Hotel. I had a leisurely dinner and coffee at the cafe, VCR, before it was time for evening, a metro ride and another tiresome, impatient wait at the airport.
