Tuesday, January 23, 2007

KL and Batu Caves

On January 12-14, we went on a short weekend getaway to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital city. Locals refer to it as "KL". They love abbreviations in Singapore, even more than the U.S. military does. ("sabo" is short for sabotage, and refers to setting up your friend for embarassment; people often write: "S'pore" instead of spelling out the name of the country; and the newspaper refers to "m-cycle" accidents, as if they can't afford the space to write the word "motorcyle").

But I digress.

Kuala Lumpur is a modern city with skyscrapers, Starbucks, and Kenny Rogers Roasters. The Petronas Towers (owned by the petroleum company) are the largest twin towers in the world.

Throughout the city you will see taxis and personal vehicles made by the Malaysian automobile company,
Proton. A Proton looks like something Chrysler might have made in the early 80s to compete with the Toyota Corolla.

On Friday night, after having checked in at the
Istana hotel in the heart of the golden triangle of downtown KL, we went of a night tour of the city. This included a stop at the bustling Petaling Steet night market where one can find heaps of knock-off watches and purses. Some are better crafted than others, and of course one has to bargain for the best prices. After that we went to a Malaysian restaurant where we enjoyed some authentic malay dishes and watched a traditional malay dance show. Darin even got on stage to join in a dance where two men hold onto the ends of 2 bamboos and clack them together in a repetitive rythm. The "dancer" (in this case Darin) then has to jump in and out of the bamboos before his legs get caught. It was really funny, I got some good video footage of this.

The show ended with a Disney-style crescendo of the recorded music from the television advertisements that the Malaysian Tourism Board plays throughout the region. The full dance troup was on stage in bright colors, while huge video screens showed beautiful scenery and images of racial harmony. There was no mention of the
Muslim militants in the north who are training for jihad against America and Israel. Nor did they mention the black magic that the militants use to defend themselves against the evil weapons of Western nations. I guess they don't have time to cover every little thing that Malaysia has to offer.

On Saturday we went on a full day tour of the city. We thought it would be a bus tour, but when our driver picked us up at the hotel in a blue Mercedes, he announced that it was a private tour. I cringed because I thought we'd have to make uncomfortable small talk with the driver all day long, whereas a bus tour offers comfort in anonymity. But it turned out that our driver was super nice, very knowledgeable and easy to talk to. He explained that Malaysia is divided into 14 regions, each of which has a Sultan. To avoid jealousy and civil unrest, each Sultan gets a turn at being King of Malaysia. The term is five years, and you get to live in the Royal Palace. No official duties are required of you.

Chinese temple on the hill:
Although Malaysia is officially a Muslim country, you are free to practice the religion of your choice. (you are not, however, allowed to hang a pig carcass in public, except in Chinatown. No joke). There are many Chinese people in Malaysia, so there are Buddhist temples. We visited a temple that honored several of the Buddhist gods, including the God of War, who is often visited by businessmen. Visitors to the temple can place a smoke stick into a thing that looks like a wishing well, and for a fee, you can have your name placed in the temple for one year. Your name is written on a piece of paper and stored in a special plastic container. There are stacks of these things arranged in columns that stretch from floor to ceiling. Having your name in the temple for a year is meant to help those who have fallen on bad fortune.

There is also a can full of long sticks that look like tongue depressors. You pick them up and drop them into the can. If one stick is sticking up above the others, you read the number at the top of the stick, and open the corresponding drawer to find your fortune. If no stick stands out, or more than one sticks out, you keep trying until only one sticks up. I believe there were 100 sticks and 100 corresponding drawers.

Batu Caves:
The Batu Caves are situated thirteen kilometers (seven miles) north of the capital city Kuala Lumpur. They are a sacred place for both the Hindus and the people who sell food and trinkets at the entrance to the limestone caves.

There are 272 steps to climb before you reach the top. Each step is numbered in bold red numbers to save you from having to count them yourself as you climb to the top. Darin shamefully photographed two large women from behind, as they overcame tremendous posteriors to make the climb. Justice was done when Darin was later attacked by a monkey while posing for a picture. Sadly, there is no photo of the actual attack because I was so shocked that I forgot to press the button. I only got the moment just prior to the attack.

The Thaipusam festival: Every year, on Thaipusam, as many as 800,000 devotees and other visitors throng to the caves. As a form of penance or sacrifice, many of them carry kavadis (literally, "burden," such as a pitcher or jug). These are large, brightly decorated frameworks, usually combined with various metal hooks and skewers which are used to pierce the skin, cheeks and tongue. By doing this penance they expect some favours from their Gods. This grisly festival is held in the tenth month of the Hindu calendar (mostly the end of January). Darin says his kavadi is his paunch, and he considers it a form of sacrifice to carry it to work each day.

Royal Seleangor Pewter factory:
The Malaysian Tourism industry makes a huge fuss over the pewter factories. "The tin is mined RIGHT HERE in Malaysia!!". Despite live demonstrations prooving that a pewter mug can be made in 12 seconds, all pewter items are prices as if they were made from pure silver. I actually saw a poster touting pewter as a precious metal. I'm not sure who buys the pewter items, but the shops had plenty of salespeople and halogen lights to highlight the beer steins and ashtrays, so they must be making money somehow.
To view our pictures:

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