Kuala Lumpur

The only thing I knew about KL was that it was home to the worlds largest flag pole and that Australians went there to shop. The idea behind my trip isn't to indulge on materialistic junk so I had planned to experience the hell out of that flag pole and bask in all its magnificent glory!

I arrived safely and Rak's cousin Jackie picked a weary Tara up from the airport. Jackie had made a sign with my name on it, held it up and waved it around as I walked through the 'arrival gate', this made me smile a lot. She also pronounces my name as 'Terra' and this makes me smile more. 

I'm currently staying with her and Rak's family for the next few days. They've been so amazingly accommodating. My room has clean sheets, wardrobe space and even my own air-con unit so I can sleep easily at night. They've already started fussing over me and my horribly injured legs. 

This is my room, it's taken 6 hours for me to get it to this state;

and here's the view from my window;

The housing here are more like apartments or developments. A company buys the land and builds 100 identical houses next to each other.

I also this it's the funniest thing in the world that they have THIS sign;

for THIS fully grown dog;

It's nice being able to stay slightly out of the city and with local people because I feel like I get a rounder sense of KL as a place. Jackie's brother showed me how to use the rail system this morning and while we waited for the train, he warned me yet again, about pick pockets.
From what I can gather from our conversation, the people who live here just don't trust each other.

He explains that they've had the same party in government for 50 years, and that although they are a 'democracy' the government in charge at the time of an election is responsible for counting the votes... in a locked room... where no one else can have access to them.
I think we must be doing it wrong back home...

So, after learning that the people don't trust their government, each other, or themselves I was super nervous about heading into the city on my own. Every train here has a 'women's only' compartment because they don't trust their women with anyone else either.

I feel like, this would be an excellent place to pick-up but there are signs saying no indecent behaviour plastered all over the train and the dominant religion here is Islam so I'm not liking my chances.

I guess I only really did three things today;

- Got horribly lost and found myself about seven times, resulting in me becoming MASTER of the monorail, KTM, KLIA and Ampang rail system;

- Had reflexology.

- Ate. The food here is AMAZING!

For those of you who have been to Bali with me, you'll know that my philosophy on street food is,
'the dirtier the place, the better the food tastes'.
I'm basing this on the fact that there's something magical about a wok that has never been washed. It just adds and expands the flavour really.

If I'm sick tomorrow, just know it was totally worth it.

To be honest, I have no real idea where I spent majority of my time today but I only saw about six tourists and a whole heap of locals.

So tomorrow I plan to go to exploring a little more. Now that I got my head around the transport system I won't be so overwhelmed and I'll be able to get around a lot easier. I'm thinking of going to see the twin towers and then to the national art gallery or planetarium.