We had one nice day on the beaches of Railay, Thailand before heading to Krabi and eventually (slowly) making our way to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We arrived at the bus stop in KL early early, found a place to stay in the Golden Triangle to sleep for a few hours before using the only day we had to tour the city and sights of KL. We had a little sleep in the then put on our walking shoes, in other words our Havianna flip flops which we've lived in for 6 weeks to walk about the city. First stop was the famous Petronas Towers, opened in 1998, the 88-storey steel-clad twin towers rise up to 451.9m. They are the headquaters of the national oil and gas company, Petronas and also house several different companies as well. Islamic influences are also evident in each towers 5 tiers - representing the five pillars of Islam. Unfortunately the towers closed to the public on Monday's, go figure. But they said only a 1000 tickets are given out in the morning and people lineup starting from 6am to get these...the view of the towers was better than going up anyways.... So we ventured from there to China town and did a bit of shopping, cheap dvd's and bags before heading back to our accomodation to get ready for the evening. Big plans...:) We went to the traders hotel Sky Bar which has a pool on the 40th floor and has the best view of the Petronas Towers lit up at night, so we drank cocktails and looked over the beautiful city of KL. I could definitely live here if the opportunity arose :) After a cocktail at this highclass establishment we went to see the long awaited movie 'Sex and the City' and it was SOOOOO good. Amy and I left the theatre wanting to watch it again. Maybe with the girls in Canada and then again in Australia :) We called it quits after the late movie because we had an early flight to Kota Kinabalu.
Now in KK, I was planning to climb Malaysia's highest mountain, Mt Kinabalu, but I didn't plan ahead and book, in my head I was climbing it but once I got here all the reservations were booked for the next few days, so I wasn't able to climb it :( Next time.....just means I WILL be coming back. So Amy and I spent the last two days on the islands of the coast of KK just relaxing in the 33 degree sunny weather on whitesand beaches, snorkeling with the most under sea life I've ever experienced. 10m from the shore of the island I was swimming with Barraccuda, anenome fish, angelfish, butterfly fish, trevally, wrasse, damsel fish, coronet fish...etc and they were all in less than 2m of water....I was literally in fish heaven!!! So I guess I wasn't too too disappointed I couldn't hike the gruelling climb of Mt K, I will just have to save my climb for when the fam can join me :) So during the day we relaxed on the islands that were surrounded by coral reefs and for sunset we headed to the Filipino BBQ market which is the best place in town for grilled seafood at unbeatable prices. We hunkered down at one of the crowded tables located right beside the sea, pointed to our prey and watched the sun diminish at the horizon while the sky filled with pink and orange.
The day we arrived in KK before heading out to the islands we arranged a trip out to see the almost extinct Orang-Utans about 40 mins outside of town in one of the four rehbilitation centres in the world. Orang-Utans are the only species of great ape found outside Africa. A mature male is an impressive, hairy creature with an armspan of 2.25m and can weigh up to 144kg. It was once said that an orang-utan could swing from tree to tree from one side of Borneo to the other without touching the ground. Sadly this is no longer the case, and hunting and habitat destruction continue to take their toll, it's estimated fewer than 15,000 specimens now exist in the wild. They are amazing, intelligent creatures and I feel honoured that I was able to see this creature before they become extinct, which I hope does not happen....
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