Having tea with Sikhs is fun!

Well, today was a very looong but lovely day. Eric, Dan, Kuljit, Calli, Whitney and I met at 8 am to head over to the Petronas towers. They start giving out free tickets (1400 a day) at 8:30. When we got there was already a long line filled with a very eclectic crowd.

After getting tickets for 12:45, we wandered around the humongous KLCC (Kuala Lumpur Centre City) mall. I have to say that although the mall had some Asian stores, it was pretty much like any huge American mall so I was eager to see the view from the Skybridge on 41st floor (it's the steel connecting the two towers) and get out into town.

The engineering involved in building the Petronas Towers is rather incredible. They showed a short film about what materials and such they used and how they accounted for wind and dampening (or something like that). Very cool actually. I wished my fellow Techies were here so that it could be fully appreciated. They spent a lot of time talking about the type of concrete used which made me fondly recall Courtney's concrete class sophomore year.

After seeing the view the rest of the crew headed back to Villa Puteri while Kuljit and I took the LRT (or metro) downtown to try and find a traditional tea house. Unfortunately, Lonely Planet let us down - the tea house had closed awhile back which we only figured out after walking around for a good half and hour and asking a ton of people. They were all very friendly and clearly wanted to be helpful, but more often then not we got the response "go straight." Finally a market stall man told us that the teahouse had closed.

It was totally fine though because walking around in KL is such an experience in of itself. Firstly, you feel as though you are walking through wet cotton, it's that humid. The streets are a crazy conglomeration of new and old, so you see a local cafe next to a Seven Eleven. Very odd. To top it off, the food from the street vendor's shops fill the area with the smell of spices and grilled fish. And I have never seen such incredible fruit stands. The grapes seriously looked about 1 inch in diameter, they were that plump.

Instead of finding a teashop, we ran into the main market called Jalan Petaling located in Chinatown. Everything you could possibly imagine was for sale including socks (odd), watches, knock-off designer clothes and purses, food, fruit, jewelry, and more. As you walk down the street, vendors shout out at you to come look at their goods. The street is mostly covered with Chinese lanterns strong across the road. It's rather hectic, but really cool.

After the market, Kuljit and I embarked upon a intensely long walk all around Chinatown and beyond. We began at a Chinese temple, Chan See Shu Yuen which was very cool. I wish I knew more about Confucianism so I could better understand the meaning behind incense and candles. The people there were very friendly and provided us with an information sheet about the temple.

We then happened upon a Sikh temple. Since Kuljit is Punjabi and a Sikh she was able to talk to this really cool old man sitting in front of the temple. We covered our heads and went in, and afterwards, the old man invited us to have tea. Two men and a woman brought us to a small room beyond the temple and fixed us sweet black tea which seems to be a traditional Malay drink. They were so incredibly nice and friendly, and after walking around for so long, a nice tea break was such a treat. They understood some English and were interested in hearing where we were from and why we were visiting. It was a truly cool experience to sit and have tea with perfect strangers in a Sikh temple! It's those kinds of moments that make traveling so much fun.

After we were recharged we walked over to the Lake Garden area (officially Taman Tasik Perdana) which is a huge complex of museums and nature parks. Although we weren't able to get into the Islamic Art Museum, we did visit the KL Bird Park which was incredible. They had tons of different birds including birds local to SE Asia as well as endangered species. Supposedly, the aviary is the largest in the world. I was even able to take several pictures with a Hornbill on my arm and an owl on my shoulder! I loved every minute of it. Kuljit and I still have tons to see in that area - in addition to the museum, there are orchid and hibiscus gardens, a planetarium, the national monument, and more.

By this point we were pretty exhausted so we made our way back to the LRT and to Villa Puteri. I'm sure that my feet are going to feel so sore tomorrow and I can't even begin to describe how sweaty I am at this moment, but I'm very content. Being here is unlike any experience I've ever had.

Tomorrow, I'll have my first official class with Prof Heng. I'm excited to see what we discuss and what she has planned for the week.....although I have to admit that I still have to finish the reading tonight! Sightseeing was just too compelling - but don't worry Mom, I will do all the classwork!

Much love to you all.


P.S. Susan - I know that this Bird Park would just blow your mind! I can't wait to show you all of my bird pictures! I think toucans are my favorite birds....