Kuala Lumpur seems to me one of the more run down Japanese cities, Saga perhaps. On the one hand, there are buildings like the twin towers that look 20 years ahead of their time and, at over 500m tall, high enough to cause altitude sickness from taking the lift. On the other, the streets are dirty, the roads lumpy and the buildings look like bits have been shot off. Seeing the streets around Sentral Station at dawn gave the impression of a scene from I Am Legend, but that was to be expected so early on New Years Day.
A local girl I spoke to on the train suggested that I head to China Town and India Town to people watch, but there were very few people around. Still, it was only about twenty minutes before I found myself being followed by a young man telling me he liked me. He even keyed the message into his mobile and showed me to make sure I got it. Message read, but not understood. I didn’t hang around to find out if he just wanted to practise his English or was some gay gigolo.
The city slowly filled up during the day as the sun came out and my energy waned. I even made to avoid the heat by standing in line to see a film (I Am Legend in fact) but in the end decided that I’d never forgive myself if I missed the park on my one day in KL. As it was, the park was further than I thought, much of it was under construction, and there were few people to watch. I should have gone earlier to see them doing morning exercises as my friend on the train suggested. Instead, I collapsed on the platform of a pagoda near the lake and dozed through the heat. When I woke, an Indian girl who was sitting nearby asked me to take her photo. The darkening sky chose that moment to break and suddenly my pagoda was crowded with locals and tourists who’d been hiding around the park.
When the rain stopped, Radhika (Indian girl) and I then tried to go to the Eye of the World to see KL from above, but by the time we got there, I had to turn around and head for the airport for my flight to Mumbai.