Kuala Dingsbums: Much more than the home of the Petronas Towers! - plus our conclusion about Malaysia

It's time again: Big city life! To continue the lyrics of the song by the band Mattafix: '... here my heart have no base' (Attention grammatically wrong :) ). In fact, we Swabians feel less comfortable in most cities than in the countryside. Nevertheless, we are often fascinated by the urban scenery and the occasional 'WOW!' escapes us.
After Tokyo, Osaka, Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, Yangon, Mandalay, (and later Singapore) we can now also add Kuala Lumpur to the list of big cities we have visited in Asia. It should be noted that there are enormous differences between these cities with millions of inhabitants! Not only in terms of culture and way of life, but above all in terms of progress in infrastructure, technology, and overall modernity.

Georgetown seemed to us as a hip and casual city, and the Cameron Highlands conveyed the flourishing life in the Malay countryside. Now, Kuala Lumpur (short KL) presents us with the bustling hustle and bustle of a very modern metropolis.
In addition, the diversity of cultures in Malaysia reaches its peak here: We could admire beautiful mosques and train stations in "Muslim" design, then there were Hindu temples just a few hundred meters away, as well as colorful and decorated "Indian" streets, and of course the well-known China Town in many big cities. The European influence from the British colonial era also emerged with the churches that we saw here and there. If we had more contact with Indian culture in Malaysia before, here we encountered more people of Muslim origin and Muslim buildings. Oh, what a nice change from all the Buddhist temples of the last few months!

The capital of Malaysia has a lot to offer both inside and outside. As always, we limited ourselves to the most necessary (= the most famous and/or the most beautiful places in our eyes).
We spent the arrival day in a relaxed manner. Just like everywhere else, we strolled around the neighborhood of our hotel. Since it was very centrally located and near the Central Markets, we decided to go there straight away.

Unlike the large market halls such as in Ho Chi Minh or Phnom Penh, we found this hall to be very tidy and easy to navigate. And even more, it was really beautiful!

While Nadine was particularly taken with the patterned floors, Max's eyes lit up when he saw all the "junk shops" (quote Nadine). He has been actively looking for a "lighter with an integrated watch" since the beginning of the trip. Clearly: a lighter with an integrated clock (he is a non-smoker, but he likes nice lighters). But only in gold. And with a nice design. Of course, the watch should also work. And the price should be right. If that hasn't been the case so far, and the seller didn't negotiate, Max left with the words "Bandito, Bandito!".
(Unfortunately, Max had no luck in a local market hall this time either, but he found it online after searching there for months)

We found colorful backdrops all around our block:

After this tour, we looked for a place to eat. Since the Cameron Highlands, Nadine has literally fallen in love with Indian veggie food (Not surprising. With so much food to choose from, the former "rice-with-vegetable-eater" almost felt overwhelmed). So it was clear in which cuisine we would satisfy our hunger that evening.

We will pack the rest of our experiences for you (and for ourselves because the blog is also a great memory of our travel adventures) into a photo gallery:

On the first full day in KL, we went to the Batu Caves (limestone caves). For many, the real highlight is not the caves themselves, but the colorfully painted staircase with 272 steps.

We also had a great view of the city during the training. We also listened to the latest Balkan and Indian music hits, which provided double motivation.

Conclusion Malaysia

Wow, the Malaysians have a completely different culture and way of life than the countries we visited before. In a positive but also a negative sense. Of course, the fact that towards the end of our trip we were able to get to know a different culture with different habits and cuisine was great. We were also pleased to enter a more modern country with very well-maintained roads when crossing the border - compared to the other Southeast Asian countries. The Malaysians are, on the whole, a friendly people and welcome their visitors with open arms. We also felt very comfortable and welcome.

A different culture - this was mainly the Indian and Muslim culture for us. The two are not only different from the Asian countries we visited but also vastly different from our Western culture. And not always in a positive way. One thing in particular gave us pause for thought: women's rights are very limited. Nadine even experienced this as a tourist. When ordering at Indian restaurants, there were sometimes situations where Max was looked at instead of her. On the street, she noticed not only once lecherous looks, just because her pants didn't reach her ankles. However, it must be much easier for women to live in Malaysia. As you know, we spoke to a woman in the Cameron Highlands who had lived in India for a longer period of time - and she had much worse experiences there. Some documentaries also report on the conditions that women in India have to live with. This issue and the fact that things are nowhere near as peaceful and clean there as in Malaysia have confirmed our decision to skip India on our journey.

All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed each of the three places we stayed in Malaysia and can recommend this country to everyone.