KL & KK

We visited the cities of Kuala Lumpur (KL) and Kota Kinabalu (KK) in Malaysia. These cities are part of the itinerary change we had to make because of the Japanese quake. If you are wondering why we chose to come here it’s because there was a Hyatt property and the flights were cheap from Hong Kong.  Our first stop was KK, which is on the island of Borneo.   We stayed there for four nights.  If you have enough time on your trip there’re actually many things to do in Borneo.  The island is full of exotic animals and it also houses the highest mountain in Southeast Asia.  The weather was a little better than in Hong Kong, but it still rained every single night limiting some of the adventuring we could do.  However, with that said we still saw plenty in four days.  The highlight of this leg of the trip was actually a flower.  After taking a tour with some Aussies where we trekked and walked a canopy we stumbled on a remote spot on the road that had a sign to visit a Rafflesia.  I had never heard of this before, but we were told it was the biggest flower in the world.  It is actually an Orchid with a nine-month gestation period.   It takes seven days for it to fully bloom before turning black and dying. We were in luck, since the flower had just started blooming the day before.  After a twenty-minute hike we found this gigantic flower. It was huge! It looked like it came out of Alice and Wonderland or from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It was very impressive and full of different colors.  The flower had not even totally opened up and it already looked massive.  We took a few pictures and finished our beers.  Oh, I forgot to mention we took beers instead of water on our hike. I guess that’s what happens when you go hiking with Aussies.

The Rafflesia, biggest flower in the world

the black ball on the left is a tiny rafflesia in its gestation period

It is just starting to bloom and it likes beer too

dead Rafflesia

Aussies never leave their beer behind

neither do I

Manukan Island pier

Manukan Island beach

It got a little wet on the way back to KK

In the background is Mount Kinabalu - tallest mountain in SE Asia

Canopy walk

Our second stop was Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia and a major hub in SE Asia.  The country’s oil reserves have made it one of the most modern cities in the region. A symbol of this new-found richness is evident from almost all angles of the city by the omnipresence of the Petrona Towers, which at one point were the tallest buildings in the world.   We stayed at the Le Meridien in KL.  We got treated like kings at the hotel and took advantage of all its amenities.  It was a great way to end our Southeast Asia adventure before heading to China.

Our room

Petrona Towers

China Town Market

Room View