Kuala Lumpur (KL), the capital of Malaysia is where I lived and worked from 1970 to 1975. The city today, especially the roads and buildings, are practically unrecognizable. Difficult to imagine that during the 70’s I was able to drive anywhere in and around the city without a GPS.
We flew Air Asia from Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumur on July 4. I was fortunate to catch my brother Miles at the airport. He was transiting to Seoul, Korea. We only had about half an hour between our arrival and his flight, but is was great seeing and catching up with him.
On this visit to KL we stayed with two former classmates who were very gracious hosts. As usual, we were able to connect with still more classmates and have an excuse for a “makan” (meal) – not that we would ever need an excuse to sample the local fare. We also visited the Coliseum restaurant on old Batu road that used to be a Peace Corps favorite and one of Rhonda’s and mine as well.
The traffic in KL is heavy and the extensive light rail transport system is a much easier and comfortable way to travel around the city. We made our way to KL Sentral and took in the Twin Towers and walked through a couple of truly massive shopping malls.
We tried to find an old seafood restaurant by Carey Island (close to Klang) that we used to visit regularly in the seventies. Our friends were kind enough to indulge us to look for the place. The restaurant is no longer there, but we found one close to Carey Island that has replaced it.
One afternoon, we also took the opportunity to walk through the Botanical Gardens and visit the Butterfly Farm, which boasts many species of butterflies.
We had seen many of our old familiars (the Selangor Club, The Ship, The old Railway Station, The KL Market, etc) on a previous visit so were quite content during this visit to simply relax and catch up with old friends.
Educhirp 