Kuala Lumpur Overview

I had a terrible flight into KL. But that’s not about KL, it’s a whole different story. There is a longggg walk to airport from the airplane, and really lax immigration (my guy was on the phone the whole time). I would suggest booking your tickets into KL in advance, as buying them there is a bit strange. I booked my ticket though AirAsia going to KL Sentral but my boyfriend went before me and said to just get off the bus at Purdyura Bus Terminal. I asked if my bus stopped at both, they said no. I had to go in though domestic arrivals to buy a ticket (past police!, but they seemed to think it was standard) which cost 8 ringgits (2.5 USD). You might hear that Star Shuttle leaves every 30 minutes, and maybe they do during the day, but from 11:00 to 12:00 (midnight) there aren’t any. I bought my ticket at 11:03. Sad days. At least the airport has free wifi. You need to connect then open a web browser and click ‘search’ or something like that.

In the morning we went to the Batu Caves.

After visiting the Batu Caves we went to KLCC (KL City Center) which is where the Petronas Towers are.

After KLCC we walked about half an hour to Times Square, which is a mall/hotel/amusement park (they have Borders which I thought was out of business) that currently has a raffle going on until September 29th, 2013 to celebrate 10 years of being open. I thought by the name ‘Times Square’ it would be outside, like a park inside of a building and the building have the mall, but nope. To enter the contest you have to spend 50 ringgits in one receipt and then you can get a capsule from the world’s largest capsule vending machine! It was on break when we got there. They allow 80 people to try from 12pm and 70 people to try from 5pm. Oh well. It’s always fun to explore a city on foot even if they don’t really want you to–half the walk ways have no sidewalks.

From here we got food in the Bukit Bintang area (the heart of the Golden Triangle), which is mostly Chinese. This area has a lot going on at night. My asparagus with prawns had surprise mystery meat in it (I think some sort of pig), which for a vegetarian is sad, but for someone who lives in Asia, not surprising. We came back to this area for dinner the next day and everyone’s food was great–we shared a large ‘de-boned’ fish cooked in salt and pepper sauce (surprise! it was fried, and had two bones) and I also got asparagus again because we don’t have it in Korea! This time no surprise mystery meat, just cooked in garlic.

On our way back from Bukit Bintang in the afternoon we went to Central Market and Chinatown.

In the morning we went to a Chinese Temple called Guan Di Temple which was built in 1888. Guan Di is the God of War, however the temple also has the Goddess of Mercy, God of Prosperity and God of Education and Learning inside. There are many dragons, 2 protective warriors, and 4 protective creatures outside the temple. If you’re not a fan of incense you won’t last inside too long (like myself).

Across the street is an Indian Temple called Sri Maha Mariamman Temple, built in 1873. It was made public in the 1920s. Many gods are celebrated here. It is much more popular to go to than Guan Di Temple. I could hear prayers and chants from Sri Maham Mariamman from my hostel roof, 2 buildings away. Intense.

After this we walked across the river going to another touristy area of Merdeka Square, where Malaysia claimed their independence in 1957. Coming from the south east, you will go past the textile house which is a very beautiful building, done in red and white in Islamic style. To the east is the Sultan Abdul Samad Building which has housed many things, but most importantly houses the most photographed clock tower in Malaysia. That was a big enough deal on the sign for them to write it. It is nice. We tried to walk to Masjid Jamek, a working Mosque but were turned away because we were wearing shorts. It seemed very beautiful.

Walking back towards the square, we stopped at the fountain sculptures which have a lot of homeless people around them. Going back towards the square, we walked past The Royal Selangor Club which is a traditional British building; it has a Long Bar inside which only allows men. From here we reached the Flag Pole which is 100 meters high. Continuing along we came to the I ❤ KL sign which is outside the City Gallery. They had some great new photos, which I think you could vote for using your phone, and a 50 ft wide model of what the city will look like by 2015, when they plan on finishing a taller building than the Petronas towers. The model did night and day and had a tourism video playing in the background. I wasn’t listening too much as I was just trying to get photos of the model before the lights changed. Other than that, the City Gallery sells souvenirs. I got a free phone key-chain for liking the facebook page.

This was when we really started to have problems. We thought to walk to the National Monument. This is a popular bike route, and we could see why after we started it. There is no where to buy water or snacks and it is HOT in KL. Not humid though, so it felt better than Korea. According to GoogleMaps, the walk is 1.9km, and should take 25 minutes. When you only have warm water and have already been walking all day, this is a lot and feels a lot longer. Now I feel like we were just complaining. The walk is surrounded by park, so at least it is not bad scenery, if you don’t look into the stagnant pond. We ran into this same problem of no water or food shops again when we walked though the Perdana Botanical Gardens, Parks, and Museums and around the KTMB HQ. There could just be guys selling water or other drinks from stands and this problem would be solved.

The National Monument is interesting….Men celebrating on a pile of dead bodies. The area around it is beautiful with other statues and 3 domes.

From here we walked though the Perdana Botanic Gardens,Parks, and Museums–which is just a large park with many different areas. Waterfalls are not all as they appear on signs (small and man-made). The Amphitheater is huge, as is the Bird Park but we didn’t want to go into the Bird Park and nothing was on in the Amphitheater. The Orchid Garden is beautiful and free. They have many different kinds from all over Malaysia, which has over 200 different species of orchids. I guess they don’t have (or I didn’t see) my favorite which is a spider orchid (and which my parents also found randomly growing in the backyard in Florida).

Continuing in the park, we went past the Planatarium which had at least 3 mini traditional and famous time keeping devices/buildings/structures from China (not sure), England (Stonehendge) and India (Jantar Mantar). We got to touch them! Finally!

After more walking, getting lost looking for food, realizing where we were, getting food, and going back to the National Mosque it was 2:45 which was prefect for going in at 3:00. There was a bit of a line but we still made it in the first group in–they did run out of covers for men and women. Covers are necessary if a woman shows her legs (they have different covers which are just head scarves for little girls) or if a man’s shorts are above his knees. There was a lot of information inside and the man telling people about the temple seemed so happy to be doing so. From the roof, there are 16 funnels for water, which lead to one in the main prayer room which cleans water for the washing before and after prayer. Woman are not allowed into the main prayer room. The building can hold 1,500 people for prayer time. There was also a few informative posters, including one showing that Mohammed is basically Jesus’ cousin, which included the Muslim names for the same people that Christians believe in (Adam was still Adam but Eve had another time). There are some tombs in the back, with 3 empty spots.

Overall, KL has some steps to take in cleanliness and homelessness, but the touristy areas are pretty clean and taken care of. Walking is not suggested (but I’d do it again because that is the best way to explore!) as some places don’t have sidewalks and there are no posted maps or tourism signs to help you find your way.

USO DMZ Tour

I was told by many that the USO tour of the DMZ is the best, yet I don’t think I know anyone who went on another tour…

Anyway, you leave Seoul at 7:30, so you should get there between 7:00-7:15 for check-in.

Next you take a bus to Camp Bonifas which is the start of the JSA. There is a video presentation which gives you the history of the Korean War and DMZ. Below is the history with my photos from the tour.

By September 15 1950 future-North-Korea had pushed future-South-Korea to Busan, which was when future-South-Korea received support and pushed future-North-Korea to the Yalu River which was when China joined in and pushed back future-South-Korea to the International Cease-Fire Line on the 27th of July 1953. The JSA was established in 1952. The Military Demarcation Line (MDL) is the actual boarder, but the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is for 2 kilometers in both directions (north and south).

Within the DMZ there are two villages: Taesongdong (Freedom Village) for the South and Gijungdong (Propaganda Village) for the North. Taesongdong has a population of about 200 and the people who live there grow rice, don’t pay taxes and the men don’t have to do military service (but many do out of honor). Gijungdong does not have a full time population, but the military has seen people come in for repairs. South Korea gave Taesongdong a 100 meter tall flagpole as a gift, so North Korea gave Gijungdong a 160 meter flagpole to compete and say they are better. We drove past Taesongdong (you need approval to go in) and could see Gijungdong from one of the Checkpoints.

There is a Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC) which has the Czech Republic, Poland, Switzerland and Sweden involved. After the collapse of the USSR and many changes in the Czech Republic and Poland, North Korea lost confidence in the NNSC. Also, the Czech Republic left 100% and Poland left 50% (meaning they show up sometimes). We did not visit this.

The Bridge of No Return is where POWs were returned at the end of the war. People were given the choice of which side to go to: say where they were or go to the other side. Whatever they chose the must stick with, as there is no going back. the UN returned 82,471 people and North Korea returned 12, 457 people.

In 1976 the Axe Murder Incident happened. This was because of a UN Checkpoint (near a bridge toward South Korea) that was surrounded by 3 North Korean Checkpoints and could not be seen by the next nearest UN Checkpoint because of a tree grove. Many UN forces showed up to chop down trees, but there were also many NK forces and the NK soldiers killed many of the UN soldiers. Later, a huge troop came to cut down all the trees, and now the further Checkpoint is not used because everything can be seen from the first one. At the National Museum of Korea there is a diorama of this. Currently, there is a memorial stone there.

In 1984 there was a Soviet tour and one person decided to try to run across to the Southern side of the JSA. Soldiers from both sides jumped into action and many died but the Soviet defector lived and was no longer living the USSR.

After the presentation, we went to the Freedom House and were able to take pictures outside. The Freedom House was built by South Korea as a place for South Korean and North Korean families to meet if they were separated by the war. However, North Korea has not ever allowed this to happen. There is a North Korean building called the recreation building, which has nothing inside but cots and is where NK soldiers say if there is a meeting inside the Freedom House. They make rude gestures at the South Korean and American soldiers. They have named it the Monkey House.

Below you can see the set up of the view from the back of the Freedom House. The middle building is the MAC building, which is having construction done so we could not go inside. The soldiers dressed in dark colors facing one another are North Korean, and they do that so they do not defect. The one facing the MAC building is doing so to stop people who try to run over before they reach the two watching one another. If there is no tour they go inside. They are all trained in Tae-kwon-do and have weapons. The soldiers facing them in gray uniforms are South Korean soldiers, as are those in the camouflage. 96% of the UN soldiers are South Korean.

After the presentation and tour we left the JSA and saw more of the DMZ.

Next we went to an observation point, where you could not see much because it was gray. There was another video presentation which didn’t tell us anything new (at least I don’t think so, many people from other tours were talking).

Next we went to the 3rd Tunnel. There was supposed to be a video presentation there but the line was too long–kind of annoying after paying so much (we pay more than the other groups). The tunnel was okay….dark and wet inside so I can’t imagine many soldiers actually would go though it and be able to fight once they got though. After a 358 meter walk down to the tunnel, 265 meter walk in the tunnel we got to the 3rd blockade where you can see though a hole to the 2nd blockade. It used to be manned but now CCTV watches it. There is a water tank between the 3rd and 2nd blockade which, if the 2nd blockade is broken, will break and allow the water to flow downhill. Between the 1st blockade and 2nd blockade is concrete. It is 73 meters underground and 1635 meters long. There are 20 tunnels total, but only 4 have been found. The 3rd is the most dangerous.

Next we went to Dorasan Station which is supposed to be the Starting Point of the Transcontinental Railroad. This would have been put into use on June 14 2003, but never has been. It is 56 kilometers from Seoul and 205 kilometers from Pyeongyang. Once the Trans Korea Railway extends to the Trans Siberian Railway and the Trans Chinese Railway South Korea plans to emerge as a distribution hub of Northeast Asia. This way to North Korea!