KL

We have spent the last two days in the very modern city of Kuala Lumpur. Like the rest of the country, KL is very diverse. The Chinatown and Little India take up substantial chunks of the center of town and we definitely enjoyed eating and walking in those areas on our first day here. We have also been enjoying the Malay's Nasi Kandar, a plate of rice topped with whatever meat or veg dishes you would like. It is quite filling, cheap and really delicious. It is also worth mentioning that almost every dinnner is followed with some durian, which smells bad but but tastes wonderful.
Yesterday, we visited the skyscraper section of town and visited the Petronas Towers, now the largest twin towers in the world. We walked through the extremely modern malls, which are much nicer than any malls in America. We saw the new Tim Burton movie after eating in one of the best food courts either one of us has ever been to.
Along with modernity comes more civilized atmosphere. When you don't want to buy something from a street hawker, they say, "That's fine" and smile. Cars obey traffic rules and are not trying to run you over while you are crossing the street. It's very clean and people are aware of the idea of personal space. KL is a nice city, but it has left me feeling a little bored. After a very over-stimulating 3 months in India, I have come to appreciate a certain degree of chaos, which is somewhat charming and without a doubt exciting once you get the place's rhythm. Yesterday, as our second day of touring this capital city was ending, I jokingly said to S that "I only want to love in a civilized place if our family and friends are there." I was joking but I kind of meant it. That being said, we are very excited to fly to East Malaysia on the 28th. After visiting Melaka and spending a few days in Singapore, we will fly to Kuching, the capital of the province of Sarawak. From there, we very much have an open-ended plan as the weather can make travel pretty unpredictable. We will eventually make our way to Indonesian side of the island and then see where we end up. I think it will be an exciting way to end the trip.