Last three weeks, I spent in Kuala Lumpur. My Airbnb stay was in an area called Petaling Jaya, Bandar Utama. The house where I stayed was very nice, calm and clean. I have to confess that I have nearly nothing seen from the city. The reason behind was the unbelievable announcement that I have made it into phase two from the Google Developer Challenge, and now I got a scholarship for the frontend developer degree at Udacity. The message reaches me on 14.02 and I could not imagine a better Valentinstag day present. I think it takes me four days until I really believe it. So I spent most of the time working and learning.
After 3 months in more rural areas, it was pretty refreshing to touch down here in KL. KL is surprisingly modern. So, I had the luck after 3 months the first time to order a pizza. While exploring the 1 Utama Shopping Mal the next day, I was able to buy all things that was on my list. Completely European standard like, it was no problem to buy milk, cheese, and even avocado. Yeah!
Quickly I felt like home and I think this was a missing feeling for a while. My visit to the center of KL was super short. I take the Mt to an Area where I want to visit a flee market. Riding the MRT was a step into a science fiction. So modern and clean. The view is amazing from the train and makes you, even more, believe that you are somewhere in a nearby future. Impressive skyscrapers everywhere and the used space for buildings looks like I imagine the US.
I’m not the shopping person anymore and as I step out the MRT train, I simply was overwhelmed by all the mals and shops. Without a clear vision what to see I just walk around a bit. Then I had to find out KL is not made for walking and it’s a good thing when you have a pretty strong immune system. Outside you walk in roundabout 35° C, and in all shops are cooled down by A/C. So, you have constantly changed between very hot and pretty cold. The bashing impressions from all the labels, shops was so annoying to me, that I decided not to stay in the city. Even if I have not made it upon the Petrona Towers. I thought to myself, I can go another day, but it ends up that I was not motivated enough to go to the city again.
Malaysia is a very interesting country also for a business purpose. For foreigners, it is very easy to open up a company and with its territorial Tax system, you did not pay any tax on income that you make outside of Malaysia. Also, you did not pay tax on your own salary. I will investigate here some time to find out more details. As a European citizen, you can stay in Malaysia 3 month without vias. And if you are interested in business they just launched a very interesting programme for startups, that gives you the opportunity to get a 4-year visa with a breeze.
As I was ashamed to report that the only thing I have seen from KL is my desk on one Sunday I go and visit the Batu Caves. The Batu Caves are a collection of Hindu Temple that is located in the north of Kuala Lumpur. The preferred option to get around for the Malaysian people is to take a „Grab“. Grab is something similar to UBER and I really was impressed how good it works. So, I „grab“ a car in the morning and go to the Caves. When you arrive at the main gate, you directly be caught by the spiritual wave that lingers above the area. A multicultural mix of all nationalities crushes into each other at the base of the 250 steps you have to go, to reach the caves itself. To walk upstairs in the head reminds me like to go on a spiritual walkway. Like the steps were made to torture you until you reach eternity, you walk upstairs slowly, and just step by step. Wild monkeys cross your way, and bag for food. A waterfall on one side of the steps gives you the impression as it was heaven sent, cause the sprinkling water give you a little refreshing.
When you reach the last step, the impressive first Cave comes into your view. A mix of mindblowing nature, composed of holy shrines and colorful figures. Sadly some of the buildings inside the cave were under construction so that their colors were not so good to see, but a look up into the top of the cave compensate all this in a minute. The top of the Caves I guess round about 100m high had holes that makes you able to see the sky above. Rough stone walls that were covered by light green moss, and white areas where corrosion from water and time was visible. Breathtaking.
Sadly I didn’t know anything about the Hindu religion, but in another Cave, a little bit further was an active ceremony on the run. I watched it for a while, trying to get how it works, but I don’t want to behave unpolite and disturb the people, so I stay with watching. Some people had peanuts with them. The peanuts quickly were seen by a group of monkeys that started to run down from the top of the caves. Impressively lightweight they climb down and after one of them has ensured that there is no danger, the chief of the group steps out. Even if the monkey was just 50cm tall, he had impressive muscles and look very strong. Also, I was able to catch a monkey mother with her child in a moment of breastfeeding. Yes, it was worth a visit.
One thing what I don’t like was, that no matter what you want to do in KL, you won’t go by feet. Even if you just need to go to the next Shop, you need at least a bike, but most of the time the people in KL use Grab. On my last day, I was so ashamed cause I needed to order a Grab, to get around the block to reach the next 7-eleven and go back. That worried me a lot. I can’t understand why countries are not aiming for learning from one to each other. All these cars can’t be the right way. From my point of view, the time is up for showing well being by owning a big car.
Next stop Bali – lets see what you have 🙂