September 19,

Today we are going out, but first coffee… and breakfast – in that order! We had our coconut bread with PB &/or Nutella. Then we set out, after getting the elevator. I won't mention this after this – we just have to plan on 15 extra minutes for the elevator!

First we went to catch the local commuter rail system – KTM. We only took it two stops. It is very empty – so different than Bangkok's highly used system. (HCMC doesn't have one.) The stop we came out at was the old train station. The KTM (Keretapi Tanah Melayu) Building Headquarters, which is the main rail system in all Peninsular Malaysia, is across the street. The road seperating the two may have been where the tracks were? Questions?? Anyway, this old Kuala Lumpur Railway Station was built in 1892. There are many domed towers for purposes and meaning to its builder. It used to have a movable roof over a part of it, but was replaced by a steel structure in a 1986 large renovation. It is beautiful architecture.

We now trekked to the National Mosque of Malaysia, and decided to go in as it is open to the public. We donned their very purple robes, with me as a woman having to wear the hoodie. It has a large enclosed rotunda prayer area with colored glass up around the top to let in lots of natural light. The views out over KL are nice – you can see the Petronas Twin Towers, the Communication Tower, and the huge Merdeka 118 Building – tallest in Malaysia -with it's spire that will be open to go up into in the future. (This building was opened this year and is not open to the public for tours yet.) Anyway, we finished the Mosque and thankfully I doffed that hot robe, and put back on my shoes. Whew…Steamy!!
We now head up to the Butterfly Park – we actually came here 13 years ago as well. It is a as much of a hike up as I remembered. Entry into the park was 30 Malaysian Ringgit (MYR), which is $7.16 each. Inside were as many butterflies as I also remembered. I love butterflies – they are such delicate, elegant, and beautiful creatures! This hot Malaysian climate is great for them and they are very active, flittering all about. The most prevalent are the Rajah Brooke's Birdwing – which is Malaysia's National Butterfly. They are a deep black with iridescent green band of marks and a red head. Gorgeous! We had quite a time trying to capture photos of them, it was fun. Just a joy to watch them. The enclosure is set in lush green plants with many different flowers for the butterflies. There was also a great winding waterfall/stream throughout the park. In some of the pool areas there were Koi fish. We saw some dragonflies even. Toward the exit there were a few fish and frog aquariums. When you exited the park, you came into a couple of rooms that had tanks with various live insects, scorpions, millipedes, beetles, and more frogs… too many creepy crawlies for me. But they were behind glass so I could rationalize watching them, some. One creature – a Long Legged Katydid – was as long as Jeff's hand!!!

We enjoyed that as much as I recalled. Now we stopped at their little cafe and had lunch. We split an order of Fish & Chips and a small water. It costs 28MYR ($6.69). It was a big serving of two fillets, convenient, and good. We sat at a table and chairs at first but had to change to the bar due to biting ants! That was not very nice!!

Next, we trekked down to the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia. This was our first time here. It cost 20MYR ($4.78) and was fascinating. The special exhibit was called The Arabesque, “which is the distinctive decoration form of the Islamic world,” from the entry placard, and is “an ornamental motif… defined as the stylized leaves that branch and bifurcate to form endless intertwined scrolls… apparent on objects… in the Islamic world.” I treasure this stuff!! I could spent hours studying it, wanting to draw it! Anyway, the design is displayed on many different objects: embedded in fabric weaving- wall mountings to rich robes; to paintings- as a border or part of the setting in the actual picture; on decorative tiles; on vases- swirled on blown glass or cast in ceramic; wood pieces-jewelry boxes of inlaid motifs; and also on/in books- bookcovers, and the pages of opened Qurans. This was quite a special exhibit. Finally, Jeff “pulled me out” and we moved on to the other various permanent galleries. There was the Architecture Gallery – with displays of models of different Mosques around the world. Then I got 'stuck' in the Quran & Manuscript Gallery – Jeff “pulled me out” again. Other galleries were India, China, Malay World, and Jewerly. Then a second floor included Textile, Living with Wood, Arms & Armour, Coins & Seals, Metalwork, and lastly Ceramics Galleries. We were getting museumed out by now and skimmed the last ones. But overall I enjoyed the museum- it had been awhile since we had been to one. The building it was housed in was decorated with a couple of nice domes.

We started leaving and it was just spitting, so Jeff booked a Grab. When we got to the door the taxi was there letting someone out – that was great timing. We arrived back at our apartment. I blogged and Jeff read. Then we went out to the mall for supper. We chose Hadramot, a Yemen Restaurant. From the menu we chose a Greek Salad; Stuffed Grape Leaves; and Mandy Lamb – customary cooked Arabic style baked lamb (served in tin foil), with Biriyani- type rice, and two sauces. [One sauce was Ghee (butter), I think; the other was a spicy tomato/chilli sauce.]

Now we rushed back to our place for sunset, deciding to go up to the pool area – which is the 35th and top floor, but in Tower A, “Milan” (our apartment is in Tower B, “Melrose”). This towers elevators are much faster, all working, but still full. We made it. So we did quick photo op. There were a bunch of people all doing the same thing – great views of the city, but sunset wasn't that great from here. So we went back down to our room with a better, nicer sunset. Around 2030 we went back up to the pool aera and got the night sky view and more pictures, it was not as crowded, but still busy. Super fine day in KL!