Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra Chamber Players

While we were waiting around for our 12:30 guided tour of the skybridge, we came across an advertisement for an evening chamber concert- for only 10MR (that's less than four dollars Canadian!). Since there was a semi-formal dress code, we spent the afternoon shopping for pants for Dan, and shoes for Angela (at one of the MANY malls in KL). There was no photography allowed in the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, but I did take a quick picture of Dan looking snappy in the foyer, and of the huge chandelier hanging above the first two floors of the main entrance to one of the Petronas towers.
The concert was composed of three shorter performances. The first one was a violin and cello duo performing a piece by Zoltan Kodaly. Dan nodded off during this one, but I enjoyed it. The second piece was the shortest, but I think it was my favorite. It certainly woke everyone up. It was called "Tarantella" composed by Anderson Koppel. Again, there were only two performers on stage, but this time the duo was a violinist and a small Asian woman playing a huge marimba. She played with four mallets in her hands, and the music captured the steps of a spider perfectly. The piece was composed in 1996, and was apparently inspired by "a traveling story Koppel first heard in the 1950s which painted a vivid picture of the famous dance, said to have been named after the frantic leaping and gyrating of a person bit by a tarantula" (concert programme).
The final performance was Dan's favorite, and it featured an ensemble of clarinets, French horns, oboes and bassoons. Together they played Mozart's Serinade No.11 in E flat (K.375). All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend an evening, and we also got a chance to see the Petronas towers all lit up at the end of the night.

Petronas Towers

On Wednesday morning Dan and I headed downtown early in order to score two of the limited free tickets up to the 41st floor skybridge (170m above ground). It was definitely worth our while! The view was amazing. The southeast view captures the beautiful KLCC park, and the opposite view shows the busy intersection and skyscrapers jutting out into the skyline.
The Petronas towers are currently the tallest twin towers in the world. They are 252m tall, and when they were completed (in 1996) they were the tallest architectural buildings in the world (apparently this category does not include 'needles', such as TO's CN tower). They have since lost that status, but remain the tallest twin towers.

Downtown Colonial District

After the Islamic Arts Museum we took a self-guided walking tour through colonial KL and Little India. Here we passed some of KL's oldest buildings (displaying a unique blend of Victorian, Moorish and Mogul architecture) built in the late 19th century. We also enjoyed sitting beside many of KL's unusual gardens and fountains, including this giant pitcherplant fountain. We ended our walking tour with a delicious feast at Saravanaa Bhavan, a fantastic little Indian vegetarian restaurant. I had cottage cheese tikka with two lassies, and Dan had a spinach dish. In my opinion, it was the best food we had during the whole trip. Also, the best Indian food we've ever tasted (even better than New Asian Village in Edmonton :P).

Islamic Arts Museum

It was a refreshing change to see Islam from its own perspective. Like other children of Abraham, if the glosses to the exhibits are any indication, Islam sees itself as a peaceful movement and a blessing to the nations. The spice trade, like Islam, "spread peacefully across the nations, without much drama." "The decoration of guns was perfected in Persia, but the use of guns in war would be perfected in Europe." "Unlike Christianity, Islam does not disallow the beautification of women." These statements exercised my ability to be a charitable reader. Fortunately (for my ability to appreciate Islam, but not generally), my own faith has its own incongruous self-descriptions and glosses on history. In order to love myself, it has been necessary to learn how to love a confusing and self-contradictory understanding of the world. How can it be that Christians claim to love peace and yet Christian organizations still take the word crusade (a perfect translation for Jihad if ever there was one) for their name. It is all too natural to include St. Francis among the ranks of Christians in history but not the Jesuit missionaries to the native people of north America. To think of ourselves as disciples according to Bonhoffer rather than Rushdoonie. We point out that Martin Luther King Junior was a Lutheran pastor and ignore the fact that South African apartheid was justified according to Christian philosophy. In times when Islam is quite suspect in the eyes of the world, it was good to remind myself, that it, like Christianity is a bewildering and various complex of faith, religion, population, culture and historical movement. Although some of the claims made by the museum grated me, they were relatively small and few, and paled in comparison to the obvious blessings that Islam has bestowed on the nations in philosophy, the arts, sciences, architecture and culinary craft.

Taman Rama Rama

Our final destination within KL's lake gardens area was the butterfly park. Here there were thousands of butterflies fluttering through the walkways and feeding on flowers. It was tricky trying to take pictures of them before they fluttered away!

As you exit the butterfly park, there is an insect gallery. Here we saw 'man-faced bugs,' live scorpions, and all other kinds of strange, creepy, and beautiful insects. There were also displays of butterflies from all around the world, grouped by genus and species, and all carefully pinned and labeled. One particular butterfly genus caught my attention for two reasons: the iridescent blue colour of the male butterfly's wings, and the distinctly mythical Greek names attached to their species names. The Morphos butterflies carried names such as helena, achilles, cypris, and hecuba.

Taman Bunga Raya

Just down the hill from the orchid garden was the hibiscus garden. Since the hibiscus rosa-sinensis (called 'bunga raya' in Malay) is Malaysia's national flower, they created an ornately designed garden in honour of it.

Taman Orkid

Just across the road from the aviary was the orchid garden. Although this collection was not quite as spectacular as the one in Chiang Mai, it did display many different kinds of orchids in an environment closer to their natural habitat. There were also some very beautiful non-orchid flowers.

Sneaky monkeys

Just on the other side of one of the nets that keep the birds in the park, we saw a whole colony of wild monkeys! They even found a small hole on the netting, and slipped into the park. On the street outside, we saw this monkey crossing sign.

KL Bird Park

Early on Tuesday morning Dan and I set out for KL's bird park- the world's largest walk-in free-flight aviary. For the first few hours, hardly anyone else was there and it felt like we had the whole park to ourselves. We saw hundreds of different kinds of birds, and many of them were free-ranging. We could walk right up to egrets, pelicans, western crowned pigeons, and even peacocks. Other birds were in cages or pens for their (or our!) safety (like the owls, which might snack on some of the smaller free-ranging birds, or the ostriches and emus, which might not respond very nicely to people walking right up to them). For lunch we enjoyed some fine Malaysian food (such as chicken satay and tropical fruit juice) at the park's "Hornbill Restaurant", where you can dine above the hornbills on a wooden balcony inside their large netted living area.

Swiss Inn- Kuala Lumpur

On Monday afternoon we took a bus up to Kuala Lumpur (the capital of Malaysia). During the bus ride we met a fellow Canadian couple, and we had dinner together at our hotel's restaurant. For about half the price we paid for a shoe-box room in a hostel in Singapore, we stayed in a finely decorated, breakfast buffet inclusive hotel here in Malaysia.

My friend Fluffy

In Singapore, we stayed in a hostel that housed two very furry friends. I call this one fluffy (although I think the hostel patrons named him 'Romeo'). This docile feline was the fluffiest cat I have ever encountered; but don't worry Toque, he had none of the charm, playfulness, or quirkiness that you do! Aww, Toque, we miss you!

Something tells me it's all happening at the zoo...

I do believe it, I do believe it's true. We took a cross-town bus, and it was rainy (but not cold). We spent the day walking along the paths that weave through the 28 hectares of lush animal living spaces. We saw so many animals... highlights include white tigers, manatees, tapirs (the black and white one above!) and giraffes. The zebras, however, did not seem very reactionary, and the zoo keepers did not seem all that fond of rum.

So many monkeys!

The Singapore zoo boasts the world's largest primate collection. Among its many wildlife conservation efforts, this zoo has worked to create a thriving orang-utan colony. As evidence of the zoo's hard-work and success, the colony has had a total of 33 births over the years. Also, the proboscis monkeys have produced 17 babies. As far as zoos go, this one seems to be doing laudable work with endangered species, education, and conservation. I was impressed!