Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

After our fun time in Bali, we flew directly to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  As late as it was and as long as we had been traveling, I think you can still see the excitement in our eyes!  Hello, KL!

We were lucky to stay in a hotel very near both the Petronas Towers and the KL Tower.  We set out for street food at some nearby food stalls and then walked home by way of the towers.   

I have to say, they were absolutely incredible at night.  They were the tallest in the world from 1998-2004. 

After a great night's sleep we walked to the Kuala Lumpur Tower for an awesome view of the city.  At the base of the tower they had a small cultural area and happened to be doing some traditional dancing as we arrived.  The girls loved the music.

Once at the top we listened to a "tour" of the city.  It was a fun way to get the lay of the land and see the mix of architectural styles, not to mention the colors!  What a beautiful place.  Ginger spent the whole time waving and blowing kisses.

The Petronas Towers

I am surprised Naomi has not demanded funny face pictures before.  We went for it:)

Before leaving we stumbled across a pony riding operation.  Naomi loves animals and has recently begun to be interested in horses.  It was perfect.  She was SO excited.  She grinned and grinned.  It was definitely one of the highlights of her trip.

So cute!

I had such a great experience in Singapore with the 'hop-on, hop-off' tour that we decided to do it in KL as well.  We caught it at the tower and went straight to Chinatown for lunch.

Our go-to meal...char siu (Chinese barbecued pork), rice & noodles.  This is our easy, take-out kind of meal in Hong Kong and it was every bit as delicious in KL.

After lunch we meandered through Chinatown for a while.  Gotta love my little princess Naomi, always holding the hem of her dress to pose for photos.  

While we waited, and waited, and waited (far too long) for the tour bus to take us to our next "hop-off," we chatted with a family visiting from Pakistan.  They were extremely friendly and were in love with our girls.  It was really fun to learn more about where they were from and where else they had been traveling. 

They has a son Naomi's age.  Seriously, these two could be twins, no?  People are always guessing Naomi's ethnicity.  I thought we'd heard about every possibility from Polynesian to Moroccan, but I never would have imagined Pakistani!

Finally we gave up waiting for the bus and just started walking toward our next destination, the Central Market.  It was originally a wet market, but now is mostly full of handicrafts and cafes.  It was a fun stop for souvenirs & snacks.

After cooling down in the air conditioning we ventured back out to the street for some more exploring.  Thank goodness I married someone who enjoys people watching as much as I do. AND doesn't mind stopping while I take a million photos!

It seems that I can't go to a new country without taking a photo of a local fruit stand. 

As always, Ginger attracted more than her fair share of attention:)

A word to the wise: don't mess with this absolutely tiny AND completely intimidating granny!  She could totally eat you for dinner...and dessert.

Once again we found ourselves waiting to "hop on." The traffic was crawling, and we could see we'd be waiting for an hour plus, only to get on a bus that would continue to crawl to our next destination.  Instead we took off on foot and said bye-bye to our tour.  We pretty much got ripped off.  We paid for a day's tour and, in total, we hopped on & off ONCE.  What a waste!  Who knew traffic in KL was just THAT bad?   

I really fell in love with KL.  The colors are amazing, the mix of architecture and the diversity of the neighborhoods were fascinating,  and the people were so friendly (even when they are protesting!).  We surely did not have enough time to fully enjoy it.  Gotta go back:)