Kuala Selangor

On Wednesday, we caught a mid morning flight from the sparkling Penang Airport to the sparkling Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). Before picking up our rental car at KLIA, we took advantage of the free WiFi access at the airport. Internet access to our US based e-mail providers was so slow it was useless. We later learned that the 7.1 magnitude earthquake on Sunday off Taiwan’s southern coast had significantly damaged the undersea telecommunication cables. The event reminded us just how much we depend on the invisible technology of the Internet.

With rental car keys in hand, Helen slid bravely into the driver’s seat of our Hyundai Elantra. She quickly mastered the right hand side steering wheel. The first thing that immediately struck us was the fabulous Malaysian roads. We have become accustomed to the rutted, pothole-filled roads of India. Malaysia has moved in its 50 years of independency from opening new highways to improving and widening existing roads.

From the airport we headed northwest to Kuala Selangor, an unremarkable city off the tourist track. Our intent this day was to tour Bukit Malawati and the nature park of Taman Alam and enjoy an evening at the Firefly Park in nearby Bukit Belimbing.

Bukit Malawati is a well maintained park and home of Kota Malawati. This old and now barely recognizable military enclave was built by Sultan Ibrahim in the late 1700s. The main entertainment of the park is looking at the fabulous views from this hilltop and watching the monkeys. The monkeys have acquired such a familiarity with people that they easily mingle with throngs of kids milling about them, accepting or snatching food offerings.

Taman Alam is a well-maintained nature walking park. We toured the forest trails, bird watched (as least tried) from the observation tower, saw two otters swimming in a stream and generally enjoyed the serenity of a landscape free of planes, trains and automobiles.

Rainy weather that afternoon meant our intended tour of the Firefly Park would need to be postponed to another day. As darkness fell, we headed back to KL.

Finding the JW Marriott in the center of KL in the dark without a sufficiently detailed map was difficult. Getting directions from gas station mini mart attendants with limited English was a challenge. Luck prevailed and we found ourselves in the city flowing with one way traffic down Jalan Bukit Bintang seeking our hotel. Balancing the distractions of glowing city lights and the pillars of the downtown monorail, Helen drove slightly past the hotel entrance. With no vehicles behind her, she put the car into reverse, nudged a few No Parking signs and gratefully accepted the offer of valet parking from the hotel doorman. Our adventures that day had come to an end.