Longer KL post

Well, My trip to Kuala Lumpur was exhausting but lots of fun.

Kuala Lumpur is a gorgeous city.

Coming from the airport, taking the new highway, which is soo clean, and sooo well-constructed, you get to the city in about 45 minutes, passing through palm tree farms (for palm oil) as far as the eye can see. The vegetation is very like Brazil and Ugh, is it humid and warm.

KL itself comes into view about half an hour into the drive and is very picturesque from a distance. The new highway takes you through some nice areas and makes the mountains around the city (about another 45 minute drive north and west) a back-drop for the modern skyline, with the Kuala Lumpur tower, which looks like a spike with a ball on top, the Petronas Towers and the rest of an area which is called KLCC, or Kuala Lumpur City Centre.

They basically took a former residential area of the city which had large colonial mansions and a horse-race track which nobody wanted and transformed the whole are into a new, modern city centre. The old centre still exists, and yes, is ugly, and old, and dirty, but KLCC is where are the foreign business people go and is clean, and new, and oh so pretty.

It’s where you’ll find the Petronas Towers, the Mandarin Oriental, lots of other steel and glass buildings, a beautiful convention centre and this huge park with a cool public swimming pool in the middle.

KL was built in the middle of a rainforest, I was told and you can tell: 1 because its humid as hell!, 2. because there’s still a lot of green around.

The job was tiring. VIPs would suddenly decide the craziest things at the last moment. Most nights we were up till 3 am because some VIP would decide they wanted to hire a helicopter/change rooms/go out with us/need a plane ticket all at the last minute. We got the weirdest requests! Also, these people spend so much money just because they don’t have the saco to decide things. There was one guy who wanted a helicopter a few days before the event to go the race. We found him one for about $1000. Since he didn’t decide until the last moment, the price went up to $ 6000!!!

But it was also really fun. Seeing the F1, rushing around getting things, picking up guests from the airport (I know that new highway like the back of my hand now, riding around in a S-class Mercedes!) and getting to know people.

You can click on the photos to see them larger:

Petronas Towers This was the view from our hotel room

Me in front of the Petronas Towers

In front of the car

At the race on the roof of the paddock

Just behind me is the starting line

We could go down to see the pits before the race

Inside the Paddock

The view from the paddock

Maria and I with car

In uniform

Chinese Temple in KL

Serena and I in the Chinese Temple

Putrajaya, the government town

Ooooh, what can I buy with my salary?

It was hot enough to look ridiculous

Details of Chinese Temple

Ended up in China Town where I got a fake handbag

Outside the Mosque where menstruating women could not enter!

Karaoke with boss

Maria and I Carcosa restaurant and Hotel - stunning place!