Tyler Travel: Walking Tour

31st January

Sunrise from my hostel and a relaxed breakfast

I booked a walking tour with a local lady called Lisa. The meeting place was the Petronas Towers base - every time I have gone there I seem to go a different way and get lost - today was no exception!

I followed these two for a bit - holding hands - I was slightly suspicious as to whether they were male or female.....

Through the Mall again - the army ladies were helping with the traffic - they seem to wear Digicam

and this slogan for Chinese new year 'Everything you touch turns to Gold' - the year of the horse - but I'm sure that this refers to King Midas, and in the fable, the blessing turned out to be a curse in the end didn't it?

(By the way - I have discovered that I was not actually born in the Year of the Pig. Chinese New year in 1971 was 15th February - so technically - I'm a dog not a pig. Not sure if that's better or worse! ) UPDATE: The lunar new year begins in January so I'm still a Metal Pig 🐖.

This tourist information AI thingy was freaky - reminded me of 'Total recall' - some how.

Managed to find the tour guide - she was a really sweet lady from Borneo originally, from Sabah. She gave us a lot of information about being Indigenous or 'boomi'........I still can't work out how this is spelt, but if you are 'boomi' you get certain privileges and funds from the government.

UPDATE: In Malaysia, "Bumi" (short for Bumiputera) means "son of the soil" (from Sanskrit bhūmiputra), referring to the Malays and other indigenous peoples of Sabah, Sarawak, and Peninsular Malaysia (Orang Asli) who receive preferential treatment through affirmative action policies, especially in areas like property and education, as the "native" or "land's own people". It legally distinguishes them from Chinese and Indian Malaysians, who are seen as migrant communities, even if locally born, and is used in terms like "Bumi Lot" (properties reserved for them).

Malaysia was occupied by the Portuguese in the 1500's then the Dutch, then the British due the abundance of Tin for mining. The indigenous Malay people were either planters (farmers) or hunters.

She brought us some little cakes for breakfast - coconut flavoured and coloured green with the Pandan leaf

I think they were called 'Putri cakes' - Putri means Princess and Putra means Prince.

As we had met at the Petronas towers she told us they were the tallest twin towers in the world - but at the base we are only 35 m above sea level as KL is very low. Tower 1 was built by a Japanese company and Tower 2 by Samsung - South Korea, and whoever was in charge pitted the two rival companies against each other as to who could build the tower the fastest. The Japanese were winning at first but then discovered a problem with their foundations so the Koreans built theirs first - I can't be bothered to fact check any of this so.......

Also the 'Human Spider man' French climber guy - Alain Robert tried to climb the towers several times - he eventually got to the top and was arrested and fined 2000 myr. I believe he is the same one that tried to climb the tower in Melbourne, that I mentioned earlier in my blog.

We walked past a Muslim Cemetery - the grave stones are quite plain but quite beautiful too

We walked over a bridge, over the river, to get to the 'old town'. There were once many crocodiles in the river.

We walked through a wedding party - being held in the street - and Lisa mentioned that the houses were often built on stilts. This is not only due to flooding but it keeps them safe from 'Black magic' and spirits under the house - they used to believe

The Malaysian flag has 13 stripes representing the 13 states, but only 9 of the states have Kings or Sultans. Malacca and Penang and Sabah and Sarawak (in Borneo)

She took us to meet her friend who owns this house - A lovely man named Pak Haji

We were not expecting it but we were invited into his home and they told us some history about his family. In the 1971 flood the water came up to this metal bar.

She had a small drone with her and we took some film and pictures.

We were then invited inside, and we sat and ate some lunch that Lisa had brought along! - Nasi Lemak (Rice cooked in coconut milk) Sambal and different cakes - it was fantastic!

We did some crafts with bamboo leaves - making a little boat - it was so funny!

She then took us around lots of different street vendors and we sampled street foods and fruit - we really weren't expecting all this from a walking tour - it was great! - these were a type of Jackfruit.

A little 'fun' demonstration on opening Mangosteen - I had these in Indonesia

Here showing the design on the floor - the 8 pointed star shape on which the Petronas towers shape was based

The 'plant' towers:

It was a really good tour and Lisa was so lovely - we didn't finish walking around until well into the afternoon. She even sent a little video she had made - a lot more professional than my videos!