FEBRUARY 7, 2015 -- FEBRUARY FLIGHT DAY #13

KUALA LUMPUR DAY #1
FEBRUARY 7, 2015

We had thought we would do the “Hop on – hop off” bus today, but we found a man during our last trip who charged us just 400RM for 6 hours for a driver.  We already knew where we wanted to go, so he just drove us around.  We hustled and kept moving and saw a lot today!!!  

We started at the Bird Park and really enjoyed it.  It is a totally covered, free fly area that is great.  Lots of birds.  We fed some birds and we saw some unique birds.  We also were able to pet some cool looking owls.  We all loved it.

Next was the National Mosque.  We timed it carefully so we could go inside.  During prayer time, only Muslim are allowed inside.  We wore either head coverings or purple robes and were able to look inside the main hall for worship.  A nice bonus was that there was a wedding going on so we saw the bride, groom and the bridesmaids.  It was neat to see.  As we came out of the Mosque, we stopped at the street carts for some meat sandwiches that Amy and I had tried before.  They are a bit spicy so some kids had hot dogs instead.  It was all good.

The Planetarium was our next stop and we ran up to find out that the movie in the Imax type theater was just starting and it was our lucky day because today was free!!!  We all ran in and watched the movie called “Astronaut” on the big domes ceiling screen.  The funny part was that the movie was just starting so the theater was all dark and we couldn’t see anything and we were stumbling to get in.  Mason took off to go up high where we had sat before and I ended up crawling up the stairs so I didn’t fall and break my neck as I am trying to find him!!!!  It was a bit comical!  The kids really enjoyed the movie – especially Daniel who dreams of being an astronaut.

Dad really wanted to see the National Museum so we hustled there with plans to go through very quickly.  We all wished we could have stayed longer, but the kids had just been to the museum in Penang AND to Fort Cornwallis so some of this museum was a duplicate.  We did spend time to watch the movie about “Merdeka” which is Malaysia’s independence from Great Britain.  It is really an interesting part of history as their independence was gained by putting differences behind, uniting and unifying AND going forth with words and not war.  I think there are a lot of great things to admire about these people and their history to gain independence.  We had to stop for ice cream from the ice cream man before heading on our way.

We drove by Merdeka Square on the way to the KL Tower where we had discount tickets from our driver’s company and we went up for a great view.  We could see Merdeka Stadium, found where our hostel is and saw all the places that we had been so far that day.  We decided to hustle on as we were running out of time.  Our driver took us to the back side of the Petronas Towers for a good picture.  

Next, we went on to the Cultural Arts Center and we learned the art of Batik Painting.  Amy and I had prearranged this from our last visit and they had small canvases ready for us.  This was one of the kids favorite things that we did.  We also bought the small waxing tool so that we can do it later again at home.  We want to do a Batik painting of a temple.

It was a full, action packed day!!!  We ate dinner at the same Indian Restaurant and also ordered some dessert Roti.  Bethany wasn’t feeling well, so I headed back a little early with her.