Sometimes, work makes you stay some days in places where you would not normally go at all. This was the case of my visit to the Perak region in the north-west part of Malaysia.
Malaysia climate in Summer is quite tough: very hot, and very high humidity. In my first visit to Malaysia (months before), I had the impression that Kuala Lumpur was a city in the middle of a rainforest, and that impression became even more true when travelling to a town, where palm trees and dense vegetation are literally across the street.
Palm trees plantations are a very profitable business, and there are plantations along the roads, with a big sign indicating the company exploting each of them, being Sime Darby the main one. Palm trees yield fruit twice a year, which is used for oils, soaps, and other derivate products, sold with a very high margin.
Malaysia has a particular mix of ethnic groups and religions cohabiting, with a surprising very low degree of overall social conflict. Half of the population are Malay, a quarter of them are Chinese, and the Indians are also broadly present. In terms of religion, muslims, buddhists, christians and hindus have a significant percentage of the population.
During this business trip, I had one day off and the only interesting option I was offered was to go to “Pangkor Island”, a paradise island with frequent ferries from a port near my hotel. I “decided” to go, and once there asked a taxi driver to take me around, resting afterwards in one of those “movie” islands, and almost empty. I regret of having asked to drive around the island, because I saw a dumping site next to the sea and, although it was in the opposite side of the island, I did not enjoy swimming in the hot, as much I might have done so.
One day in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, and a couple of free hours were more than enough to do the two things I had in mind: meeting my friend Martin who lives in KL since a couple of years ago, and taking the subway to spot the Petronas Towers… and something extra I did not plan for: getting a couple of bites in my leg which remained on my skin as a souvenir for a couple of days.
Petronas Towers started the century being the highest building in the World, and it is still now the 5th highest one. It is the most interesting spot in the city, but we could not climb to its sky bridge, as it is called to enjoy the views from there.
Anyway, as I say very often: “Petronas Towers: checked”. Next one.
