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KJA: Thank you for you reply.

Perhaps we may go again someday as we have a ten yr. visa. A river cruise may be in the offing someday.

Our next plan is to attend a wedding in Punta Cana in January and look into going to Yellowstone in the spring.

Larry :)

And did I say KL was warm. :p. Sue and I bought some KL clothes, i.e. clothes with sun block actually in the material. It does help a bit.

So prior to going to the Royal Palace we enjoyed breakfast at the 38th floor restaurant of the Grand Hyatt. And wow what a breakfast it was. Forts of all the dining area is open and bright with a lot of natural light from the floor to ceiling windows just like in our room. The food variety was amazing including western, Asian and Indian food and they even had a honeycomb to try if you wanted to. The service was fantastic. Hyatt really instills customer service ethics into their staff. This was the anti-Xi'an Wyndham you could say. However to Wyndhams credit they did deliver the 25% refund of my bill. I do hope they can get things straightened out there.

Our friends picked us up at 1100 as we needed a bit more time to sleep in given our late arrival and it was off to the Royal Palace.

Its too bad you were not allowed to take pics there. My friend is quite well up on Malaysian history so he was able to be a guide for us here and elsewhere during our stay in KL.

I must say how I first met Ching. he and I have known each other for at least 10 years as we were both members of a wristwatch forum since nearly its beginning. Yes we are watch geeks. ;). I collect them and also jackets hence my user name. He had a Russian watch (yes Russia has some pretty good watch brands, some not so) very similar to an expensive Breitling which he wanted but could not afford. As time went on he was able to finally get that Breitling and I asked him to sell me his Russian homage as we call a lesser brand that resembles a more famous one ala the many watches that resemble the Rolex Submariner arguably the most copied look in horology. Bear in mind I'm not talking about fakes or replicas. He decided to keep it so ok no problem. Some time later he asked for my address for whatever reason I can't remember but thats not important. A few days later the fed-ex'd that watch. I was stunned. Anyway that gives you an idea of how generous he is. We finally met for the first time face to face in Feb. 2016 when we cruised out of Singapore and he came down to meet us. Last August he and his family came to Chicago so for 3.5 days we did the town hitting the museums, touring Wrigley Field, going on the Chicago River architectural tour and hitting some nice restaurants.

So now it was his turn to show us around his "hood" :p. After the Royal museum Sue decided she wanted some Indian food so off to little India we went. We had lunch at a south Indian restaurant as you saw with banana leafs as plates. The food just kept coming and if you wanted more you got it until you were full. They had a lot of fish and meat as well as biryani, rice, rotis, vegetables, and basically you name it. This was about $4.00 USD pp. Wow! In the mid 70's when I was in college an Indian buffet here was about $4.00 thought the ambiance was a bit better. :).

Ching is a meticulous planner and pretty much had our week scoped out from breakfast until dinner, However we were a bit tired from a lot of running around in China so we had to scale back a bit. His plan was to pick us up for dinner and drive 45 mins to a restaurant. Well we had to ask him to please just go local as we were pretty gassed so we hit a local dumpling place with I think has one Michelin star at one of its locations, http://dintaifungusa.com/.

We tried this place at its Singapore location too and really enjoyed it and as Alice, Ching wife is a food critic we let her order for us. I did order some sort of jellyfish app and hey I'm adventurous and it was quite good actually. A fw days later I tried during both by itself and as a cooked dessert. Well for me it still takes some getting used to. Not there yet. :).

Well thats it for today, back to the hotel to relax and start new day tomorrow.

Stay tuned. Will report on the Royal Selangor pewter factory visit and how I learned I'm a klutz. :lol:

Thank you for posting more of your trip[ adventure and the lovely pictures.

( My tour guide in Beijing to me that Chinese are not very religious but that they are superstitious about everything !!)

Also I want to take a minute out to wish you a Happy Birthday !! ((^)) ((G)) ((D))

Pictures one and three are desserts we had for dinner, one was like a shave ice and the other was sort of a durian based pudding. Well I have to say I'm still on the fence about this fruit that seems to have SEA mesmerized. I have yet to feel its magic so to speak. :lol:.

Picture two is me trying my hand, literally at the art of pewter decorating. Lets just say I tried and leave it at that. My son is a wonderful person but a bit clumsy and guess where he gets it from? :lol:

Picture 4 is us in downtown KL and the fellow on the far right is Anton my brother from another mother who came up from Singapore to be with us for a few days.

Picture 5 is a locally brewed Malaysian beer. I make it a point to have a local brew wherever I go and I have to say this is a good one!

The other pics show my wife and Chings wife Alice, the KL convention center and of course its a huge beer mug outside of the Royal Selangor museum and factory.

After site seeing and catching up with Anton who BTW used to be a Singaporean cop but is now a pro photographer Ching took us out for Malay food and a wonderful restaurant:Enak KL Restaurants in Kuala Lumpur - Bintang Walk Restaurants & Dining

This is where we have those desserts and Alice ordered a variety of food, all delicious. I dont remember all but do remember the beef ribs and wow they were so good, fall off the bone tender.

So after a full day back to the hotel where we had a drink with Anton and off to bed to rest up for our visit to the iconic Petronas towers.

Great report JW. Interesting to learn how you chose your screen name! A close friend of mine is a also watch geek and owns dozens of Rolexes, Breitlings and a few Russian ones allegedly accurate e to within 1/1000 sec. Yet despite the timepiece overload, in the 30 years we have been friends, I have never known him to be on time!

Loved the Banana leaf restaurants in Little India, our first stop whenever we visit. One of the things I love about KL is the sheer variety and quality of the food on offer.

Thank you sir. About that level of accuracy I don’t know unless it’s an atomic watch and though I haven’t heard on Russian watches that synch to atomic clocks I know Japanese ones do so I suppose Russian ones can to.

In any case at least your friend has a watch that’s on time. :).

Yes I agree the variety of restaurants in KL in quite good. We even saw some Irish pubs too. I didn’t see much variety in Beijing or Xi’an however, just Chinese and American fast food.

Thanks again, off to Indian lunch for a BD treat.

The food in KL is wonderful, I agree. We enjoyed our tour of the Selangor factory years ago and we bought a couple of items not generally available other than at the factory.

I’m enjoying reading about your trip. Have you visited the relatively new time museum in Evanston?
Collection | Halim Time & Glass Museum

The untitled pic is Anton, Ching and me on the 42nd floor bridge.

Yes Kathie the food there is quite good. I was surprised actually at how good it was and of course it’s bargain in USD.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...20e1aef66.jpeg
The day began with another sumptuous breakfast at the Hyatt while catching up with Anton. We had a great time catching up with him. He’s a very nice man, soft spoken, intelligent, insightful, really like a gentle giant.

We then were met by Ching and Alice and off we went to the Petronas towers. Ching had to get the tickets well ahead of time as this is probably the most visited site in KL. We were sent up to the 42nd floor bridge in groups of around 15 I think and we had about 10 minutes there. Of course the views are amazing and in the hallway on the wall are silhouette like pics of the tallest buildings in the world topped by far by the Burg Khalifeh in Dubai. Technically the PT’s are taller than the Willis Tower in Chicago because it’s antennae are not considered an essential part of its structure.

BTW the PT were built by two separate companies, one So. Korean and the other Japanese. The Japanese company was ahead but as a matter of national pride the So. Korean company worked 24/7 and actually completed their tower first.

After our time on the bridge we went up to the 86th floor observation deck. The day was a little overcast but not too bad and the views were amazing as you can well imagine.

Lunch was at an Italian place. I was pretty full so I had a Caesar salad which was the best I’ve ever had. Again the variety and quality of restaurants in KL was surprisingly good.

Alice chose another local restaurant for dinner, a sort of Asian fusion place. As she is a food critic she knows where to go.

BTW if you look at the dish to the left of the beer it’s a shrimp fritter preparation. Now Sue doesn’t eat what is not appealing to her eye so most shellfish are out for her. However she is Indian and likes Indian style battered and fried snacks ala pakoras so she dug right into it and really liked it. All the while I’m smiling and finally tell her what was in it. Shrimp. :p. Well actually she was ok so I suppose if you don’t see it in the shell but taste it it’s pretty good.:).

After dinner we headed back to the hotel for drinks and more good times together. Tomorrow the girls go to the Ritz, literally for a day at the spa while the boys go in a completely different direction exploring “back rooms” in China town. No hanky panky but some interesting shops. :p.

We started the day as usual with a great breakfast. Afterwards we went to the mall to shop and for some lunch. There I saw something I've always wanted, have seen it on several travel shows like Zimmerns Bizarre foods and always wanted to try it some day. Its the rather well know dish in SEA, chili crab. I saw a sign and knew that had to be my lunch. Now bear in mind this is a messy dish. There is no way to eat it except to get your hands on it and separate the meat from the shell by whatever means necessary. So being a rookie at this I just dove in. :p. You cant eat this fast as it takes so much time to get at the delicious sweet meat in a succulent sauce. As you can see by the first two pics I let er rip. :). It was so tasty but what I like more is how my friends and the waitress were so delighted I enjoyed it so much and that I guess it did pretty good especially for a first timer. :).

The next pic is my friend Ching enjoying some coconut water and the last two are me trying yet again to discover the magic of durian. This time it was the raw fruit itself and again our friends and the other waitress who served it were beaming at my attempt to go native so to speak. That was a pretty nice moment really, like someone new to the US trying and loving deep dish Chicago style pizza. :). I suppose there is a certain connection in a way when some tries and likes another's food. I must say the chili crab was a hit as was most of the food we had there. The durian, not so sure yet. I need more time. :p.

After lunch the girls headed to the Ritz Carlton spa for some pampering and we headed in the opposite direction literally and figuratively to sort of seedy China town. Its party covered and it began to pour so we waited it our drinking that coconut water you saw. By the time it slowed we had to walk thru some streets pulling up our pant cuffs to stay dry. The drainage isn't the best. As we are watch geeks we decided to check out the numerous fake watches they have. Bear in mind we don't endorse copyright infringement of any kind which is rife in China town but its interesting to take a look. One merchant tried hard to sell us some fake watches and when that didn't work he took us to his better or more high end fakes. We went across the alley to a door, into the hallway where there was an elevator which looked like something you may see in a third world country prison. So up one floor to a room with a metal, padlocked door and into his treasure trove of better fake watches. They were clearly higher end but honestly if you are thinking of buying a high end Swiss time piece get it from an authorized dealer. Don't even go to the so called grey market sellers as the watch may be real but you will not get the manufacturers warranty or paper work. Some fakes are very good and use high grade parts like 316L ss, sapphire crystals and Swiss ETA movements in a fake Rolex for example but the bottom line is if its too good to be true it isn't. We did notice some flaws like how one fake Rolex had it date magnifying eye misaligned and a fake Panerai's second had seemed to both steady sweep like an auto and at times tick like a quartz.

Then it was on to another shop. There were no watches in the front but hey this is China town so into a side door we go and wow more fakes. Good ones too. The man working there is Sri Lankan and he proudly showed us his merchandise. He also bragged about his famous clients like the late famous Swedish dj Avicii. Well he could not verify that but he astounded us with another well know client he could verify. I won't mention his name but he is a top 10 if not top 5 professional golfer. He showed me his pic on his phone and a test message thread from him asking about certain models. I was floored. I looked him up and his worth is >30 million but hey I'm no one to tell anyone else what to do with their money.

He showed me a nice Swiss brand Uboat watch. To the naked eye you can't really any difference between it and a genuine one. They use high end parts and an exquisite Chinese copy of a Swiss cal. ETA 7750 movement. According to what he said a craftsman working for Uboat took one apart and found only one difference and that was the length of some screws. How true that is I don't know. I do know I'd rather have a real Seiko vs. fake anything but I do think it goes to show how sophisticated fakes have become. Some years ago Costco had to pull some Omega watches as it was discovered they were fake.

Afterwards we went back to the hotel as our package included evening cocktails and food in the lounge which is basically good enough for a meal. Tomorrow we go to Melaka. Stay tuned. :)

Your food photos are making me hungry!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kathie (Post 16813790)

Your food phots are making me hungry!

:lol:. Have you ever had chili crab?

I would like to try that Chili Crab and the beer beside you also ((B))

Nice picture of Kuala Lumpur, it really looks like a great place.

Those tall buildings remind me of Shanghai, they are always building those tall tower buildings there too.

Was there an observation deck that you could walk on a glass floor.......I am sure there is.

Thank You for keeping up on your trip report, I am following along and really enjoying this .

Take Care Safe Travel