Arrival in Kuala Lumpur and first impressions of Malaysia

On the 17^th of July at about 3 pm I left our house to go to Tegel International Airport in Berlin, where I said goodbye to my mom and dad. From Berlin I flew with Lufthansa to Frankfurt. After a 3 hour layover in Frankfurt we were finally allowed to board the plane to Bangkok.  Luckily I did not have to sit between strangers for 9 hours and 50 minutes, but rather with other volunteers from Germany.

Because of the transit in Bangkok, where we had to leave the plane and wait until it was cleaned and fueled, it took us 14 hours from Frankfurt to Kuala Lumpur. At the airport we were greeted by AFS volunteers and brought, in buses, to our hotel. But not only the people who are volunteering to do community work, but also the students from the  AFS exchange program arrived from all over the world.  

The first night we arrived at our hotel at about 8 pm local time. This meant we ate dinner and went to bed completely jetlagged. Our first day in Kuala Lumpur we spent in our hotel listening to safety tips, basic Malay language lessons and do a lot of AFS energizers!!

The second day was more eventful; although the day started with Malay lessons, we had a Kuala Lumpur (KL) city tour in the afternoon. The whole AFS group, all 63 of us (volunteers and students) were split into different groups to around KL and explore our new home for the next 11 months.

Today, the last day in KL for most of the exchange students/volunteers, was probably the most fun I had so far in Malaysia. While other participants of the AFS program where either meeting their host families or getting in busses to travel to their different chapter, I had the luck to see more of the city due to the fact I am leaving for Penang tomorrow. 

Glad to say that Berlin is being represented in KL (not actually sure what the store was selling :)

With the other 5 German volunteers, who are going to Penang with me, and a local AFS volunteer we got to see a lot of the city.

First we went to local restaurant where I had my first Nasi Goreng (fried rice with chicken) of the year followed by a trip down Petaling Street (the black market). 

Below you will see a few pictures of my day in KL and the Batu Caves and their "inhabitants".

 

The Malaysian Flag

 

 The Entrance to the Batu Caves (a cave with several Hindu tempels inside)

 Tobi on the left and monkey on the right if you couldnt tell ;)


 On our way back from the Batu Caves I stumbled upon this train.

 As a true muslim country, Malaysia has a few more regulations in their trains than Germany or the US.

To end the day we ate a superb malay dinner. 

Lots of greetings from Malaysia and thank you for taking your time to read my blog.

If you have any questions write me an e-mail (tmvolkmer@hotmail.de) or facebook me.

Tobi