Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – January 2011

We didn’t know much about Kuala Lumpur upon visiting, but since we were flying through a number of times during our month in SE Asia (it’s an Air Asia hub), we decided that we should stop and stay a few days between flights. We were surprised to find out in short order just how metropolitan and western it was! There are sky scrapers like the Petronas Towers, huge malls, scads of business professionals running about, and expensive prices. Evidently it’s a real melting pot of asian culture, making for good diversity in the food and sights. We wouldn’t recommend it for those on a tight budget though.

We stayed at yet another Marriott property for free on points – this time the Renaissance. I think we got a room upgrade as our suite was bigger then some apartments and had a cool view of the city. As usual in our experience in Asia, the concierge lounge was fully stocked with free alcohol and some decent snacks.

Our favorite experience was visiting the Suria mall, which was a multi-level affair and reminded Mayne of the Mall of America.  We stumbled across a “Dr Fish”, fish feet “spa” where you pay money to immerse your feet in a kiddie pool full of small (2 inch long) fish, which proceed to swarm them and nibble off all the dead skin.  The fish don’t have teeth so there is no biting and it’s not painful, but man it tickles!! The fish go crazy at first, and then, once they’ve had their fill of your dead flesh, start to dwindle off in search of other tasty morsels.. It’s a unique experience for sure. Elisa hated it and I could only get her to dip just the soles of her feet in for about 10 seconds during our 5 min session! Apparently they have them in the states as well if you are interested.