Becoming Tokyo
From Milan to Kuala Lumpur I had planned a stopover in Singapore. For once, not because that made the journey less expensive, but because it would allow me to share a lunch with an old friend.
Nourished and refreshed, I continued onwards to the city of the Petronas Twin Towers. Back in 2009, during my last visit, these towers dominated the skyline. Now, they were being dwarfed by the many new skyscrapers, including the second largest building in the world.
We were staying close to the Twin Towers, on the 15th floor of a 45 story building, with an infinity pool on the 35th floor. KL seems to have become more Tokyo than Bangkok.
The building had no floor ending in 4. After 3 came 3a, after 13, 13a, and so on. Clearly, it’s bad luck to have a, say, 24th floor.
Because our host had not paid their internet bill, we didn’t have internet in the room. Instead, to work, we settled on the 35th floor, where around the pool, and in the ‘internet room’, free internet was available to everyone. The internet room, most of the time, was filled with digital nomads, all men, all 20 somethings, from all over. Russian, French, German, Saudi, all aspiring influencers, or AI ‘gurus’.
We were in Kuala Lumpur for an investigative journalism conference, with Natalia being a bit of a ‘rock star’. I had managed to get in on the action, which meant being able to attend some of the sessions, as well as the closing gala. It left very little time for exploring the city, though we did manage to spend some time in Chinatown.