The Petronas Towers....home of the hungry card-eating ATM!“This is Malaya. Everything takes a long, a very long time, in Malaya. Things get done, occasionally, but more often they don’t, and the more in a hurry you are, the quicker you break down.”
--- Han Suyin, Chinese author
So…..would you like the good news…. or the bad news about Kuala Lumpur???
The good news is that we were able to visit the Petronas Twin Towers, the internationally recognized symbol of modern Malaysia. Eight is a lucky number in Southeast Asia (yes…. it’s that superstition thing again!) and each of the towers is 88 stories high. They have been built to resemble a pair of minarets and the floor plan is that of an eight-sided star. Inside is one of the city’s busiest and glitziest shopping malls…. with Tiffany’s, Chopard, Burberry, Coach, Gucci…. and yes…. Starbucks!!
Also inside these towers is the ATM that ate Chuck’s American Express card. Yes…. this would be the bad news about Kuala Lumpur. And it happened 20 minutes before we had to leave to get back to the ship. (Fade to cheesy violin music…) Chuck ran across the street to the main office of the bank that operated the machine and attempted to get the card back…. but to no avail. The person with the key wasn’t there. We finally had to just bid our card “adieu” and head back to the ship. It’s American Express, after all…. they’ll replace the card and take care of us. Yeah…. dream on!!!! They say they can get a replacement card to us in Athens!!! That’s 3½ weeks from now!!! So, if you’re going to rely on American Express….. make sure you’re on a very very looooooooooooonnnnnnnnnggggggggg trip!
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