Day 257 – The nirvana of Thai massage

Once upon a time (until 2004) the Petronas Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in the world until 2004, but with the world-wide construction spree that we currently live in, they quickly went down the list and at present occupy the 4^th or even the 7^th position (I've been getting some very conflicting information on the subject – apparently, there are different ways to measure "tall", by architectural design, height to roof, height to pinnacle, etc. – here's the List Of World's Tallest Buildings, feel free to pick your favorite ranking). Their metallic glowing height serves as a "lighthouse" of sorts for lost tourists and city inhabitants.

The famous Skybridge is totally anticlimactic (sadly, so far this is the most popular word in my descriptions of Malaysia). It is located on the 41^st floor (out of 88) and provides good panoramic city views, BUT… everybody agrees that it would have been so much more interesting and challenging if it had a transparent floor. Oh well.

The two good stories I personally liked about the Twin Towers are as follows:

• The top 4 floors are occupied solely by window-cleaning equipment. It takes one full month to clean the several thousands windows of the building.
  
• The Towers were "conquered" by an Australian "spider-man", who reached the very top without any special climbing equipment in 2009. It was not an officially supported effort, so prior to this victory he made two other, unsuccessful, attempts: in 1997 he was taken off the 60^th floor of one tower, and in 2007 he was taken off the 60^th floor of the other tower. His picture should be used to illustrate Herbert Kaufman's quote, "Failure is only postponed success".
  

Our lunch stop was in the Chinese quarters. It looks exactly like NYC Chinatown and apparently exactly like China.

The highlight of my day was the Thai massage I did at the hotel. OH MY GOD! I have never done Thai massage before, and now I'm hooked and will look for it everywhere I go. Without a doubt, this is the best massage technique for me. It is something between a massage and yoga (sometimes they even call it "passive yoga", although I think it's rather "partner yoga" with one passive partner). Throughout the session you wear yoga pants and a t-shirt, and they don't use oils of any kinds. The massage takes place on a most comfortable mattress placed directly on the floor. You enter the dark room that smells like rose petals and is filled with low-volume meditational music, and for the next 90 minutes a tiny lady stretches and massages the hell out of you with the strength of ten ordinary men. And then you enter the wonderful state of nirvana...

Unfortunately, I couldn't stay in my nirvana for the rest of the night. Our group (10 people) consists of both 25-year-olds who still love to party or girls with adult children who want to resume partying now that the kids are grown. I personally don't like clubs or loud bars, but to support the collective effort I decided to "inspect" the Lunabar poolside lounge on the roof of our hotel. I didn't regret: people watching at this location is a curious sight, the entire city seems to file into the space one by one, gorgeous Asian girls in black and red (dominating colors of KL nightlife) accompanied by white men (mostly), single men with starving eyes looking around for single women wearing the air of fake light boredom, single men who lost hope to meet anybody drinking heavily at the bar, designer branded socialites, and finally groups of friends laughing around their tables devouring delicious drinks one after another. I enjoyed this for a bit and retired back to my room and my nirvana state, while the others continued until 3AM club-hopping. I admire this energy!