By Idries Abdur-Rahman, M.D., FACOG

What jet lag? The day started bright and early at the Doubletree with a short visit to the gym and a long visit to the breakfast buffet.

Our day 1 agenda included a ride on the hop on hop off double decker bus. I had to mitigate some of that breakfast buffet damage by walking a half mile to the bus stop.

One of the first things that caught my eye from the second floor of the bus was the high commission for Pakistan. I’m guessing that would be British English for the Pakistani embassy. Whatever it is, the architecture really caught my eye.

No, this is not Disney World, this is the Kuala Lumpur monorail which carries about 24,000,000 riders every year.

Our first stop was the KL Tower which is actually a communication tower

My middle daughter was totally mean mugging me but I shall not be deterred.

We will all appreciate these pictures in twenty years!

Trust me, you do not want to know what I had to do to get this person-free shot. Lets just say it involved me literally laying in the street which was still wet with the recent rain water. But, I got it!!

Within walking distance of the KL Tower is the KL Eco Park.

The Eco park is an actual forest preserve right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of KL.

Apparently it was too rainy for tea that day. Okay, back to the bus.

Next up was the Kuala Lumpur Craft Complex. We bounced around the shops and bought some souvenirs but what really caught my eye was…

this unique sculpture on the lawn outside.

Even on a rainy, overcast day, Kuala Lumpur is just a beautiful city.

Putrajaya is the federal administrative center of Malaysia and the seat of government was shifted here from KL in 1999.

Perdana Putra, the first of the government buildings completed in Putrajaya. This building houses government offices as well as the office of the prime minister.

The Federal Court of Malaysia which is Malaysia’s highest court of appeals.

The Seri Wawasan bridge is one of Putrajaya’s most iconic bridges.

The Putra Mosque, also known as the Pink Mosque (for obvious reasons), is one of the most beautiful mosques that I have ever seen.

Had to give two of the other ladies in my life equal picture time.

Okay, okay, here are some pics of the Putra mosque sans the family and I.

One more shot of the Putra mosque.

The Putra mosque is open to everyone although visitors have to be appropriately dressed. Now, what does someone do if they want to visit the mosque but they aren’t appropriately dressed? Well…

the mosque provides garments free of charge that for some reason reminded me of Hogwarts and Harry Potter. Is it just me?

The courtyard of the Putra mosque was absolutely beautiful including it’s views of the Perdana Putra. Any ideas what type of tree this is?

The only thing more beautiful than the wall tiles of the prayer hall was…

the ceiling and the dome which was of course…

pink! what else?

I can only imagine how beautiful this minaret would have been with a little more sunlight.

No visit to the mosque would be complete without a little ice cream, right?

Our next day started bright and early at the Islamic Arts Museum of Malaysia.

The Islamic Arts Museum is located in the Perdana Botanical Gardens.

The main hall is flooded with natural light and…

like much of Malaysia, the architecture is phenomenal.

Yup, I was at the Islamic Arts Museum of Malaysia.

The National Mosque of Malaysia is adjacent to Islamic Arts Museum.

Here you can see the minaret rising high above the greenery of the botanical garden.

Yeah, I don’t know why I included this. I just like the look of this cute, little red taxi I guess.

I can’t lie, I wasn’t really interested in visiting the National Textile museum but the external architecture was definitely picture worthy.

No trip to KL would be complete without a visit to the world famous Petronas Towers.

As a Chicagoan I’ve always had a bone to pick with the Petronas Towers which took the mantle of tallest building in the world from Chi-town’s very own Sears Tower in 1998.

The Petronas Towers are definitely number 1 (and 2) in KL but…

the Menara Public Bank building adjacent to Petronas makes a beautiful back drop, especially at night with the color changing fountains.

We had an afternoon flight with Malaysia Airlines from Kuala Lumpur to Bali. Unfortunately check-in was a bit choatic that afternoon with long lines and somewhat confusnig signage.

Eventually we were all checked in and through security and immigration and waiting at the gate for MH853, the…

Boeing 737-800 service to Depasar/Bali.

We boarded on time and we were soon pushing off of the gate. Keep an eye out for parts 5 and 6, flying to Bali and Exploring Bali coming real soon!