Kuala Lumpur
4 September 2024
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s dynamic capital, is a city of contrasts where modern skyscrapers stand alongside colonial-era buildings and bustling street markets. Home to nearly 2 million people, it’s the country’s largest city and a melting pot of Malay, Chinese, and Indian cultures. The iconic Petronas Towers define its skyline, while vibrant districts like Chinatown and Little India showcase its diversity. KL is also a foodie’s paradise, famous for nasi lemak, satay, and bustling hawker centers. With an efficient public transport system and countless attractions, from the Batu Caves to Merdeka Square, it’s a city that blends tradition and modernity at every turn.
Día 1
- Walking The City
- Central Market
- Batu Caves
- Thean Hou Temple
- Petronas Twin Towers
- Taman Connaught Night Market
Walking The City
Indi came down with a cold the night before. So, we started the day going pretty slow. We did not leave the apartment where we were staying until around 10:00 am. We walked to a Hindu temple first – Sri Maha Mariamman Temple.
Sri Maha Mariamman Temple is Kuala Lumpur’s oldest Hindu temple, founded in 1873 by Tamil settlers. The building is dedicated to the goddess Mariamman, the protector of Tamils during travel. The exterior of the temple is what it’s known for – its striking five-tiered tower, adorned with colorful carvings of Hindu deities. Indi wasn’t wearing clothes in line with the dress code, so we didn’t enter. Instead, we continued our walk through the city.
Kuala Lumpur, and Malaysia at large, surprised me. Before visiting, I didn’t know much about the country, and I had not originally included a stop in Malaysia on our itinerary. Brandon convinced me that we should check out the country, and our plan was to meet up with some friends in southern Thailand in a week. So, the Malaysian peninsula made sense. The parts of Malaysia I saw were cleaner and more orderly than I had seen elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Kuala Lumpur felt prosperous and modern. The 2nd tallest building in the world dominated the view from our hotel window.
Central Market
We walked to the Central Market, where we ate some amazing samosas at $1 a pop. We went back and got 2 more later because they were so good.
We found a fragrance store that copies popular fragrances and makes the fragrance there in front of you. They do mixes, so I had them do a mix of By Killian Black Phantom and Tom Ford Lost Cherry. It doesn’t project very well or last long, but the mix is fun. Indi got two small bottles of Burberry Her and Coco Mademoiselle.
On the way back, we hit another market that seemed to sell fake products exclusively, like fragrances, purses, and shoes. We didn’t get anything. Having a single backpack with very little extra space inside it makes things easy that way.
Batu Caves
Indi walked home to take it easy (because she was still feeling ill) and study for a Spanish test for work, and I walked to the train station to go to the Batu Caves. I got on the train going the wrong way initially but managed to hop to the right train at the next station, and the 45-minute ride was comfortable and easy.
The caves were cool. There are two main areas. The first is a cave system at ground level that has been converted into a sort of Hindu temple site. There are religious scenes depicted by statues and sets built over the rock. There are multi-colored lights to illuminate the scenes as well as the natural features of the cave.
The main cave is free and features a walk up some colorful stairs past a massive gold statue. There were trash monkeys (Macaques) prowling the stairs, looking to steal the food or drink visitors carried out in the open. They will even snatch water, so be careful.
Once you get to the top of the stairs, you’ll find a large cave with even concrete floors and a colorful shrine. There were roosters in the cave that kept crowing and sounded alien and strange with their calls echoing off the walls. If you walk across the cave, you will find stairs that lead up to an open area. I saw monkeys climbing trees to work their way up to the canopy on top of the mountain.
I took the train back to the train station closest to the hotel and went to an Indian restaurant. The owner recommended the chicken briyani, so that and a mango lasi is what I got. For the price of about $8 USD, I thought it was great. I walked back to the hotel and made my way to the 6th floor to swim in the pool.
Thean Hou Temple
After cooling off in the pool, I dried off, changed, and took a Grab to Thean Hou Temple to watch the sunset. The temple is set on a hill with a good view of the city. The sunset was nice, but the main appeal is the hundreds of Chinese lamps that are supposed to turn on when it gets dark. Some did, but most of them didn’t, so I was a little underwhelmed. The inside of the temple is extremely intricate and colorful.
Petronas Twin Towers
I took a Grab back to the hotel, then Indi and I took another together to the famous Petronas Towers. What a sight! These towers look like something out of a sci-fi movie. The towers immediately reminded me of the 1927 film Metropolis. Indi thought they looked like something out of Blade Runner.
We stood at the foot of the towers for a good while, taking photos and admiring the view. There was a good amount of other people there enjoying the view.
Taman Connaught Night Market
From the Petronas Towers, we took another grab to a night market. This particular market is called the Taman Connaught Night Market, and it happens every Wednesday night. We stayed out late walking through a single lane of stalls surrounded by hundreds of vendors on either side.
We walked around the market and bought random things to eat, but the best thing we had was a Thai lemongrass sausage. The Thai know how to do food. Besides the sausage, the best thing was baby pineapples. We had tried them before, and they’re amazing. They’re extremely sweet and quite inexpensive in Southeast Asia. Things started closing up around midnight. We took a grab back to the hotel. I hung some clothes out to dry that I had washed in the sink and packed a few things.
Next time
On our next adventure, we head to one of our coldest destination of the whole trip, the Cameron Highlands.
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