Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Our first Visa run from Vietnam, we picked Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Malaysia offers a free 30 day tourist visa to Canadians, the flight is quick and neither of us have been to Kuala Lumpur besides its airport.

We spent a total of 2 days in Kuala Lumpur and did all the major touristy highlights from the Petronas Twin Towers, KCCL Park, Pavillon Crystal Fountain, high end shopping malls, Batu Cave Temple, Street Art, KLCC walkway and Alor Street Night Food Market. This is quite the city if you have never been there, it has amazing high end hotels and restaurants. Depending on how you want to see Kuala Lumpur it could be very pricey, very quickly.

We did end up paying a bit more for an AirBnB during our stay in Kuala Lumpur, we stayed at Star Suites in total it cost us $228.68 CAD (3 nights). It was worth it! This building has an outstanding pools with cabanas and seating on the 6th floor and a roof top on the 69th floor pool with a bar and view of the Petronas Twin Towers.

Photo Credit: R.Cowie

We also had a view of the one tower from our bedroom and the apartment itself was very modern, clean and had a very comfortable bed. This AirBnB has a great location for walking to everything (except the Batu Cave Temple and Airport). We started our first day walking to see the Petronas Twin Towers and the mall located inside with all the luxury shops.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

TThe Petronas Twin Towers have 88 floors with Skybridge and Observation Deck. We did not book our tickets in advance and were unable to go up to the Skybridge. We did find walking through the mall was a nice break from the Malaysia heat, by 10 am it was already around 28 C degrees plus humidity.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

We followed the TripAdvisor map showing all the landmarks around us and used that as our guide, our next stop was KCCL Park behind the towers. This big lush beautiful park has well marked out jogging and walking paths, ponds, fountains, statues, playgrounds and splash pads. It is located right behind the Petronas Twin Towers in the heart of the city. This green space is refreshing, quiet and calming in amongst all the city noise.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

As the temperature continued to increase we started looking for our next stop on the map, the KLCC walkway. This is a set of above ground tunnels, running over top of the road ways linking hotels and different shopping malls together. Not only do you avoid crossing the road and only see foot traffic, there is the added bonus of air conditioning. The pathways have open space where windows would normally be placed. You can see the roads, hear the cars and feel the heat creep in. Then you get a blast of air conditioning and cool off instantly carrying on through the passageway. All the exits all well marked and signs pointing out streets or landmarks along the route.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

Touring through the malls was really astounding. Malaysia was gearing up for Chinese New Years (Tete) and welcoming in the year of the Rabbitt. We stood and watched some of the pre-celebrations, games for the kids and decorations getting their finishing touches put on.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

Outside of the mall in the afternoon heat we came across the Pavillon Crystal Fountain and to be honest during the daylight it was nothing overly impressive. It looked like another fountain, until Ryan pointed it out on the map as a landmark.. However we did return that evening on the way home from Alor Street Food Night Market, that is when the fountain really grabs your attention with all the colours.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

We carried on a bit further down the road, past the malls but the afternoon heat and jetlag finally caught up with us. We eventually turned around to head back to the Air BnB when we happened upon a restaurant with cheap beverages and air conditioning. We found that not all restaurants were selling alcohol because of the large Muslim population in Malaysia.

We took the rest of the afternoon back at the AirBnB beside the pool relaxing and cooling off before dinner. Even though this is a tourist area, there are signs up at the pool requesting that women do not wear thong bikinis or sports bras at the pool and that men do not wear their underwear or beach shorts.

Our first evening in Kuala Lumpur we decided to take an Uber to Alor Street Food Night Market. We figured out it was faster to walk than take an Uber. Traffic was heavy and congested, this seemed to be the case everytime we called for an Uber. The only exception to this seemed to be for our 8:00 am flight home, when we called for an Uber at 5:00 am there was no one on the roads then. We made it to the night market and took in all the smells, different stalls and restaurants.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

We arrived early enough to beat the crowds and the rain. We actually had enough time to walk around Alor Street Food Night Market seeing all the vendors and restaurants before deciding what we wanted to eat. Plus go to find the street art on the walls behind Alor Street as well.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

These murals were spectacular, however the street they were located on we found a bit off putting. There were a number of homeless people sleeping and the area itself seemed a bit rough for us. We took in this artwork quick, took our pictures then carried on back to the night market for dinner.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

We found the meals in Kuala Lumpur large enough we could share and comparable to the size of meals we get back home. We ended up ordering two items and sharing them so we could try as many different dishes as possible. All of the food we had was really good, it had the perfect amount of spice for us and the flavours were well balanced.

Along with a lot of Thai and seafood at the night market, we also found a lot of skewers and durian. It was easier and cheaper to find local Malaysian food by our AirBnB than at the night market.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

We took the time to walk back to our AirBnB, passing by the Pavillon Crystal Fountain in the dark. The colours lit up were bright and eye-catching, against the water the name became more crystal clear to understand. This was a great end to our first day in KL.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

Our second and last full day in Kuala Lumpur, we got up at a decent time to go see the Batu Cave Temple. Normally going to a temple I would have worn a t-shirt and travellers pants, however I have currently worn out my travellers pants and was not thinking probably when we were leaving for the temple. As a result I wore shorts (above my knees) and a 3 finger strapped tank top.

Upon arrival we both asked to see what was acceptable to wear in the temple, oddly enough my tank top with slightly exposed shoulders was okay however my shorts (above my knees) were not. I purchased a sarong and the man running the shop was very nice in refreshing my memory on how to tie them properly.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

We arrived around 10 am, TripAdvisor and blogs we had read over all said we needed 2 hours for the temple. As you pull into the entrance of the temple the colours and size of the Hindu Lord Murugan are memorising. The size of the Lord Murugan statue against the colour stairs, temples and limestone mountains in the background is really a sight to see.

It was already hot when we arrived at the temple and we could see from a distance there were a fair amount of uneven stairs ahead of us (online says 272 stairs, we did not count). What is not mentioned anywhere online is the ridiculous amount of pigeons that hang out at the base of the stairs AND the monkeys that run around at the art studio. The monkeys are pulling trash out of the can and scavenging. Along with the help of some tourists who feed them from their bags. Needless to say we went quickly through this area, as we both like the sunglasses we currently own and did not want to lose anything to the monkeys.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

The temple costs nothing to go into, the only cost we found were the souvenirs or restaurants. As we ascended up the stairs, I stopped half way up for a break and to take in the view.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

As we came up to the top of the stairs and into the cave, I was not surprised when we found more stairs. However I was surprised to find vendors selling souvenirs, water, snacks and offerings.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

As we walked down into the cave, the main temple is to the left and there are hindu statues placed throughout the rest of the cave. There is a opening at the opposit end of the cave (with more stairs) leading up to a second temple, which allows the light to flow through from both sides lighting the cave prefectly.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

The floors are a bit wet inside the cave but nothing to be concerned about. We only did the Temple Cave (main cave) and did not carry onto the Dark Cave or Ramayana Cave (these caves do have a fee to enter). The Temple Cave is beautiful to walk through, seeing all the art work and colours.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

We took an hour and a half to see the Temple Cave (main cave), we could have easily spent more time and gone through other parts of this Temple. However it was getting hot and as we descended down the stairs we started seeing more and more people. This made it easy for us to decide to head back to enjoy the pool for the remainder of the afternoon.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

As you go through Kuala Lumpur you do have to appreciate all the structural architecture. It is captivating how different everything is. The city itself is clean, the people are friendly, the food is delicious and such a fusion of different cultures. It is hot and humid, we found it best to do our site seeing in the morning, late afternoon or throughout the evening.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

We did a lot in two days in Kuala Lumpur, however we do know that there is more to Malaysia than just this city and its very entertaining airport. We would go back, bite the bullet and pay the price for drinks up at a SkyBar, visit some islands or go to Kuantan to see the beaches or waterfalls.

Cheers!

**Please note that all opinions and views expressed in this post are my own, from my own experiences. If you would like to see more pictures follow me on Instagram vikki.gray **