Asia is such a crazy continent. I was totally overwhelmed my first time in Bali, but I had a better idea of what to expect when I stopped over in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for a night last year in 2015. Lewis and I were on our way back to Scotland from New Zealand, and that is a brutally long series of flights. The first half was 10 hours long and the second would be another 13 or so. Since our layover was in Kuala Lumpur, we decided we'd stay a night and break that up.
We flew Malaysia Air, and this was shortly after the whole small matter of a disappearing flight had gone down, so I was a little more nervous than usual. I enjoyed Lost and everything, but how would I survive as a vegetarian on a deserted island?! Besides, the chances of a Sawyer being on our plane to make it all worthwhile were pretty slim. Of course the fact that their airline was so much cheaper than the others outweighed my fear, so Malaysia Air it was. The two separate flights were so different. Our plane from KL to Scotland was very modern and nice, while the one from NZ to KL was pretty dated looking with tiny, low-quality TV screens that Lewis was disproportionately annoyed about. On the bright side, despite being stuck in a middle section, I had two empty seats next to me and actually got to lay down and sleep.
We finally landed in the KL airport the following morning. It was one of the nicer airports I've been to. They even have a tropical greenhouse garden complete with waterfall right in the middle!
Our main problem was that we were traveling with everything we owned from New Zealand since we were moving across the world, so each of us had about four large bags and got a lot of amused looks and comments from the taxi drivers and hotel staff who saw us. I felt utterly ridiculous traveling with so much stuff, and if you know how much I usually pack as it is, that's saying something. The KLIA Express took us from the airport to KL Sentral station (and even then there was some serious maneuvering to get all our bags on board), but we had to get a cab to our hotel from there due to our luggage situation.
Day One Petronas Towers & Shopping Malls
We were staying at Hotel Sentral, only about a ten minute walk from KL Sentral station. Since we weren't able to check in just yet, we left our bags and wandered back across the road to the shopping mall which I believe was Nu Sentral. Their malls are massive. This one wasn't even the biggest, and it had 8 floors. Two alone were dedicated to food. I was surprised at the amount of western chains. There was even an Auntie Anne's where I decided to try a seaweed pretzel (it was a poor choice).
We finally checked into our hotel around 2:00 and were able to take amazing showers and have a nap. The hotel was nice enough with a comfy bed and everything we needed. Lewis, experiencing his first time in Asia, sat by the window for awhile marveling in disbelief at what passes for driving on the streets below. I'd personally be shocked if I arrived in Asia and DIDN'T see five drivers coming from different directions all attempting to cross a four-way intersection at the same time.
We woke up not long after 3 and walked back over to the mall to get through to KL Sentral which was attached on the opposite side. I was basking in the hot, sunny weather. Coming from New Zealand winter and heading to Scottish summer, I was loving every moment of our two days in the extreme heat of Malaysia.
We quickly figured out the metro system. A ticket was only about 2 ringitts (which sounds like a disease but is actually a currency), the equivalent of about 75 cents, from the machine, and that would give you a token which you then scanned at the turnstile. It was really easy and efficient. We took the train to the station we had been directed to, and as we came out and looked up, the Petronas Towers were right there towering above us.
I had to use a vertical panorama to fit them all in.
They're the tallest twin towers in the world, and they were absolutely massive. We had actually arrived around the back, but it was a decent spot for photos.
We headed inside and wandered through the big lobby out into another humongous shopping mall. Eventually when we got our bearings, we found our way back into the lobby and down an escalator to buy tickets for the towers. Our tour didn't start until 7:15 which gave us another 20 minutes to kill, so we decided to take in the front of the towers while waiting. There was a big outdoor area out front with a nice, long fountain, restaurants lining the perimeter of the towers, and a park full of native trees.
We went back in for our tour not long after which was really tech-y and modern. There was a video projected through a smokescreen, codes on our tickets that would cause towers to virtually grow out of them if you held them to a screen, and a black box elevator to take us up that showed a simulation of rising up outside the towers.
Our first stop was about halfway up at the Skybridge which connects the two towers. The walls of the bridge were all glass, and there were interactive maps that would tell you about the various areas you were looking down at if you clicked on them.
Afterwards, it was straight up to the very top, the 86th floor. There were amazing views, including the opposite tower and the nearby Skytower, a revolving needle building.
We made one more quick stop on the 83rd floor which had a wall display of the world's tallest buildings, then back down and out through the gift shop into the lobby. We walked back out front into the warm summer night to see the fountain all lit up and synchronized in a light and water show to music! "My Heart Will Go On" was playing and all of the fountains were jumping in rhythm to the music and glowing with different colored lights, and it was really beautiful. We went and sat on a grassy slope on the opposite side so we could watch the display with the towers in the background. It was perfect.
They played a few other songs, but after awhile we went to find food. We were going to sit outside at one of the restaurants, but after being seated at a booth for five minutes without anyone coming to take our order, I could barely keep my eyes open and felt in real danger of passing straight out on the table. Instead we went back inside and up to the food court where I had some fried udon noodles for dinner, then we took the train back to our hotel and quickly fell asleep.
Day Two Batu Caves & Monkeys
I totally loved Hotel Sentral's buffet breakfast the next morning. Along with the typical western choices like eggs, beans, toast, etc, they also had Malaysian choices like veggie noodles and roti bread. There were even dessert-like foods! I had this weird jello-y thing covered in coconut and it was really tasty.
We checked out at noon and left our luggage downstairs, then we took the train to the Batu Caves.
The caves house Hindu temples with a gigantic golden statue of a deity named Murugan out front. I mean gigantic, like 140 feet tall.
Next to the statue is a long climb of 272 stairs, and at the top are the caves with the temples inside. Most of this I was expecting. What I wasn't expecting were dozens of monkeys around every corner, sitting on the stairways, in rafters, stealing water bottles. I was so happy.
First though, we went into this hot, slightly run-down noodle shop and got these bomb-ass mee goreng noodles (mine with chilies), and can I just say it's possibly worth visiting Asia for the super cheap and awesome food alone?
After eating, we headed back to the caves and started the walk up the stairs.
It was a long climb but there were plenty of monkeys to keep us entertained on the way up. They seemed to be sitting on every post like guardians of the temple.
When we got to the top we entered the Batu Caves which are extremely old, tall, limestone caves.
There are some small stalls with cheap tourist junk set up near the entrance, then you walk through to a vast empty cavernous area. There are stairs down into it and then stairs at the other end, but it’s all just paved and empty. When you walk up the stairs at the far side you come out into another paved square but the caves are open to the sky and there is a little temple in there.
It was here that we stopped a French girl to take our photo in front of the temple- the very prominent temple that we were standing directly in front of. I would say the only possible ways she could manage to completely cut the temple out of the photo is if she was spitefully doing so or if she had never before held a camera in her life, but despite all odds, that is what she achieved. This is why I wish I could be my own photographer (and often am thanks to self-timer.)
At least we knew to ask the next person to please include the scenery in our photo.
Once we came back out of the cave, we wandered over to the side of the stairs a bit to another area called the Dark Caves. We decided not to go in since they were charging entry, but it was fortunate that we walked over that way, because this is where we made our new monkey friends (the kind of friends I've always dreamed of, really)!
We ran into a bunch of small macaques and one of them came up and touched Lewis's leg. It then immediately backed away like it was going to get in trouble, then another one did the same. One came over towards me with its hand out, but since its teeth were out too I kept backing away while it took small steps after me. I finally stood still and let the monkeys come up, and they started grabbing the sarong that I’d been given to wear into the temple. They were pulling and biting it and would even play tug of war with me if I held the other end. It was adorable!
Once they got used to us they weren’t even shy anymore. I had like three or so monkeys all running around my legs and under my skirt. When we were sitting they would come up behind us and touch Lewis’s back like a game. I opened my purse at one point to see if there was anything I could give them and two of the monkeys stood waiting, then started standing up impatiently and holding their arms out as if to ask what was taking me so long. They just wanted to touch and play with everything, even my ankle bracelet and the hair on Lewis’s leg. They were little thieves too- one guy came past us seeming totally taken aback because some monkey had just stolen his water bottle out of his hand. He told us about this incredulously and then announced he was going to get it back, and when I turned around a few minutes later the water bottle was forgotten about and he was sitting and laughing with the monkeys.
They were smart. They knew how to bite the bottom of the bottles so the water would come out and they could lick it off the ground, and Lewis gave our empty bottle to a monkey on our way down the stairs and it actually knew how to take the lid off and lick the inside of the cap and bottleneck to get any remaining water.
I never wanted to leave! We stayed for about an hour to play and it was by far the most adorable hour of my year.
This little guy jumped so much when the camera clicked in his face.
I eventually had to say goodbye to all my new besties and took the train back to KL Sentral. We got a couple coffees at a place on the outside of the mall then caught the monorail to Bukit Bintang, the main shopping area in Kuala Lumpur. We went into this standard sort of mall first, then when we were down to about 20 minutes we went across to the other building which was more of a chaotic maze of shops. A lot of them were cheap and probably allowed bartering (not my strong point so I didn't try). I was on the hunt for a dress to wear to a wedding, and I ended up buying two that combined only cost me about $40. Afterwards we jumped back on the monorail, picked up our bags at the hotel, were laughed at again by with our 8 massive pieces of luggage, and took a taxi to the train station which luckily had flight check-in at the terminal. It was so convenient. We were able to get rid of our bags before we even got to the airport.
Unfortunately despite the fact that we had lessened our checked bag weight by 7 kgs after stuffing everything heavy into our carry-ons, we actually had to pay MORE money than the first flight to get our stuff to London. I don't want to talk about the devastating amount that we were charged on each separate flight just to get our things home (and this is after we had gotten rid of stuff in NZ). Let's just say on the second flight alone we had to pay about $300 each. It was brutal and beyond depressing. If I can give some serious advice learned from harsh reality, do not accumulate things if you are traveling.
On the bright side, we'd had an awesome and much too short two days in Kuala Lumpur. I'm happy with what we chose to fill our time seeing, and I definitely can't wait to go back to Asia for more (monkeys, of course).