After 5 days in Langkawi, we flew off to Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia. We chose to spend only a day in Kuala Lumpur because we were going to be spending 5 days in Singapore city. Singapore used to be part of Malaysia, but they split up in 1965 due to political and economic differences.
The drive from the Kuala Lumpur Airport to the city center was quite a long ways, about an hour. We arrived at the city during the rush hour and found a massive traffic jam like in Nairobi. Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) is one busy town with so many buildings. We would be staying at KLCC, not so far from the famous iconic Petronas twin towers. The tallest twin towers in the world they say. I wonder who comes up with a list of all these “tallest/biggest in the world”. Apparently there are plans to build the second tallest building in the world in Kuala Lumpur. Dubai is probably not so happy about this even though they have the tallest building in the world.
We decided not to take a guided city tour but rather explore the city on our own. I will mention that we were able to navigate all these places using offline google maps. I can’t shut up about how offline google maps has been a life-saver on all my trips, I will always recommend it (Google maps needs to start running me my checks now).
So this is what you can do in Kuala Lumpur in just 24 hours.
Visit the Petronas Twin Towers
This was the first thing we did in KL. You haven’t been to KL if you don’t go to see the Petronas twin towers. This is the landmark and pride of the city. At night is the perfect time to go because the building looks so beautiful with the lights. They also have a water show right in front on the building, but we missed out on that one. You can choose to go up the building at an observation deck on the 86th floor and view the entire city. The building hosts various company offices and it is said to have cost $1.6 billion to construct, compared to Burj Khalifa that cost $1.5 billion (Why do I even know all these things?)
Street food market at Jalan Alor Street
Who doesn’t love street food? It’s a nice way to get a taste of an area’s local cuisine. Jalan Alor Street is the food mecca of Kuala Lumpur. The street gets closed at night and all the restaurants along the 500m expanse take their chairs and tables outside to serve meals. There are also many food stands along the street. The place was swarming with people and food stalls when we got there. We tried a couple of bites from the food stands before going to a Thai restaurant. Yes, we decided to give Thai food a second chance. The food I ordered was good but too spicy that I wasn’t able to eat it, I ended up eating my partner’s food instead- there is something about men and always getting the order right. What a bummer for me, third time’s the charm I guess.
Batu Caves
This is a cave located high up on a hill that serves as a Hindu temple. There is a gigantic golden statue of a Hindu deity right outside the caves. It is one of the tallest statues in the world. There are a lot of colorful steps that lead into the caves. The steps are many and quite steep as you go up. The place had many people and was quite dirty when we got there. There is no entrance fee to this place, it is open to the public. One thing to note is that women are not allowed to go up the cave with exposed legs. If you are wearing shorts or a short dress you will be required to buy a skirt to wrap around yourself, it costs $3. The cave is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India, and the limestone forming it is said to be around 400 million years old. The inside of the cave is actually fascinating how it was naturally formed. The batu caves is home to a number of species of bats. Brace yourself to meet monkeys as you walk up the stairs to the caves.
Shopping Mall
There are many massive shopping malls in KL, and my favorite one was called Pavilion Kuala Lumpur. The food court section had so many nice restaurants it blew my mind, and you know me, I love restaurants. I had my first Japanese teppanyaki grill experience. This is where there are long flat grills around which guests are seated, then the chef cooks the food that is ordered in front of the guests. It was a nice dining experience. Personally I can’t be a teppanyaki chef because I get performance anxiety.
The mall has a huge shopping area as well. One thing I will recommend when in Kuala Lumpur, shop until you drop. The prices here are cheap compared to other places in my opinion.
We happened to be in Kuala Lumpur during Valentine’s Day and I should probably share my experience. First of all, all the fancy restaurants were fully booked months in advance. Yes months, because when we tried to make reservations weeks before our trip, we had to get in long waiting lists. The prices of restaurants also go up during this season. A high end restaurant will only give you an option of spending a minimum of $200 for dinner.
To add on top of that restaurant craze, there were no taxis available on that night. No kidding. This caught us by surprise, but lucky enough, we were staying at the city center so we walked to a nearby mall to get a restaurant. We got lucky to get seated at a Brazilian Stake House restaurant. I didn’t even know this existed. This is a buffet where barbecued meat is served endlessly. There is a buffet where you serve your food, then a chef with barbequed meat on a grill stick will walk around every table serving you grilled meat of all sorts. Beef, chicken, pork, seafood etc. There is a little plastic coin that you place on your table if you want them to stop brining the meat, otherwise they will drown you in barbeque meat. I know a lot of meat-lovers who would love the Brazilian Stake house experience. It was a fascinating experience for sure.
