We arrived in the capital of Malaysia midday, after a stop at Kellie’s Castle, arriving at the Robertson buildings, where we had rented an apartment for our two-week stay. Our host actually welcomed us in person and gave us recommendations and we had a nice visit with him before we settled in for the evening. We had a good view of the city, with both the Petronas Twin Towers and Kuala Lumpur Tower in view, looking especially cool at night.
During the day, there was a haze that was normal during our visit; unfortunately burning season in Indonesia led to bad pollution in KL (the abbreviation that Malaysians use for Kuala Lumpur) and the pollution was the worst or second worst in the world while we visited. That meant a little less walking outside, but we still explored as we could.
On the other side of our building, from the entrance or the 7th floor gym/pool, we could see the tallest building in KL, the Merdeka 118, which has 118 floors and is 2,227 feet tall (679 meters) and is currently the second tallest building in the world. It could only be entered at the base level as it is still under construction as of this writing.
Directly across from our apartment building was St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, built in 1913.
Nearby our apartment was Chinatown, which is home to the famous Petaling Street with its big street market. We had fun walking through the packed market, taking in all the sights, sounds, and smells. We usually do not seek out Chinatowns in the places we have been, especially after spending two months in China, but there is a familiar smell to China, and this Chinatown had it.
I haggled for a couple sports jerseys, but after haggling I always feel like I still spent too much, you know? There were these nice dragon lampposts, painted green and gold, and a stylish roasted chestnut seller, too.
Back to our apartment building, and its many apartments that are used for airbnbs, so we saw many fellow travelers in the elevators and at the pool. There were a few shops on the first floor including a grocery store where Jessica bought foods and was able to cook, which was a nice change from eating out all the time. However, to start our visit to KL, we started with a food tour.
We were excited as we love food tours, and Malaysian food has been our favorite of all the countries so far. To be fair, it does combine Chinese, Indian and Malay cuisines, so maybe that’s cheating a bit? In any case, we started the food tour at the Hilton Garden Inn, where we arrived early and had a drink on their rooftop.
We also had time to explore the nearby Sikh Temple, Guru Nanak Darbar Tatt Khalsa Diwan (that’s a mouthful), where they let us visit the prayer room and pay our respects, and had a big painting of a famous Indian Sikh Temple on the water.
The Sikh temple was on a side street that was home to a local market, and we started the tour there. Ian, our tour guide, was an ex-finance worker who changed careers to being a tour guide and was so fun as he lead us all around KL to try so many different foods. We tried nasi lemak, cendol, whole fried fish, durian (again, and it was slightly better, still not good, the second time). We tried to make our own Roti, which didn’t go great but we still tried. We ended with Mango shakes, which is now my favorite shake flavor.
We walked through a bright street market and past a colorful mosque.
We crossed the Saloma Link bridge, which is only for pedestrians and lights up at night.
We ended the tour at KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Center) Park, where we saw the Petronas Towers in all their glory, lit up in red, white, and blue colors for Malaysia Independence Day.
Ian was kind enough to take a selfie with us, as we had such a fun time and ate so much great food. Food tours in Malaysia for the win!
A lot, lot more to come from KL!
