Our next stop after Singapore, and our final stop before India, was Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia! We were excited to finally visit the city after changing planes there several times on our way in and out of Australia during our Sri Lanka trip as well as on our way to Thailand.

(Note: This post is a continuation of our Asia travels. A link to my most recent post prior to this one can be found here!)

Day 14: Exploring Central Market and Chinatown

We arrived in Kuala Lumpur in the early afternoon and decided to get from the airport to town by express bus. After getting off the bus at the main train station, we hopped on the metro to get to our accommodation, which was located near the Jamek Mosque (Masjid Jamek).

It was raining quite heavily when we arrived, so after the rain subsided and we got settled, we walked down to the Petaling Market area in Chinatown to look around.

There was a lot to see here, with many artisanal stands as well as a huge outdoor market selling every fake branded item you could imagine.

After wandering the market area for a while, we found a random restaurant to have dinner, which we later learned was a mistake (99% of the time we eat at places based on the Google reviews)! This was unfortunate but is definitely a part of travelling, and you have to just learn to roll with the punches sometimes.

Day 15: A Day of Recovery and Iconic Sights

I had a horrible sleep the previous night after feeling very ill from our evening meal. George was also feeling unwell, so we took it easy on this day.

After a relaxed breakfast, we visited the mosque nearby where we put on respectful clothing provided by the mosque and had a look around. It was a beautiful building with fantastic architecture. The modesty clothing provided was quite hot, which made me think of the locals who come to the mosque in similar outfits for daily worship.

After the mosque, we got on the metro to check out the main square, called Berjaya Times Square. It is comprised of some huge mall buildings with a big pedestrian area and was filled with tons of people everywhere. We were delighted to find a Don Don Donki in this area, a Japanese shop chain we discovered in Bangkok and loved visiting.

Our next stop on our DIY walking tour was KLCC Park, which is a giant green space near the world-famous Petronas Towers. It was actually very exciting to see the Petronas Towers in person. I remember growing up always seeing them in the Guinness Book of World Records type of books, as they used to be some of the tallest towers in the world (officially the tallest from 1998-2004, and now the 21st tallest in the world at the time of writing this post). It was one of those funny but surreal travel moments where I was visiting a place I had always wanted to see but never knew how or when I was going to get there!

We ended the day at an awesome vegan restaurant called the Hungry Tapir. If I ever find myself in Kuala Lumpur again, I’ll definitely be making a stop at this restaurant. It had amazing food and such a great vibe, reminding me of the many vegan restaurants you can find in Vancouver.

Day 16: Batu Caves and Monkey Madness

On our second full day in Kuala Lumpur, we hopped on the commuter train to go see the Batu Caves, located on the outskirts of the city.

The train was quick and easy, and only took us about 30 minutes. Once we arrived at the caves, we were surrounded by a huge crowd of tourists, as well as several hundred monkeys. It was very humid, and with the various factors our entire time at these caves felt chaotic but interesting! The caves are home to a temple, which we climbed up to and admired from within the giant caves that engulfed them.

We also spent quite a bit of time people-watching, which was interesting given the large number of monkeys roaming around. Some tourists would buy bananas from a vendor and then stand still in open space while these wild monkeys would climb up their bodies and steal the bananas!

After our morning at the caves, we got a taxi back to our hotel and spent the afternoon doing laundry. Our biggest Southeast Asia hack this time around has been sourcing laundromats ourselves instead of relying on services or accommodation to do laundry. This meant we usually saved money and had clean laundry after an hour instead of waiting the usual 24 hours to get everything back.

That evening, we headed out to a delicious dinner at an Arabic restaurant, which George thought of due to the huge Muslim population in Malaysia. The food was delicious and was a fun niche meal that was quite different from what we had been eating for the rest of our trip so far.

Our next stop that evening was taking on Berjaya Times Square at night. We couldn’t believe how many people were out and about, and it was mesmerizing to observe.

We ended our evening with a walk back to KLCC Park to see the Petronas Towers at night before watching the scheduled light show at the fountains beneath the towers. This light show was less impressive than the one in Singapore but was fun nonetheless. The illuminated towers, though, were an incredible sight.

Day 17: A Farewell Tour of Kuala Lumpur

This was an interesting day for our planning purposes because our flight from KL to India was scheduled for 10:30 that night. Our solution was to pay for an extra night at our hotel so that we could basically live our day as if we were spending the night before heading to the airport. I am happy to report that it was a success!

We decided to spend our last morning on a walking tour of KL. We found a suitable tour on the website Guruwalk, and ultimately decided to go on the tour because the reviews of our guide, Hakim, were so fantastic.

Our tour took us from the Masjid Mosque around to significant landmarks in the area, and we were not disappointed! We learned a lot about KL and Malaysian culture from Hakim, and our tour even led us to a tea shop where I was able to try a local favourite, teh tarik (delicious milk tea).

Our tour finished at KLCC Park, where we went for lunch with some people from our tour. We both enjoyed Nasi Lemak for lunch, a local favourite consisting of rice, chicken, and some accompaniments like an egg and nuts.

Before we knew it, it was time to head to the airport! We took a combination of the metro and airport train to get out there, and were feeling refreshed and excited for the final new country on our tour: India!

Kuala Lumpur was a great city with so much to offer in terms of sights, foods, and culture. I’d love to come back one day and explore more of the country of Malaysia as well, as it looks beautiful and spectacular.

At the time of finishing this post, we have been in India for almost 4 weeks, and it has been a whirlwind. I am hoping to do some catching up on posts in our last week or so here, so please check back soon for more on our adventures there.

Thanks for reading!