2 Days in Kuala Lumpur - My impressions and tips.

Happy Monday! I hope you had a good weekend, I start to be more and more excited about writing this blog and having the opportunity to share my pictures and stories to perfect strangers. I hope you like it and I have so many projects and content ideas.I am finishing a video about KL as well, the tone is different but I would be happy to have your opinion about it. Do you like travel videos? And if you do, what kind of content do you prefer: vlog, documentary styles or just videos with music background? Please don't be shy and leave me a comment at the end of this post or on my social media pages, your opinion is still important :-)

For my last post, here is some extra information and impressions about my 2 days in Kuala Lumpur.
For this short trip, I prepared mixing different contents online and in city guides. I am a bit of a control freak, so I always have a list of things to do and/or see.

Where to stay

Hostelworld is the website I always use to compare rates and fares for hostels and B&B. I always mix information between this site and also Airbnb, Tripadvisor or even Trivago...That time, I found a private double bedroom, with shared bathroom in a Chinatown hostel. It was enough for privacy and we were able to leave our luggage after checkout so we could spend our last day visiting the city. The place was clean and safe so we could feel comfortable.

Note that Hostelworld provides some free and interesting city guides for short trips.

I know everyone has a different idea about vacations and travels, depending on your budget, mentality or the number of guests, choosing the right place to stay isn't always easy. I don't always trust negative reviews as we don't know the circumstances but if you only find negatives comments for the same place you better try another place.
In my situation, I didn't want to spend too much money in Kuala Lumpur as I was going to stay in France for the next 4 months, a luxury hotel in the Golden Triangle wasn't an option.

I am now planning a few weeks holidays in Japan and options are of course different and I am actually saving for at least one stay in a traditional Ryokan.

The budget travellers may prefer couchsurfing and I heard some nice experience about couchsurfing in KL, as long as the cultural barrier doesn't affect your stay and your host.

View on the temple from the Rooftop of the hostel

View from the rooftop of the hostel

Mentality and cultural barrier

Speaking about cultural barrier, KL is a multicultural city, with Little India and Chinatown, different cultures are represented. For instance, shoulders may be covered for temples visits, mostly for muslim and hindu religions. I should admit there that by the high humidity and temperatures, I had difficulties complying with this rules outside visits, while walking around the city and noticed a lot of occidental girls like me in the same situation. Although the presence of tourists in some areas is high, I noticed some shocked looks on me, wearing a sleeveless top and even in the airport. Some people don't really pay attention to this cultural barriers but as I am a tourist, I always prefer being mixed in the mass instead of dragging unconsciously the attention on me. 

Transports and not getting lost

Well, I am sorry in advance, but I don't have the miracle solution not to get lost,unless you have a lot of internet data to use a GPS on your phone, I always trust the old map. 

You have many more options depending on your travel, I am just sharing my experience here.

From and to the airport

We tried 2 differents methods. When we arrived, it was late, around 11 pm,so we decided to take a taxi. Prices are always a bit higher during the night, although I tried to use my negotiation skills... To be improved ;-) On the way back, we took the KLIA express to the airport from the center. It's direct, easy, not too pricey... What else? 

The cost was 35 MYR per person, one way.More info here.

In around the city

Although the presence of taxis is striking in the city, we found the metro and train system easy. For only 2 days, most of the main attractions are well served. Once that said, the train is the budget friendly option.We also had a mini map and a guide which was helpful with some detailed areas.

A train station in KL

Weather, hygiene and ambiance

Humid would be word to qualify the weather in KL. With temperatures over 30 degrees, we were never cold although the sun was hidden by the pollution clouds above the city. You can notice on the pictures that the sky seems to be white or grey, but barely blue. 

The water in the river was also very polluted and you can be disgusted only by the sight of it! But drinkable water is easy to find, you are in a city after all, and some refill spots can also be found in the street.

I wish I would have had more time to visit some other parts of Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur was an experience with its busy ambiance but I think I would enjoy even more some secluded parts of the country to be able to improve my knowledge about the culture and to try local food as well! 

So, is Kuala Lumpur rich or poor?

Answering that question would be answering about Malaysian situation. I am not an economist, but what striked me the most are the contrasts between the different parts of the city. You could see people sleeping in the streets or selling "sewing machines" made up of staples and a piece of fabric. Malay are full of resources and so is their country! 

On the other side, you can go on the top of the Petronas towers, named after a big petrol company, and spend as much money in shopping as you could do in Paris...

After reading that, you can relate to a lot of developing countries where distribution of wealth issues need to be worked out.

As long as you are aware of it, it shouldn't prevent you from enjoying this complex city.

2 Days in Kuala Lumpur - Day 2, a modern and powerful city. Tips inside!

Are you ready for this second day in KL?

For our first day, we wanted to explore the wealthy part of the city, around the golden triangle area, with the Petronas twins towers and a lot of commercial centers.

The Petronas towers are, for the moment, the highest twin towers in the world with 88 floors. For the early birds,it's possible to get free ticket to the top of the towers, before 9am. Unfortunately for us, we arrived much later and the only tickets to be sold were only available for the next day. As it was our last day, we decided to enjoy the surroundings and I have to admit that it was a relaxing day although we got lost a few times in some commercial centers and streets.

Well...There, we were lost, just a bit...

We ended in a big commercial center, and sorry again, I don't remember the name at all, but it was in front of a big and modern Sephora shop with a different architecture. I trust you to find it :-) 
As the Chinese New Year was coming, the mall was decorated in the colors of the event with a few carousels and stands.
We found a really nice DC comics store, with more than human sized heroes. You can actually see this store from the street, it's located on the 1st or 2nd floor.

We had our flight the same night, but before organizing our departure, we wanted to see the Bird Park, located in the Lake Gardens area, it is really easy to access from the center if you don't mind a bit of walk. The area is much quiet than the rest of the city, you just hear birds around, I must confess it had this relaxing ambiance, away from the crowded streets, which I really enjoyed.
In the same area, you can also visit some other parks, we chose the KL Bird Park.

So here is a tip for budget travelers: if you don't want to spend the entrance fees or if you don't have the time to visit it, I suggest you can purchase a meal or a drink in the restaurant area so you can see some of the most beautiful species with excellent photo opportunities! Indeed, the greedy ones often come around to pick some leftovers. They are so close to you, be careful, respect the birds and enjoy the funny scenes.

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KL Bird Park

KL Bird Park, the greedy birds

My other Kuala Lumpur articles

2 days in Kuala Lumpur - Day 1, Batu Caves
2 days in Kuala Lumpur - Day1, Part 2, Culture and traditions

For some more details and impressions, I am preparing you a special article for the next days.

2 days in Kuala Lumpur - Day1, Part 2, Culture and traditions

Hello my dear fellow travellers, I hope you enjoyed my first post about Batu Caves as much as I enjoyed visiting it. Since we came back from this short trip, if there is any spot we like to recommend, it's always Batu Caves. It's a kind of Wow factor place I reckon.

So, let's come back to Chinatown, it is still our first day and you are a bit hungry... So let's visit the Central Market. 
This market is very touristic, with a lot of souvenir shops, food stalls with local fruits. I tried Mangosteen for the first time over there and it's such a delight! Sorry I don't have any photos, but my tastebuds still remember this soft and delicate fruit. 
More info about the Mangosteen here.

Along the fake luxury stalls, we found a kind of food court and chose a Bibimbap in the Corean corner. I know what you are thinking right now, and what about local food? Well, I have to admit we didn't get to try so many Malay dishes, I guess it's gonna be for the next time. But, we sampled a lot of sweet and local snacks.

2 Bibimbap, plus sides and freshly made drinks. The price was very honourable, a few cents for the drinks. Sorry I don't remember exactly.

That was good !

For instance, this green thing above is a kind of sponge roll made with pandan, palm sugar and coconut. It's prepared in a bamboo roll in front of you. I don't remember the name, so if any of you has a better knowledge of this delicacy than mine, let me know! It was delicious and my not too fond of sweets boyfriend finished it easily.

Once our lunch and market tour done, we went around Chinatown, got lost as well and discovered a few elegant temples and monuments...

Dawabumi complex, next to central market.

We stumbled upon some temples as well. Here is the taoist Sze-Ya temple, built in the 19th century, is one of the oldest of its kind in KL.

We noticed that in Kuala Lumpur, a lot of temples are hidden in small streets and between little shops as well. Although I prepared my trip and made a list of temples to visit, I have to admit that we found most of them while we were wandering around the neighbourhood.

Another lucky discovery,the Sri Mahamariamman temple. This is the oldest hindu temple of the city, founded in 1873, it catches your attention with its apparently 228 colourful divinities mounted on a 22 metres high sculpture.

I had difficulties taking a photo of the whole front as the street was narrow and didn't give me enough angle. A larger lens would have been useful in that situation! 

Let's finish with the temples with the Chan See Shu Yuen temple bellow.The is one of the oldest chinese buddhist temple in Malaysia, from 1906. 

Also located in Chinatown, it was closed when we arrived and had some sort of renovations around.

Some old buildings in Chinatown

A lot of wild cats around the city.

It was nearly 4pm when we decided to have a look on some local museums.We started with the Textile Museum located next to Central Market as well, in this beautiful building. You can see the Dawabumi complex in the background,everything was so close!

All I can say is that our visit was quick as the museum was going to close but with a free entry, we didn't hesitate for too long.

Hello!

It was a beautiful museum, showcasing the evolution of Malay textiles and techniques with a nicely elaborated scenography.Just out of the textile museum, here is the Sultan Abdul Samad building, just in the other corner of the road. This authentic building is located in front of the Merdeka Square. This building inspired by the Indian Mughal architecture is now occupied by the Information and Culture Ministry.

As we were still in the area around Merdeka Square, our curiosity led us to the KL City Gallery, showing past and future transformations of the city. You can see a giant model of the city representing future buildings and skyscrapers which are going to change the look of the city in the next 10 years.



To finish,we headed to Little India, easily accessible by walk and stopped for sunset pictures at the Masjid Jamed Mosquee with its beautiful palm trees and night lights.

In little India

I didn't really enjoy Little India besides a few nicely colored old buildings, but I guess it can be a question of tastes and ambiance. I like going out of my comfort zone when it's about travelling and discovering new places but Little India didn't seem to be a place for me and I am sorry I don't have objective explanations about that. Or maybe a few looks on my bare arms didn't improve the situation... 

But anyway, I just share my feeling here and my partner shares the same about it. 

Did you have this same uncomfortable feeling while visiting a foreign place? There is no shame about it and sometimes the vibrance of a place doesn't operate. I have a friend who really enjoyed it so it shouldn't prevent anyone from enjoying it as well.

My other Kuala Lumpur article

2 days in Kuala Lumpur - Day 1, Batu Caves

2 days in Kuala Lumpur - Day 1, Batu Caves

In January 2014, on the way back to France, we (my partner and I), decided to take advantage on the stop in Kuala Lumpur to discover this city. 

We spent 2 days and 2 nights, (yeah, the perks of arriving at midnight), and booked in a hostel in Chinatown area. 
I will share with you more practical details in an other post as this one will be pretty long, believe me :-) I hope you like monkeys though...

In this first post, I am going to share with you a must see if you ever visit Kuala Lumpur. Our first day visits were more into discovering Malaysia's culture and history, between temples and local museums.

So let's start from Chinatown; where our hostel was located, next to the central market, very convenient location as it's also very close to the train station. From there, we took the train, direct to Batu Caves. It was really easy to go and find from the station, just follow the mass ;-)

We started our day visiting Batu Caves, which is a Hindu temple in a huge and impressive cave, with its 42.7 metres high Murugan golden statue in the front, you can't really miss it. 

From there, you can take the stairs to discover the inside and explore this full of monkeys place.

About monkeys, they are everywhere in Batu Caves, on the stairs, the wall climbing up the cave, their grey colour mixes with the surroundings. They even steal a few tourist's food and offerings. Honestly, common sense should be enough to go through the visit!

Yumm, coconut!

I really enjoyed this visit, it's huge, natural and traditional, wild and colourful. A must see in KL! We were there during the Thaipusam period which is a yearly Hindu celebration from mid January to the beginning of February, so you can expect a massive crowd at the beginning. In my case, we visited at the end of January, it wasn't that crowded which I guess, made the visit smoother.

Next to Batu Caves, you will also find some other sanctuaries. Allow yourself a couple of hours to visit in and around, including travels from and to the centre.
For the greedy travellers, at the time of our visit, a lot of food stalls,mostly snacks were spread next to the main entrance.

I though I didn't give you enough monkeys in this article...

Don't hesitate to comment and give me feedbacks, and see you this week for more stories!