Almost a year ago now (for real?!), I flew into Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (“KL” as they call it) from Bali at midnight, knowing I only had a full day to explore the city before ending my month long trip and heading back to the US very early the following morning.
Normally, I do a bit of planning ahead of time, but sadly I didn’t have much time to decide what to do or where to go prior to arriving in KL.
So upon arrival, I crashed, slept until almost 10am, and then headed to my hotel’s breakfast where I decided to do a quick “what am I going to do today” exploration using the internets.
I decided to “splurge” and spend $90 a night on a hotel. I did this for a few reasons:
After going through customs and securing my belongings, I happily exited the international arrivals terminal to see someone holding a sign with my name, waiting patiently to take me to my hotel. I must admit, I felt special.
That quickly changed when after quickly getting some Malaysian Ringgit from the ATM, I ended up in a regular car; not a limo or anything elaborate. It took a whole hour to drive at midnight from KLIA to the hotel, so my decision to splurge and have easy access to my hotel at midnight was quickly confirmed as a good one.
Booking a hotel like this with car service is a nice option if you’ve got some money to spare, you don’t want to waste time, and you want to take the least complicated means possible rather than trying to attempt to figure out the subway system at an unGodly hour.
At the Park Royal Serviced Suites in Bukit Bintang. And what a great decision that was. I knew I wanted to check out the Bukit Bintang area after talking to some locals via the Couchsurfing app, who suggested that it might be the best area to take in the major sights and get somewhat of a feel for the expat area of KL. And that it was. Staying at that hotel, I was able to knock out all of the things I wanted to see in a day and most of it was within walking distance.
Also, the service at Park Royal was great. The breakfast was delightful, I was somehow upgraded to a suite for the lowest price available, and the staff was super helpful. I have no complaints at all about staying there, and the location was superb. A+ for Park Royal Serviced Suites. Note: There is also a Park Royal Hotel in KL, very close by actually. The location for that hotel wasn’t bad either, but I can’t comment on that specific hotel.
2. KL City Center (KLCC) Park (12:00pm). This was also on the walk to the Petronas Towers. I love parks, so spent a little more time here before heading to the actual towers. Unfortunately, it was hot, and I was getting antsy to make it to the towers, so I only explored the left side of the park (looking at the towers). What I was not expecting was a huge waterpark and playground for children. I have never seen anything like this. I joked to my sisters that if they are going to go anywhere with kids, this is the place. I did not walk to the right side of the park, which is actually where I should have gone. That seems a bit more relaxing and for adults.
However, I did get approached by a family of eight Indonesians over on the left side. At first, I assumed they were asking me to take their photo. But no, they wanted a pic with me, the really really white girl walking around by herself. They didn’t even talk to me, I’d assume because they don’t speak English. They just kept motioning first for me to get in the photo with the whole family. Then they wanted a few other pics. First with a few adults and then amusingly, one with just me and a three year old girl. I can only imagine what my face must have looked like in each of those photos. As they were taking photos of me, I managed to snag one of them trying to take a photo of me. Turns out, I was the tourist attraction here at KLCC Park.
3. Petronas Towers – first time (12:30pm). I decided to walk to KLCC and the Petronas Towers first and foremost, because I knew seeing the towers and KLCC was my top priority. Now, I was told by my hotel that there was no way I’d get a ticket to actually go up into the Twin Towers being this late in the day. Yes, you can, and should book the tickets online so you aren’t waiting around in line to see what’s available. But you also can’t do same day bookings online, so I took the gamble and went there anyway. Turns out, it was worth the risk. There were actually a bunch of tickets open for the day, one at 3:30pm and then a bunch after 7:30pm. I wanted to check out the sunset from somewhere other than the towers, so decided the 3:30pm was my calling and booked that. It was already 1:30pm, so I only had two hours to kill prior to heading back to the Towers.
4. Central Market (2:00pm). I made a split second decision to head to Central Market after asking someone working at the Twin Towers what I should do with two hours of my time, knowing I only had a day. He said to head to Chinatown. So I jumped in a blue cab (take a red or silver instead, they are cheaper) to check out Central Market, an indoor bartering market. Unfortunately, the inside was just as unimpressive as the outside, so immediately upon walking in I knew I wanted to get out. Now, if I had wanted to buy some souvenirs, that might be another story. But I was souvenir’d out after Bali, so I did another walk in/walk out about face, knowing Petaling Street was nearby.
5. Petaling Street (2:30pm). This is another souvenir/bartering street, yet it’s outdoors and has great reviews. Apparently, it is better to walk through at night, but I didn’t have the luxury of time. Even though I was there during the day, I still found Petaling Street amusing, probably because I found myself not entirely surrounded by white Australian tourists like I was in Bali. If there were tourists, and there probably were, they were mostly Asian, so I felt like I was getting more of a cultural experience. Knowing I didn’t have much time and I still needed to grab lunch before heading back to the towers, I took some pics and then was on my way after walking through the street. I also didn’t want to buy anything, so that exceeded my exit.
6. Starbucks nearby for lunch (3:00pm). Sadly, I was running out of time and it started raining, so I was forced into the nearest Starbucks to grab a coffee and something to eat. Which wasn’t all that bad, actually. I honestly wanted to see how the Starbucks here compared to the Starbucks in the US, and I was not disappointed. Not knowing the difference between a simple Latte and the Asian Latte, I opted for the Asian, obviously, and also got a pastry advertised as a cheese pastry. What I found inside was actually a hot dog, but who’s complaining. Here I was talked up by a 45 year old plus Malay man, who was nice at first, but then proceeded to act as though he was concerned about my well being and asked for my number, saying he was free for dinner later if I was available. He had me put his number into my phone and then wanted me to promptly WhatsApp him, which of course I acted like I was doing but didn’t do. Luckily I had to leave and was off shortly thereafter.
7. Petronas Towers - second time (3:30pm). Hi there, back at the Petronas Towers. Took a cab from Starbucks to the towers and landed literally right under the towers themselves before heading in. What a great photo op here. I took about 50 pics (my MO) and then decided it was time to head inside.
I liked the towers. First they take you up to the Skywalk (the walk connecting the two towers about halfway up), where you have about ten minutes to explore. Then they take you to the top, where you have 20 minutes. As you may know, I am a bit scared of heights. Oddly, I was not scared here. Must be because I summited an active volcano with many cliffs in the middle of the night just a few weeks earlier on Mt. Rinjani in Lombok, Indonesia (future posts coming). Nothing can top that level of terrify.
8. Bukit Bintang (5:00pm). My intent here was to walk around and see the shops and restaurants in the area, but I landed in a local restaurant called Shah Al-Khair which ironically was right across the street from my hotel. And man, was it amazing. Recommended to me by the taxi driver, it was perfect, because at this point it was getting late and I wanted to start getting ready for my night. I pounded some fried rice and a smoothie and headed to my hotel to shower. Boom.
9. Heli Pad (7:00pm). There are a good amount of bars that offer nice views of the sunset and skyline in KL. I landed at Heli Pad because it was the one suggested to me by my hotel as the best view of the skyline in the city, it was walkable from my hotel, it offered a view that was outdoors, and sh*t…I have never been to a heli-pad rooftop bar. Turns out, the view was ridiculous. I took about 300 pictures between my iPhone and my Sony mirrorless (at the time, I was working on the photography precision). I arrived around 7:15pm just in time for the 7:30pm sunset. The views were phenomenal. I stayed for the sunset and aftermath, and then proceeded to meet some KL natives and hung out with them for a good hour. What characters! Good time, so much so that I didn’t want to leave, but I had plans to meet up with a couchsurfer at Bukit Bintang. Took a photo and got the numbers of the KL peeps and hoped to meet up with them later on.
10. Bukit Bintang (9:30pm). Back in the hood, I wanted to check out this party street. I would compare it to Adams Morgan in Washington, DC, but it seemed like there was actually more traffic and less people walking around. But it is definitely lined by clubs and has a big party vibe. I’m not into the party scene anymore, but I figured I had to check it out. I met up with a super nice couchsurfer for a drink and then we walked to….
11. Jalan Alor (10:30pm). Foodie mecca in KL. Basically this is a street lined with food vendors. Here I tried my first Durian. What an experience. Still with the Couchsurfer, an expat from India in KL for the past two years. Note on Couchsurfing in KL. I posted that I would be in the area for a few days wanting to meet up with some locals during my short stay, and proceeded to get 200, no lie, offers to stay at their place. I love Couchsurfing for socializing but have never used it to stay at someone’s place. Frankly, I definitely would not stay with a male surfer. Female, maybe, but I like it more for the social meetup atmosphere. Anyway, for some reason I responded to this one guy out of 200 who I then found myself eating with and having a Bintang. Great guy, he was super helpful and friendly and I learned a lot about KL.
12. Bukit Bintang (11:30pm). Due to FOMO, I made the mistake of then heading back out to meet up with the KL natives I met at Heli Pad since they were just down the street from Jalan Alor and on my way home to the hotel. At this point, Bukit Bintang was starting to get a little wild. And by that I mean the men were starting to get super aggressive. I’ve never seen anything like it. Within a minute of my Couchsurfing friend leaving me, I was being followed by men wanting to talk with me. And they were fairly pushy. Given the hour, I decided I was scared to walk home by myself so met up with the KL natives who then walked me home.
And there you have it. A day in KL in a nutshell. Questions, thoughts, comments, ideas? Share in the comments section! Hope this was helpful!