We weren’t planning on going to Malaysia, and we didn’t have very high expectations for it when we made the last-minute decision to fly to Kuala Lumpur after our boat trip in the Philippines. However, it’s been one of our big surprises! We’ve absolutely loved it, and we’re so glad we made the extra stop.
We had originally planned to go to Indonesia from the Philippines, but we left booking our tickets a little too late and the prices had gone up significantly. We found cheaper flights to Malaysia so on a whim we changed our plans a couple days out, which is how we ended up in Kuala Lumpur with no expectations for what we would find and no idea how long we’d stay.
We landed around 1am, and didn’t get to our hotel, 1000 Miles, until after 3am, so we spent the first morning sleeping in our cute little bunk beds.
Later that afternoon, we headed to Chinatown, a 15-minute walk, and it was the weirdest thing: the entire way there we only saw men! Literally hundreds of dudes and not a single woman. The men were not intimidating or anything, but it was just strange. We arrived at the street market and finally, the simulation ended and we saw women again.
The street market was covered, and it was bustling with plenty of stalls. We found a chicken rice place to have lunch and it was phenomenal! Our first meal in Malaysia set a very different tone than what we had grown to expect in the Philippines.
After lunch, we walked back out into the street and looked up and realized a huge dark cloud had entered the chat and it had cooled down several degrees. We looked at each other with glee in our eyes: “Storm!”
As we hurried back towards our hostel, the rain started to fall and lightning cut through the sky. We love this kind of weather so when we made it back we sat in the lobby and watched the crazy lightening show. It was the perfect excuse to have a lazy day in, recovering from our long travel day yesterday.
On our second day in Kuala Lumpur, we went to a popular attraction, Batu Caves. It was very easily accessible by public train. On our walk to the station, we took in the interesting architecture and style of the buildings. We love the vibe of the city!
Batu Caves is a series of temples and monuments built around and inside of a limestone hill. The temples in the area are bright and colorful, and the statues were hard to even comprehend due to their unbelievable size.
At the entrance, there is a 15-foot statue of the monkey god Hanuman, which was impressive…
…until we walked further and caught a glimpse of the colossal 140-foot statue of the Hindu deity Murugan, standing beside the multi-colored staircase that leads into Temple Cave.
It was a sight to behold.
We were fortunate to witness a beautiful dance and drum ceremony that started outside and then moved into the temple at the base of the stairs. I’ve tried to research what this celebration was and its significance, but I haven’t been able to find any information that seems to match what we saw.
When we got to the steps we found out we needed to buy a scarf to wrap around our legs because shorts are not allowed for women.
There were a ton of monkeys in the area, and they were quite unfazed by the throngs of people.
It turned out that we were there on a public holiday (Labor Day), so it was exceptionally busy. We decided we would come back on a different day at an earlier time, to hopefully beat the crowds.
After our Batu adventure, we went for a meal at an Indian restaurant near our hostel, Pappadom. Our lunch was served on a banana leaf, and we were halfway through when we looked around the room and realized that none of the other customers were using utensils — everyone was just using their hands! We looked like IDIOTS. It had never even occurred to us to eat the curry and rice with our hands, but we vowed to come back and try it the authentic way another time.
On our first day in KL, Scofield, our friend from Hong Kong who went canyoneering with us in the Philippines, messaged to say that he was in KL too! We met up with him for dinner at a claypot chicken place. We knew it was going to be good when there was an hour-long waitlist and people were sitting on the curb around the block when there was another almost empty claypot chicken place directly across the street!
As we waited we felt the temperature drop and heard the distant rumble of thunder. They called our number just as the rain started to fall. Another stormy night!
Dinner was delicious and well worth the wait. A self-proclaimed cat person, Scofield told us that he had found a stray cat in southern Malaysia and was going through the paperwork to move it back to Hong Kong with him!
After, we went to a rooftop shisha bar near the Twin Towers and watched the lightning storm, and learned more about Scofield’s life.
He was arrested for protesting against the government during the 2021 Hong Kong protests and spent 6 months in jail. He told us that he was in there with a bunch of his friends from school, and even one of his teachers. It was incredible to hear about his experiences. Understandably, he decided to go traveling once he was free. He is such an interesting person, and it was wonderful to meet up with him again and hear his stories.
The next day, we had a planning day, mapping out our next few weeks, and listening to the soundtrack of the rain and thunder outside. We only left to get some delicious beef noodles. One thing that’s amazing about Malaysia is how multicultural and multilingual everyone is! While waiting for our food we listened as the server switched effortlessly between 3 languages for different customers.
On our last day in Kuala Lumpur, we woke up early to take the first train to Batu Caves. There were only a handful of people around, so we were able to enjoy the almost empty area in a more relaxed way. It was stunning.
The monkeys were a lot more rambunctious with fewer people around though!
Wini bought a new drone before we left the Philippines and she was able to test it out for the first time!
Before we left KL, we knew we had to go back for redemption at Pappadom. This time, when they handed us the utensils, we waved them away. I’m not going to say it was pretty or graceful, but we had a great time shoveling rice into our mouths with our hands!
It was the perfect meal to end our stay. After, we hopped in a Grab to take us to the bus for our next stop up north: Cameron Highlands!