Kuala Lumpur

31/12/12 to 03/12/12 -  Our first feeling of KL was very high tech and a bit like a futurist town with all these interchanging freeways way above and below our heads.  We actually struggled to reach our hotel from KL station even if it wasn’t far from it (the tricky bit was working out where the walkway went as it was separate from the roads).  After a quick walk around central KL and Merderka Square, we then had a rest (as we’d arrived early in the morning) to be ready to go to a pool + BBQ party organised by a girl from Couchsurfing at her place in the evening.  It was nice to meet some locals and other people from all over the world (Indonesian, Indian, American, Russian, South African…).  We had a nice time and good tips for the rest of our trip.  We then went to KLCC (Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre – Petronas Towers) to see the fireworks there and see in the New Year and walked home for a good night’s sleep.


On New Year’s day we walked around Chinatown and Little India.  We went to the central market and did a long walk through the main park area of KL.  Here there was a Planetarium (with a reproduction of Stonehenge and an ancient Chinese sundial, a Bird Park (that was a bit pricey so we didn’t go in) and an Orchid Garden (which was free, so we did go in).  We finally saw the (slightly bad taste) war memorial on top of the hill, before heading to Bintang district in search of true Malaysian food, although all we found was Chinese and Thai.  We found one place which was a Malay/Indian restaurant and so we ate there. 

The next morning we took a train to Batu Caves, which was slightly underwhelming.  This was a cave complex that had been turned into Hindu temples and was heavily populated with pesky monkeys.  We didn’t stay too long, and heading back to KL to go up the 435m KL Tower.  The view from the top was impressive, as was looking up at the tower from below against the dramatic thundery sky.  From the top we spent some time looking around counting helipads and (somewhat enviously) admiring the rooftop swimming pools of all the swanky hotels.

We finished off our time in KL with a Chinese meal before getting up the next morning to make our way into to the jungle.