Chaotic Kuala Lumpur

 Kuala Lumpur is a very exciting city! The most iconic symbol of the city would be the Petronas Towers, which are quite phenomenal. Jayda and I took an overnight bus from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, supposed to be about a 5 to 6 hour drive. We were meant to get in around 6 am as we left at midnight. Around 4:30 am we both looked out the window and saw the glowing towers in the night sky. First, we were blown away by how big and bright they were. Second, we realized that its 4:30 am and no trains or busses start up again until 6 am! Like the true backpackers we are, we just went with the punches. The overnight bus was actually quite comfy and relaxing, it was just the extremely early arrival that took us off guard.

We hung outside of a 7/11 until we couldn’t bear any more. We got swindled by a taxi driver, but finally arrived to our budget hotel, TUNE, clean but no air conditioning in the rooms. We survived and slept in the lobby until allowed to check in around 11 am. It was a very chaotic arrival, but made it more of an adventure. We went out for the remainder of the day to see the sites.

Petronas Towers

Kuala Lumpur is extremely hot and humid! We opted to walk around at first to get our bearings, which was quite fun due to the lack of infrastructure for the pedestrians.  The streets are almost un-walkable as there are unpaved and unfinished sidewalks whilst you play frogger just to cross the street. Luckily, the public transportation is quite phenomenal with many undergrounds, trains, and a monorail that will get you almost anywhere you need to go. After a few hours of sweating out of every orifice, we opted for the underground. Kuala Lumpur is SO CHEAP, we spent about RM 5 a day on the underground, which is about USD 1.50. We also ate dinner one night for only USD 1.25, yes it was only noodles and a sparkling water, but still! Cheap is good.

monorail & the street

Chinatown is a must in Kuala Lumpur. I find it ironic that all these big cities have “Chinatowns” and I keep going to them, but each one is different. Some are a bit dull, but this one is fun. There are a bunch of stalls of fake designer goods. There also was a few tattoo stalls, which I think anyone would be crazy to get a tattoo done in KLs Chinatown! The fake goods looked pretty good, could fool me!  

shops in Chinatown

ceremony in the Batu Caves

Probably the most historical and cultural thing to do in and near KL would be to head to the Batu Caves, they are only a 20 minute train ride outside of town. They are amazing huge limestone caves within the hills/mountains surrounding the city. Many different cave insects and species call the Batu Caves home. It is also a religious pilgrimage site for Hindus. We climbed the 284+ steps to the top (pretty exhausting in the heat) and made our way to the temple within the caves. There were people inside actually having a ceremony or service, which was neat to see, but I felt like I was invading.

inside the Batu Caves

As the Petronas Towers are the most iconic feature of the city, one should go to the top of the Menara Tower to view it at night. We went up for sunset. It was neat to see the city from up so high. It was a bit of a bummer that the smog and clouds blocked out the sunset, but we still got to see the city lights below. It also was incredible that there was no glass in the way of our view. It was an open air viewing deck. You can go to the top of the Petronas Towers as well, but we decided to do the Menara Tower so we could see the Petronas Towers and it was cheaper and open air. I think that is a better deal!

view from the top of the Menara Tower

We were fortunate enough to get a message from our friend Petra, letting us know that her husband and her had a stopover for 2 days in KL on their way back to England. It was so nice meeting up with them and meeting their new adorable baby girl, who I must say is quite the world traveler already for only being 4 months old! They were staying at A LOT nicer hotel, so we met them there to have high tea and get out of the heat. We also went to the Times Square Mall, where there is an indoor theme park!!! Super Crazy! We went to go watch, but no one went on the big roller coaster while we were there, such a shame. Still worth a visit just to see it.

roller coaster in the Times Square Mall

On our last full day in KL, we went to Lake Titiwangsa. It was in our book and sounded a lot better than it was in actuality. We pretty much walked 20 minutes each way in the heat to get to a dirty lake. It was the day’s exercise! We spent 5 days in KL, which I would say is more than enough to get a feel for it and see the sites from a backpacker’s point of view. I would say 3 full days would be enough to fit it in, but was pleasantly surprised that we overstayed as we got to see our friends whilst they were in transit.

Lake Titiwangsa !

Overall, I loved Kuala Lumpur, it was absolutely chaotic in a great way. Motorbikes swerving in and out everywhere, people bustling in and out of the subways and trains, huge architectural feats, yet just a few minutes away are the Batu Caves. KL is great and the organized chaos is a ton of fun to be a part of.  

stairs up to the Batu Caves