After Bali, our next stop was Bangkok. Seeing as though it was a long flight and Malaysia was on the way, we figured we might as well create our own stopover in Kuala Lumpur.
If you haven’t noticed we say, “why not,” quite a lot.
We arrived early in the morning, left our backpacks at the airport and took an uber into the city (yes, they have uber in Asia and we love it.)
Our tour started in the older part of Kuala Lumpur, where we wandered the flea market and viewed beautiful mosques, and then took the train to Petronas Twin Towers, the tallest twin towers in the world. It’s a interesting city to see, because it’s a mix of old and new, as well as a melting pot of culture. Some parts of the city were heavy with Islamic influences and others were quite modern complete with a Hyatt and a massive high end mall. Malaysian women in hijabs mixed with Malay street food peddlers and Indian kiosk owners, while the rare tourist bumbled around between them.
Being in Malaysia, I absolutely had to try durian. In case you’re unfamiliar, durian is a fruit found in Southeast Asia that’s known for its strong odor, which is reminiscent of rotting flesh or stale vomit. In fact, it smells so awful, that it’s even banned on public transportation in Singapore.
I ordered a durian flavored sweet at a cafe and choked it down, since it’s not awful if you don’t smell it. Unfortunately, I spent the rest of the day burping up durian, which in itself was unpleasant, so maybe steer clear of it on your next trip here.
Anyways, the boys and I quickly learned that Kuala Lumpur was definitely a stopover city- there wasn’t much to it and it was quite small, so we went to an aquarium. As a diver, I’m not a big fan of seeing fish trapped in aquariums, but when you’ve spent two weeks looking at tall buildings, temples, and markets, sometimes all you need is to watch a few fishies float around.
For dinner, I had coconut ice cream served with frozen coconut flesh out of a coconut shell, which was honestly what I was most excited for in Malaysia, and went on my merry way with the boys onward to Bangkok.
All in all, Kuala Lumpur felt a lot like this post, lacking substance and measure-able charm.