I arrived to KL airport in a brand new 380 plane at 5 in the
morning. You can either take a taxi or a train and then a taxi or local bus.
The difference was not that much, and at that early time of the day after an 11
hour flight I just wanted to get to my hotel, so I opted for a taxi. I couldn’t
help but notice how jungle like the whole scenery looked. I don’t know what I
was expecting, I guess I should have imagined something like it, but I find it
hard to put together the idea of a jungle and a big, developed city together.
I stayed at the Trader’s hotel right in front of the Petrona
Towers. They are a truly magnificent piece of architecture. Too bad the tickets
for the bridge connecting the two towers were sold out (book way in advance!).
However, although the bridge is cool because it provides you
with the opportunity of actually being in the towers, I found that there is a
better view of the city from the Menara Tower. It is well worth the price
difference to go all the way up to the open observation deck. Half the city
seems to be under construction, mostly for modern tall buildings, it kind of
makes me want to go back in about five years and see how it looks.
As pretty much any other big city in the world, there is an
exotic China Town in the middle of KL, and interestingly enough, a beautiful
Hindu temple in the middle of it. Not far away from China town is the National
Museum of Malaysia and one of the entrances to the Lake gardens, a beautiful
park that makes whole day trip on its own. Nestled in one of the corners of the
park is the splendid Masjid Negara Mosque, open to the public when it is not
prayer time.
Continue following the trail and you will find
the museum of Islamic Art, a bird park, a butterfly park, the national
planetarium, the hibiscus and orchid park, and, of course, a lake. You can exit
the park not far away from the Merdeka square, where the Malayan flag was
hoisted for the first time. Go inside the Kuala Lumpur Gallery and look at the
impressive model of the city. It is also worth to pay a visit to the textile
museum across the street
By now you should be quite hungry, so head to the central
market for a taste of authentic Malaysian cuisine. It is not your traditional
central market it is quite new and very well kept and established. Oka-Oka and
Nasi Lemak are the two most haves. Be advised (and this is coming from a
Mexican!), Malaysian food is really, really spicy… I loved it, but not
everybody might. If you have never been to South East Asi before, you need to
try durian (an exotic fruit that looks like a brain) and join wither side of
the population: the ones who love it or the ones who hate it… I still can’t
decide!
The whole city is full with food stalls. The atmospheric
Alor street in the trendy neighborhood of Bukit Bintang is a must. If you are
more of a dessert person, you will not be dissappointed, the city is full of
coffee places and other options to try all the sweet stuff… I stopped every
time I saw something that looked new to me and asked the person there to give
me anything he/she thought was nice… I didn’t try anything that I didn’t like.
A promising day trip from KL is Batu caves, only a half hour
trip on the train from Sentral Station. It is a complex of picturesque Hindu
temples inside a mountain cave. The temples might not be that different from
others, but I found the whole setting really beautiful.
Now, be careful with the monkeys, they are quite funny and
make hilarious pictures, but they will steal your things, specially if you are
carrying a plastic bag with food that you bought outside (They seem to
recognize them). If you are not a victim, it is actually quite funny to watch,
but I have a feeling that the people who got mugged by the monkeys would
disagree.
It doesn’t matter where you are staying, you have a wide
variety of options, do go to the Trader’s Hotel Sky Bar at sunset to enjoy a
magnificent view of the Petrona Towers.
Interested in shopping? The whole city is infested with
shopping malls… which I have to say, were an ideal air conditioned escape from
the humid heat outside. Don’t miss the one at the base of the Petrona Towers.
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