Kuala Lumpur - wrapping up a jungle adventure in the big city

 

Petronas Towers at night

I have tried on the last few trips I've taken to give myself a break and take a few days in my city of departure. It really helps me to take a minute, rest up before the long flight home and spend time exploring on my own. My departure city this time was Kuala Lumpur, still in Malaysia but very different from Borneo. I really had no idea what to expect, I thought it would be crazy busy and maybe overwhelming, but I didn't find that to be the case. Yes, it was busy, it's a city of over a million plus heaven knows how many tourists, but I didn't really feel it. Maybe it was the time of day I would be out and about or the area I was in, but in any event, I enjoyed my time. I only had about three days, and I tried to pack as much in as possible without stressing myself out too much. 

If you have followed my adventures, you know I like to go up to high/tall buildings when I am able, and I was able to go to two of the many skyscrapers or towers in Kuala Lumpur, and I wasn't disappointed; honestly, you never know when Mother Nature is going to give you rain or fog or bad lighting. I went to Petronas Towers at night because I hoped to see the sunset or something that would be the 'wow' moment. Honestly, I was more captivated by the architecture of the towers than the views. I don't know if that's because it was a little rainy and dark or I had some unreal expectation. I walked across the skybridge (170 meters high), which is an architectural feat, but I didn't have an aha moment. I'm glad I did it, but I had a much more enjoyable and memory-making visit going up to the top of the KL Tower observation deck. It was a really hot walk to the Tower, so I was delighted to walk into a cool, shaded area. There are two observation areas, an enclosed area (276 meters) and the open air deck which was amazing, to be up that high (300 meters) on a sunny day gave such a great view of the city.

KL Tower

Petronas Towers from KL Tower Observation Deck

Merdeka 118 Tower

In addition to walking around the city, I booked two guided tours outside of Kuala Lumpur, one out to the Batu Caves and a tour to Kuala Selangor to see the fireflies (blue tears). The Batu Caves was a morning tour and I did enjoy that experience, even climbing the 272 steps to the entrance of one of the caves. There are statues of Hindu gods and it is an active religious site, so it's important to be mindful that this isn't just a tourist attraction. There are also a lot of macaques who can be extremely aggressive; I witnessed one trying to steal someone's mobile phone from their unsecured backpack, but there was a story going around that a macaque had pushed someone on the steps recently. 

272 steps

Murugan statue - god of war

interior of Batu cave

Also part of the tour was entry into the Ramayana Cave which has some interesting displays that tell stories of Hindu gods from the epic poem Ramayana. I couldn't appreciate the religious or cultural significance, but I was intrigued and impressed by the artwork. 

The last tour I took included a visit to Sri Shakti temple and a firefly park. Sri Shakti had some of the most detailed carvings, and so many of them. It's hard to imagine someone doing that kind of detailed work in granite, including 96 carved pillars. It's an active temple so photography was limited to certain areas.

We drove on to a location that overlooks the Strait of Malacca that had a lighthouse, but I think what grabbed all of our attention was the number of macaque and silvered leaf monkeys. Some of the group paid a main for some vegetables to feed the monkeys and then get them to climb all over them. It looked fun until I thought about the potentially getting scratched and an infection. I mean, they are wild animals. Perhaps irrational, but perhaps not. They were pretty cute though, especially the babies.

The firefly part of the night was a little disappointing. It was supposed to be fireflies and this luminescent blue algae, and in the photographs it's really blue and so cool and in real life, it's okay, but a couple of us were really disappointed. It was a fun night though, I hung out with a British couple and we had a drink and chatted. 

I think the three days was a good way to get my feet wet in the city and enjoy the international flavor of Kuala Lumpur with all the languages and foods and city buzz. If Kuala Lumpur ever crosses a future itinerary, I would not say no. Terima kasih, Malaysia.