I had my first experience of Malaysia was last weekend on a trip to Kuala Lumpur with the girls. Leaving Singapore at 9pm we were in KL by 10pm and tucked up in bed by midnight! A return flight for just $50! Over the last 150 years KL has evolved into Malaysia's cosmopolitan capital city.An early start on Saturday, we caught the hop on, hop off bus to Chinatown where we wandered the market for bargains as we had been told this would be the place to find them! Central Market is housed in an Art Deco building that looks a little bit more like Miami than Asia and Petaling Street is jammed with market stalls selling everything from fake handbags and pirate DVD's to bunches of fruit and peanut pancakes.
KL is a foodies paradise with fabulous hawker stalls and restaurants. A host of Malay, Chinese, Indian and Nonya eateries mixed with international and fusion cuisines. After Chinatown our next stop was Little India where the Middle East meets Bollywood. Our lunch was served to us on a banana leaf from large vats of food, with rice, and the local way to get stuck in is with your hands! So we got involved!
The Petronas Twin Towers, formerly the tallest buildings in the world, and a symbol of the city are Kuala Lumpur's pride and joy. Standing at 452 metres (1483 feet) they are pretty incredible during the daytime and at night! Tickets are limited to the 41st floor where you can walk across the sky bridge so we decided to get the best view of the city we would head to the KL tower and look down from the observation deck.
KL is a foodies paradise with fabulous hawker stalls and restaurants. A host of Malay, Chinese, Indian and Nonya eateries mixed with international and fusion cuisines. After Chinatown our next stop was Little India where the Middle East meets Bollywood. Our lunch was served to us on a banana leaf from large vats of food, with rice, and the local way to get stuck in is with your hands! So we got involved!
Saturday evening we continued the fun with a nice dinner, cocktails and a fantastic view of the city from the top of Traders hotel where there is a SkyBar. A very cool and glamorous rooftop bar which has an illuminated central swimming pool that runs along the centre. Pretty impressive!
We had managed to cram a good amount in on Saturday so Sunday morning we took a stroll to Times Square to check out the roller coaster which is housed inside of the shopping mall. Despite hearing that KL was cheap, in terms of shopping it's comparable to here in Singapore with all the British brands pricing stock higher than what it would be back home. I'm glad I stocked up on my recent trip back! We all managed to pick up a few bargains in Chinatown though. Jennie...this is definitely the place to get your Mulberry bag!
The afternoon was extremely relaxed. Afternoon tea at the Shangri-La. Definitely the highlight of my trip. Between us we had a traditional and a local afternoon tea and spent a few hours relaxing in the hotel before our flight home.
Another place ticked on my "places to see" list! I didn't really know what expect from KL, I had heard mixed reports, but we definitely had a fun time exploring and the girls contributed to creating some more amazing memories of my time here in Asia. Plenty more of that to come! What with our work holiday to Kathmandu being confirmed soon, more work trips to India and a long weekend in either Taipei or Hong Kong soon, my passport is looking very well travelled.
Looks like you had a good time in KL! :) Great pictures, the twin tower ones were really cool and i wudn't mind one of those goodies wid the tea.. mmm. ;) take care and give jill a big hug from me!! :) xx
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