Kuala Lampur

After almost three months in Southeast Asia, it was a little heartbreaking to know that Kuala Lampur was going to be our last stop before heading to Australia. In addition to wanting a little taste of Malaysia, we thought that KL would be a good way to slowly ease our way back into western culture.  Boy, were we wrong!  KL rushed culture shock straight at us, with a city centre more high-end and developed than even Toronto.  Skyscrapers, expensive cars, luxury shopping malls…the days of small tuk-tuks and cheapie stalls were way behind us.

We found our way from the airport via bus and taxi to our hostel, Sunshine Bedz, smack in the middle of the city.  It was a fantastic place for the price, with shared but super clean bathrooms and rooms, and after settling in we went in search for some authentic cheap Malaysian cuisine.  We searched, and searched, and searched…however we found everything else but, such as Chinese, Middle Eastern, Indian, Thai…

Eventually we headed into a shopping mall food court and there it was, a little kiosk selling Malaysian food! It was incredibly bizarre how hard it was to find, and it was only afterwards that a Malaysian gave us insight into the problem.  Apparently, in comparison to other cultures such as the Chinese, Malaysians are not the best business people.  Unfortunately, this meant that it was very difficult to find anything authentically Malaysian, and it almost seems as though their heritage is being constantly overtaken by other more enterprising cultures. Throughout our stay we made a point of looking out for Malay food, and were sometimes rewarded after serious recon work with a delicious meal!

However, this did mean that our first two meals were in the warm ambience of mall a food court – definitely a strange change of pace. We hadn’t set foot in a mall for the entire duration of our trip and somehow we didn’t think Malaysia would be the place to start. Travel is always full of surprises.

A big bonus of our four day stay in KL was that our friend from Vancouver, Chris Wren, was in town for business at the same time.  Woohoo!  Things kicked off to a great start with a day trip to the historical town Malacca with Chris and his business pals, who treated us to the entire day of adventure.

On the way, we stopped at the Batu cave near KL, an experience that came complete with giant golden statue and crazy monkeys hanging around in search of tourist droppings. 

After a 3 hour drive we arrived in Malacca, went to a restaurant to try a famous local fusion dish (Malay/Chinese = Nonya) of rice balls and chicken, and walked around enjoying the sights of the colourful tuk-tuks, small quaint Chinatown street and an old hilltop fortress.

Unfortunately the rental car engine died on the ride back (totally Chris’ fault), but thankfully we were amongst great company, and after a chill out session at the highway McDonalds we got back on track arriving in KL in the early evening. Refreshed after our journey, we all met for dinner at Chris’ fancy hotel, with two main requirements for the celebration meal: beer and middle eastern food. Not easy in KL, since Malaysia is a muslim country that has some restrictions on alcohol consumption. Fortunately money talks and our beer was delivered from the hotel bar to the restaurant in a very inconspicuous giant sphere. Delicious forbidden beer!

The next day we struck out on our own for some old-fashioned sight seeing, and walked around what felt like the entire city.  A trip to see the Petronas Twin Towers was a must, with the best vantage point being the top of the KL Tower.

We were delighted to see that Canada still had the highest telecommunication tower in the world (yeah CN!), and basked in vicarious fame.

 We also perused some cool markets, and enjoyed a new (for us) Malaysian tasty treat made out of grated coconut, tapioca and rice flour, some kind of nut, all wrapped up and baked in a bamboo tube…sinfully good!

That night we joined forces with Chris again, who was back from a day long trip to the nearby Penang Island. We were keen on experiencing the KL night scene, and had done some scouting during our daytime walk. The streets were hopping and we found a great spot along a cool bar strip that was packed with both street and foot traffic all night long. Funny shinannigans went down, including a picture with the boys and an Asian stagette party – girls on a stag are the same around the world, no doubt about it!

We also ran into the owner of our hostel, Patrick, whom we had met previously and really liked for his great advice and friendly manner. He was a regular at the local Irish Pub, and we spent the night getting cheap beers and dancing to PSY’s Gangnam Style. 

The next day was our last chance to tour around KL, and with Chris by our side we saw the famous Independence Square, and visited the beautiful Islamic Art Museum in one of the many parks around the city.

It was great to include a stopover in Kuala Lumpur in order to spend time with friends and get a glimpse of an Asian metropolis. Our time in SE Asia was officially at an end and we had enjoyed every minute.

And now it was time for adventure on another continent…!