Kuala Lumpur

We took a coach from the Cameron Highlands to the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. We had booked an apartment in a so-called condo (a large building with multiple condos and shared facilities like pools and gyms) through AirBnB, and it turned out to be a lucky find! We stayed on the 19th floor with a beautiful rooftop pool on the 20th floor, with a direct view of the newly built second tallest building in the world, the KL 118. On the first day, we took a tour of the city, which, besides beautiful murals and impressive skyscrapers, also has a lot of greenery to offer. For dinner, we went to Chinatown to "The Background Marketplace," where there was a food court downstairs and an art exhibition and a cozy library upstairs. There was also a loud rock concert taking place. Chinatown, like everywhere else we have been, was bustling with people, red lanterns, and market stalls. Our destination for the day was the famous Petronas Towers, behind which a beautiful water-light show takes place every evening in the KLCC Park. The next day, we visited the Chow Kit Market, a huge area with hundreds of covered stalls. Once you get past curiosities like cows' and sheep's heads, you are rewarded with many delicious fruit stalls. The vendors offered us samples of fruits that were unknown to us until then, so we ended up walking away with several bags of exotic treats. There were sweet mangosteen, crunchy salak, lychee-like rambutans, and the familiar dragon fruit that we could spoon out 😋 After that, we walked back to Dataran Merdeka, the independence square, where the Malaysian flag was hoisted for the first time instead of the British flag after the end of the occupation. In the background stands the famous Sultan Abdul Samad Building, and in the distance, you can see the KL 118 again. The next day, we went to Thean Hou Temple, the largest Chinese temple in Kuala Lumpur. It was nice, but not a highlight. Afterwards, we took the train to the Batu Caves, which are located a bit outside the city and are accessed by a long, colorful staircase. In the evening, we went for our first jog of the world trip, and unfortunately, we realized that it is quite difficult to run in the humid climate without training 🙈 But the view of beautiful Kuala Lumpur was worth the effort. The next day, we booked a ticket for the Skydeck of the KL Tower, which is 421m high and offers a great view of the city. After that, we relaxed at the KLCC Park with a view of the Petronas Towers. The next day, we explored Little India, where we indulged in street food (all spiced up) and finally got our first drink in a plastic bag, which is everywhere here as a "to go" packaging. Crazy! In the evening, we went for a run through the city for the second time.

We really liked Kuala Lumpur, it is a colorful and lively city with skyscrapers but also a lot of nature and delicious food. In addition to Indian, Malaysian, and Chinese cuisine, we also found really good Thai food here, which we had missed a bit. Overall, we took it easy, strolled around a lot, and will definitely come back because the city is really great.