Goodbye Switzerland – Hello Kuala Lumpur

After an intense cleaning and packing session in the morning, we finally started our world trip on Thursday afternoon. Each with 12kg of checked baggage and around 4kg of hand luggage.

Although both flights (Zurich-Oman, Oman-Kuala Lumpur) took off on time and there were no other incidents to report, the journey was anything but pleasant. A family with two young children sat right behind us. The one-year-old baby was oddly unenthusiastic about the idea of undertaking a journey of around 17 hours (14 of which were in the plane). We were also unenthusiastic, as the aforementioned family sat right behind us on both flights... Our noise cancelling headphones offered some relief.

Exhausted and very hungry, we arrived in Kuala Lumpur at 7:40pm. After a short stop at the hotel, we headed to the Alor Street Night Market. It was literally teeming with people. The smell of food was everywhere. At the numerous street stalls, sellers offer mainly Indian, Chinese and Malaysian specialties. Anything imaginable can be tasted at such markets.

Kuala Lumpur has a lot to offer. During our two-day stay, we visited a huge shopping center (including an indoor roller coaster, bowling alley with around 40 lanes, and hundreds of shops), the KL Bird Park, China Town, Batu Cave (limestone cave with several Hindu temples), and the Petronas Twin Towers. We took photos of the Petronas Towers from the Traders Hotel. We refrained from the overpriced climb. The landmark of Kuala Lumpur is truly impressive. It should be noted, however, that the surrounding skyscrapers reach almost the same height. The skyline of Kuala Lumpur is characterized by huge skyscrapers in all shapes and colors.

Kuala Lumpur is a strongly flourishing city. There is a construction site practically on every corner. The cultural diversity is particularly interesting. The Indian and especially the Chinese influences are visible and tangible everywhere: in the architecture, the food, and the music (presumably also in the language). The Western influence is also already noticeable in all areas.

In the last two days, we have covered a large part of the distances on foot – this was about 10-15km per day. Otherwise, we used various public transportation: metro, monorail, train, and bus. Furthermore, the GRAB app was very helpful. GRAB is the equivalent of Uber.

Tomorrow, we will continue our journey from the big city towards the north into the jungle. We will visit the Taman Negara National Park for three days. The tropical rainforest is said to be around 130 million years old.