36 hours in Kuala Lumpur

This past weekend, Si Won, Barrett, and I went for a whirlwind trip to Kuala Lumpur (aka KL). We left early Saturday morning, and got checked into our hotel around 10:30 am. We stayed at the Trader's Hotel, in the area know as the Golden Triangle. KL has some of the cheapest 5 Star hotels in the world (score!) and we chose Traders because it has a rooftop pool which has views of the Petronas Towers. 

View from the pool area

After checking in, we went out for some lunch at Madame Kwan's and had some of the famous nasi lemak (basically coconut rice with chicken and some sides). It was delicious!!

Then we gazed at the Petronas Towers for a bit.

After that, we headed to Batu Caves, basically a Hindu shrine built in limestone caves outside of KL. It was one of the most unique places I've ever seen. It has the world's largest Murugan statue, and over 200 steps up to the caves which have various Hindu shrines throughout. There were also lots of monkeys running around and they are not shy. One even tried to steel Si Won's yellow umbrella, thinking it was a banana perhaps? 

We then headed to Petaling Street in China Town. It's filled with tons of fake purses, sunglasses, and jewelry, as well a food! After that, it was mega mall time. We went to Berjaya Times Square, the seventh largest building in he world. It was massive! We then went through an all electronics mall filled with nerds, cameras, cell phones, computers, games, etc.

 At dusk, we headed back to our hotel to swim and watch the sunset over the Petronas Towers. The towers are definitely one of the most striking buildings I've ever seen, and even more magnificent at night. 

We then went shopping at the Pavilion mall, monorailed to Chow Kit, and eventually to a Kampung Bahru night market. We had some authentic nasi lemak served on a banana leaf and some grilled corn on the cob with coconut butter. Yum! The night ended with us discovering our hotel pool and bar area is actually a super hip night club. Party on!

The next morning we had a breakfast buffet that almost rivaled our Thanksgiving buffet and had typical breakfast food from all over the world, plus sushi! We then went to the Merdeka Square, complete with a 95 meter flagpole, apparently the tallest in the world. 

We then went to the central market, which was my favorite markets in KL because it wasn't just touristy stuff. It had several antiques shops, textiles, and was air conditioned!!

Then the monsoon hit and it rained and rained for a solid couple of hours. We got soaked, but made our way  to the Petronas towers for our 6:00 pm slot to go to the sky-walk 558 feet above ground, and the top (the 86th floor). It was really cool and the bathroom at the top might have the best view of any bathroom I've ever been in. Yes, pictures were taken in the bathroom, and thinking back, I wish I would have taken selfies with a sassy face, because that is somehow a trend right now.

awesome view in the bathroom

When we were getting into our cab at the Singapore airport to come back home, we saw a film crew following two girls in cheerleading type uniforms jump into a cab next to ours, perhaps the Amazing Race? I don't know, because I've never watched the show, but it was very random.

On another unrelated note, Barrett and I were talking and realized we have been to more malls in Singapore-around 22 malls by our count-than in the United States. That's because everything is in malls-restaurants, the MRT stations, grocery stores, and of course retail stores. I can't believe we only have two more weeks in Singapore. It is flying by!