Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Part 1 (from Brickfields perspective)

My Thai visa was running out and I was up for a change of scenery so I took a flight from Krabi to Kuala Lumpur. Per a recommendation from some friends I met along the way, I stayed in Brickfields, near Little India. I got an AirBnB on the 20th floor of a high rise, so I would have a nice view of the city (Thanks Eric, Jaz, Breck and Bria!!).

The weather was pretty overcast and drizzly when I arrived, but I had high hopes for it clearing. I scheduled a walking tour for the first day to see some of the sights and get a lay of the land. As luck would have it, the guide wasn’t great, I was the only one on the tour, and we got rained out about 50% through. We did however see some fun art and made the best of it.

When we parted from the tour once started pouring, he told me I could join in the next day and that several others were signed up. Although I didn’t love him as a guide, I thought it would be nice to meet a few other travelers. I said I’d let him know in the morning and left it at that.

Later in the afternoon, the rain let up and someone who had seen a post I made on the Facebook group, Host a Sister, sent me a message. She was in the same area and wanted to connect later in the afternoon. With this, I figured out the monorail and headed to the city center. Her name is Harpreet, or “H” for short, and she is from the UK. After I was sucked into an amazing Decathlon store for a bit of shopping, we decided to meet at the Suria Mall. We had a fun afternoon looking at the Petronas Twin Towers (the tallest twin towers in the world since 1996) as well as all of the big, impressive buildings, roaming through the park, grabbing a snack and some beers, and waiting for dark to see the water fountain show and the towers lit up. It was a great impromptu afternoon with a fun new friend!

After we had enough of the tower show, we were ready for some dinner. H was staying close to the Jalen Alor night food market, so we made our way there (slowly…..traffic…!) We finally settled on some Thai food and called it a night. I then had the opportunity to try the underground back to Brickfields. The public transportation here is great!

The next morning I woke up early and did a bit of work on my computer and watched the sky clear. With this, I was energized to give the walking tour another go. I headed out and met up with the group. This time there were six of us and it was much better. We saw a Chinese Temple, active with CNY celebrations, a Hindu temple, the National Mosque, some of the older buildings, and the new Merdeka 118, which is scheduled to be completed this year, and will be the second tallest building in the world behind Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Merdeka means “independence”, and the building was designed to resemble Tunku Abdul Rahman in his famous outstretched arm pose. He was the first Prime Minister of Malaysia who oversaw the independence process in 1957.

Towards the end of the tour, the rain came back and we got rained out before the last stop, Brickfields and Little India. This was good since we were getting tired of the guide anyway! The best is that I made a new friend, Yujin, from S. Korea, near the Gangnam District…..and yes, she dances Gangnam Style…haha! When we broke away from the group, we explored a mall, found some amazing dim sum, got a pedicure, and did a bit of shopping.

When we parted, we made a plan to meet up again the next afternoon and see Brickfields and Little India our style. We started out with a look at the pool at my building, and then headed out. My building is the one standing tall over the old church. As you can see in the bottom center photo, malls are a BIG thing here! There are many and all have some kind of WOW factor!

The last couple of days when it was clear, I found some street art. In the evenings I was tired of roaming around trying to find food that looked edible, so I stayed in and had my own dance party with some convenience store snacks and a couple of beers! Sometimes it gets lonely and things are hard when traveling solo, so I’m learning to enjoy my company and entertain myself when the going gets tough.

So, with my happy dance, I will sign off and see you again soon…..headed south to Melaka!

Hugs, Michelle