June 18-21
US Dollar: Malaysian Ringgit – 1: 4.6
In a lot of ways, Kuala Lumpur is trying to be Singapore, but without the budget. Luckily, it has a more relaxed feel with more relaxed people. And less than half the cost. Our very nice AirBNB apartment in the center of downtown, with rooftop infinity pool looking over the KL Tower and one of the Petronas towers was $50/night.
A 1-hour Thai massage was about $12 in Thailand, and only about $18 in KL (90 ringgits) along a street with many bars catering to tourists. John and I did couples massages, so there was no offer to “make the banana cry”. The downside of our lodging was that it was not close to the metro, but so many tourists stay there – there was a GRAB stand out front, and all the drivers knew where The Ceylonz was located.
We scheduled a night Guru walk tour for the first night of our arrival. Our plane was an hour late landing, it took about an hour to get to the apartment, had an issue getting into the lodging. By this point it was less than 30 minutes to get to the walk start about 2 km away – we got a GRAB and were among the first to arrive. Luckily there was an ATM next to the starting spot as we had not seen an ATM at the airport.
Our Guide had spent several years in the US, so spoke English with an American accent, and had lived in five different areas around Malaysia. These days, he spends part of the year in Kuala Lumpur and part of the year in Scotland (where he has a job at an ice cream shop – hence his nickname “Scoops”). For the next 3 ½ hours we were treated to a truly inside look at Kuala Lumpur. We started in front of the Petronas Towers – which for a few years were the tallest buildings in the world, and are still the highest paired buildings in the world. The towers symbolized a hope for the future, that Malaysia could be a forward and productive country, and KL an international city. After the Petronas towers, many other high rises built up around them, creating a unique skyline.
As you see with many other cities – the best food is from street vendors, some who have expanded into large restaurants with mainly outdoor seating (a bit of an issue when evening thunderstorms kick up). And if you are on the hunt for a “Chanel” or “Gucci” bag – good quality fakes can be found throughout Chinatown (along with “Nike” and “Adidas” shoes). Our tour included some really good street art, and a hidden bar.
We spent the next two days meandering the city. Like Singapore, they have a free to enter Botanical Gardens, with a butterfly and bird sanctuary. I checked the hours for the sanctuaries, which had fees. We walked the gardens and found the road that was supposed to go to the open bird sanctuary – gate closed and locked – from two different places – obviously not open to the public right now – without any notation on the website. This was also true of the butterfly habitat. Really – how hard is it to update a website to state “temporarily closed”? The gardens did have some lovely attractions, and many brides and grooms could be seen posing in front of floral arches and ponds.
The gardens are located just above their national museum (Muzium Negara), which was 5 ringgits to enter for foreign adults. Malaysia was amongst the earliest lands settled by humans, with burial sights going back well over 10,000 years. The museum is well worth a visit – I especially liked the section detailing Malaysian independence – and the photo of Tunku Abdul Rahman, the 1st Prime Minister standing with his arm raised –
the inspiration for the Merdecca 118 tower, with its large spire making it the 2nd tallest building in the world, completed this year. (Though corruption was rampant in its construction – one of Malaysia’s PM’s was found with over $700 million in a private bank account- one of the reasons Malaysia has had 6 Prime Ministers in the last 5 years.)
Although we only stayed for 3 days – Malaysia is one of the countries in the region that allows for a 90-day visa for US tourists, and they do have many nice beaches, inexpensive by western prices, but about 50% more than similar lodgings in Thailand or Indonesia.
A comment about their metro – very inexpensive – often only 2-3 ringgits per ride, but they do require masks on some of the lines (with monitors making sure your face is appropriately covered!).
Next stop – Indonesia!