Kuala Lumpur

Petronas Perfection: Our First Day in Kuala Lumpur

On our way to Kuala Lumpur from Kalimantan, of course we encountered rain as we were walking to the plane to board.  Batik air, though, was well prepared and gave us multicolored umbrellas to keep us dry on the walk to the plane.   We're here for a short visit, only 4 days, but we felt like we should check the city out while in the neighborhood.  Based on our early assessment, we will probably want to come back to Malaysia at some point and explore more.  We're staying at an Airbnb with a view of the Petronas towers from the balcony, and we can't help but constantly look out and stare... they are such beautiful buildings.

Our first day in KL, we were all about Petronas Towers (with a break for a street food tour).  You have to buy tickets online for a specific time or you can otherwise go the day of and see if there are any remaining tickets for that day.  Typically by the day before there are only a few times available, so we got ours about a week ahead and had our pick of times.  We went first thing in the morning thinking there'd be less chance of rain.  Surprisingly, when we arrived, there wasn't much in the way of activity around the buildings; there were just barely  a handful of other tourists taking photos.  We were mesmerized as we walked up.  We hadn't realized that the buildings are clad in stainless steel and that plus the shape of the towers gives the building a very art deco feel, which we loved.  Our food tour leader later said that he had been touring with a German architect who cried upon viewing the buildings.  While we didn't cry, we definitely still were impacted.  While other tall buildings, as big boxes, have basically just their tallness to make them a marvel, even though these towers are no longer the tallest in the world (although they are still the tallest twin towers), they are still and interesting and aesthetically pleasing design.

The tour first takes to you to the skybridge level at floor 42 and you walk around for about 10 minutes.  Then you go to floor 86 and have 15 minutes to check out the observatory.  We were able to get some good shots at both levels.  After our visit, we headed to Ilham Gallery, which was recommended by Lonely Planet.  It was a short 15 minute walk from the towers, but we got a little lost, so it took us 25.  They show contemporary non-Islamic Malaysian artists and currently had an exhibit on drawing.  There were a few interesting pieces, and Eli took note of one that included a Malaysian cookbook with pencil drawings in it.

We returned later that night after our food tour to check out the buildings at night.  We approached this time through the Saloma Bridge, named after a famous Malay actor.  With it lit up with LED and the towers lit up in the background, we got some nice shots.  The area was now jam packed with people taking photos.  As beautiful as the towers are during the day, they are even more beautiful at night.

They do a dancing water fountain show nightly every hour with the last show at 9pm.  We arrived to the pool at about 9:30 and the show was just ending.  Based on what we observed though, we didn't feel like we missed a lot but not seeing the full show.

Food Tour in Kuala Lumpur

We keep saying it, but we should start out with a food tour first when we arrive somewhere.  We did this time, and it has helped us get introduced to Malaysian cuisine.  Eli is now a much bigger fan of sambal than before (even though he liked it plenty).  Each time we do a food tour since we've been in Asia, we start to see the interplay and transition of cuisines through the region.  The result was no different here.  Malaysia's cuisine is influenced by the local Malay population, which is also present in Indonesia to an extend, and then also from China and from India.  There has been a lot of crossover now so that you'll see some traditional Chinese ingredients in Indian and Malay dishes and also the other way around.  For example, the Indian Halal restaurant we visited served fried noodles; we never saw anything like that on a menu in Southern India while we were there.

We also had a great group of tourmates including another US expat touring the world, a couple from South African, and a Greek/Lebanese couple with a 3 year old daughter.  While on the more expensive for food tours we've done, the volume of food included was outrageous.  We shared one order of just about everything on the tour and we still left completely full.

Michelin has for the last few years included KL in their guide.  We checked out a couple from our favorite "Bib Gourmand" category.  By far our favorite was Heun Kee Claypot Chicken and Rice.  There is always a wait here for a table, but it's fine because they cook each dish to order and it takes at least 30 minutes.  We went on a Saturday night, so it was extra busy.  They take your order when you arrive and then serve it for you when your table is called.  We got a big pot to share plus a medium veggie and it was way more than enough food, all for $15.  The sour plum and lime juice was also very worth it.  We also had a great vegan lunch at The Hungry Tapir.

A Brief Visit to Batu Caves

Just outside the city lie the Batu Caves, a holy spot for the Indian Hindu community, and for Hindu pilgrims from all over.  The journey is a short 30-40 minute commuter train ride and the train drops you off just outside the entrance to the temples.  There is the main temple, dedicated to Murugan, is up 272 steps.  There are a number of other temples around the based of the complex for those that don't want to journey all the way up along with a secondary cave at ground level that contains dioramas from the Ramayana and a large natural Shiva linga.  The temples have the aesthetic hallmarks of South Indian temple design, and putting that against the dramatic limestone cliffs and caves makes for some interesting photos.  With that said, having seen other temples in India and other limestone caves in Thailand and Viet Nam, there wasn't a lot here for us to spend time on.  We stayed for about an hour and then came back on the train again.

Islamic Art in KL: Museums and Mosques

Since Friday is a main prayer day, we decided to go to Batu caves on Friday and then go to the national mosque on Saturday.  The national mosque was completed in 1965 and has hallmarks of mid-century modern with traditional details like carved plaster and mosaic tile as well.  The traditional geometric patterns of Islamic design work really well in a mid-century context.  The mosque can accommodate 15,000 worshipers, which is significantly smaller than the national mosques of Indonesia and Morocco, but still hard to imagine.  While we appreciated the exterior of the mosque here more than the interior (it just wasn't as grand as the other modern mosques we've seen), it was definitely worth the visit and we got some good photos. 

From there we headed a short 5 minute walk to the Islamic Arts Museum.  There was a good mix here of contemporary and historic displays, and it probably had some of the most complete descriptions and information about the objects and art and reflected a good diversity of Islamic arts from around the world, but particularly from South and Southeast Asia.  They had a whole floor of scale models of important mosque architectural styles from around the world.  It got us excited to visit some of these interesting places (although some, given the current political situation, we won't likely be ever able to visit).  The KL Aviary is nearby, but by this time it was mid-day and pretty hot, so we headed back to the flat.  On our way back to the transit station, we walked through Chinatown and got some photos of the Jamek mosque, built in the 1920's,  as well.

The Urban Jungle:  KL Bird Park and Butterfly Park

Stephen went solo today to check out the KL Bird Park.  It's pretty extensive, and they have a large area of netted canopy where birds could fly freely, however most of the small and medium sized birds were in cages inside the netted canopy, which was disappointing.  It wasn't worth getting photos of them with the wire mesh of their cages blocking the picture.  There were a bunch of peacocks and storks roaming freely, in addition to peacock-like bird that had a very strange call that sounded like a backup alarm on a truck.

The Bird Park is a part of the national Botanical Garden, and there is also a butterfly garden about 10 minutes' walk away, so Stephen stopped in there as well.  It was disappointing, though, with not many butterflies flying around and he left in about 20 minutes.  If you're ever in Florida near Ft. Lauderdale, go to Butterfly World instead.