Burning the Inheritance

Kuala Lumpur is a Federal Territory and the Capital city of Malaysia with a population of about 2.2 million people and almost 8 million in the metropolitan area.  While it wasn’t initially a stop on our itinerary, logistics and budget strongly suggested and extended layover there on our way from Phnom Penh, Cambodia to the Island of Bali in Indonesia.  We had actually passed through Kuala Lumpur in 2021 while travelling to and from Thailand and, although we never actually left the airport, had become a little intrigued by it then.  It did not take much research to conclude that there were some pretty interesting things to see and do there and we decided to extend our layover there to three days.

Getting there was about as painless as it gets, with a short ride to the airport and a direct two-hour flight.  We even had time to dilly-dally and grab a bite at the airport before boarding our plane and bidding Phnom Penh farewell.

We arrived in Kuala Lumpur around 5:30 PM (we lost an hour along the way) and thanks to a lot of traffic from the airport, arrived at our hotel, the Oasia Suites just after sunset.  The Oasia turned out to be a real Booking.com gem, a nice little boutique hotel at the end of a quiet street right in the heart of city.  We had a large clean modern one bedroom apartment with views of the Eco Park and Menara Kuala Lumpur Tower next door for an amazing $53 per night.

We checked in, ditched our luggage, and headed out to the Petaling Street Market (a downtown night market) where we treated ourselves to a “potato log” and 300 grams of bacon (just don’t ask).  On the way home, we hit a local pub called the Taps Beer Bar which had a very nice (but also very pricey) selection of craft beers.  Undeterred, we stopped and had a couple and then grabbed a couple more takeaway before heading home for the night.

On our first day, we tried visiting the Eco Park which was next door to our place, but it was closed (nice view from up there though).  We spent rest of day wandering one of the older sections of the city along the Gombak and Klang Rivers.  Colleen located a pretty cool café called Lokl Coffee where we stopped along the way.

We visited the Sultan Abdul Samad Jamek Mosque which straddles the confluence of the Gombak and Klang Rivers (a location known as “The River of Life”).  We weren’t able to get into the Mosque (Friday services) but we were still able to appreciate how beautiful it was with views from across the two rivers.

There was a pretty amazing food market near the Mosque and, although we were very tempted, we decided to hold out for a bit longer.

From there, we crossed the Klang River and made our way to the Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur’s Independence Square which is surrounded by a number of historic buildings most notably the Sultan Abdul Samad Building a beautiful 19^th century building which currently houses the Ministry of Information, Communication, and Culture of Malaysia but was originally the British colonial administration building. The building features a unique fusion of Indian and Moorish elements which is surprising (or not) as it’s architects were British.

Next we crossed back over the Klang River and proceeded south to the Kuala Lumpur Central Market, a very interesting structure which was originally constructed in 1888 as a “wet” market.  The structure underwent a number of expansions and renovations over the years and somewhere along the way (likely in the 1930’s) was redesigned in the Art-Deco style.  Today it is a modern shopping mall which serves as the hub for a small but very nice shopping district.

The Central Market features a food court, where our hunger caught up with us and we stopped for lunch at “Indianish” restaurant where we had momos and some weird looking pakora. (Actually not bad for a shopping mall food court!)  On our way out of the Market Colleen picked up a beautiful copper water bottle that she had been eye-balling since we walked into the place and we stopped in a great little tchotchke store and bought some bracelets and good luck charms for Christmas presents.

We retreated to the Oasia for a bit of R&R then walked to the Petronas Towers to see a water fountain light show which Colleen had heard about.  Like most architects, I was familiar with the Petronas Towers which were once the tallest building in the world and we had seen them from a distance during the day, so we were quite surprised, as it began to peek from between buildings, to see how beautiful it is at night.  The lighting of the building at night is simply amazing and bring out the intricate details of its exterior skin and give it a presence among all the other towers which it doesn’t have during the day.  Even with a full moon, it simply owned the night sky in Kuala Lumpur!

The water fountain show itself wasn’t quite up to Bellagio standards, but the Petronas Towers in the background more than made up for that and we particularly enjoyed seeing a big Christmas tree to help remind us of the season (despite the temperature).

By the time the light show finished, we were famished and decided to grab a bite at what turned out to be a pretty upscale burger joint in the Petronas Towers. I had a great burger and Colleen had something which, from the photos, looked quite good, but we were unable to recall exactly what it was.

Petronas Towers is a huge place and we were able to find a grocery store and get some breakfast foods in the mall at its base which was also happily decked out for the Christmas holidays. (Surprisingly welcome in a city where over 80% of the population is Muslim or Buddhist and less than 10% are Christian.)

Our second day in Kuala Lumpur began a bit cloudy and drizzly and, as we had been going hard for what seemed like weeks, we decided to take advantage of the weather and have a lazy morning (OK, we did do some laundry). 

The rain tailed off in the afternoon so we tried the Eco Park (again) but it was (again) closed (this time because of the threat of foul weather), so we proceeded to an interesting place I had heard about which I hoped to surprise Colleen with.  We headed north through one of the most modern parts of the city (complete with monorail!).

But, when we crossed the Klang River, the modern high rise buildings began to fall behind and, within a few blocks, we found ourselves in a place called Kampung Baru, the remnants of an old tin mining village around which the city has grown and expanded.  A modern new entrance gate to the center of the village has been built (kind of strange), but beyond the gate the village appears to be much as it always has been.  The juxtaposition of these traditional old one- and two-story structures against the modern high-rise buildings in the near distance is really interesting and actually quite picturesque.

We found a place in the old village with a second-floor dining area which afforded a great view of the Petronis Towers to the south and had a great dinner of traditional dishes including crayfish and soft shell crabs (big surprise and one of my favorites!).

From Kampung Baru we headed east to the Chow Kit Market, a local market which had a lot of produce and food options, but not the traditional handicrafts we were hoping to find there.  But we found it interesting nonetheless.

Although it seemed as if we were miles away from the city, it was only a thirty minute walk from there back to the Oasia where we returned to again organize and pack in preparation to move on to our next destination, the magical island of Bali, very excited by the fact that we would be meeting our kids there for Christmas.

Reflecting on this brief stay in Kuala Lumpur (which was a bit longer than our last), I think we were both happy with our decision to come here. Despite its size and density, Kuala Lumpur is a pretty walkable city and offers as much or more to see and do in its city center as any other city we could think of. Given that it is one of the major air hubs in this part of the world, I’m pretty sure that we’ll be back again, at least for another extended layover.