Wow, more than one month already passed since my last post! This time I couldn’t post because I had to stay without a laptop for about one month… but now I got a new laptop and I’m finally back on track! Happy to be able to write here on the blog again 🙂
I have many new blog posts coming soon but let’s start with a few stories from my summer trip. I finally got the chance to go to Southeast Asia for the first time, more specifically, Malaysia and Indonesia. What I’ve seen in Southeast Asia during this trip was so different from what I’ve seen when visiting other countries in Asia. Southeast Asian countries welcomed me with fascinating, new cultures for me, super friendly people, amazing landscapes and delicious food. I hope to explore more of this region in the future!
In Malaysia, we only had one day (17 hours to be exact) on the way to Bali, but thanks to my dear friend Choco from SomewhereNotFar, I managed to see a lot of places in Kuala Lumpur, eat good food and overall spend a super fun day. She was kind enough to drive us around and show us yummy local restaurants (sate kajang was the best!!).
I met Choco back in 2015, when I was coming to Japan for the first time, as an exchange student, and when I was also starting this blog! We connected immediately as we had many things in common: same age, we were in the same Japanese language programme, we both had a younger sister of around the same age and we both love traveling! Choco inspired me to go on my first solo trip in Japan, to Kyoto and then many other solo trips in Japan followed. I admire her positive attitude all the time and her courage to follow her dreams! I feel blessed to have such a great friend in a totally different country! And although this time it was a short trip, I hope we’ll get to travel together again someday, somewhere not so far 🙂
Now let’s talk about how I spent One Day in Kuala Lumpur!
Fly
This time our flights were with AirAsia! Which is a Malaysian LCC so that is why our stopover was in KL. The AirAsia experience was very good, (almost) no delays, comfortable chairs and enough leg room (in my opinion) and a good service. For the paid price (two or more times cheaper compared to a direct flight to Bali) it was a good deal!
From the airport to the city center
After arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA 2) and having Malaysian food for breakfast at PapaRich (so good!) we took the KLIA express train to KL Sentral station, so to downtown Kuala Lumpur.
It was a super fast ride, only 30 minutes and reasonably priced as well. 100RM for both ways. I recommend taking this train to other travelers going to KL as well, especially if you are short on time like I was.
Batu Caves
At KL Sentral, dear Choco was waiting for us and from there our first stop was Batu Caves. Batu Caves was the place I wanted to see most in KL, it was one of my bucket list places. I saw many photos online of the imposing statue of Lord Murugan, the Hindu God of War. I wanted to see this statue in real, and it was just as amazing as in the photos. It is the second tallest statue of a Hindu deity in the world and it attracts many Indian Hindu believers every year. On the day we went there, we were also lucky to see a traditional Hindu celebration, which made the atmosphere super animated and colorful, however, it was also very crowded.
Another lucky thing is that we got to see the freshly painted stairs there! They went viral on social media and I can totally understand why, as they make you fall in love with the place even more. This was a total surprise even for a local like Choco, as it was a recent addition. On the other hand, I read some articles online saying that painting the stairs there might have been illegal as the temple at the top is declared UNESCO Heritage Site so this might damage its image… but I still loved them and took many colorful photos!
And of course, I will not forget to mention the main entertainers at the Batu Caves, the (sometimes) friendly and cute monkeys! I read many stories on the Internet about them being dangerous and mean so I was taking extra care and nothing happened, I found them quite cute until one tried to steal something from me when I wanted to take a selfie with her haha. I guess it was my fault for getting too close… So my advice is to not get too close to them!
After going up the tiring stairs, I got quite thirsty so I tried my first Coconut water, hearing many good things about its hydrating properties! And it was sooo yummy! You cannot say you have been to Malaysia if you don’t try their famous fruits, so I also tried Rambutan, at Choco’s recommendation, it was super tasty (in Romania or Japan, exotic fruits like these usually have no taste…). I also wanted to try durian but maybe next time.
Since I started talking about food, let’s move to the next section, our lunch!
Lunch time
Not far from Batu Caves, we went to eat sate kajang at a very local restaurant. We also ordered Malaysian shaved ice, it was a delicious lunch! Thank you, Choco again for the recommendation 😀
KLCC
After lunch, we headed to KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre) to see the famous Petronas Towers, another bucket list place for me and a must-see for everyone traveling to KL. I would’ve liked to see them at night, but maybe next time.
As it was super hot outside, after taking the typical touristic photos with the towers, we went into the huge shopping mall there and tried some delicious traditional Malaysian cakes. I had a Malaysian cake for the first time in Romania, at an International festival, many years ago, and I really wanted to try that type of cake again. And again my lovely Choco recommended a great place, where they had a huge variety of cakes plus super nice interior design. The name of the place is Nyonya Colors!
After meeting with my dear friend, seeing beautiful places and eating delicious foods, it was time to go back to the airport and catch the flight for… Bali! But more about Bali in the next post.
So, although having many hours between flights can be quite a hassle and tiring, I always try to make the most of this time and see as much as possible (and often choose flights like this on purpose, so I can see more!). Although Malaysia was not the main destination this time, I am super happy I got to taste a bit of it and it gave me a great first impression of a new region that I started exploring, Southeast Asia!
