KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA

HEY GUYS,

So sorry about the delay. So I’ll quickly fill you in on last week and then tell you about my long weekend in KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA. Last week flew by. I’d just gotten back from the half marathon weekend away; and quickly the week flew by before my Thursday evening flight to KL. During the week I pretty much recovered from the marathon, prepared for KL (basically meaning I did unnecessary shopping mainly bags and stuff from the fake market) and enjoyed teaching. I especially enjoyed teaching MAN and WOMAN vocabulary at my Chonggu School; in which volunteer students drew me… a WOMAN. It was fun!

So Thursday came quickly, and my flight was scheduled from Shanghai Pudong International Airport at 1am (so technically Friday morning). Now, after my disaster the Friday before in regards to missing my flight… I WAS NOT GOING TO MISS THIS FLIGHT for the life of me! A few friends from Ningbo were visiting Shanghai, came over for a bit whilst I frantically packed. Eventually, I’d managed to pack for my three days in KL in literally just a bag-pack! I was pretty proud of myself but also sort of concerned I’d left something behind, but ultimately I wanted to travel light, comfortable and could do lots of shopping whilst I’m there.

Surprisingly, I slept quite well on the flight… well fairly. Probably like 3-4 hours sleep. Anyway, I arrived (due to some delays) into KL at 8am. What’s great, is that there is no time difference between Malaysia and China…. and cheap flights are available between the two places ;). A very close friend of mine from University back in my Manchester days is from Kuala Lumpur, so she’d written me a great, detailed itinerary for the Friday and I’d be staying in her home that weekend, as well as catching up with her after almost three years apart!

Upon arrival, I smoothly got through immigration (British passport is great) and got myself a cheap sim card to use for internet whilst I was in KL. I also stopped for breakfast, which consisted of a jam and butter toast and a coffee (much needed). After this I took the KLIA EXPRESS train (fastest in SE Asia by the way) to KL SENTRAL. From here, I changed lines to Masjid Jamek Station. This is a beautiful mosque (Islam is the official religion of Malaysia) located quite centrally in KL. Due to construction, I couldn’t go inside but I walked round and had a great view. The architecture was splendid.

After this, I began to walk towards Masjid Negara, which is the National Mosque. It wasn’t too far away and what was awesome was being able to use google maps, and all other social media with NO VPN. Anyway, I’d read online that this masjid was beautiful, and they even dressed you in the Islamic attire for a true, (and of course respectful), authentic experience in the mosque.

I arrived and beautiful it was, however it was 11:30am now and the mosque was closed for non-Muslim tourists. I’d have to return later around 3pm. I wasn’t disheartened, the walk there was beautiful, passing the old railway station and other wonderful architecture.

I’d arranged to meet my friend Azma, on her lunch break from work, at 12:30; so I decided to head towards Pesar Sani station to meet her. On the way, I passed the wonderful Merdeka Square which was beautiful and full of energy. By the way, I forgot to add, the weather in Malaysia was pretty much 30 degrees, hot and wonderful. It’s supposed to be this temperature all year round! Luckily, I’d come at a great time, monsoon season was coming but hadn’t arrived yet.

So, I met my friend and her work friend. We drove to a popular area called Bangsar to eat. Now here begins my amazing food experience in Malaysia. We went to a banana leaf restaurant. It was AMAZING. Now, I do love Chinese food, I really do. But the flavours, spice level and type of eating is completely different to what I’m used to back home. Coming from an Indian background, Malaysia’s food HIT THE SPOT. In fact, Malaysia is made up of Indians, Chinese and Malays – three different nationalities. The food filled me up more than I’ve been the last two months since my last meal in England with my family.

After the best meal ever, Azma dropped me off at the station where I’d head back to Pesar Sani to further explore. Meanwhile, she went back to work and I’d meet her later on around 7pm at a rooftop bar. I took the metro and explored the China Town and Central Market. It was a buzzing area with great atmosphere; and lots of shopping! After stopping off for a juice, I headed to the Masjid Negara around 3:30 to see if tourists were allowed into explore by now. We were indeed. I’ve never been into a mosque before. It was beautiful architecture and interesting to explore. I took some beautiful photos of the surrounding views, watched a prayer and finally left after an hour or so. It was nice to visit and respect the countries religious beliefs and background. I also always find religious places quite calming and therapeutic.

After the masjid, I walked back towards the station to head to the famous KLCC area. I was running a little late so didn’t spend as much time in this area as I’d liked (but luckily I returned here with Azma on the Sunday). Anyway, it was at this point I got to see the famous PETRONAS TOWERS. They were pretty awesome and very striking to look at. I got some good photos, and then went onto Bukit Bintang. This is a great food area but I didn’t see much of it as, using google maps, I continued my search for the Helipad, 360 view of KL, rooftop bar! It was in a building called Menara KH.

I finally arrived around 7pm, grabbed a cold glass of white wine and headed to the top. I’d grab seats and meet Azma there around 7:30. The view was amazing and the timing just perfect, as the sun was setting! I got to see the day view and the evening view. With full view of the KL Tower, Petronas Towers and the city of Kuala Lumpur; I reflected on an amazing day.

Whilst waiting for Azma, I made friends with some lovely Sottish people who lived in KL. We chatted and drank away. I love meeting new people, we even spoke about how in this world, especially us travellers/migraters to Asian countries, such as China and Malaysia, we are never alone if we look out for each other. You just have to have faith in humanity and ask. We got to know each other purely because I offered the seats to them whilst I waited for Azma to arrive. Azma arrived, we chatted away with our new friends and when they left Azma and I had a loooong catch up over everything from the past few years! After this we headed to eat; and this was the only meal I didn’t take a picture of – probably cause I was so damn hungry and pretty tipsy!! Anyways it was an amazing meal, in a great outdoor setting which weirdly reminded me a lot of Kao San Road in Bangkok… but slightly less crazy and alcohol-orientated.

The next day, deservedly, I slept in till around 10:30/11. This was fine because Azma had some work to do and sleep is always good. Having done a lot of the touristy, central things the day before, Azma planned some other activities for that day that were more local, hidden and far out. Firstly, I had a lovey, HOME-COOKED breakfast of cheese stuffed sausages and TEA – INDIAN STYLE TEA which was the BEST; I’ve missed this so much from home.

Conveniently, Azma drives so after chilling out we headed out around 1ish to grab food, and then take a road-trip to a waterfall! Azma took me to Bandar Sunway for the national dish of Malaysia. We had lamb, chicken, dried fish, peanuts, rice – it was SCRUMPTIOUS.

After this we hit the road! On the way to the waterfall we passed the Batu Caves, so it seemed silly for me not to check them out! It was so cool and awesome, basically Hindu Temples been made in some very old, dark caves, surrounded by monkeys and birds. It was HOT, so the walk up the steep stairs killed me, but it was worth it at the top. I’d definitely recommend going – it’s free and why not! Az and I opted out of further exploring the cave in the dark area, where the world’s rarest spider can be found!! No thanks!!

After sipping on a fresh coconut, we headed to the waterfalls. The name of the waterfall we aimed to get to was Pinsang Waterfall. Eventually we made it to where we could park and start walking to the waterfall. I guess I didn’t ask Az too many details, but I quickly realised my FLIP FLOPS were not sufficient for this outdoor activity. But to be honest, what shoes were? Maybe hiking shoes, but ultimately anything you wore were gonna get wet!

We drove through the rural areas of Malaysia which was interesting to get an insight of. That’s the best part of having a local contact when you visit somewhere. You don’t just see the obvious, the centre etc, you get to see the less obvious, the outskirts, try the local food etc. Anyway, I found myself LITERALLY walking through the river, towards the waterfall. Along the way were lovely families, who clearly lived nearby, swimming, playing, cooking and enjoying the water.

The rocks were slippery, but with the help of Az I made it through. Then, we made it to the TUNNELS. By the way, in finding this waterfall, we were just using a blog posted online that Azma had found. This was definitely a true adventure! We made some friends along the way, even some who were carrying HEAVY BAGS, as they planned to camp out at the top! – so cool!

It was beautiful, natural and amazing to trek through the river! So much fun. The sun was starting to creep up on us, and we didn’t make it to the actual waterfall… but to be honest it’s not always about the end point, the ride is also amazing! I plan to return to KL and I will get to the Pisang Waterfall for sure! Az, our new friend Boon and I headed back before it got dark. Otherwise, we would find ourselves going through tunnel and along river… IN THE DARK!

We finally made it back, and truly it had been an amazing, and so be it RANDOM day.

Wet and quite dirty, but not caring at all, we drove straight to eat at Bangsar again. Here we had the most amazing chicken curry and rice dish. Rice is given, all different sauces and you choose your chicken. I ate this alongside the amazing tea. I was so happy, full and content. I remember and cherish the feeling.

That evening, though we were exhausted we had a shower and went out to meet Azma’s friends. We went to a bar street called TREC, ordered a bottle of Bacardi between us (ALCOHOL IS SO EXPENSIVE IN KL BY THE WAY) and chatted the night away! We also headed to a famous nine room club for some dancing and fun. It wasn’t my usual type of club but fun to see how it goes in KL. From what I could tell it was lots of “EDM” and old tunes! Quite fun really.

We finally arrived home, chatted a bit more and passed out! The next day was my last day. L My flight was schedules for 7pm. We woke up and headed for food. I was going to miss the food so much. We had one of my best meals (I loved every meal they were all amazing as was this one) of “Dosays”. They reminded me of chapatti/pronteh I have back home. My favourite was the potato filled one – IT LITERALLY MELTED IN MY MOUTH. Food is literally so amazing in Malaysia, admittedly not so healthy – but I really don’t care that much.

Azma then drove me through the centre of KL to say my goodbyes, passing the Merdeka Square, Masjid Negara, Masjid Jemak and finally arriving at KLCC. We parked up and headed to explore the beautiful KLCC park, where Azma had grown up! It was amazing. We then did some shopping in which I also stocked up on some food to take back to China, and nandos sauce (which sadly got taken off me at the airport L for being slightly over 100ml). Before heading to the metro for me to head to the airport, I saw that the MALL had a llao llao stand. I had eaten this in Madrid when I visited during the Summer. It was amazing and SO TASTY, so I had to get one. I ENDURED it. Malaysia had officially satisfied my stomach too much for words.

Sadly, I said my goodbyes to Azma and her beautiful home – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It had been an amazing weekend and I certainly planned to return. I love my weekend trips away; but I think I’ll have a break these next few weeks and explore Shanghai.

I’ll be in touch, it’s Halloween fun this week!

Sabrina xxx