A quick glimpse into Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

by Dan ConerdMay 22, 2016Malaysia0 comments

We didn’t stay long in KL, Malaysia, I believe it was only 3 or 4 days in total. I did, however take a ton of photos. We just finished our “out of this world beautiful” month long trip in Bali and we decided that instead of flying to Thailand, we would do a little more sightseeing and go through Malaysia first. We hopped on a plane to the Capital of Malaysia, any guesses the name of that city? Yeah don’t worry I didn’t know either.

The capital of Malaysia is Kuala Lumpur.

“oh yeah… I knew that.” I’m pretty sure the only thing I know of about Malaysia is that Zoolander is suppose to kill the prime minister. Kuala Lumpur or KL for short is the location of the Petronas Towers. These towers are so tall that my camera couldn’t capture it all in one single frame! They are the world’s tallest twin towers standing at 451.9 Meters / 1,483 ft! They are truly a sight and at night they shine for miles. The design to them resembles something of a star bubble, unlike all of the other boxed skyscrapers, the Petronas seem to defy the laws of conventional skyscraper design. They have been featured in the movie “entrapment” and other Hollywood movies. Growing up in small town Iowa, I didn’t ever see skyscrapers, so even now I still in awe of these man made features. At times I wonder if they are really necessary and it seems like a waste of money. They are however quite beautiful in their own way as I stood in front of them, trying to capture my award winning snapshot among the hundreds of other tourists and travelers that also came to see these gigantic towers. Yeah sometimes I’m just a tourist along with the rest of them, but hey aren’t we all tourist a little bit. Making our way around life trying to capture moments and figuring it all out. One selfie at time.

World’s tallest twin towers standing at stunning 451.9m / 1,483 ft.

New vs. Old

At every turn this city seems like it’s on the verge of becoming the next major technological central, but it also quickly reminds you that the city is actually very old and decomposing. From our brief stay, I noticed there is a lot of new construction all around the city. I’d be very curious to see how this city evolves in the next 5 to 10 years.

Walking around KL

Teryn was pretty sick for most of all our stay in Malaysia and we stayed at one of the worst places we have encountered. I’m talking about this room was smaller than a prison cell. (not that I know from experience) No windows and barely enough room to stand up. Just a room with a bunk bed, feeling a little bit claustrophobic, I decided to let Teryn get some rest and I grabbed my camera and took a casual stroll around the city. The main benefit of our prison cell. I mean hostel, it was located right next to china town, a huge market of all of the knock off brands and local goods. It also wasn’t far from the street food vendors.

We both had been told over and over again about how great the food was in Malaysia and since we were still recovering from our “Bali Belly” we were very weary of trying anything too insane. We found the most magnificent color array of assorted pork dumplings! My mouth is still watering with the thought of these glorious dumplings. They were so damn good and if you find yourself in KL. Go find this guy! The dumplings look like a rainbow with all of the different flavors and don’t forget to ask for the sauces to go with them.

We didn’t eat too much else when we were there, but if meat on stick or just about anything on a stick is your thing, those vendors are also lined up and down the street.

Mc’D’s even have advertisements on the overpass pillars in Malaysia!

Liters of gold paint

feet tall!

Meters tall!

Steps

BATU CAVES & LORD MURUGAN

The next day Teryn was feeling a little better and after some googling “things to do in Malaysia”, we decided to get out of our prison cell and explore the Hindu temple at Batu Caves. Judging by the google images, it looked like it would be a pretty neat place to check out. I carefully read a few blogs on what we would need to do get to this place and away we went. After a super quick train ride, we arrived and this giant statue greeted us. Lord Murugan is his name, a Hindu deity. I’m not going to pretend that I know a ton of information on this guy, but I did read a little and he’s pretty important among the Hindu Gods. This statue of Lord Murugan is the 2nd tallest in the world.

The caves themselves were pretty neat. I haven’t been in many caves, so I can’t really compare, but I can say these were the best so far! The Batu caves are one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside of India and has hundreds of visitors a day. It’s believed the caves are over 400 million years old and were used as shelters by the indigenous Temuan people. It’s quite a climb up to the caves, luckily for us in 1920 they decided to build steps up to the caves 272 of them! Video of that coming soon.

Like I said we didn’t get to really explore all that much around KL, but it was a pretty neat place overall. I feel like if we weren’t sick and staying at that hostel, it would of been a different story. Perhaps when we return to Bali, we’ll make a 2nd trip through to KL and hit the town. In my next post I will be exploring the street art of Penang, Malaysia.

Have you ever been to Malaysia? What did you do or experience during your visit? Let us know in the comments.

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Global Giraffe is a travel blog that is focused on keeping it real. This isn't a fluffy rainbow magical travel blog, here you'll find real life situations, tips, and advice for the everyday person that wants to know more about places they've never been to. After leaving Denver, Colorado, we decided to try to take on the world, one odd job at a time. For more updates follow Global Giraffe on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.