Kuala Lumpur in August 2023

After our 5 weeks in Australia, we had a stop over in Kuala Lumpur. It was our first visit and it met our expectations.

Travel for us is different since we became expats, we travel more and travel further and often arrive 'blind' someone where and work things out as we go. All I knew about KL was the Petronus Towers and the painted steps, Batu Caves.

View from the hotel rooftop

View from KL Tower

We arrived at 6am and couldn't check into our hotel until 2pm. So we stayed at the airport for coffee, got SIM cards and waited till daylight around 8.30am before getting a taxi.

Taxi's are prepaid in KL, there's a desk in arrivals, the price is fixed and you had the receipt in at a kiosk outside and they summon a car for you. We did the same at our hotel on trips out and for our return trip.

The airport was about 1 hour away and the taxi cost £20. The infrastructure in KL is really good, with multiple lanes, tolls and underground and over ground trains and numerous buses. Crossing the road was tricky due to the number of mopeds which also blocked the pavements which in themselves were a bit of a trip hazard.

We stayed near Bukit Nanas and the Street food was at Bukit Bintang

We left our luggage in the hotel and went to a mall over the road for food and drink, then on foot we explored the local area. After checking in and unpacking, we headed up to the roof top pool. 

Our hotel and pool viewed from KL Tower

Hotel roof top view

View from the bedroom

We went out in the evening to the largest street food area in Asia. We ate there two nights and the food was amazing. Each restaurant had a frog menu that we avoided and the streets stank of Durian fruit, which I can confirm tastes as bad as it smells, like rotten onions.

There were warning signs everywhere for fines for bringing Durian fruit into hotel rooms, on trains etc.

The second day we got a taxi to the Batu Caves. I'd recommend going as early as you can, due to the humidity and by the time we left at midday the place was filling up with tourist buses.

A couple of things I'd advise you don't do at the Batu Caves. Use the toilets or eat the food, it wasn't the hygienist of places. Buying bottled drinks or wrapped ice creams wasn't a good idea either as there were 100's of monkeys swopping in and grabbing items from tourists, literally straight out the mouths of small children, it was quite frightening.

There's no charge to go up the steps or into the caves, but a fee for entering the temples. You didn't need to wear any special clothing on the steps or caves, only in the temples where legs and arms couldn't be on show.

There were instagrammers everywhere trying to tell us not to walk up certain parts to ruin their photos

We caught the train back to our hotel, which cost around £2, the taxi out was about £5.

The third and final day was spent visiting the KL Tower, a bird sanctuary and a butterfly park. it rained but it was very welcomed, no need for waterproofs. We also had fun at the Upside Down House.

Upside down

The right way up

Taxi to the airport and a 14 hour flight home. We'd fly Air Malaysia again, but would make sure we bought our own food.