Around the World - The 37th Stop, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Southeast Asia
Kuala Lumpur, or just K.L., is the capital and most populous city in Malaysia. It’s a truly Asian city with the mixture of historic temples and mosques, shimmering stainless steel skyscrapers and high-rise buildings, giant shopping malls (with high-end fashion products) and traders’ stalls (with smelly durians and pirate DVDs), fancy restaurants, wifi–free coffee shops and street side food stalls. Eating, shopping and nightlife are definitely highlights of a visit to KL, but if you don’t restrict yourself to the city – there are numerous parks, monuments and other sights around KL, so it's also easy to do various small trips to have a break from all the hustle and bustle.
We had a 6-night stop over in Kuala Lumpur on our way back from Australia (Melbourne, Apollo Bay, Warrnambool, Robe, Deep Greek, Kangaroo Island, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, Fremantle, Jindalee) to Europe. We stayed in Traders Hotel Kuala Lumpur, located near Petronas Twin Towers, the headquarters of the national oil and gas company Petronas and an 88-storey and nearly 452m tall landmark of the city. Hence also in a walking distance from endless shopping possibilities, various fabulous restaurants and many interesting attractions.
We made a visit to KL Bird Park, a great aviary with some 3,000 birds of about 200 species flying free beneath an enormous canopy, and with star attractions like ostriches, hornbills, eagles, flamingos and parrots. And another one to Aquaria KLCC, an aquarium with animals & marine life from Malaysia (and around the world), and where you can touch sting rays and see sharks feeding. As if these animals weren’t enough (they never are), we also took a taxi (just 13km north of the city) to a towering limestone outcrop that is home to the impressive Batu Caves. Off course the monkeys living there were the most amusing part for the kids. Fun to shoot also.
Then we spent one evening in Merdeca Square, made an afternoon visit to the historic Central Market and off course browsed many of those giant shopping centres, as well as had several (or way too many) dinners in great restaurants. Had fabulous time and could easily have stayed for another week.
Next stop – Frankfurt Am Main, Germany, Europe.