Travelogue: Day 1 in Kuala Lumpur

Travelogue is a new series on the blog- it’s where I talk about our travels and adventures. If you want to read the first part, you can start here.

So after a not-so-long (but tiring) flight we arrived in KL early morning (6ish, I recall). I think at that point, Hubs and I both could best be described as ‘sleepyheads’. But once we were in our cab, sleep vanished out of the window. Literally!

We tried to take in the sights and the sounds as much as we could. The city was just coming to life, and we already experienced our first traffic jam (there) at that insanely early hour. Once at our hotel, we knew that our check-in was in the afternoon, so we had about 4-5 hours to tour the city before we could sink in to the bed and just relax! We just deposited our entire luggage and took the cab back to the city.

What followed was a rather ‘touristy’ way of exploring KL (or rather any place). And although I generally do not like anything ‘touristy’, I quite enjoyed the number of places we covered in those couple of hours.

Now before I proceed with the places we visited, let me talk about my outfit. Since we did not have an opportunity to change in to fresh clothes, I just removed my black blazer and was good to go. Although honestly, I could have quickly changed in to a more ‘weather-appropriate’ outfit, at that point it felt like too much effort (only to regret later- wearing jeggings and full sleeved top in the sweltering Malaysian heat is not the best idea). So yes, I’m wearing the same outfit, minus the blazer! J

So we began our day by visiting the Royal Palace (Istana Negara) first. Surrounded by lovely green gardens, and if I recall correctly, some hills, this site is a must-visit for all the KL visitors. The Palace is not open to public, and so we did what everyone does whilst here, click pictures in front of the magnificent golden gate. And how could we miss a few shots with the Royal Guards, guarding the palace on horse!

 

Next we visited the National Monument. The National Monument is a sculpture that commemorates those who died in Malaysia’s struggle for freedom, principally against the Japanese occupation during World War II and the Malayan Emergency, which lasted from 1948 until 1960 (taken from Wikipedia). The site is surrounded by a huge fountain and some well-maintained lawns, but to be honest, the sweltering heat was getting to me, and we tried to cover this place as quickly as possible.

 

Next on our list was the beautiful Chinese Temple. I promise you guys I’ve tried hard to recall the name, I’ve even tried Google, but for some strange reason I’m unable to find it. So if any of you is aware of the same, please don’t hesitate in commenting below. found the name finally- it is the Po Ling Chinese Temple. After the sweltering heat, the peace and tranquility of the temple was a welcome change. We loved the whole calming effect of this place. The interiors were beautiful, with a huge Gold-en Budhdha and intricate work on the ceiling. We stayed here for a while and tried to take in as much positivity as we could. J

The next place on our list was the National Mosque. We just paid it a quick visit. To be honest, we did not see the whole place, but whatever little we saw was pretty great.

And finally came the turn of the place we wanted to see the most- The Petrona Towers. The Twin towers are truly magnificent. According to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat’s official definition and ranking, they were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004 until surpassed by Taipei 101, but they remain the tallest twin buildings in the world (Wiki). If it is anything that KL is known by, it’s these twin towers. We did not go up, we didn’t see a point in it since the highest you can go is somewhere halfway, so we just tried to enjoy the whole vibe of the place by chilling in the surrounding gardens, and clicking as many photos as we could. I think we tried like umpteen times to get a whole shot of the towers, but this is the best we could manage. Also, the sunlight was not in our favour, so the photos have come out dark-ish!

Visiting all these places, walking about taking in the sights and the sounds was enough to set our stomachs growling with hunger! And we really wanted to dig in to some authentic Malaysian cuisine, so we asked our cabbie if he could take us someplace where we could devour some local delights. Actually, I really wanted to visit the Imbi Market (famous for fresh meats, fruits and local cuisine) but for some reason that did not work out. So the cabbie dropped us to the next best place. It was a huge open-air area, lined up with numerous tables and some food carts offering a ton of interesting looking stuff. We could see a lot of working-class people grab a bite during their lunch-hour. Among the stalls offering different things to sample, what interested us the most was a buffet spread of the most interesting meats, fish, sea-food and what not! The owner spoke little English but that’s never a hindrance when it comes to food, right?! We quickly grabbed our plates, and put in heaps of food. I OD’d on different kinds of fish, although I went greedy and got some chicken as well, while Hubs sampled all the interesting looking things! And to sum it up in one word, the food was delicious! To wash it all down, we ordered lemonade, but it was too diluted for our liking! That’s me posing with the cute pink mug (I think I just ordered it because of the cute mug).

Once our bellies were full with the authentic, delicious Malay cuisine, we walked it to the Hotel. (the cabbie had dropped us here and our hotel was just a stone’s throw away). After checking-in, we hit the bed only to wake up in the evening.

If you want to know how we went about spending our evening in KL, you will have to wait for the next post. J

Thanks for commenting on my last post. I would really like to know if you guys are liking these ‘travel posts’?

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