Globe Trotting J's 2019 Trip Day 15: Custom Malaysia
One of the things Jenn was adamant about when we booked this trip was that if we were in Singapore she wanted to take a day trip to Kuala Lampur. It’s not a place either of us have had a strong desire to stay at, but since we were so close by we wanted to at least visit. So this morning after the amazing but late night last night at Odette we made our way to the Singapore Airport at 6 AM. We grabbed some coffee and bagels at Coffee Bean and then were off to Malaysia.
The flight to Malaysia was only 45-minutes via AirAsia but in reality it felt like by the time we sat down and the safety demonstration was done we had landed and were parked at our gate. What were weren’t expecting though was that the line through customs would be longer than our flight. Almost an hour later we made it through an excruciatingly slow Customs line to have our passports stamped and us on our way. Luckily our guide Siddoz waited for us patiently as we worked through an unbearable line. When we arrived we met up with Siddoz who took us to his car and we were off.
Before the trip we had worked with Siddoz to customize our private tour to see the highlights of the beautiful city of Kuala Lampur. But before we toured the city we drove an hour from the airport (slightly past the city center) to the Batu Caves. Here is a stunning Hindu temple built into the mountains with a massive Murugan statue standing in front of the entrance and 200+ stairs to get to the temple itself. After a brief description Siddoz let us off and we went up the stairs and into the caves. Not only is the temple beautiful but the mountains, caves, and hundreds of monkeys made then entire experience amazing. We took tons of photos of all three and took in both the natural and man made beauty of the experience.
After over an hour at the Batu Caves we drove back to the city center, our first stop was the Petronas Twin Towers. The two towers which were built independently from each other and only near completion had a bridge put between them to connect the two buildings is probably the most iconic image of Kuala Lampur. We took some photos, toured the nearby area and kept going on our tour.
From there Siddoz recommended we take a detour to the KL Forest Eco Park a stunning small little rain forest right in the middle of this major metropolitan area. He dropped us off at the top of the park and we worked our way down it via a string of canopy walkways. We made our way through the entire park, taking in the beautiful views as we went and enjoying the incredible weather. This is such a nice refuge in the middle of a bustling city and was one of the highlights of our time in the city.
After we made our way through the entire park and made it out the other side Siddoz was there to pick us up. Jenn had asked at the beginning of the tour to stop at a Starbucks along the way and so Siddoz found us one after the Eco Park where we not only grabbed Jenn her sixth mug of the trip (yes its getting fun for packing) but we also grabbed a light lunch before heading back out.
Our next two stops were to Chinatown and Little India where we walked the streets, learned about the small micro-cultures within Kuala Lampur and all of the different cuisines and religions. We stopped at a Hindu Temple, a Buddhist Temple, and an Indian temple all with different faiths, practices, and ways of life. It was quite the diverse set of sights and sounds to take in and gave us a much better flavor of the life in the city.
The final stop on the tour was to the National Mosque where Jake and Jenn donned purple robes (I was wearing jeans so didn’t have to) and we toured their beautiful Mosque. We only spent about half an hour here as we were running out of time but it was great taking in yet another beautiful place of worship. Our last stop of the day was at the main square in Kuala Lampur where all the major events for the city take place and was a great last stop of our tour.
Siddoz took us back to the airport about an hour drive from the city center, we said our goodbyes and thanked him for a great tour and made our way through customs two hours before our flight left. We grabbed a quick dinner at Burger King and did some light shopping before going to our gate and taking the quick 45-minute flight back to Singapore. We touched down in Singapore a little after 8 PM and went through customs which for whatever reason Jake and I picked the wrong line and took almost thirty minutes to get through. When we did we grabbed a taxi who dropped us off at our hotel.
We were all still a little hungry so I did some quick Google searching and found a place called Lichety which is known for their waffles and ice cream. We walked through a bustling part of Singapore not to far from our hotel, full of music, restaurants, and nightlife and after a bit of searching finally made it to our destination. I stuck with ice cream (mint chip and chocolate) while Jake got a red velvet waffle with ice cream and Jenn had a normal waffle with vanilla ice cream and sprinkles. We all loved every bite of it.
After walking around the area for a bit we made our way back to our hotel room where after a long day of travel and touring we turned out the lights knowing that we only had one full day left in this beautiful city of Singapore.
