Welcome to Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur

After leaving Singapore, The next stop on our 2024 Asia Mega City Tour was Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. While planning out this trip, we went back and forth a bit on how best to travel between these two cities. They are only about 225 miles apart. There are several bus services available, but they take 6 hours with no traffic and the scenery is mostly just palm plantations. There's a complicated way you can take rail between the cities, but Malaysia is actively building out their system so that wasn't a good option just yet... so we settled for flying. Fun fact, Singapore to Kuala Lumpur is the highest volume of aircraft seats between two international cities in the world. Better get that train working, Malaysia, so we can lower our carbon footprint!

A highlight of the trip, though, was the Malaysia Airlines catchy safety video, which had a lot of singing and dancing. After going through customs, we took the express train into town, and checked into the Hotel Stripes. We thought this was a great hotel, and was very affordable. The neighborhood is just off to the side of some of the main tourist areas, but is well connected by transit and feels "up and coming" with some great restaurants and cafes. We went up to check out the rooftop view (which was amazing) before heading out for a late lunch.

Best airline safety video ever?

Our first view of the city from the express train.

The express train from the airport was super convenient and easy to use. Would recommend.

A mural in the main train station.

Transferring to the local train. Clean, efficient, and easy to use.

View of Merdeka 118, the second tallest building on earth.

Our hotel room was really nice and had brick screens to protect from the sun.

Can't complain about this rooftop pool view!

We had lunch right next door to the hotel at Budaya, which has traditional Malaysian cuisine. We were the only ones there, which was a bit worrying, but it was like 2pm so maybe we just missed the lunch rush? We shared some laksa, "web roti", and tofu wrapped chicken, all of which were good. From there we took the train to Merdeka Square, which is the heart of the historic colonial city. We stopped by the KL City Gallery, which we had heard had a large model of the city, but that portion must have been closed or removed, because there was just two small rooms of photographs. We walked around a bit checking out the historic fountain and architecture in the square, as well as the giant flagpole. On one side of the square a series of tents and a stage were set up for a lunar new year celebration, and we had good timing to catch a little parade, which included groups in costumes and multiple bagpipe bands.

Lunch time!

Some of the old colonial architecture.

View from Merdeka Square.

A dragon in the parade.

Bagpipe bands? Sure!

The Sultan Abdul Samad Building, with Merdeka 118 behind.

There was even a little horse at the parade! It's Lil Sebastian!

We walked over to the nearby confluence of Klang and Gambak rivers, which has a view of the Sultan Abdul Samad Jamek Mosque. At this point it began to rain, and we sought shelter under some large umbrellas next to a café. Then it started to pour - like a torrential downpour. The river swelled substantially, and there were waterfalls of water coming out of the storm drains. There was a local guy next to us who found a folding chair and set up camp under the umbrella with a bluetooth speaker and a cigarette. We stayed under a large umbrella for almost an hour. We had a reservation time to go up the Petronas Towers, so when the rain finally let up a bit we did a power walk to the nearby train station. Overall, David was excited to see a tropical downpour in the literal tropics, though!

View of the mosque right before the rain.

Here comes the rain...

And here it REALLY comes. The flood gates leading into the rivers literally opened.

This was the view before it started raining...

...and after.

After taking the train to KLCC, we walked to the Petronas Towers, once the tallest buildings on earth, and still the tallest twin towers. The tour first takes you up to the skybridge between the midpoint of the towers, where we had amazing views of sunset over the city. We had a set amount of time here, then they took us up to the observation deck at the top. By now it was dark, and it was difficult to see out the windows because there was a lot of reflection from the extremely bright lights shining on the top floors. We'd suggest going a bit earlier, to catch late afternoon from the skybridge and sunset from the top. Unfortunately, you can't linger too long - they put you in color-coded groups and you have about 15 minutes in each place.

Coming back down from the towers, we had a light dinner in the busy mall food court - sweet potato balls, a five spice bun, and a sesame bun. We walked around the popular 5-story mall for a bit, doing some tourist shopping at a store that sold locally themed items. These types of stores are generally hard to find at malls in Kuala Lumpur, where the overwhelming majority of shops are large western, Chinese, or Japanese brands. 

At the base of the Petronas Towers is KLCC Park, a small urban park with a big fountain. It was busy with people enjoying the weather and checking out the nighttime skyline and lunar new year lanterns. We thought there might be a fountain show at 9PM, but it didn't happen despite lots of people waiting around. After hanging out for a bit we took the train back to our hotel.

The rain let up and we had excellent views from the skybridge.

Views of the mountains around the city.

That sunset though!

Selfie time!

The skybridge is pretty cool.

Looking down at the tower, with the skybridge supports.

Made it to the top!

If you know Paul, you know going up the top of tall buildings is a passion of his.

View from the top, with the second tower, Merdeka 118 on the left, and KL tower on the right.

Inside the KLCC mall.

A snack for dinner after a large, late lunch.

View from KLCC park.

The dragon was really aweseme.

The Petronas Towers and Chinese lanterns.

After our first partial day in KL, we had a good impression of the city. It's less put together than Singapore, and just slightly rough around the edges. Transit is more confusing, but still easy to use. It's hard to walk around. There are not always good sidewalks and pedestrians are an afterthought to cars, especially in the more touristic areas of town. Kuala Lumpur is a very diverse city, with really extravagant malls and impressive skyscrapers. It feels safe and welcoming.

Singapore - Gardens by the Bay, Multiculturalism & Peranakan Food!

On our next morning in Singapore, Paul had a bit of an adventure trying to get some iced coffee. Google maps doesn't seem to have accurate opening times in Singapore - the first place was supposed to open at 7:30am, but was closed. The second place only took cash. The third option was somewhere in a shopping center and he couldn't find it. Finally, the fourth place, Sanger, was open and had iced coffee, but were out of ice. Oh well, cool(ish) iced coffee! Luckily the area near our hotel is so densely packed that there are always backup options. Meanwhile, David was just hanging out in the hotel wondering where Paul went while watching TikTok videos.

The night before, we made reservations to visit some of the sights at the Gardens by the Bay resort area. Breaking the trend, we took a taxi to Gardens by the Bay. Transit is great in Singapore, but for whatever reason, this area is just easier to get by car, at least from our hotel (since the bay is in the way). Luckily taxis are relatively affordable and easy to book on your phone through an app called Grab (which we used in Malaysia too). It's really a breeze to get around the island.

First stop was the famous Supertree Grove. We started at the OCBC skyway right after they opened at 9am. It's a really cool path suspended between the giant fake trees, with great views of the surrounding gardens and the Singapore skyline. From there we walked around the garden a bit, meandering through the paths toward the Cloud Forest dome. This was a spectacular place - one of the coolest things we saw on our trip. It's a huge glass and steel building covering 2 acres, with a cool-weather rainforest "mountain" at the center. You ascend to the top of the mountain, and make your way back down past various plants and a 115 foot tall waterfall. Every few hours they have a "misting time" where the whole place is shrouded in mist, and we saw this at 10am. We spent over an hour here, admiring the plants, the architecture, and the views.

More cool architecture near our hotel. The middle space is filled with plants.

Gardens by the Bay is iconic.

Amazing views.

The perks of reserving at opening time - no crowds!

More people arriving on the skyway, with the cloud forest dome in the background.

Marina Bay Sands hotel from the skyway.

David with the huge waterfall.

The structure inside the cloud forest dome is astounding, with pathways winding through the air.

A Chihuly glass flower exhibit.

Taking the path through the sky.

So. Many. Flowers!

"Misting time" was really cool.

An exhibit on climate change in the base of the cloud forest mountain.

We continued exploring Gardens by the Bay, visiting the impressive Flower Dome right next to the Cloud Forest Dome. The Flower Dome has a variety of ecosystems, including Mediterranean, California, and desert. There were still lunar new year decorations as well, including a couple of cool dragons. FYI - many of the sights at Gardens by the Bay are on separate tickets with timed entries. If you want to do everything it adds up quick. We did the main attractions and felt they were worthwhile.

A sculptural dragon near the entrance of the flower dome.

Again, coming just after lunar new year was a great idea!

Impressive structure and impressive plants.

True!

Overview of the flower dome with lunar new year decorations.

It's hard to do these spaces justice. So pretty!

By now we were hungry for lunch, so we walked to the nearby Satay by the Bay, an outdoor hawker center. We had satay (hey, it's in the name of the place, we had to!), BBQ stingray, and chicken dumplings. The BBQ stingray is a local food and had a mild flavor. We enjoyed a nice cool breeze as we ate.

We continued walking east. This area of Singapore is pretty quiet. There are future development plans, but for now it's mainly the far edge of a touristy area. We went to marina barrage, which is a large dam separating the bay from the ocean, essentially creating a large freshwater reservoir. The large pump building has a sustainability museum (which was unfortunately temporarily closed, perhaps for an event or minor construction), and a rooftop deck with amazing views. This is part of Singapore's sea level rise planning - and is designed to keep back water to prevent flooding.

Looking back toward part of the Singapore skyline.

We kept our eyes peeled for otters, but didn't see any.

Starting with some dumplings.

The namesake satay.

BBQ sambal stingray! First time we've had stingray. Would have again!

No otters, but we did see this huge monitor lizard.

The "marina barrage," a dam, with the salty ocean water on the right.

Panoramic view from the rooftop park of the marina barrage building.

After lunch and strolling around the marina barrage, we took a taxi to explore a new neighborhood, the Bugis Street shopping area. This is kind of a market/mall area, and we shopped around for gifts. We then walked around the nearby pedestrian area, and watched the crowds visiting the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple (a Buddhist temple). We briefly went inside the temple, and also checked out the Sri Krishnan Temple (a Hindu temple) next door. The contrast in architecture was striking and is something that makes Singapore feel unique and interesting. This whole area was very lively and vibrant, a pedestrianized area with tents and vendors. We saw a lot of people buying flowers and incense for the temple. 

We continued walking to yet another religious building, the Abdul Gafoor mosque. We couldn't go in due to Friday prayers, but we took in the architecture before continuing to the Indian heritage center. This was a nice modern museum that focused on the history of and current contributions of Indian immigrants to Singapore. There were several small groups of school children on field trips. We especially liked the Kerala/Malayalam exhibit, since we have a friend from that region. Leaving the museum we wandered the surrounding streets ("Little India") for a bit.

Hawker Centre cultural mural at Bugis street.

The Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple had vibrant tiles.

The crowded entrance to the temple.

Very different style of art and architecture right next door.

The main street in the area was really lively.

Checking out the mosque, which was very fanciful.

More of the traditional Singapore architecture.

Exhibit in the Indian Heritage Center.

After exploring Chinese, Muslim and Indian history in one neighborhood, we took a bus back toward our hotel, stopping at Singapore's famous Merlion. It's the official mascot of the country, and the large statue/fountain opened in 1972. The area was very busy, with crowds of people taking pictures. Afterwards, we ran into a 7-11 for some drinks and got some fancy cakes from our hotel lobby to take up to our room and relax before our dinner reservation.

Passing by the durian-inspired esplanade theatres.

Famous view of the Merlion and skyline. Our hotel is the red/white short building at right.

Girl, same.

Paul's less "creative" photo.

David with the new year bears in our hotel lobby.

We didn't find the cake store in our hotel until the last day. Which was probably for the best because they were amazing and we can only eat so much!

The last main type of cuisine recommended to us was Peranakan. This food is a mix of Malay and Chinese from early migrants to the region. We made reservations at National Kitchen by Violet Oon, which has traditional Peranakan foods and is located inside the National Gallery. We really enjoyed our meal here and it's a great place to try a variety of local foods in a high-end atmosphere. It was a great way to wrap up our final day in Singapore.

The National Gallery Singapore (former supreme court building).

Kuay pie tee, a "top hat" filled with turnip and bamboo and topped with a shrimp. Where can we get these in Atlanta!? They were delicious.

A feast of local flavors, including beef rendang, sambal eggplant, roti prata, and nasi kuning rice.

Saturday morning we got up and took the train to the airport to catch our very short flight to Kuala Lumpur. While at the airport we did a little Singapore souvenir shopping and had coffee and a snack at the Hainan Story bakery while wandering around. Again, this airport is really thoughtfully laid out with lots of pretty gardens and interactive exhibits. Our only complaint is that security is not centralized, but instead managed at each gate, so it's a bit awkward to line up for security to enter a glass room with nothing in it before boarding your flight. 

Overall, Singapore is a great place to visit. The people here are interesting and warm and there are many fun things for visitors to see and do. The common use of English and an amazing transit system makes getting around the city-state all the easier. Singapore is very multicultural, which is a nice break from many East Asian countries like Korea and Japan which act and behave like a human monoculture. The mix of people (Chinese, Malay, Indian and foreign workers/visitors) has created a young country with a really interesting melting pot of ideas, sights, and amazing food. We'd definitely come back! Next stop, Malaysia!

Pretty good for an airport breakfast! Beats stupid US airports.

Another really cool area of the Singapore airport.