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Our journey through Malaysia began in Kuala Lumpur (4-5 hours bus ride from Singapore). Our welcome was rain – a lot of it – and a ‘welcome to Malaysia!’ by a very nice Malaysian guy, missing a couple of teeth, in the train to the city. We made our way relatively quickly to our accommodation in Chinatown, which was our base for the following three days. Here are our favorite things to do in Kuala Lumpur.

Mingle with the locals

People are very welcoming and friendly. Anywhere we went, we were always greeted with a big smile. Whenever we looked slightly confused, we were offered help. We also noticed that everyone was speaking remarkably good English – regardless of the age. And they are super curious to speak with you! Best places to mingle with the locals is over a drink in bustling Chinatown, on a metro ride, or while enjoying a meal in one of the street restaurants on Alor street.

Batu Caves – an absolute must!

If you’ve never heard about the Batu Caves before (just like us), go on Google now and check it out! And you know what’s the best? It looks even better in reality! We were blown away by the colors, the majesty of the sights, and the monkeys! There are SO many of them! If you go, make sure to keep your personal items (and especially food) where no monkey can see them, otherwise your banana is their banana. 

Try as much food as you can at Jalan Alor!

Jalan Alor is a well-known restaurant street in Kuala Lumpur. You have the pleasure to choose from dozens of restaurants and enjoy diverse and absolutely delicious dishes and cheap beer in an authentic setting of plastic tables and chairs. We have to admit that we personally enjoyed the food here more than in Singapore! Make sure to go towards the evening, as the food stalls open only in the late afternoon.

See the twin towers by sunset.

After a full day of conquering the city in flipflops, we decided to take a break from walking after we had ticked of the twin towers on our sightseeing to-do-list. We were relaxing in the park in front of the twin towers until the evening call for prayer and past sunset. By coincidence, this turned out as the best time to see the towers in thousands of shimmering lights.

In most cases, if there is a high, there will be a low as well. It’s a capital city, so it isn’t surprising that it comes with some of the disadvantages that big cities naturally bring along. It’s busy (especially if you live on top of the Chinatown market!), it’s noisy, and it’s polluted. We had a budget room, which was equipped with an air conditioner but no window. By the last night I personally couldn’t take the stuffiness anymore and was longing for a breath of fresh clean air. It’s a cool city that we think is worthwhile visiting, but it surely wouldn’t be for a relaxing city break.