It has been days, or must I say, weeks since I visited Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and I can still remember it, it’s as if it was yesterday. Preparing for the trip, was as fast as the speed of light. Booked the flight, hotel and itinerary a week before the actual trip, and it only took me one night just to prepare my luggage – the fastest, I must say.
With 26.8 million visitors on 2108, Malaysia is the 12th most visited country in the world and the third most visited country in Asia, according to govisity.com. Known for the Petronas Twin Towers, Langkawi, Mulu Caves, and more. I know I have to go to all of these places. But with 4D3N of stay, its impossible to visit all of these tourist destinations. But to visit at least one is a check on the bucket list.
First off the itinerary, was the city tour – King’s Palace, National Museum, Independence Hall, Twin Towers and of course, the usual pasalubong stores.
During the Twin Towers stop, I saw number of Pinoys selling fish eye lenses for mobile phones to be able to take a photo of yourself and the Twin Towers. Just like here in the Philippines, and being Pinoys, other Pinoys haggle for the price of the fish eye.
While people are waiting, or I guess “fighting” for their photo-op time with the Twin Towers, I realized, what’s so special about it? Reading through online articles, I found out that it was the tallest structure in the world until Taipei’s 101 was built in 2004 and now Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. Currently, it is the 12th most tallest building in the world and still the world’s tallest twin structures. A mega project commissioned by the fourth Prime minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad, the Twin Towers symbolized Malaysia’s importance as a global power in the 21st century.
Of course, we wouldn’t miss the food in Malaysia. From street food to restaurant food – we had to taste them all.
Across from our hotel room, was a burger kiosk, and immediately, I know I had to try it. I order a medium-sized Prawn burger. Watching on how the burger was cooked, I got more excited as its overloaded with mayo and lettuce. I got back our hotel room and started eating it. It was yummy, yes, but half-way through it, I tasted something that I didn’t liked – I tasted Durian. I don’t know when and how the cook was able to put it in the burger but I, personally, didn’t like it. I was trying to finish the burger because it was my dinner, it was almost RM10, and growing up I didn’t like the idea of throwing food. But I had to make an exception – I was on the verge of vomiting, I know I had to stop.
Since, Jalan Alor is known for its night street food market – we had to try the place. Jalan Alor a strip of restaurants, in Bukit Bintang, almost serving the same food, you just have to search for the restaurant with the most number of customers – as this would mean that the restaurant is serving the best food in the strip. And for people who doesn’t like Durian, brace yourself as you will smell Durian in every corner of this place. Simply stated and for better visualization, for those who haven’t visited the place, its like Mercato here in the Philippines.
From street food, we had to taste the most suggested restaurant of my friends, Nando’s. A restaurant joint specialising in Peri-Peri Chicken. No words is enough to describe on how tasteful their chicken is. And words are not enough, you have to experience as it is a full dining experience and you won’t regret it.
One of the highlights of my Malaysia trip was the day we went to Sunway Lagoon, the first Nickelodeon Themed Land here in Asia, a water park to add into that. You can bring in your swim wear and just swim. The suspension bridge.
The bridge is 60 feet above the lake, inside Sunway, and about 428m long. It was scary, yes, you are going to cross the bridge with the wind making it swing, plus the running kids making it more swing. For a person who is afraid of height, like me, crossing it will be a challenge and an accomplishment. But in my case, I just wasn’t ready to face that challenge.
I didn’t trust in the system of the bridge, that made me not to continue in crossing the bridge. I know I did try – I was, I think, 1/8 of the bridge when the winds started to blow – but I know that I was half-hearted going on to this. I acknowledge that I am not adventurous and I’m not into extreme everything – that’s my personal brand – and I know that I have to use this to my advantage, right?
One of the places we weren’t able to visit is the Batu Caves. We got excited exploring the city that we weren’t able to visit this place, plus it wasn’t also in our itinerary. It’s a good thing, I guess, as this will be my reason to go back to Malaysia and once again explore the place.
People say that one place is almost the same as Makati here in the Philippines. Central business district, skyscrapers, busy people, etc. But when you just stop and ponder, it’s not. The living condition, the transport system, and the people in it. They are two different cities, different culture, and different disposition in life. So let’s not compare and just enjoy the place we’ve visited – this is the reason why we’ve visited that place, anyway.
Sources: http://www.kuala-lumpur.ws/attractions/petronas-twin-tower.htm, https://www.petronastwintowers.com.my/en/about#history, https://theculturetrip.com/asia/malaysia/articles/a-history-of-the-petronas-twin-towers-in-60-seconds/, https://govisity.com/most-visited-countries-world/