6-9 September 2023

Our first leg of our next adventure has begun. We flew from Perth to KL for a short 3 night stop over in an Airbnb apartment in the middle of the city. The plane trip over was relatively uneventful (thankfully as flying is not my favourite mode of transport). There was a tail wind which  meant our 5 hr 50 minute flight arrived 45minutes early. Getting through the KL airport was a slow process. By the time we collected our bags, went through the security processes and made our way to the “transportation hub” , about 1 ½ hours had passed. We hadn’t booked transport into the city, but knew there was a non stop bus that left at 4pm. Getting tickets was not a quick process either. After waiting in the queue for about 20 minutes, we decided to buy them online (10 minutes before the bus was meant to leave) and then continued to wait In the queue to have the tickets printed out. Lucky for us, we got on the bus and were the last 2 people allowed on. The bus took another hour to get to Sentra Station which we then had to navigate to the monorail station and buy tokens to ride a few stops over. Having been to KL before, we at least understood the monorail and ticketing system. Hopping off at our stop we tried to use the phone’s Google maps for directions (insert next drama here). I purchased an e-sim in the week prior to us leaving. The e-sim allows us to have data in 14 different Asian countries for 90 days. In theory, the e-sim once installed and activated automatically connects to the local network and you are good to go. As it turns, out mine was not active so not able to access the internet. We were thus relying on my memory of the rough location and a WhatsApp text showing what the hotel looked like and it’s address. We then spent the next hour walking around the streets of KL looking and asking plenty of people for help. The weather was hot and humid and our stress levels slightly elevated. Finally we managed to get a food delivery driver to look it up on his phone and show us the directions for us to screen shot and use. After that, we found it within about 5 minutes. As it turned out we had  walked pretty much right past it. We were so glad to finally get there, get the keys and take our hiking packs off. We had finally arrived some 4 hours after landing. 

We had a walk around a few streets, settled on a place to eat and have a beer. It was an early-ish night for us. The views from the 3 balconies of the apartment were spectacular. The city lights at night dance and twinkle all colours of the rainbow. The Petronas Twin Towers and the KL Tower can be seen from our windows. It truly is a magnificent site.

Day 2 in KL saw us taking in the sights and sounds by foot, but not before we sorted out the e-sim issue. After pressing lots of buttons, I worked out that I had not toggled a switch which is why it wasn’t working. Then we were off with more confidence in our ability to work out the maps. We visited the Central Market where we were approached on several occasions by some university students who were out and about undertaking challenges, they had to take photos with tourists from various countries and have interviews with some too. I think we saw and spoke to and had photos with all of he university population of Malaysia! We think that when  all look back on their challenges, the same people will pop up time and time again.  Petaling street was another popular place for us to visit. We walked through the stalls and ate at street vendors, at night time, the streets come alive with colour and sound and is quite the spectacle. After a few hours walking the streets, we went back to the apartment for a mid afternoon swim and a sit down in the air conditioning. We decided to visit Jalan Alor aka food street for dinner and drinks later in the day. The street is a melting pot of culture, from Malay to Chinese to Indian to just about every other cuisine Imaginable. We settled on a Malay street vendor to eat and have drinks. Tiger beer has become our go to for drinks. After dinner we walked some more and had some more to eat (satay kebabs) and drink (beer) at another stall. After that, we walked some more and got dessert, mango sticky rice. It was then back through the hoards of people trying to get you to have a massage on our way back the air conditioned sanctuary of the apartment.

Day 3 – today we decided that we would go and find breakfast and then head to the twin towers for a look at the city from above. We went to a local street stall in search of some noodles. They had sold out by the time we got there, so we ended up getting some at another Indian stall. After the yummy breakfast we walked some more to find the towers. The good old google map sent us on a wild goose chase…again. What we didn’t see when walking was the massive directional sign pointing upwards to the overhead walkway which would have taken us there in air conditioned comfort. In any event we found our way there in time to find out it was booked out for the next few hours. We booked our tickets for early evening and went back to the apartment for a swim. We went back to our tour time slot and we’re taken to the 41st floor bridge. One thing we learnt about the bridge is that the bridge is not not actually attached between the two towers. This is  to allow for sway and movement of the structures. We then headed to the 82nd and 83rd floor for a look over the city. The view was amazing and would no doubt be phenomenal at night. After finding a new restaurant eat and have a few beers at we went home for our last night and prepared for an early morning.

We bid farewell to KL as we took the monorail and bus back to the airport and headed onwards to our next stop, Hanoi, in the north of Vietnam. We only have our first 2 nights accommodation booked (grand total of $48) so have left the rest of our trip to see what we feel like each day. Even we don’t know Where2next…