A City Break in Kuala Lumpur

Ever leave to travel for a year and after a few months find you just need to take a break in a city that has modern amenities and do nothing? Yeah, same. So I took a week to have a little rest:  a city break in Kuala Lumpur if you will.

A quick note on the chronological order of things: The Hong Kong week of my Southeast Asia trip is being skipped over for the time being. Not only did I refuse to take my DSLR out into the chaos that is Hong Kong during the Rugby 7s, but I’m pretty sure I’m being held to some sort of group confidentiality agreement about the debauchery of that weekend. Maybe in the future I’ll write a “First Timer’s Guide to Surviving the Sevens” but it seems the interwebs are pretty loaded down with those sorts of posts already.

To say that I had little to no plan after leaving Hong Kong is an understatement. Bali and the Philippines were on the to-do list, yet no flights had been booked. But like, I HAD to get out of Hong Kong! For my own health. I’d spent a full day in the fetal position in my hotel room that Sunday, and changing cities was absolutely necessary.

Luckily, I’d had the foresight to book a flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – lovingly abbreviated as KL – because it’s a great hub of an airport where tons of cheap flights fly out to all areas of Southeast Asia on the reg.

I was kinda skeptical of this big Malaysian city for that reason:  I’d heard that most backpackers typically used it as a stopover for flights and got out as quickly as possible. But the good thing about keeping up this blog – despite it’s lack of providing any sort of reliable income! – is the very cool people that it has connected me with. It just so happened that the author of one of my favorite blogs, Anna, was living in KL at the moment. She’s another American who’s quit her job to travel and she’s super into food, so it was the perfect chance to meet up! It also made the sprawling city so much more approachable.

Taking her advice on which neighborhood to stay in, I found a three-bed dorm room (pretty luxurious for me!) and settled in. For eight days, I got (relative) privacy, fantastic food, and a great location in which to recover, relax, and regain my voice (which I’d lost within 24 hours of arriving in Hong Kong – seriously, a story for another day).

Staying in Bukit Bintang – the area of the city known for its shopping, entertainment, and long street of bars – I was within walking distance to happy hours, malls, and western food options. Of course, all of this was totally unnecessary for me considering I was in recovery/get my life and budget together/detox mode. (Okay, I did give happy hour a chance once!) But, taking Anna’s excellent advice, Uber could get me cheaply and safely around the city to any other neighborhoods I might need to visit. As my finally-booked flight to Boracay was nearly a week away ($92 direct on Air Asia!), it looked like I’d be seeing and eating a lot of this city. Annnd I’d also sleep a lot.

There’s not too many touristy sights in KL, but that was actually a relief for me. No must-do’s meant that I could leisurely stroll and eat and nap.

Oh yeah, what did I say this blog post was about? Ahh, well now that I think about it, it’s basically just the meals I ate in Kuala Lumpur…

The first night I met up with Anna, we went to dinner at a mamak – one of the ubiquitous restaurants or roadside eateries around the city that are often open 24 hours. They often don’t have booze, which I quickly learned after trying to order a beer like some kinda newbie. And this particular one had a huge menu which we took advantage of by ordering Indian food, Mediterranean food, and roti canai (which, unbeknownst to me, would become the edible love of my life when I later returned to Malaysia for a whole month).

For lunch one day, we visited a crispy pork joint that was packed full of locals for this amazing plate of meat. Like, this could really take off back in North Carolina. It’s amazing… oh, and it comes with a spicy sauce that is so necessary with all that fatty richness.

Another day, we gave in to some Western options because, um BRUNCH. And fries…

Oh, and the malls! There are so many! Shopping and hanging out in malls might actually be the activity of choice in KL. I mean, they are an excellent air conditioned escape from the hot and humid city and a nice chance to visit any and every Western store you might’ve been missing while traveling Southeast Asia.

In an effort to get myself together, I hit up one of the cheaper malls, Sungei Wang Plaza, to get a super affordable haircut and pedicure. It turned out to be possibly the best pedicure I’ve ever had anywhere. And my Malaysian hairdresser warned me that my thin, blonde hair would “not be very good” in this climate. (Yep… it turned out he was correct when a chunk of my hair later broke off in the Philippines, leaving me with what looked like terribly short bangs.)

But malls are also a sneaky delicious and cheap place to eat. On Anna’s advice, I headed to the popular downstairs food court in Bukit Bintang’s Lot 10 Mall to eat… like, more times than I care to admit.

And in the Pavilion Mall, there’s a branch of Din Tai Fung, a restaurant famous for its soup dumplings (xiaolongbao), something I avidly seek out every time I hear of their existence nearby. The Hong Kong branches of this place even received a Michelin star. The service here is spectacularly efficient and the food is high quality and affordable.

For some outdoor eating, I visited the night market located on Jan Alor, just a few blocks from my hostel. I got noodles with pork and a few sticks of satay, but the possibilities are endless!

After all that eating, my conscience got to me a bit… well, after I found out that Anna’s apartment had a gym and a rooftop pool. Yes, I worked out. And it was hard.

“So, uh, are there non-food things to do in Kuala Lumpur?” I hear you ask.

Yes. Kinda.

Eventually, I started to feel like I should do something besides resting, relaxing, and meal-planning. Like get up and move a little. Take some photos. Check out the scenery. The Batu Caves are the only other thing I could find online that struck my fancy. After lots of internal debate regarding the mixed reviews I’d heard – about the crowds, whether it was worth the trip out of the city, and the apparent bad smell in the caves (the smell?! I don’t know, I didn’t notice) – I figured why the hell not?! Seeing another cave in Asia couldn’t hurt. Also, climbing all those steps there might help me work up an appetite!

All in all, I’m glad I went. It was just a quick, cheap train ride out of the city, and I got some exercise and good photos.

Finally, the Petronas Towers might be the only real touristy thing to do in the city proper, and they are actually worth checking out as well. The buildings at night are visually stunning and very impressive, and the inside is has the feel of a luxury mall… okay it kind of is a luxury mall on certain floors. Go at night to be even more wowed. Anna took me to check out the light show in the fountains out back and it was pretttty cool.

I also hear there’s a nice bird park in the city too, but just saying the phrase “bird park” makes me laugh out loud.

Anybody else surprisingly love Kuala Lumpur?

Where I Stayed: Rainforest Bed & Breakfast. Great three-bed dorm for about $9/night in the popular Bukit Bintang area. Plenty of private rooms available too. Perfect location, nice beds, low key, and not super social. Small (but free) breakfast spread.

Where I Ate: Other than all of those places listed above, I also ate an outdoor dinner at an indian place, Nagasari Curry House that served booze; for a nice cafe, Feeka Coffee Roasters where I’ve now been multiple times for coffee and wifi, but they also have a solid crepe cake and trendy breakfast foods; The Bee with Anna, located in Publika shopping center, which serves solid Western food – I had a burger.