When we arrived in Kuala Lumpur, we jumped in a cab and headed towards the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. David and Kendall reserved a room for us there for a couple of nights as a wedding gift! Thanks guys!!
It was rush hour so we had some extra time to visit with our cab driver, who was really informative. He let us know where all the cool bars and restaurants were near our hotel.
Arriving at the Mandarin Oriental felt much like when we arrived at the Ritz in Paris(courtesy of Kadrian) and the Peninsula in Bangkok(courtesy of Mr. Talley). We walked in all goofy-looking with our backpacks and tank tops amongst all of the suits, but the staff still treats us like were professional business people. We even got a complimentary upgrade on our room!
Along with being super nice on the inside, we had great views of the park and our hotel pool!
Our hotel was located right next to the iconic Petronas Towers, formerly the worlds tallest buildings, which are really an impressive sight!
At night, they light up the entire complex, which, although it looks really cool, must be one of the poorest uses of energy in the world. You can see them from miles away.
Being in the business area of town, there were lots of bars and restaurants geared towards that crowd, so we walked around, explored and ate/drank.
Our hotel was also directly next door to the massive KLCC mall - this place was huge! It, too, provided plenty of entertainment and dining options. There is also a subway stop here, which was convenient for us to jump on and quickly get all around the city.
In the morning, we set out to explore the city! We took the subway to Chinatown and did what people do in Chinatown all over the world - shopped! Julian got a new pair of sunglasses (surprise surprise) and Mattie just looked around. After we were all Chinatowned out, we headed over to the Central Market.
It was kind of similar to markets we came across all over Asia, in that it had little stalls selling everything you can imagine. However, it was also indoor, air-conditioned, and relatively clean, which cannot be said for most markets around here. We came close to buying a chess set made of white and black marble, but decided against it. Once we felt we had walked around enough, we stuffed ourselves with a nice lunch at a popular restaurant in the market. Like after all big meals, it was time for a nap. The rest of the day was spent lounging and walking through the park near our hotel.
The following day we continued our exploration of the city to include Little India and around. We saw Merdeka Square and tried to go to the Jamek Mosque, but it was only open at specific intervals during the day, which we missed. After that, we ate an early lunch and dinner at the same Indian restaurant - we can't get enough South Indian cuisine!
Before catching our night train down to Singapore, we stopped back in Chinatown for massages. They were by far the most expensive massages we have had here, and the ladies were talking and cackling the whole time.
This was our first and only night-train experience in SE Asia and it wasn't bad if you ignored the stinky feet and the cigarette smoke drifting through the train car from outside. We each had our own little bed and curtain, and it was relatively inexpensive. The upgrade from a seat to a bed was only about $3, so that was a no-brainer.
We arrived in Singapore in the morning, semi-refreshed from the decent nights sleep on the train. The border was no problem and soon we were wondering through Little India in search of cheap accommodation. We found 2 beds at the Prince of Wales Hostel. When we say cheap, Singapore is really expensive, so it still cost $40 for the night.
First things first... they still have Roti Canai, but its called something completely different, which we can't remember - but it's just as tasty!
After breakfast, we went around the city. We went to the Raffles Hotel and had a Singpore Sling at the Long Bar - this is the 'must-do' thing in Singapore. Apparently this Raffles character was quite popular in his day, as there are multiple sites in the city named after him.
The hotel is old-colonial style architecture and has all kinds of shops throughout it's bottom floor. It was really nice, but the cheapest rooms are around $500 per night, so we probably(definitely) won't be staying there.
We were treated to a couple of shows from Mother Nature that day, the first being a perfect double rainbow across the sky(it didn't come out so well in the picture)
And the second was a wonderful sunset we saw from Raffles Terrace, a park in the middle of the city. The colors were striking.
The next morning was our flight to Bali, Indonesia. We were itching to get back to an island, but in our haste to leave, we forgot a shopping bag full of tea that Mattie had purchased in Malaysia. We called the hotel and they said they would try to hold it until we return(on our way home a couple of weeks from then), so here's hoping we get lucky!
We had heard great things about the Singapore airport, but weren't all that impressed. Maybe we were in an old terminal. One really cool thing they did have was metal detectors at each gate, which alleviated the usual hassle of waiting in long lines to get into the terminal. Anyhow, we boarded our plane to set off for the final stop of our trip - Bali!
Mattie and Julian
Location:Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Singapore
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