Kuala Lumpur: Food never stops

Arriving into Kuala Lumpur, I made my way down to the KLIA express, a train that takes you from the airport to KL Sentral for about 15 usd and takes 50 minutes. KL sentral serves a similar purpose as Taipei main station, connecting metro, high speed rail, buses and taxi, except it does a horrible job at it.

There are about 4-5 different lines owned by different companies, and transferring between them is difficult. For instance, the monorail line is shown to be at KL sentral. But in reality, it is about a 20 min walk away. The signage is not helpful either; they stopped appearing once I left the station, and I still had probably 10 min walk left. Thank God for Google maps!

(Pro tip: While you have internet access before your trip, bring up Google maps and look at the area where you will be visiting at full zoom. This will save to your phone, and when you arrive.with no internet connection you can still use the map with GPS. This saved my ass multiple times.)

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Finding things to do:

I arrived at my hostel, and journeyed into the streets for a late night snack. Once full, I looked for activities for the next day and through tripadvisor I found a heritage walk called Eat, Pray, Love ran by "betourist". For $51 USD a person, you are guided on a 4-hour tour through the streets of Kuala Lumpur and shown historical, religious and most importantly, eating sites. Despite the steep cost, I chose to do this for two reasons: 1) I had no plans for the next day, and 2) I figured it would be a good way to meet people. This tour turned out to be a great time. Not only did I try food that I would have not found or try on my own, I was taught about the history, culture, and religious diversity of Malaysia. For those of you who don't know, Malaysia is EXTREMELY diverse in those aspects, with large populations of Muslims, Christians, Buddhist, Hindu, Indians, Chinese, and indigenous Malay.

Below are pictures from the tour, and "yes" we got everyone on the tour to go for beers after!

Banana Leaf meal eaten with hands

Elephant ear type thing with condensed milk

Sting Ray

Fresh fruit

Kuih Talam: just eat it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Batu Caves:

You don't have to wonder why these caves are among the most popular Hindu shrines outside of India once you see the pictures below. The iconic Statue of the Hindu deity, Murugan, stands 140 ft tall at the entrance of 272 stairs. Along with the shrines and temple at the top the walls are home to wild monkeys thathave learned to co-exist with the tourists that come (watch your water bottles, snacks, loose attire because they will steal it from you. And yes they can unscrew bottle caps). You can get there easily by taking the red line from KL Sentral north to Sentul. It will cost  about $1 USD total.

Temple at the top

Lots of stairs!

 

 

Unsuspecting tourists orange juice

 

 

 

 

Jalan Alor:

I was told this was the food street to go to at night. Lots of little restaurants and street hawkers. At the very end there is a place that is known for its fried chicken wings. Sadly it was closed the night I went. Many different cuisines are here including satay, fresh fruits(including Durian), BBQ, chinese, Thai and much more. On this street, its all about the experience, where hundreds of people sit outside eating dinner and enjoying a few drinks among friends.This street is easily accessible from Bukit Bintang station.

Jalan Alor street

Pineapple Szechuan Chicken

Malay Satay

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some other things to check out:

Petronas Towers: Kuala Lumpur's architectural accomplishment. People come to take paid tours that cost about $25 USD. Fellow travelers from my food walk said the tour was worth it due to the amazing view of KL from the sky bridge. I still decided not to go to the tour and opted instead to walk around the grounds and through the mall underneath for a few hours.

Petaling street: I couldn't avoid this place due to the fact my hostel was right on the corner of it. Known as "China town" there are a bunch of street vendors for food and goods. Pretty much the same stuff you can get from any touristy market area. Haggling is expected, I usually shoot for 60% off their first price.

There was also a large luxurious shopping mall, obviously I did not go there because I'm poor.