I was super excited to be in KL! I had briefly stopped here before on a previous trip and loved the vibe so was excited to be back with some more time to explore. As soon as I touched down and walked through the airport I felt instant nostalgia and remembered being here the last time and exactly what I was doing, it felt really weird. I had a whole long list of things I wanted to do and see whilst here so was very ready to get going! I was greeted by rain, of course (hate you monsoon season) but headed from the airport to checkin at my hostel and have a bit of downtime as I wasn’t feeling great, I ended up falling asleep until late in the evening and just headed out to grab a drink and then went back to bed, hoping to begin exploring properly the following day.

Tuesday ended up being a bit of a write off too as I still wasn’t feeling 100%, I was gutted. I just had no energy to go out and enjoy myself. I went out for some breakfast and wandered around some of the urban areas of Changkat for a little while but before long I ended up back at the hostel with a film on trying to recover. Luckily, after a few more hours laying down with a film, I was feeling better by the evening and headed out for dinner and activities with the hostel which was really fun. We got shawarma and had a wander around Chinatown which was cool, and then I headed back and got to sleep ready to get going tomorrow.

Day three I was finally feeling better and I was so glad! It was also our first day of real sunshine here in KL so even better. Exploring begins. I headed to the Batu Caves which was a must when I was here, I’d seen photos online and was desperate to see it in real life, I promise you, it looked just as incredible. It was bright and colourful and the main statue itself was absolutely huge, there were lots of other parts to walk around too around the area which was really nice, although lots of it was under construction, so lots of diggers and vans around everywhere!

I did the walk up the stairs to the caves, and it was a killer I’m not gonna lie. I thought it would be okay, and I think if it was cooler it would have been fine, but the humidity really took me out and I had to stop halfway up! Although, a monkey coming over to me after about 30 seconds quickly moved me on.. I’ve now reached the part of my trip where monkeys aren’t actually that cute anymore, to the point where I didn’t even risk taking water up to the caves because I know they would have tried to attack me and steal it which has happened at temples in the past. They were proper on it too, some girls had coconuts snatched out of their hands and another guy had one launch at his shoulder because he was eating a banana. I wasn’t taking any chances!

The caves themselves were really cool too, there were lots of different temples to explore, some you had to pay for (Batu Caves itself is free to enter) but I just did the free ones and really enjoyed it, it was also a great opportunity to escape the heat for a little bit! I actually ended up spending longer here than people suggested as I quite enjoyed just wandering around and taking it in, considering KL is such a massive city, I didn’t expect something like this just planted here, although it is slightly outside of the city centre itself!

When I got back to the hostel there were some of the people I’d met here just hanging out so I joined them and we ended up going for some dinner together which was nice, shawarma is huge here, so we found a spot close by that looked fairly local and the food was amazing. I got the chicken and falafel and it tasted so so good. We finished the evening with drinks on the rooftop terrace which was really nice too, I love the simple moments whilst travelling and really enjoyed just hanging out and laughing with others that are travelling.

Day four and my last full day in KL. Today was very much a blitz day to see how much I could visit in a day, as I lost a day when I first arrived as I wasn’t feeling great. I ended up walking everywhere and covered a lot of ground considering I was going from differents areas to others over the course of the day! First up was Petaling Street Market and Chinatown; I feel like once you’ve seen a market you’ve seen them all, but this was my first in Malaysia so wanted to check it out. It was here I realised that actually the locals in some of the other countries I’ve visited are far friendlier, don’t get me wrong, I have met some incredible locals here, but I feel like they generally are more pushy and persistent, which I really don’t like.

From here I headed over to Central Market where I strolled through some of the different stalls which all looked really cool and quirky, and got one of the most incredible chocolate milkshakes ever from Kakao Origin (thanks Georgie for the rec!) and then walked along the River of Life and ended up in Independence Square which was really cool. It had a kinda ‘Aladdin’ feel to it with the types of buildings, and was really nice to hang out and spend some time there. I headed to checkout Menara KL Tower which was super cool. All very close together making it super easy to visit all in one hit.

I strolled over to the Petronas Twin Towers next, and it was a signifcantly longer walk than I thought it was, but the views along the way were incredible which made up for it. I probably wouldn’t have minded if it wasn’t super humid but I was absolutely melting. I did manage to see it from a load of different angles though which was also really cool, because of the route I took from one place to the next. I really wanted to see them in both the day and night time, so in the afternoon, headed to KLCC park from the towers to get some really cool views, and then planned to head back later in the evening. I wandered back to where I was staying from here and was so relieved to get back to get out of the sun for a little bit!

I didn’t end up heading back there haha, I was definitely feeling tired from being out in the sunshine all day and definitely not drinking enough water, so finished off my day by grabbing some dinner and heading to a Christmas Event local to where I was staying which actually felt really magical, it wasn’t anything big or fancy but just nice. I’m not really a Christmas person but this actually felt really nice; I’ve seen all over social media people at home putting their trees up and getting into the festive spirit and I haven’t felt christmassy at all, and it felt so nice to feel a little festive, thousands of miles away.

Friday quickly arrived and I was heading to Singapore! Again, another place I was super excited to get to. Considering Singapore is the smallest country and city I’m going to, I think it actually has the longest list of things I want to see and do there, luckily all quite close together though so very doable in the time I have! Another flight so I checked out of my accommodation and headed back to the airport for a quick hop over. See you there, Mads x