We arrived in the city at 5am sharp, groggy from our few hours of sleep aboard the ‘massage’ express, the name of our surprisingly comfy sleeper bus. Nevertheless, we had the entire day to explore Kuala Lumpur and set our sights on the second country of our study abroad experience. This was, of course, after the obligatory three-hour nap outside of the first Starbucks we could find. After this, we told ourselves we’d avoid the western stereotypes for good.
Not making any plans, we wandered around our bus stop and made our way towards the biggest buildings we could see since we convinced ourselves that downtown must be nicer than the downtrodden area we were dropped off in. Along the way we made plenty of time for side excursions to try out the local street food. To my complete surprise, my best meal came from Little Arabia, a single street with sizzling shawarma stands, expressive vendors, and incredibly fresh juices. Here, I tasted one of the greatest things I’ve ever had in my life, from a place I would have never expected: A simple chicken shawarma wrap. The ingredients were so fresh that it made any chicken I’ve tasted in the past seem like it was conjured up out of an artificial lab. After resting in a local park to digest, we heard about a zoo solely dedicated to birds (the largest one in the world in fact), and found our next destination.
We walked about half an hour, getting momentarily lost in Malaysia’s esteemed national mosque. We then stumbled into what we thought was the bird park, but was really the butterfly spinoff. After receiving proper directions, we headed towards the birds. Yet, before reaching it, we stumbled across a dozen or so monkeys playing on some trees. We stood amazed for half an hour, watching them take massive leaps from trees and fighting with each other. Some even climbed within arms reach of us and started a starring contest with me. It was by far the highlight of the day. I was awestruck at how much more enjoyable this experience was compared to the one I had paid for just a couple of weeks before, over at the Singapore zoo. I was inches away from these fantastically curious creatures, and didn’t even had to pay for the privilege! Little did I know that I was about to have an ever crazier experience with monkeys our next day at the Batu Caves.
After reaching the park, we were taken aback by steep admission price, which we thought was going to be free. The rest of the group decided to go in, but I made my way to a local café overlooking the park, ordered a coffee, and read a book I’ve had little time to enjoy until now.
After regrouping to venture back into the city proper, we made our way over to the twin towers that dominated the skyline. These enormous structures made me think about Malaysia’s place among the developing countries of south east Asia. For a long time, I thought this country was on the lower end of economic advancement, but these monolithic displays of wealth changed the way I viewed the issue. After gazing at the tower, we set inside for the real treasure we were after, glorious vegetarian Indian food (at Amanda’s recommendation). I rushed past all the distractions inside the mall to get to the Indian food court in the back and ordered the most appetizing picture I saw on the stall’s wall which was plastered in dozens of different (and equally confusing) dishes. Carefully avoiding something ‘spicy’ which code for death liquid in Indian, I ended up with a delicious steaming red curry bowl complete with a side of garlic nan and sour milk to flush it down. As we left the mall, we made our way back to the Hostel we were staying at to catch their bar hopping event, but not without catching another glimpse of the stunning skyline.
Stay tuned for part 2 of our adventures in Kuala Lumpur!
Luke Jacobs is a traveler, and writer for his adventure blog Life’s A Risk!
