Kuala Lumpur Highlights

We spent five days and nights in Kuala Lumpur and were wowed by its mix of styles and cultures. From huge modern skyscrapers to old-school street markets, Malaysia’s biggest city has it all. It’s also big, busy, and very hot, so we learned to go out early in the morning or in the evening, not mid-day. Our Kuala Lumpur highlights include cool neighborhoods, amazing food, and impressive sights.

Kuala Lumpur highlights, Central Market
We loved Kuala Lumpur’s Central Market

About Kuala Lumpur

Located in the western-central part of Peninsular Malaysia, KL is 40km from the west coast and strait of Malacca. From the south, it’s over 300km from Puteri Harbour and took us a few hours on the train. I mentioned the heat, and we went in late June, the dry season. Temperatures ranged around 32C/90F during the day, and the sun is hot and the streets don’t have shade. I missed Cairns!

Malaysia’s largest city, Kuala Lumpur is quite small compared to Tokyo or Jakarta. With a population of just over 2.1 million people, the city is smaller even than Toronto. It’s also considerably cheaper than Tokyo or Toronto. With a culturally diverse population, there’s also lots to see, do, and eat.

giant rotis at TGs Bistro in Kuala Lumpur
We didn’t try, but everyone was taking photos of the giant rotis at TGs Bistro

Intro to Kuala Lumpur

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Klang Day Trip

When we were in Kuala Lumpur (KL for short), we took a day trip to the Royal City of Klang. An interesting place with a rich history, it’s an easy trip from KL, and there’s enough to do to fill a day. We met nice people, saw some sights, and had a good lunch on our Klang day trip.

Why Take a Klang Day Trip

The main reason we went to Klang was to pick up a part at a marine chandler outside of Klang. Since it was almost an hour each way from Kuala Lumpur, I researched what to do nearby and realized there was a lot! The Royal City of Klang has interesting history, great street art, and more.

Klang Day Trip from Kuala Lumpur

We took Grabs both ways from KL to Klang, and they are so efficient and inexpensive in Malaysia that it was fine for us. You take a Grab for 45 minutes and it costs less than a 10 minute trip in Toronto.

Klang from Kuala Lumpur map
Klang City is about 35K south west of Kuala Lumpur

That’s not the only way to get there. After our Klang day trip, we discovered that a new train station had just opened and the train was running for free as a new promotion! The LRT makes a lot of stops so would take about 90 minutes whereas the car depending on traffic takes about an hour. Read on for what to see and do.

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A Trip to Kuching

Malaysia, like Indonesia, is a country which loves cats. So much so, in fact, they named a city after them. The origin of the name is under dispute, but it’s a fact that Kuching is the Malaysian word for cat. Located on the island of Borneo, in the state of Sarawak, Kuching is a fun place to visit. We recently took a trip to Kuching from Penang, Malaysia, and it’s not just for cat lovers!

Kuching Background

Kuching is pronounced Koo – Ching. It is the capital of the state of Sarawak, but we didn’t find it very busy. We saw other tourists, but not many, and most places we visited were fairly quiet. The busiest place was Bako National Park outside of Kuching, where we saw monkeys and other native wildlife.

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