Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur

We were down to our last vacation stop... As you saw with the Langkawi portion, we ran into a couple hiccups the 2nd half of our trip and we did again in Kuala Lumpur mainly due to the evening downpours. Unfortunately  we missed our Food Tour for the first night, but this meant we went to bed early to get up for our hike.

Let's just say Matt was addicted to the leisurely part of our tour in Langkawi and when the 5:30am wake-up call happened, he was less than thrilled. But I'd read so many great things about this hike online that I didn't want to miss it! So he was a trooper and we headed to breakfast and then the car picked us up. When we hopped in we were greeted by our incredibly friendly tour guide, Amos, and an ANOTHER American couple living in Shanghai! Too hilarious! Obviously, we all planned our trips using TripAdvisor. :)

It was a quick 20min drive out to the edge of Kuala Lumpur. All of a sudden we were parked on a random suburb street corner and hopping on top of pipes to start our hike! The tour website was direct in suggesting that everyone trekking was of at least average physical fitness but Matt & I have been on enough hikes/treks to know that "average" really is just an insurance policy type warning and normally the trek isn't that difficult. On this occasion we could not be more wrong. I'd highly suggest being of above average athletic ability, but we made it! We were no joke rock climbing, scaling quartz covered jutting cliffs and swinging down up and down ropes tied to "natural ladders" Haha. No way would this trek fly without some serious, serious harnesses in the US. It was AWESOME! While everything was a little scary, Amos, our guide was fabulous at talking us through it all and making sure we were all laughing and having a great time. Every single scratch, bruise and inevitable mosquito bite was worth it once we got our first peek of the horizons through the trees. 

this pipe walk was unexpected...

"natural ladders"

these are our buddies really demonstrating the type of terrain we were dealing with. ropes were available, but we who needs ropes!

don't look down

the amazing Amos. used to be an iBanker, but loved the outdoors so 2 years ago we started OpenSky Unlimited!

The view was unreal. We were literally on the edge of the city. At the peak we looked one way and saw the skyline of the Kuala Lumpur city and on the other side was the pure nature of the fog rolling over the lake and the jungle. STUNNING. 

our first peek of the city. (don't I look tan?!?!?!)

oh yeah, we hiked that.

pretty proud of ourselves

the jungle side

 

my personal favorite. that's a keeper!

we reached the end of our journey. as demonstrated by the huge cliff

After some crucial photo ops at all the death-defying cliffsides, we climbed back down and headed out to brunch at "an authentic local restaurant". We ordered a sampling of all sorts of traditional roti, curries, etc. Everything was incredibly tasty. Amos told us that most people actually eat out every meal because at cafes like this it's just so cheap! Each dish was about $1 and we had probably 15 different dishes between the 5 of us, about $3 a piece for a seriously tasty & satisfying meal.

first we paused for some photos with the monkey :)

Amos popped up this little changing tent! Talk about customer service. Hehe!

oh yeah, we hiked from left to right

lunch!

roti & curries!

We headed back to the glorious Westin for a nap. :) Then we were out to do some sight seeing at some temples  / churches / mosques nearby. One thing I had read about Malaysia before coming is how much they embrace and encourage the diversity of their population. Of the population 60% are Malays, which are Muslim by definition, (Amos made it seem like that was a law? Not sure), 30% are Chinese and predominantly Buddhist, the remaining 10% are Indian and predominantly Hindu. Malaysia Link. (This, again, is an over-simplification on my part as there are various other religions and ethnicities represented as well.) We were off to see an area where there was a Mosque, Buddhist Temple & Hindu Temple all in a row... unfortunately, we got rained out...

So it was back to food adventures! Amos our guide had mentioned this amazing food court. Sounds silly, right? Apparently the developer of the mall near our hotel, called Lot 10, was a huge foodie and he loved street food (hawker food). He rounded up all his favorite street hawkers that were famous in Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding areas that have been around for decades. All of those that were on their 2nd or 3rd generation he suggested that they let the next generation test out by running another stall location in his food court. Basically, it's a huge basement stocked full of delicious street food stalls. We tried 4 stalls and they were DELICIOUS! Actually, a decent amount of Chinese food represented here.

 

Not surprising our last stop in Kuala Lumpur focused again on Food & Friends! We met up with one of Matt's old co-workers from BCG, Rahul, who moved out to KL to work for a start-up airline. (what?!?!) He suggested we check out a different part of the city and we met him at a "Banana Leaf" restaurant. Again, delicious! Not to mention the great company!  I actually think KL is another city that would make for great Expat living. :)

Rahul & my husband with incredibly long hair

this one's for the Hancock clan... imagine my disappointment when I learned this is not an actual Butter Factory but a night club.

Unfortunately, the vacation had come to an end. The weirdest part about coming back from a vacation is coming "home" to a place that still kind feels like a "vacation spot." We're back in Shanghai!