Kuala Lumpur is the capital of Malaysia with 7.25 million people. It is rated by Forbes as the 6th best city in the world for retirement abroad due to its affordable cost of living, heath care, and widely spoken English. Malaysia’s official religion is Islam but for the most part it’s not that obvious as a tourist. Muslim’s make up 61% of the population, with 20% Buddhist, 9% Christian, and 6% Hindu. It was hot and steamy at 80% or higher humidity every day. That must be something people adapt to because Bill and I were 
hot messes, but I noticed the locals did not seem to sweat like we did. We stayed at The Face, a skyscraper that has both condo’s and a hotel. Our condo was very nice, 2 bedrooms and 1.5 baths (a good thing J). It was spacious and clean, so I was happy, and it only cost $60 a night. I love AirBnB! I spent a lot of time at the great infinity pool on the 51st floor that provided excellent views of the most notable buildings in Kuala Lumpur, the Petronas Towers and the Menara KL Tower. The KL Tower is a communications tower with a sky-deck and a restaurant, the 7th tallest in the world at 1381 feet tall, and at night it was lit with ever-changing colors.
Malaysia has a pretty interesting approach to government. It is a Constitutional Monarchy with the majority of the power held by the Prime Minister and Parliament. They do have a King, officially the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (translates to “He Who Was Made Supreme Lord”), who is actually selected on a rotating basis from among the 9 Malay Sultan’s. They have a 5-year term limit before the next Sultan in the cycle comes to power.
Since we arrived late in the afternoon on Friday and were staying in Kuala Lumpur for 17 days, we decided to skip site seeing for the weekend and focus on pool time, some shopping and catching up on a few movies. The theaters are quite nice with reserved seating and great prices, roughly $12 for the two of us including popcorn, coke and M&M’s.
Lord Murugan at the Staircase to the Temple Cave
Our first day of sightseeing we headed to the Batu Caves, one of the most visited Hindu shrines outside of India. It is located in a 400 million-year-old limestone hill that has a series of caves several of which have been turned into temples dedicated to Lord Murugan. Just to make sure there is no confusion about that, standing at the entrance to the main cave complex is a 140-foot-tall golden statue of Lord Murugan and guess what…it is the tallest in the world (apparently all cities are into being the “best” or “biggest” or … in the world).
There are 272 steps leading up to the main Temple Cave, which is in a very large open-air cavern. Several families of macaque monkeys live in the cave and I had read that they will bite so the recommendation was not to carry food or plastic bags. You also were not supposed to look them directly in the eyes or smile at them. Of course, there were people feeding them by hand and trying to pet them, and we saw them trying to steal one lady’s bag. At one point, someone set off a firecracker and we watched the monkeys all take-off up the cliff in a line. Several minutes later, they individually started to slowly come back down to get more food.
Sculpture in Ramayana Cave
There were a few other caves opened to visitors. We went into the Ramayana Cave, which has new, sort of cartoonish, looking statues and murals depicting the story of Rama (unlike the Temple Cave, this one had an entry fee and it felt more like the Disney World of temples but without the animatronics or rides). The Dark Caves are actually the largest and they run 2+ hour tours (including a 4-hour tour that is just short of spelunking). They warn you about the heat and humidity (even higher than outside the cave), tight spaces, getting dirty and let’s not forget lots of bugs and spiders. We chose to skip that one. (I’m claustrophobic so tight spaces and I don’t get along. Dessa’s relationship with spiders was also a factor )
Traffic was heavy in our area, so we skipped our usual Bike Tour in favor of a private walking tour. Our guide, Brendan, picked us up at the apartment and given the heat and humidity, he took pity on us and drove us to a variety of the sites including a few that were well out of the way and not part of the normal itinerary. As a result, we saw all of the main city attractions. It would have taken us days to go to each place on our own, so this was really awesome. It was billed as a 4-hour tour, but it lasted about 6 hours and included lunch at a pretty nice restaurant. Brendan said he found most American’s were very picky eaters (that makes Dessa a typical American) so he ordered some pretty mainstream dishes for us. They were all very good.
Sultan Abdul Samad Jamek Mosque
The tour covered the KL Railway Station, the main Masjid Negara city mosque, Merdeka Square, Masjid Jamik Bazar, Sin Sze Si Ya Temple, Thean Hou Temple, Chinatown, Little India, and the Sri Mahamariamman Temple. He gave us time to take as many pictures as we wanted and gave us suggestions of where else to go and what to skip. He also told us a few local pet peeves, telling us that non-Muslim’s were discriminated against in Malaysia. For example, 80% of university placements are reserved for Muslims, even though only 61% of the population is Muslim. Muslim’s also get a 7% discount on brand new real estate purchases that isn’t available to anyone else. Of course, Muslim’s also hold the vast majority of the government jobs where they supplement their salaries by accepting bribes for doing (or not doing) their jobs. He said most drivers carry a few hundred extra money in their cars to pay off the cops when they get pulled over. Some cops are honest, but if a cop pulls you over and starts a conversation, rather than immediately writing you a ticket, then he is looking for a pay-off.
Many Malay’s have to work two or three jobs to support their family. Brendon was 40, nice looking, and unmarried, claiming that Malay girls were not interested in a guy unless he could buy them all the name brand goodies. I discovered later that Malaysia actually has a “Sugar Daddy” dating website with 55,000 members. (I’ve only been retired 6 weeks and already she’s shopping for an upgrade – she even asked me to help her with her profile).
Naturally we had to go to the Botanical Garden and the Butterfly Park (yeah, more flower pictures. Ok, it’s not just Dessa, I took some too). We 
found a giant moth that looked like a dead leaf, and a huge snail, as well as a few flowers we had never seen before. We continued to take it easy, sightseeing one day, then taking a day off for work outs and pool time. We probably went to one of the many malls every day for meals, groceries, drug stores, movie theaters and of course, pastries. One restaurant was a Japanese Teppanyaki grill. Dinner was about $8 each and we had left overs for a 2nd meal. It was lighter on the entertainment but the food was as good or better than Benihana’s. I could not find any Mexican food so I’m having withdrawal.
Bill and I are consistently amazed at the selfie compulsion in the Asian culture. The women are the worst, taking picture after picture. Dressing up and having their friends take their pic, making silly poses and constantly flashing the peace sign. Even the little kids are getting in on it. They often don’t even include the sites they are visiting in the pics, preferring their own image. I guess we don’t think our friends and family want to see our faces that much, or maybe it is us that don’t want see our faces? Clearly in this part of the world, we are the photography oddballs.
Often, we seem to just miss the good festivals when we travel (I’ll have to do better job of researching this before our next trip), but this time we got lucky. Thaipusam is a Hindu celebration that falls on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (spreads across January and February) and takes place over three days. This year the full moon coincided with the Super Moon and the Eclipse which affected the festival. Hindus consider eclipses inauspicious because the light and energy from the sun or moon are blocked and no religious services can be carried out and no milk offerings made during an eclipse.
Chariots at Sri Mahamariamman temple
A Huge Kavadi
On the night of the first day of Thaipusam, we went back to Sri Maha Mariamman Temple where two chariots (one silver and one gold) depart on a procession through the streets of Kuala Lumpur. On the second day, participants walk barefoot on a roughly 10-mile path to the Batu Caves to fulfill vows. Finally, on the last day of the festival, the Hindu faithful carry offerings such as pots of goat milk, have their cheeks and tongues pierced with long spikes, and/or carry huge decorated structures called Kavadi (burden) up the 272 steps to the Temple Cave. The kavadi are supported by spikes (fish hooks) puncturing their chests and back. Their pilgrimage and offerings are atonement for their sins or an effort to seek extra blessings (makes simply asking for forgiveness seem a little too easy). Prior to their trek, the bearers of the kavadi have prepared themselves spiritually by subsisting on a limited vegetarian diet for a month, fasting completely for the last couple of days, and practicing celibacy the whole time (another reason why I’ll never be a kavadi bearer, not that I really needed another reason). Between the diet, the heat, the long shoeless trek to the caves, and the weight of the kavadi, the followers are nearly in a trance when they arrive at the bottom of the hill that leads up to the Batu Caves. The adherents of this custom believe that short-term bodily pain is well worth the long-term spiritual gain.
We were warned that many roads would be closed and public transportation would be overwhelmed by people going to the caves, but this was our once in a lifetime chance, so off we went to see/photograph the event. The warning was accurate as we left our apartment by 7:30am to be crammed into a very crowded light rail car. They must have diverted extra trains to the caves because we spent a lot of time waiting on the tracks at various stops for the track to be clear. It took us 1.5 hours to make a 23-minute trip, with more people crowding on at every stop. The return trip was even worse, but it was totally worth it! (check out our short video montage Here).
Pulling a Kavadi to the Temple Cave
Between 30,000 and 40,000 people were crowded into the site around the Batu Caves where there were lots of food and souvenir stalls set up as well as a small carnival with rides. Around 250 kavadi bearers made the trek along with some 10,000 devotees carrying milk pots. The kavadi took many different forms, and some of them were gigantic, weighing up to 200 pounds. They were so colorful, decorated with peacock feathers, idols, flowers, bells, fruit, and mini milk jugs. Most were carried on the shoulders, but some were pulled by straps attached to the hooks in the backs of the ‘bearer’. Almost all of the bearers had spikes through their tongues, and some had them through their cheeks as well. Family supporters made the pilgrimage with them as well as a team that acted like boxing trainers, carrying a stool for them sit on when they needed a break (some even had a drum group leading the way). There were a few that erupted in trance induced flailing arms and erratic dance moves.
We only stayed a little over 2 hours but it was an unforgettable visit and we took almost 1000 pictures (a lot less will be posted to Flickr). By the time we left, we were both soaking wet with sweat from just walking around. It’s difficult to imagine what the Kavadi bearers were experiencing. By the time we got back to the apartment we were definitely ready for pool time.
Roasting Lamb at Jalon Alor
Jalon Alor was touted as the best place for street food, so off we went. It was indeed a street full of food hawkers. We walked the length of it, and picked a place making roti filled with eggs and onions (picky eaters significantly reduce your options). While waiting for our order to be made, I commented that there were probably lots of rats around. Minutes later, Bill said he saw two rats dart across the kitchen area L You will be surprised to hear I ate it anyway, and it was actually really good. We tried a few other things that were just ok. I prefer the mall food court (no rats but more importantly, lots of pastry shops just steps away).
Petronas Towers
Based on Brendan’s advice, one evening we went up to the Sky Bar in the Traders Hotel for a great view of the Petronas Towers and then to the Heli Lounge for a 360-degree view of the city. The Heli Lounge, as you might have guessed, is the top floor helicopter pad of the Menara KH building which gets converted to a bar every evening at 6pm. They have a simple blue band around the outside of the Heli Pad to stop you from walking off the edge, and if for some reason you decided to go beyond the blue band, there is a net about three feet wide to catch you. Otherwise, it was straight down 36 floors to the street. (while it was interesting to have a 360-degree view, the Kuala Lumpur skyline is not particularly attractive and we had a better view of the Petronas Towers from our 51st floor apartment pool balcony).
You can find all of our Kuala Lumpur photos HERE
Next up diving in Palau from the Solitude One live aboard. Can’t wait!!
Post Author: Dessa (with editorial comments by Bill in Italics)
Love!