KUALA LUMPUR - TRAVEL TIPS

If you are transiting KL for a day or two, you need to wisely choose the places to visit and planned them in such a way you don't waste unnecessary time. KL is small compared to Jakarta and Bangkok.
As such you can cover most of the popular sites within two days.

If you are travelling on a budget, or backpacking, the best place to stay is in Chinatown - Petaling Street. Nearest Station is Pasar Seni. The second choice will be in Little India - Brickfields, next to KL Sentral Station. From your place of stay, you could visit some prominent tourist site. There are many famous Chinese and Indian Temples nearby. Guan Di Temple, Sin Sze Yu Sia Temple and Sri Mahamariaman Temple to name a few. If budget is not your concern, I recommend you to stay at KL Sentral Station Area - you have The Hilton, Le Meridian, Aloft, Majestic and the luxurious St. Regis. Reason is because of their close proximity to tourist sites. All within short walking distance from the hotel.

Sin Sze Yu Sia Temple

 Guan Di Temple

Sri Mahamariaman Temple

Old KL Railway Station

The Petaling Street Flea Market is an interesting area. Similar to Singapore Chinatown. Hostels and Backbackers lined up the street. The market start about 5pm and last until late hours of the nights. It's a real bargain here. You need to be a smart negotiator when buying things here. Another interesting place for souvenir hunting is the Central Market. It used to be KL Wet market. It was built in 1888 and served it's purpose for over 90 years. The building underwent a few face lifts and was transformed into a centre for Malaysian culture, arts and handicraft. If you want a professional portrait painting of yourself , this is the place to do it.

Dayabumi Complex

Textile Museum

National Mosque

If you walk further west, via a narrow bridge across the Klang River, you will see a 35 storey's white structure "Dayabumi Complex". It is now owned by Petronas. The Post Office HQ is next door. If you walk to the other side of the building, you will be awed with so many "Moorish-style" building built during the Colonial days. If you take left, after a good 5 minutes walk you will see the old KL Railway Station. Opposite it, is the Malayan Railway Head office. After crossing the road and walking North, you will see the National Mosque. Visitors are allowed into the mosque. See the tourist information counter for further info. If you walk the road again towards the North, you will start seeing more old buildings. Nearest to you is the Textile Museum. Then the splendour of Sultan Abdul Samad Building which used to sit the federal administrative centre.

Sultan Abdul Samad Building

 In front of the building, is the famous Merdeka (Independence) Square. This is where Malaysians celebrate their independence day every year. There is the Selangor Club, which sits on the corner of the field. Cricket and Rugby matches are held here from time to time.

The Merdeka Square with surrounding buildings

Masjid Jamek

About five minutes walk to the East of the square, you will come across a unique old mosque that sits on the confluence of the Klang and Gombak River. It's called Masjid Jamek Kuala Lumpur. Visitors can once again enter the mosque. There is a tourist info office near the gate. There is also an LRT station just outside the mosque gate.

From the mosque you can walk back to your hostels via the HSBC Building "Riverside Walk" back to Central Market and to Chinatown. You can snap nice pictures of the mosque from the bridge nearby ! Those walks and sight seeing can easily takes half a day of your tour of KL. We have covered at least 6 of the best spots KL has to offer. 1) Temples 2) Handicraft Centre at Central Market 3) Old KL Railway Station and Textile Museum 4) Sultan Abdul Samad Building & Merdeka Square 5) National Mosque and Masjid Jamek. After this I am going to list you in order of easy scheduling where to head for the other 5 top spots to see in KL : 6) KL Tower 7) Petronas Twin Tower, Suria Shopping Centre, KL Convention Centre, Aquaria and KLCC Park 8) Bukit Bintang Shopping District. The evening can be spent enjoying the Flea Market "Petaling Street"near your hostel. There's a lot of makeshift food stalls sprouting in the evening. They are generally very clean and you need to look, which stall most people go to.....I bet you, their dishes and services must be damn good ! As for your next two itineraries: 9) Trip to Batu Caves Hindu Temple 10) Lake Gardens, National Monument, Bird Park (Largest Aviary in the World) and Butterfly Park should be covered on your second day.

To get to KL Tower, you need either a Grab/Uber car or take the Monorail (stop at Bukit Nanas station). I strongly advised taking the Uber/Garb as climbing the hill may be taxing for some. Going downhill later, not too bad and you can walk your way to Petronas Twin Tower from there. The tower is 421m high and add the hill (Bukit Nanas) which is 94m high, that makes a total height of 515m above sea level. It's located within the  Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve area of KL. As seen from the picture (right), it's as if the tower jut out from the forest! For tickets, I suggest you buy online: https://www.wonderfly.asia/productDetails/141/kl_tower? Vast difference in price if you buy at the counter and not forgetting the long queue. Almost double.....so check out the URL that I have given above. Pray for a good weather with little cloud cover, you will see fantastic view of KL. The tower is also famous for it's base jumping. Check out at the info counter, for activities available at the tower. One hour or more at the tower should be more than sufficient.

Your next stop will be the famous Petronas Twin Tower. This tower was once the tallest tower in the world. Reining the title from 1998 to 2004. This 88 storey structure were built mainly of reinforced concrete with stainless steel and glass facade. The gleaming beauty of the towers can be seen from far away as a distinctive icon. It symbolises KL, and, everthing expensive enclaves around that area too. You can go up the skybridge - the bridge linking the two towers. They are closed on Monday. Pls don't make the same mistakes other had made awaiting the long queue. Refer to the URL for info :
https://www.tripadvisor.com.my/ShowUserReviews-g298570-d317521-r104428593-Petronas_Twin_Towers-Kuala_Lumpur_Wilayah_Persekutuan.html

KLCC Park - Kuala Lumpur City Centre Park

 If you want to get a good shot of the twin tower with the skybridge, stay as this two hotels. 1) Traders Hotel - nearby and next to the KL Convention Centre - take picture from the Sky Bar. You can't go wrong. 2) Regalia Suites - located near Putra World Trade Centre. From her pool area you can see spectacular view of the Twin Tower. There's so many things to see in the vicinity of KLCC. The Suria KLCC - Philharmonic Theatre, Science Centre, shopping and eating. The KL Convention Centre - check out events and exhibition happening during your stay in KL and at the basement is The Aquaria - Underwater Aquarium.

It is the largest single saltwater tank with a capacity of 2.5 million litres. The longest underwater tunnel at 90metres and over 5,000 over exhibits. The entrance ticket price is about the same as KL Tower. You can book on line at : http://www.wonderfly.asia/productDetails/79/aquaria_klccatkuala_lumpur?

Back into the open air, you have the KLCC Park to venture where photographer spends alot of time taking pictures of KL Skyline from different angles. If you have small kids, they will enjoy playing in the playground and splashing in the pool with waterfalls. The concept of the KLCC Park is a copycat of a "mini" Central Park in New York City. The greenery is something that everyone looks forward to. I for one especially enjoy the jogging track (1.3 Km long). My previous office is in the KLCC Park. A few mornings, I would come to the office early and did a 6 kilometre run round the track. After that take a shower, get dress at our gym changing room and ready for work.

Next after spending a good 3 hours or so in the KLCC area, you just need to walk to the elevated KLCC - Bukit Bintang Walkway (1.2 Km long pedestrian bridge) that connects KL Convention Centre and The Pavilion in Bukit Bintang. Certain stretch of the walkway is air-conditioned.

The air-conditioned KLCC-Bukit Bintang Walkway

 Prominent Shopping Mall in Bukit Bintang area is the Exclusive Star Hill Gallery, The Pavilion, Lot 10, Fahrenheit88, Sungei Wang Plaza and Berjaya Time Square. If your mission in KL is just for shopping, it's better to put up around this area. You can find many five star hotels here namely : JW Marriot, Ritz-Carlton, Westin, Grand Millenium, ParkRoyal, and Melia. There many more which I might have missed out.

Changkat B.B.

Changkat B.B.

Changkat B.B.

As you passed near Sungei Wang area, you will notice row of shops which sells souvenir items and some offering foot massages (reflexology). Behind those row of shops, are the famous eateries of Jalan Alor. These makeshift food stalls only exist at night. All kind of delicacies can be found here. If you venture downhill a bit, you will discover Bukit Bintang night spot - The Changkat Bukit Bintang (KL "watering holes"). Here you will find Clubs, Irish Pubs, German Bars and some cigar bars too ! 

Petaling Street

Jalan Alor, Bukit Bintang

For the younger group, there's another place called TREC and Zouk (about 3 Km away) along Jalan Tun Razak. If you have soft spot for night life, there's another place you could visit - Bangsar. This happening place caters for the upmarket and executives to socialize after working hours. It's concentrated along Jalan Telawi 3 and Telawi 5. This area is closer to KL Sentral Station. Assuming your stay is only two nights, then stay away from these areas, as you will not want to leave. Assuming that you had some food at the Jalan Alor, keep some space for another hawker food tasting ceremony near the Petaling Street. From Bukit Bintang there's an MRT train service to Pasar Seni Station (nearest Station to Petaling Street). So that completes your hectic first day in Kuala Lumpur.

2nd Day in Kuala Lumpur. 

In order to cover as much sites to visit on the 2nd day, it's good to start early. The Batu Caves Temple open as early as 6 am. The Main Temple Caves open at 7 am. It is advisable to arrive early. There's three options to get there. First, if you take a tour then transport will be provided. The thing about a tour, it waste time on something that you do not want to visit and have to accomodate the others who may have a different agenda. As you are in the group, you have to tolerate them. The tour guide I'm recommending - I do not get any commision from them. Just to make your life easier. You can book the tour online : https://www.getyourguide.com/-l4011/?cmp=ga&campaign_id=244540289&adgroup_id=16521455369&target_id=aud-196325824409:kwd-771025878&loc_physical_ms=9066433&match_type=p&ad_id=216050641668&keyword=batu%20caves

Main Temple of Murugan in the Cave

2nd, if you want less hassle order a Grab/Uber car the night before or at least an hour earlier of your intended departure time. 3rd, take the KTM Commuter train from KL Sentral to the Batu Caves Station. This is the most reliable and suit your agenda (time constraint) as you are not affected by the morning rush hours people going to work, and it's the cheapest too ! It takes about 25 minutes by train. Frequencies depending on peak or normal. Every 15 minutes or 30 minutes respectively. Now you see why staying nearby KL Sentral gave you the upper hand to move about in KL and to the Airport.

Lord Murugan Statue with the 272 steps in the background

Initiating the Climb

Halfway Up

The limestone forming Batu Caves according to historian is about 400 million years old. One section of the cave, has been made sacred by the Hindus. It forms part of their ritual pilgrimage every year. Try climb the 272 steps of ladder leading to the cave. Inside the cave, sits the main temple. There is also an opening in the cave where sunlights penetrated inside. You can also see the stalactite and stalagmite. Both are pointy formations found in limestone caves: One points up, the other points down. These are the formation of needle-type art work formed by water and calcium as it hardened over the years. The top is called stalactite and the bottom called stalagmite.

Stalactite and Stalagmite

 On another part of the hill at Gua Damai (Damai Wall), a rock climbing activity became a popular adventure site amongst  youngster and hard core mountain climbers. Good fun activity for mountain climbers "wannabe"........

As you get back from Batu Caves, I would advice you to not straight away go back to your room. Go stop somewhere, have a light food and drinks. There's an old believe that the demon may follow you or took a liking for you. By stopping somewhere and in doing so, you are extracting yourself away from the spirit. If possible wash-up your face, ear, hand and feet at a restroom.

Now it's time for your final destination - The Lake Garden and her surrounding area. This lush green area is a very refreshing and will definitely ease the mind. If you're from the Central Market, cross the river to DayaBumi. Then proceed Southward, towards the old KL Railway Station. Just behind the General Post Office, you'll see a walkway leading to an underpass. Take the underpass that leads you to the National Mosque. As you come out, turn left and take the slow ascend to the Butterfly Park. On the way, you will be passing a Methodist Girl School on your left. Further on, you will pass the Tanglin Clinic to your right. At the T-Junction, take left and after 5 minutes walk you should reach the Butterfly Park Ticketing Office and Entrance. For more info : http://www.klbutterflypark.com/ 
This is the largest butterfly garden in the world spanning over 80,000 sq ft of landscaped garden with over 5,000 live butterflies, exotic plants, butterfly-host plants and ferns.

The Map above gives you an idea what to look see at Lake Gardens. Time permitting, you also have the Planetarium, Orchid & Hibiscus Gardens, Deer Park and the National Monument. I would suggest after the Butterfly Park, go to the National Monument, (see the Parliament Building at a distance) then trace back to Deer Park, Orchid Garden and Bird Park as you go along. On your way back to  Petaling Street, you can visit the National Museum where next to it, is an MRT Station. Only one stop away to Pasar Seni station. This Museum Negara Station is also linked to the KL Sentral station via underground passageway. It's a long walk, I can tell you that........

National Monument

National Museum

There you are, your ten best locations to visit when you are in Kuala Lumpur. If you count the number of things that you have visited, it amounted to more than 30 sites. This two days full program will definitely caused some ached here and there, but it's all well worth it. You know KL weather is basically either dry and humid or wet and humid. Please do not leave your hostel or hotel room without an umbrella. The Wet season is generally from Nov-March. The Dry season is from May to Sept. The months not mentioned are the intermissions(+or-). Over and above that we also have our convectional rain. It occurs in the late afternoon.

Hope this give you an idea on what to wear during your stay in Kuala Lumpur. A cool flask of mineral water is a must. A small towel will be handy to wipe away your profusing sweat. Always pray for a fine weather ! Do enjoy your stay in Kuala Lumpur. See you again soon.......