The midnight meals with Malaysian students inspired me to plan a weekend trip to Kuala Lumpur (KL), the capitol of Malaysia. Traveling to KL consisted of bus, to MRT station (4 stops, then another 4 stops on a different MRT line) then a bus to the Singapore border, bus across the bridge to the Malaysian border, and finally a 4-hour bus ride to the city of Kuala Lumpur. Upon arrival we immediately dropped our bags off and proceeded to find dinner. I am embarrassed to admit, but instead of getting adventurous with some nice Malaysian cuisine we decided to play it safe with pizza from a reggae themed restaurant down the street from our hostel. We began Saturday off to an early start by taking the city bus to the Batu Caves Temple, a Hindu temple built inside a cave that sits 1000 ft above ground level, built in 1891. I found the entrance to the Batu Caves Temple to be slightly intimidating due to the enormous (approx. 1000ft tall) gold statue standing guard nearthe first step and the fearless wild monkeys who literally grabbed food from visitors’ bags as they hiked 300 stairs to the top.
The top of the steps made for a beautiful view of KL and further revealed how different Malaysia is from Singapore. The city of KL appears generously dispersed over miles of flat land, opposite of its neighbor Singapore (the most densely populated country in the world). Inside the cave we found additional Hindu figures and fearless monkeys.
On Sunday we visited the Petronas towers before heading back home to Singapore. Overall this adventure was a peaceful, air-conditioned nights sleep and escape from our extremely humid campus life in Singapore.
On Sunday we visited the Petronas towers before heading back home to Singapore. Overall this adventure was a peaceful, air-conditioned nights sleep and escape from our extremely humid campus life in Singapore.
