Our love of all things Kuala Lumpur

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Our honeymoon started with a long drive to Melbourne to catch our Air Asia flight from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur. We had a night stay planned in Kuala Lumpur as we both love KL and I wanted to show Todd ALOFT, my favourite hotel in KL.

ALOFT is centrally located at the KL Sentral train station. You can get the express train from the airport direct to this station and it takes 25 minutes as opposed to an hour in a taxi. It is an expensive ride at 55RM per person (about the same as a taxi) but its quick and easy so my preferred option.

Once we arrived in Melbourne we unloaded the car then headed to a local Italian restaurant which was a 2 min drive from our hotel. I had a Ceaser salad and Todd chose fish and chips. He says its the best meal he has had in a long time.

We had an early night as Todd had come off nightshift that morning and while Todd slept like a log all night I tossed and turned as our room faced reception and the shuttle bus drop off point. Slamming doors and rolling luggage every half hour ensured I did not get too much sleep.

The following morning Todd realised that not only had he forgot to pack long pants but also his sneakers! I was semi-mad at him as I had made a point 3 days before leaving that we pack everything we needed and he somehow still managed to forget the stuff he needed.

We set off the the airport dropping the car at Alpha Car Park. A bargain for $188 for 7 weeks (almost half the other quotes). Due to their cheap prices they hold alot of cars and I am not so sure they are all secured (alot seem to be parked on the street) but I’ve never had any issues to this point so fingers crossed!

We checked in and headed for the plane. It was delayed by about half an hour but once on the plane we were stoked to see that there were minimal people in our section. We had booked seats in the ‘quiet zone’ where children are not allowed and we had a row to ourselves. My only issue was that I had booked the last row… which ended up having no window. To be honest, it made me feel a little ‘motion sick’ but lesson learnt for the trip home!

We had a pretty uneventful flight – Todd slept for awhile and I polished off a couple of Piccolo bottles of Champagne… then we played some battleships and Connect4 on the tablet (sadly Todd kicked my butt).

Arriving in Kuala Lumpur we started the long trek to customs/immigration. The new KLIA2 airport is wonderful but SO big that it seriously takes 20 minutes to walk from the gate to Immigration! The line at Immigration was non-existent so we were through in no time but typically our bags were last off the conveyor belt and then the lines to customs were unbelievable. It took us another half hour to get through there and people were trying to push in everywhere.

We exchanged some money, grabbed some Garrett popcorn (its soooo good) and jumped on the express train to the hotel.

Check in at the hotel was super quick and after a quick look around the hotel we headed next door to the Nu Sentral shopping centre which is connected to our hotel by an enclosed walkway! We did a spot of shopping managing to find Todd some long pants (a bargain at 2 for $30AUD) and then found our way up to Level 6 for the food court.

The food court was awesome. There were only locals eating there and the prices were so cheap. We ate at a place called Gerai Makanan No 2 Wok and Grill, and our total bill for 2 iced coffees, 2 soups, 2 omelettes, 2 greens and 2 noodle dishes was $4AUDeach! Seriously! The food was really yummy! What a great find!

We ended up early to bed (well it was midnight in Australia) and then we were wide awake at 5.30am the next morning! We got up and headed to the gym in the hotel. It is a great gym with everything you need including Life Fitness weights machines, free weights and bench and cardio equipment. They even supply towels and water.

After our gym sesssion we had some bircher muesli for breakfast that we had purchased from the little shop in the hotel lobby and then we set off to explore for the morning.

We caught a local train to Batu Caves. Batu Caves is a limestone hill that has a series of caves and cave temples in Gombak, Selangor, Malaysia. It takes its name from the Sungai Batu (Batu River), which flows past the hill and also it is the tenth (Pattu in Tamil) limestone hill from Ampang. Batu Caves is also the name of a nearby village. The cave is one of the most popular Hindushrines outside India, and is dedicated to Lord Murugan. It is the focal point of Hindu festival of Thaipusam in Malaysia.

A train leaves from KL Sentral and Batu Caves is the last stop. A train ride costs less than $1AUD per person one way! When we got to Batu Caves we turned left and wound up at a different cave which had a 5RM admission fee. We paid the fee and went for a look. It was worth the admission fee. Afterwards we headed to the main cave (which is free) and did the 300 steps to the top. It was hard work on the legs and the lungs. There were monkeys everywhere and I was super paranoid they were going to get me. Thankfully I survived without one coming near me and we headed back to the city.

As we approached the train an Indian man walked past us and said “you are a very lucky couple”. We smiled and then he stopped to speak to us. He said he was visiting from Dehli and asked Todd if he would like his palm read – he promised that it would only cost what Todd wanted to pay. You know where this is going right. So Todd sits down with him and I prepare 30RM as payment ($10AUD). He was scarily accurate guessing Todds favourite colour (yellow), number (3), siblings (2) and age (41). He said 29th January 2017 is going to be a very lucky day. He then wanted to keep going but wanted us to pay him 200RM, 300RM or 500RM depending what we could afford. Ummmmmm I dont think so… He was not happy with 30RM and was quite insistent we had more money for him. Let me just clarify…. 200RM is $70AUD so 500RM is almost $200AUD!

We threw the 30RM at him and walked away.. he may have been accurate but he was also a rip off! We got the train back to the hotel then decided we were starving. We found one of our favourite cafes nearby (Old Town White Coffee) and feasted on Curry Mee noodle soup, Paratha and curry sauce, Kaya on toast and Iced coffees (all for the price of $15AUDfor two people).

After we were finished we literally rolled back to the hotel and flaked out at the rooftop pool, drinking Tiger Beers and some nachos when the hunger pangs set in. Late afternoon we decided to head to Chinatown and try buy Todd some cheapo sneakers – we eventually found a pair that were not too bad for $35 and were starting to fade. We jumped in a taxi and headed to Bukit Bintang. We got out at Low Yat Plaza (an electronics shopping centre) where I needed to find a bluetooth keyboard for my new tablet and a cover (with a screen protector) – we eventually found all three at the one place and $90 AUD later I was all set up.

We then moved on to the Pavillion shopping centre for some dinner. We settled on duck and noodles which also came with a wonton soup on the side and washed it down with iced lemon tea. For duck, noodles, greens and wonton soup it again came to $4 AUD per person! Bargain! By this stage we were both exhausted and ready to collapse so we set off to the monorail which was super packed and it took us 3 attempts to get a train (first 2 were too full to get on).

We got back to the hotel and collapsed in bed exhausted. It had been a massive day in Kuala Lumpur.

Up on day 3 of our honeymoon we got in a quick workout at the gym before packing our bags and jumping on the express train. By the time we got to the train station, Todd’s tummy was not feeling too good. We made it through customs before he ran to the toilet. After realising he only had a squat toilet, he stripped off all of his clothes and squatted down. Before he knew what was happening, he had squirted all up the wall LOL… he is officially a well seasoned traveller and assures me he cleaned it all up…. so here we are… sitting at the departure gate, ready for boarding with Todd in full gastro mode and me thinking I may too be heading that way…

Always an adventure with us for sure… See you in Cambodia!!!

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