Off On Our Next Adventure

Kuala Lumpur

The ferry ride to the mainland from Tioman was quicker than expected so we caught the 11.30am bus to Kuala Lumpur, waiting until the ferry was docking to book our online tickets. It was a bit of a mission trying to work out where the bus would stop, with two possible locations, so Shaun waited at one, while Leo, Anna and I waited at the other stop with all our bags. Needless to say, the bus drove past me and the kids, so we had to run 400m down the road with all our bags to where Shaun had flagged the bus down. It must’ve looked quite funny, but it was a bit stressful at the time!

Little Nomads

Leo and Anna really are so amazing at adapting to our nomadic lifestyle…they can hustle when they need to and are getting very good at packing and organising their bags. The other morning, I added some clothes that had been drying overnight to one of Leo’s packing cubes at the last minute before leaving our accommodation. A few days later, he said he was out of socks, and I showed him where I had stashed the clean ones in my hurry. He quizzed me on why I was throwing his packing system into disarray when that cube was clearly for t-shirts, not socks and underwear! Packing cubes have been amazing for keeping things organized for each of us.

Another Crazy Driver

The bus ride to KL took 6 and a half hours with a lot of stops along the way. Our bus driver seemed to be a stunt-driver in training, pulling out for risky overtaking manoeuvres and gunning it on windy roads to get to his next cigarette break. Sitting towards the back of the bus was a mixed bag…we were spared the visuals of his alarming driving, but certainly felt all the bumps that he didn’t slow down for. Still, the kids managed to fit in a snooze for an hour or so. Leo was gravely disappointed that the bus didn’t have wifi as promised in the description, and that none of the USB charging ports worked. Travelling is so good for building up resilience when it comes to reality not quite matching expectations.

From Terminal Bersepadu Selatan, the main bus terminal in KL (which is the size of a typical NZ airport) we caught a Grab car for about $6 to our Airbnb which was on the 40th floor of the Arte Plus building on Jalan Ampang. It was the highest accommodation that any of us had ever stayed in, and the view was phenomenal, especially at night.

We all had our own rooms for a bit of space, and it was clean and comfortable despite a few things not matching the description. It also had a very cool roof garden and swimming pool, with lots of kids playing, which was nice for Leo and Anna.

After our big travel day, we had a rest day, visiting the local supermarket so we could make some of our own meals and spending some time in the pool.

Petronas Towers

The following day, we went into the city, using our waiting time before going up the Petronas Tower to look around the Suria KLCC Mall next door, which is huge and filled with luxury brands. The kids were desperate to go into Gucci or similar to check out price tags, but when we saw another dad with kids get turned away at the door by security, we didn’t bother.

We followed the officious security instructions for entry to Petronas Tower 2 and took the elevator to the 42nd floor, where we were able to walk across the sky bridge and view the city.

After 15 minutes here, we took another elevator to the 85th floor. The panoramic view was incredible, and weirdly, it felt reasonably safe up there, just as long as we didn’t get too close to the windows.

Anna’s KL Highlights

Jalan Alor

After our visit to the twin towers, we finally got the chance to buy a cheap Malaysian sim card so that we had data when out and about. With that sorted, we were back online with Google maps and made our way on foot to Jalan Alor, the famous KL food street, full of hawkers selling a huge range of yummy street food in a variety of ethnicities. We got there early in the evening, so it wasn’t too busy, which was nice. Anna was not impressed with the scent of durian fruit hanging in the air, however, Leo was delighted to finally get the chance to sample deep-fried durian, as he has been curious for some time about its reputation for being unusually delicious. He was not disappointed.

“It doesn’t smell bad [smelling it]…ok, moment of truth [biting into it]…Mmm! It’s a bit weird…questionable…it tastes a bit like garlic, but it’s sweet.”

Leo on tasting deep fried durian 25/05/23

We ate decent Thai food for dinner, including some yummy greens cooked in garlic, which I’d been craving since the last lot on Tioman. The kids were pretty worn out at that point, so we took them home to bed and had another quiet ‘home’ day the next day.

Batu Caves

Everyone we know who’s been to KL has fully recommended a visit to the Batu Caves…and it was one of the highlights of Malaysia for all of us. The shrines, artwork, monkeys, colour, and energy of the place were spectacular. We got there by 8.45am, which gave us time to climb the stairs and visit the cave temple before it got too hot and busy.

There are so many macaque monkeys everywhere at the Batu Caves…on the ground, the steps, the railings, the shrines and inside the caves, as well as raiding the rubbish bins for discarded food. As long as you’re not carrying food and don’t provoke them, they’ll leave you alone, although Anna and Leo were having trouble taking our word about this. The kids zigzagged their way up the steps, darting quickly to the other side whenever a monkey popped up on the railing next to them. I’ve never seen Leo move so fast up 272 steps!

Once we descended, we looked at the main temple before exploring the Cave Art Villa and the Rama caves further along, which were full of vibrant artwork and a joyous celebration of colour. The photos really don’t do it justice. Experiencing all this artwork within the incredible limestone cave setting was other-worldly. I kept thinking of our art teacher at school, my friend Gabrielle, and how much she would love it!

The Batu Caves

By Leo

The Batu Caves were fun and this is everything we did there. We started off by walking in and it had many convenience stores at the entrance we saw tons of pigeons and monkeys. The monkeys were eating curry out of a bin, climbing buildings and scratching their asses…we even saw two with a baby monkey each and they were cute and about seven hours old.

We went up over 200 stairs and entered a cave that had a lot of little temples. You could make donations to the temples and buy stuff; there were also a lot of roosters and not so many monkeys or pigeons.

Then we went to a mini zoo that was badly advertised but was actually amazing. It had peacocks roaming around an enclosure with bunnies, guinea pigs, lizards and birds. They also had a big cave with art and statues based on Hindu culture and stories. After that we walked out and I got a foot bath where multiple fish about 3 cm average ate my feet to clean then and about 5 of them went at a scab on my foot and gnawed it open.

We walked along and saw many statues, shops and even a pond with hundreds of fish but we decided to go in a big cave with even more statues and even more art and it was pretty cool, there was also this staircase and it led to a small cave area at the very top.

That is basically everything we saw at Batu Caves.

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After our morning exploring the Batu Caves, we had a quiet afternoon playing in the pool and packing for the next leg. I popped out to the nearby local mall for a quick look around. It was full of Muslim fashions, which was rather educational – so many layers! I think I looked a bit out of place in my shorts and t-shirt. While I’m on the subject, I need to mention that often, with their faces being the only thing visible, I have noticed that Malaysian women have the most incredible complexions and amazing skin. I wonder what their secret is?

While I was out, I purchased a ‘Touch and Go’ card for paying tolls on the next leg of our adventure…renting a car to drive from KL to Ipoh.

Our last dinner in KL was a street food dinner just around the corner from our building – burgers for the kids and chicken and rice for us, with yummy sauces to spice it up.