Sightseeing in KL

The first stop were the Batu Caves, located a bit outside of KL to the North. This is actually a Hindu temple in a series of caves, with a giant Buddha statue at the entrance. While the setting is very special and the caves are impressive, there was a lot of construction work going on and my general impression was the site is not maintained very well. To be fair though, we didn’t have to pay an entrance fee, so I guess we shouldn’t complain. As in other places, women were not allowed to wear shorts or a skirt above the knees, while the men were free to do so. Not a problem for me though, as all my above the knees clothing posessions are still missing together with my luggage…

Today we walked a lot in the city. I was so happy we finally had time to do that, since it gave us a much better impression of the city and its people. In general, the center of KL is quite modern, with lots of tall buildings, lots of traffic, and, of course, lots of shops and malls. You cannot walk 500 m without running into a mall. That’s my impression, at least. In this way, KL reminds me a lot of Singapore. Shopping seems to be a very important passtime here. But the city really comes into its own at night, when the lights turn on everywhere and everyone is out and about. More on that in the next section.

The next stop for the day was the KL Tower. To be honest, it was Daniel’s idea to go up and I was not very excited about it. The walk up the small hill on which the tower sits was exhausting in this heat and humidity, and at the end of the elevator ride up the tower, I was not very impressed by the view. But we stayed long enough to see the sunset and when it got dark, the city and its lights, seen from that height, was just beautiful. Plus, we rewarded ourselves with a mango-themed snack, which also helped get me in a better mood: a wanna-be mango cheesecake (as a cheesecake connoisseur, I can say that it was not really a cheesecake, but would have liked to be), and a mango freezy (I hadn’t heard of a freezy before, but here, it’s a thing).

… according to TripAdvisor, that is. Since it’s very close to the KL Tower and in an area with several other restaurants that had very good reviews, we decided to go to Manja for dinner. It didn’t disappoint. The food was excellent, the service perfect, and the price very good for the quality we got. Also, the restaurant is beautifully made in an old restored house.