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Stop over in Kuala Lumpur
  • Vander Wonders
January 2017

Stop over in Kuala Lumpur

A short but fine adventure by Vander Wonders Read more
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  • Trip start
    January 9, 2017
    Vander WondersTravelerStop over in Kuala Lumpur

    Arrived in KL

    January 9, 2017 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    After an 8 hour flight from the Gold Coast we arrived in KL and even at the airport things looked different from what we are use to.

    We managed to draw some cash and get a pre-paid sim to get an uber to our airbnb home.

    Before we could even request an uber, some random taxi driver saw us and said he will take us wherever we need to go for the same price as uber, so we first figured out what uber will cost and then jumped in with him, he got us to the place ok but we had to close our eyes a couple of times as we could not bear to watch him weave through traffic, almost like a scooter in the third lane in Bermuda but just with 500 times more traffic to deal with.

    Our airbhb host Shin, met us downstairs of the apartment building with a hug. She was very welcoming and showed us around her house and then took us out for dinner to a Chinese place. Isabel expected a very nice Chinese restaurant thus was a bit sceptic of the food when she saw that the Chinese place was just a bit better than a food stall.
    I on the other hand was expecting this so had no problem to dig in, and boy was the food good.

    After dinner Shin showed us around the neighborhood and we got ready for a good nights rest in a nice freezing cold bedroom.

    {Roedolf}    Read more

  • Vander WondersTravelerStop over in Kuala Lumpur

    KL by foot

    January 10, 2017 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    I woke up, redid my vietnam visa... well between a computer glitch and my own shortcomings I entered Roedolf DOB instead of mine for my visa. Luckily its fixable in 48 hours before we arrive on Friday and only $19 "skoolgeld"!! Lesson learned you can never triple check enough.

    We decided to beat the heat and walk to the KL towers from our airbnb. It was a fascinating experience... health and safety hazards all around... smelly markets that almost left me puking and just watching KL life. Being a mom here has it's challenges. She calmly crossed the road and juggled the traffic. I was fascinated by this scene.

    7 hours away from Aus, we are embracing the 3rd world flat white

    {Issy}    Read more

  • Vander WondersTravelerStop over in Kuala Lumpur

    Petronas Twin Towers

    January 10, 2017 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    Petronas Twin Towers were once the tallest buildings in the world. Now the world’s tallest twin structures, the 88-storey buildings with both towers joined at the 41st and 42nd floors (175m above street level) by a 58 metre-long, double-decker Sky Bridge.

    These are such magnificent structure, it almost blows your mind that they stand here and not in a city like NYC. You basically can see the twin towers from almost everywhere in KL and the contrast is so striking, in the minds of the little poor streets these monster towers in the background.

    The 3rd world just have such a divide between rich and poor, in this city it is clear as daylight.

    {Roedolf}    Read more

  • Vander WondersTravelerStop over in Kuala Lumpur

    Exploring and tasting

    January 10, 2017 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C

    1 USD buys you 4.5 Ringgit so celebrating 100 days of traveling in Malaysia makes me feel like we can live like royalties. Halfway on our walk this morning I spotted the Renaissance hotel where we ran in for some air con water and a decent western coffee. (That was after a terrible watery Malaysian filter coffee at the airbnb- I had to get my fix)

    After our mini break we walked down to KL Patronas twin tours, a marvelous high rise building which is symbolic of the future and possibilities of Malaysia. There are amazing designer shops (which Roedolf wasn't very optimistic about) the aircon didn't even convince him.

    We found a great Japanese lunch spot. I found comfort in the decor and general cleanliness of the restaurant. It is definitely a hotspot for corporate people. As we walked in I found peace of mind in the hygiene of the open plan kitchen where the food was prepared. I thought I was adventurous and ordered a local canned ice tea well it was not quite what I had in mind. I thought its reasonably healthy and looks refreshing but it was basically very very bitter cold tea. The food made up for it and it was really delicious, specially the miso soup and salmon &rice. The sushi was different from what our western palates are used to but still pretty good.

    {Issy}    Read more

  • Vander WondersTravelerStop over in Kuala Lumpur

    Walking tour

    January 10, 2017 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We signed up by for Kampong Bahru walking tour at 4.30pm. It was amaZing to learn about how the traditional houses were built to avoid flooding, the two separate entrances for men and women when there are guests, off course the female entrance was at the kitchen. The Malay culture and history with the British invading for some tin mining and then the Japanese later on was also pretty interesting.

    Along the way we stopped at some food stalls, we tried some of the fruit, sweets and snacks but honestly its very weird and it tastes nothing like the image that your senses create by looking at it. Roedolf captured some priceless facial expressions of me. I am totally out of my comfort zone with the food.

    An adventurous day with lots and lots of walking and moments of speechlessness that will last for a lifetime!!

    {Issy}    Read more

  • Vander WondersTravelerStop over in Kuala Lumpur

    Authentic Malay

    January 10, 2017 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We headed to Kampong Bharu, meaning "new village", for a free guide walking tour, or as the Malayans say "jalan-jalan".

    Amazing that the government actually sponsor these tours as it really brings Malaysia to life for a foreigner like me. Kampong Bharu is a piece of land that the British gave to the local Malayan people to basically segregate the different racial groups in Malaysia, namely Malayans, Indians and the Chinese. Typical British, they have always been trying to segregate people.

    We walked by several authentic Malayan houses some of which are over 100 years old, and the contrast between these houses and the modern high rises in this city is amazing.

    My personal highlight was the Food street that only served authentic Malayan foods, our guide bought some fruits and other snacks for all of us to taste. My highlight was to witness Isabel so far out of her comfort zone. I learnt something new about my wife today, I never knew she was so bad when it comes to food, first she ran out of the food market this morning in order not to puke and then she could barely swallow a coconut/bamboo treat. Basically when it comes to food her adventurous spirit ends at gourmet western dishes.

    {Roedolf}    Read more

  • Vander WondersTravelerStop over in Kuala Lumpur

    Nasi Lemak

    January 10, 2017 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    After the walking tour we headed back to the food street to try the Nasi Lemak, which is apparently the Malayan national dish, it is a fragrant rice dish cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaf. Nasi lemak is served with anchovies, peanuts, boiled egg, lamb curry, cucumber, and traditional chili paste.

    It took some convincing to get Isabel to agree to at least share a plate with me. However after trying it I am not going back for this anytime soon.

    Then we went to a little street market near our airbnb and Isabel wanted to try a less interesting dish called Murtabak, it is basically a stuffed pancake. We took beef and cheese filling. This was actually very good and I would not mind having that again.

    {Roedolf}    Read more

  • Vander WondersTravelerStop over in Kuala Lumpur

    Comfort zone

    January 10, 2017 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    I expected a yummy coconut sweet and the sensation of a green melt in the mouth leamington (krimpvarkie) AND IT WAS NOTHING LIKE IT ...then Roedolf finished it with a smile

  • Vander WondersTravelerStop over in Kuala Lumpur

    Grinch!! Eish

    January 10, 2017 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Fish anyone? The Malay people is ALL over chillies and spice!! Everything we have tried so far have a bite to it even the meal on Air Asia!! Well I don't have to say much the pictures will tell the story.

    My favorite to date is the wrap kind off thing called Murtabak combak with beef and cheese! I did not even bother with the curry sauce that you are suppose to dip it into.

    This was an hour after we tried Nasi Lemak which is a traditional Malaysian dish, I said up front to Roedolf I can't do it {"ek sien nie kans nie" - to be exact} we ended up ordering one and I had a few bites.

    Eat your heart out!! Eish

    {Isabel}    Read more

  • Vander WondersTravelerStop over in Kuala Lumpur

    Batu Caves/Hindu temple

    January 11, 2017 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    I can help feeling sorry for the hindu people. These temples are not really anything special and then the gods are all man made statues that look like something out of a Lord of the Rings movie.
    In places like this I am thankful for being a Christian, to have a living God and a savior who I can have a relationship with. A God who lives in me through the holy spirit and not in some temple building or cave.

    The best part of these caves were the dark caves, obviously I don't have many pictures to show of the dark caves, as it was to dark to take pictures thats worth anything.
    For one it was the darkest place I have experienced ever. Knowing that we were in the cave with about 200,000 bats 🦇, that you can actually hear all the time was eery . The different spiders, snakes and centipedes that you don't find anywhere else in the world was also amazing to see. Interestingly none of these creatures are very colorful because they don't need to waste energy to create colors because its so dark in the cave that no creatures can see anything anyways and they all rely on other senses to get by.

    It was extremely hot and humid day, so much so that the cave actually gave us shelter from the heat, normally caves can be quite humid but these were actually nice an cooling.

    {Roedolf}    Read more

  • Vander WondersTravelerStop over in Kuala Lumpur

    Batu caves

    January 11, 2017 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We arrived at the caves at 10am, a good time to beat the tourbus crowd. We explored the caves & temples at a leisurely pace and dodged a few monkeys. The monkeys are super cheeky, they come up to people and grab flowers food and whatever they want. The monkey (who needs a bra) in the picture jumped in between me and Roedolf while we were sitting on the bench reading the history of the caves. Needless to say we weren't too comfortable, so jumped up.

    Batu caves is a limestone hill that has a series of caves and temples, this cave is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside of India. We climbed a steep flight of 272 steps to the top to see Cathedral cave.

    The gold statue is 42.7m high and took 3 years to build (it was finished in 2006) it is the tallest Lord Murugan statue in the world. The other clown looking statue is a statue of Hanuman.

    We also did a tour of the dark cave with rock formations and a number of animals that you don't find anywhere else, like flat worms, funny crickets, spiders etc. It is basically a 2km network of untouched caverns, we also saw a frozen waterfall which was impressive.

    {Issy}    Read more

  • Vander WondersTravelerStop over in Kuala Lumpur
    1

    Random things here

    January 11, 2017 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    1) When you hear an announcement on the train and then realize you are the one being called out as you are in a ladies only truck, you jump up baffled and move to a mixed are

    2) Fans going at the busstop... guess who loves it?

    3) The building we are in don't have any floors with the number 4 in, we stay on level 23a which is 24. The builder is Chinese and they believe 4 means death.

    4)People just drive everywhere and is not to phased about red lights or pedestrian crossings.. and yet in some bizarre way people stay alive and get to their destination

    5) Locals are very interested in where we are from, it doesn't matter where we go people ask where we are from    Read more

  • Vander WondersTravelerStop over in Kuala Lumpur

    421 meter high date

    January 11, 2017 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    After a hot morning in the Batu caves we made our way to the KL Tower where I reserved a window seat for us to celebrate 101 days of traveling.

    The restaurant is called Atmosphere360, the floor of the restaurant rotates 360° around the tower and gives you the best possible unobstructed view of KL. The majority of the food in the buffet was Indian food which is the 4th type of asian cuisine we had in the last 3 days.

    The funny thing is the middle of the restaurant where the buffet is located don't turn with the floor, thus after dishing up its interesting to find you table again as it will have moved from where you last left it.

    This is one of the amazing things of traveling is that we have basically been able to spend so much time together that everything is really a date. We do fail to realize it and take the time together for granted. But its worth standing still for a second and saying to myself, wow another great date with my best friend and woman that I love more than life itself.
    Having said this, so much time together is a blessing and also a curse. Absence make the heart grow founder.

    {Roedolf}    Read more

  • Vander WondersTravelerStop over in Kuala Lumpur

    Vriendelike gasvrou

    January 11, 2017 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Ons Airbnb gasvrou "Shin" vat haar werk as gasvrou baie persoonlik op en haar doel is nie net geld maak nie maar vriende maak met haar gaste.

    Sy het aangebied om vir ons aandete gekook en rooiwyn saam ons gedrink.

    Syt ons rerig laat voel of dit ons huis is.

    Toe ons lughawe toe ry die laaste oggend in KL het sy ons in die straat gaan afsien met drukkies en sy het staan en waai tot die kar om die draai verdwyn het. Dit was te kostelik, en eks eintlik spyt ons het nie 'n foto geneem van haar wat staan en waai nie.

    Sy het vir ons so mooi review op Airbnb gelos en so pragtige persoonlike boodskap gestuur, ek het fotos van dit aangehag.

    Gasvryheid en vriendelikheid is eintlik so maklik en dit straal soveel liefde uit!

    {Roedolf}    Read more

    See translation
  • Vander WondersTravelerStop over in Kuala Lumpur

    Night lights of KL

    January 12, 2017 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    After two days of sightseeing and experimenting with asian cuisine we took today easy, with late morning start at the Gym then we headed to the Pavilion mall for an Italian lunch and passport photos for our Vietnam visa.

    On the way out we saw a special on 60min full body massage and since my back has been killing me after the 8 hour flight from Aus this seemed like a no brainer.
    This in it self was an experience, we expected the normal spa where they put you in a room and leave you to take off you clothes and get under the sheets before they come back for the massage. Not here, when you get into the room they say "take off" with hand gestures indicating that we had to undress and lie down and then they wait for you to undress while they are in the room.

    Once I got over the uncontrollable undress with an audience and I laid face first in the hole in the massage bed, I realized that this was $20 well spent.

    The little asian woman proceeded to climb on my back, first with knees and elbows and then later with here feet. she literally used her whole body to work through the tightness of my back and glute muscles and I could literally feel the tightness disappearing.

    Its quite a sensual experience because the therapist invades your personal space with her whole body and I can understand why men can be turned on by this and why they request happy endings.

    After about 45min she asked me to turn on my back and then both therapist disappeared out of the room. Both Isabel and I looked at each other not really sure what to do and of we should get up and get dressed. I tried to figure out how long we have been there and then the therapists reappeared to finish the massage with a head and neck massage. This was so good I could almost feel my beard relax on my face.

    After the massage we went to the Cinema for a Movie and ended the night with a stroll to enjoy the night lights of KL for one last time.

    I am so glad we ended up in KL as it was not part of our original plan. Its really a cultural experience like no other.

    {Roedolf}    Read more

    Trip end
    January 12, 2017
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