The next stop on this trip was Kuala Lumpur. I had booked a week in Singapore and then a week here in Kuala Lumpur.
Truth be told, I didn’t have any idea what I was going to do for the 7 days here. Ken did ask why I had chosen such a long time here. I knew I didn’t want to spend the majority of the trip in Singapore so I tried to split it equally between the two.
I had originally booked a hostel and it was a pod hostel. I tried to convince Ken that it would be good but he wasn’t having any of it so we looked for an Airbnb. They were far cheaper than the hotels. We booked one that looked good and just waited for the time to arrive.
The flight from Singapore was due to leave at 14:30 on the 14th. I told him it was a turboprop and I could see his face drop. I had never been on one but he had and he didn’t like it. I told him that we got a checked bag as well as a carry-on and I told him that the reason for this was that if the flight crashed they wouldn’t have to claim that we were on the plane. He didn’t take that joke too well. He’s not a good flyer. I mostly said it to see his reaction – I’m THAT good of a friend. Haha.
We left our carry-on bags at the hotel in Singapore as we were going back to stay with them anyway before we headed home.
-
We got to a smaller airport in Singapore with plenty of time for our flight. As has been the case with other parts of the trip, the flight was delayed. It ended up being delayed by 2 hours. I was really annoyed as I wanted to just get to Kuala Lumpur so we could start exploring the city and I was desperate for some food and drink. I brought some snacks with me but they were awful. The crisps I got were called prawn crackers and they were horrible. The taste was truly awful. I had Ken try them so he could experience the joy with me. I emptied them in the bin and washed my mouth out to get rid of the awful taste. Did I tell you they tasted horrible? No. Well, they tasted bloody awful.
We finally boarded the plane and I was somewhat apprehensive as I have never flown on a turboprop before and the only time I had seen them was on Air Crash Investigation. It ended up being an uneventful flight – which was fine by me.
We got to a smaller airport in Kuala Lumpur and proceeded to immigration. The guy asked me what my travel plans were whilst I was in Malaysia and I told him and then he asked the same of Ken and then he asked Ken if we were travelling together. Just like that, I got a stamp in the new passport and I was sent on my way. We picked up our bags and headed out but not before having to put our bags through a security check. Not sure why we had to do this since we did it in Singapore. Very weird. Oh well, their country and their rules.
We found a Starbucks and sat and chilled for an hour or so. I went and got some food and something to drink. It was nice to just be off the plane and chill. I was looking on the Grab app to see how close a driver was and they were about 15 minutes away. I went ahead and booked it as I just wanted to get to the accommodation so I could drop my stuff off and just relax for a little bit. It seemed to take forever to get to the Airbnb. Ken tried to have a conversation with the driver along the way but it didn’t go well as he didn’t seem to understand much English. At one point, Ken asked him what a tower was that we saw and I think he thought he was asking to take pictures as he started to wind the window down.
We got to the Airbnb and there was some confusion about which apartment we were supposed to have. We got sent some messages that showed 2 different apartments. Floor 20 and Floor 9. I was super stressed at this point as I wanted to know which one was specifically ours and the host wasn’t answering messages I sent.
We went to the one on Floor 20 and the views were amazing. It didn’t look like the pictures so we went back down and got the keys for floor 9 and then headed to that one. This was the right one. I told Ken I was taking the big bed and it was nice to plonk everything down and just relax for a little bit.
One thing about this apartment block is that you needed a QR code to get above the 6th floor. The QR code was floor specific and you could only get to the floor that was programmed in the code. I thought that was pretty cool and pretty secure.
Once we had dropped our stuff off and sufficiently relaxed we headed out. I saw a 7-Eleven and this began my Slurpee overdose for this trip. We got something to eat too and then headed towards where we saw a lot of people going. We turned a corner and it was a street market. I went to find an ATM so I could get some souvenirs and cash for my collection. We carried on walking and came to an area called Bukit Bintang which was a very lively and happening place. There were singers there and a massive crowd around them. It was cool to see. We also found a McDonald’s and went and sat inside to have some much-needed food.
You can hear the singers in the videos below. It was fun to stand there and listen. I love stuff like this.
We then headed back to the Airbnb so we could get some sleep ready for a full day of being a tourist tomorrow.
Total steps: 8,298
Total miles: 4.01
We went to Kuala Lumpur Sentral station so we could get a train to the airport. We had seen there was a train line by the airport so we thought we could just get the train. We got to the station and I asked someone and they sent me to a desk as they thought I had meant KLIA2 even though I said Subang airport. I went and ordered some food from McDonald’s as Ken was having his coffee. I went to the counter they said I should try and the guy there said I needed to go upstairs to check for tickets. I did this and I was told the train didn’t go to Subang airport any more so we had to get there with Grab.
I went and picked up my food and went to Starbucks and they had gotten my order wrong. I went back and asked them to sort it and they took ages and I had to ask what was going on and they sorted my order and it was wrong again. I had to wait another 10 minutes. I was so annoyed. Grrr. Anyway, we had our coffee and food and booked a Grab.
We got to the airport with time to spare and chilled outside for about 90 minutes. Ken was having coffee and I went and got some food and then went to have a look at a gadget shop there as I was on the lookout for a wireless/Bluetooth speaker for my desk. I picked one off the shelf and looked at it and the shopkeeper came right up behind me so I went to put it back on the shelf and he told me not to and that he would do it. Such a princess.
We went to the queue for security and went through and then went to get some food and drink from the 7-Eleven. I looked to see where our gate was and it was the other side of the glass so we had to go back towards security and then towards the gate. We got stopped by security and were told we couldn’t have drinks but the food was ok. I was confused because we got the drinks from the shop on the right side of security. The guy said 3 or 4 times to Ken he couldn’t have liquids even though he said he didn’t have any. We had to go back through security before we were allowed to go to the gate. I hated that airport. I hope I never have to use it again.
We boarded and headed back to Singapore. The flight was a nice easy flight. Not much in the way of turbulence thankfully. We landed in Singapore Seletar and went to go through immigration but couldn’t get through the gates. It turns out we had to fill in a landing card again. I didn’t realise this. I was mad because I lost the boarding pass that I wanted to keep and nobody understood why it was an issue for me. Oh well.
All in all, Kuala Lumpur was a great trip too.
Total steps: 63,757
Total miles: 31.41
You can view all of my Batu Caves pics here
You can view all of my Kuala Lumpur pics here