Fun in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2016 was definitely a year filled with lots of amazing opportunities to travel (none least, my honeymoon!), so I thought, why not share a few of my favourite bits with you ……enjoy!

Dan and I got married in May 2016.  A few days after the wedding we headed on our long-awaited honeymoon.  It felt like we had been planning this for months (well, I say ‘we’ but I really mean Dan.  This was his main contribution to our wedding planning process…….. but I’m not complaining…..  he is much better at planning holidays than I am!) so after months of trawling through honeymoon destination websites and reading what must have been thousands of reviews on Trip Advisor, we finally settled on Malaysia as our honeymoon destination.  We chose an extremely remote island called Pangkor Laut and we spent 3 nights in Kuala Lumpur en route.

As we were still absolutely exhausted after the wedding, we had not planned to do very much in Kuala Lumpur and we were happy to just chill out and take it easy.  However, once we got there, we managed to fit quite a bit in.  Kuala Lumpur is amazing!

The Hotel…….

We stayed at the Shangri La Hotel which is absolutely gorgeous and in such a great location.  As we were on honeymoon, we thought we would treat ourselves and we opted for a premier selection suite. This meant we could pop into the lounge for afternoon cocktails and snacks, or after dinner drinks which was a nice treat.  Our suite was absolutely huge, and as it was on the corner of the hotel it had dual aspect views over the city.

After an extremely lazy breakfast on morning one, we headed out for the day.

Exploring the City……. 

First up we visited the famous Petronas Towers. Upon arrival we took the lift to the viewing platform which joins the twin skyscrapers together on the 41st and 42nd floors.  I really don’t mind heights too much, but poor Dan turned a shade of grey that I didn’t even know existed once the tour guide informed us that the bridge is not actually attached to the main structure!! It somehow slides in and out of the towers to prevent it from breaking when winds are high.  Eeeeeeeeeeeek!  Sometimes I find it a bit boring and predictable to go to the top of the tallest skyscraper in a new city but this one was definitely worth it.  The design was so interesting and the view from the top was amazing.

Next up we headed to the Bird Park and Butterfly Park.  Now I don’t know how you feel about birds, but personally I prefer to just look at them rather than interact lol .  Keeping my distance from the birds, however, was impossible because this bird park was next level CRAZY!  I have literally never seen so many birds in one place in my entire life.  They were EVERYWHERE.  I know you are probably wondering why I am surprised that there were ‘birds’ in the ‘bird park’ but it was honestly so impressive.  There were birds of all sizes and all colours and even as a non-bird lover I thoroughly enjoyed myself (once I got over the initial shock of birds coming up to me to have a little chat or to stroll along the path with me).

 

I was really looking forward to visiting the Butterfly Park – it sounds pretty, right? But I’m not going to lie – I didn’t love it once we got there.  I really don’t know what I was expecting, but the park consisted of a space which was covered over by a big net and inside it just felt sweaty and claustrophobic.  We did see some pretty butterflies, but unfortunately I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

Dinner and Drinks…….

That evening we had a very special dinner at a restaurant called GOBO Upstairs which is in the Traders Hotel.  The food was incredible and the drinks were delicious (the best espresso martini I have ever had).  After dinner we headed upstairs in the Traders Hotel to SkyBar.  This bar had stunning views of the City skyline all lit up at night.

 

The Next Day…….

The following day we jumped on the KL Hop-On Hop-Off City Bus tour.  I know it sounds boring and a typical thing to do on holiday but I absolutely LOVE bus tours and they really are the best way to get to know a City.  I try to do them everywhere I go.  The KL bus tour definitely didn’t disappoint.  We did the entire tour and jumped on and off the bus at different tourist attractions throughout the day.  We visited everything from the National Palace (Istana Negara), to China Town, the Central Market and Little India.  No two parts of Kuala Lumpur are the same and that’s what I absolutely loved about it.  From designer stores to street markets, there was something different to see around every corner we turned.  We even managed to see a monkey riding on the back of a motorbike!

That evening we thought we would sample some of the famous food markets that the city has to offer.  We ended up having dinner in the basement of LOT 10 Hutong – which is Kuala Lumpur’s most famous food court.  This place was insane! It has every type of local dish imaginable! AND it was sooooo cheap.  The food was so tasty and the atmosphere was busy, but chilled out ….. if that makes sense? We did a quick walk around to weigh up our options before we chose which stall to eat at.  The decision was difficult, but we were happy with our choice.  We settled for a couple of noodle and rice dishes which definitely challenged my chopstick skills.

 

 

A Little Treat…….

On our last day we treated ourselves to a very special afternoon tea at the beautiful Mandarin Oriental.  We were sat in the lobby of the hotel and there was a man playing the piano as we ate which was so cute.  This was definitely one of the prettier afternoon teas I have seen (yes, that is a high heel cake! ……..A little bit tacky, but it tasted very,very good!)

The staff here were also so so sweet.  We had already finished our tea and had just left the hotel when one staff member came running out after us with a cute little tight bunch of pink roses all wrapped up in pretty paper.  When we looked surprised she said ‘HAPPY HONEYMOON’ and we all burst out laughing….. adorable!

Those were some of the highlights of our short stay in Kuala Lumpur (I left out the part where we got drenched walking home one night after dinner – Kuala Lumpur thunderstorms are impressive!!!).  Let me know if you have been to any of these places and what your thoughts were,  or if you are considering going to Kuala Lumpur and have any questions.

 

Off we go…….

After our last day in Kuala Lumpur we took a 3 hour car journey and short boat ride to the beautiful island of Pangkor Laut, which you can read all about in my next post………
You can find all of these pictures on my Pinterest account here!

 

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