One Day in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
covagabond. wherever it takes us
X.SEA.1: One Day in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Two hours and thirty five minutes, two hours and thirty five minutes, two hours and thirty five minutes… nine hours? Twelve hours? Seventeen?
Something seemed amiss as I scrolled through my Expedia listings for flights from Manila to Bangkok. I knew that the direct flight was only two and a half hours, yet I was seeing listings for far longer than that, and all hosted by Malaysia Airlines. I clicked the seventeen hour option and found that the wildly increased duration was due to a thirteen hour layover in Kuala Lumpur.
I decided that a day in Malaysia sounded awesome, and booked my flight. As this was one of my first multi-country trips, I used tour services frequently, and they (mostly) served me well. So I found a tour with three destinations, thought I’d booked enough time for traffic, and set off.
My first welcome to Malaysia was a sign in the airport warning very simply that anyone found transporting narcotics into Malaysia would be hanged. Direct. I like it.
Kuala Lumpur’s freeways were deserted as I made my way into the city center from the airport in a cab (my first right-hand-drive car experience!). I’d unknowingly booked my travel on the Hindu festival of Deepavali, the victory of light over darkness, and a public holiday. So the traffic that I didn’t plan for didn’t exist, for that one day. Small miracles.
I passed under the twin towers in DT KL, snapped a quick still from a red light while picturing Sean Connery dangling alongside Catherine Zeta Jones under the skybridge before we rolled on the green. My initial destination was the Hotel Concorde lobby and tour van rendezvous, where I enjoyed a draft or two at the Hard Rock Cafe and admired the rice grain tapestries laid out on the marble floors for the festival.
My van arrived (late, as seems to be a recurring theme in my Asian tour experiences, though not universally) and we were off.
We learned about Malaysian tin and rubber export history in the choppy, yet deftly witty, English of our rounded, elderly tour guide en route to Royal Selangour, the world’s largest pewter factory, where we received a showroom production floor cum metallurgy museum exhibit tour. Artisans poured molten pewter into molds, hammering them out, dipping away seams, and polishing them to showroom shine with great efficiency. We learned about the large iron crocodiles that were Malaysia’s early currency, before more universal (and less heavy) coinage was adopted, and held cups stippled with thousands of circular facets, each hammered individually by hand.
Due to the holiday, the factory floor was closed. However we were treated to a stunning sales floor featuring everything from five centimeter dragons to a life size Captain America rendered down to the individual scales of his armor.
Our next stop was a silk shop. Painters swirled and looped pictures of birds and floral designs in wax tracery on bolts of silk strung like hammocks for meters.
After the initial designs hardened the artist brushed dyes onto the silk, which bled out to stop at the wax barriers. After the entire painted bolt dried the wax was removed, leaving livid white line work against a richly colored backdrop.
Thousands upon thousands of similar items covered every available rack and surface, horizontal and vertical alike. Even the ceiling swayed with tapestried bolts of silk.
Outside a shrine to the Buddha shone crimson in the cloudy afternoon sent coils of smoke to drift in the gray warmth and bade us farewell as we set out for the Batu caves.
Magnificent limestone structures, the Batu caves house a complex of Hindu temples that were in full attendance during my Deepavali excursion.
Thronging the base of the world’s largest statue of Murugan, the Hindu God of war, and flights of hundreds of brightly painted stairs leading up to the caves themselves were thousands of adherents. Looking up that steep rainbow, I began my ascent.
A note to potential travelers. I didn’t take into account that I’d added a full day’s activities to a two week trip – meaning I was carrying a thirty pound pack up hundreds of narrow stairs in the tropical heat. Not a complaint, but definitely worth looking into day storage, or even a cheap hotel room as a base of operations for a long layover like this, just to lighten the load.
The caves were beautiful. Skylights cast bright white illumination far overhead, and jade green jungle spilled down toward us wherever space allowed.
Bats hunted in aerial ballet, darting around statues, shrines, vendors, pilgrims, and tourists alike. Vibrant temples and other structures within only underscored the size and scope of the caves.
Due to the brevity of my guided tour experience, I didn’t avail myself of the full extent of the Batu Caves. An additional dark complex branched off of the main approach, where dozens of signs touted the wildlife to be found within. I had about an hour, while three or four could easily be spent here.
Further temples and structures stood at the cave entrance, where I found gold rooftop sculptures, and this inimitable monkey god.
All in all, it was amazing.
My return to the airport was uneventful and expeditious, the freeways still being largely deserted, and my connecting flight to Bangkok was smooth.
Kuala Lumpur is massive, and a worthy destination in and of itself. However, if you only have one day, it still has plenty to offer the aspiring vagabond.
~
“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” -Lao Tzu
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