Spectrum of the Seas Review: Day 4 – Kuala Lumpurfeatured

Day two in Kuala Lumpur had us back on our regularly scheduled program: we were up early and swiftly getting our day started. We had big plans, after all.

A quick look out the window showed promise of sun, so we got ready, packed our purses and headed off to the club lounge for a quick breakfast (which, side note, the made to order omelets? Heaven. They were like sous vide eggs in omelet form. They were amazing).

After a hearty breakfast, we headed down to meet our Grab car driven by a lovely woman who told us all about her favorite Malaysian dishes and fruits and places to visit. The hospitality of the people we met was just so heart-warming across our time in Kuala Lumpur.

Our destination was the Batu Caves and, for us, it was imperative to get an early start to beat the crowds and (more importantly) beat the sun. The Batu Caves are a limestone hill that, up a series of 272 brightly colored steps, lead to a series of caves and temples. The caves have always been a popular destination, but the steps are re-painted every 12 years and the most recent renovation last year had them painted in a bright assortment of the rainbow spectrum, making them exceedingly popular with bloggers and Instagrammers. Beyond the hoards of influencers, there are also wild monkeys that jump around the steps and railings. They’ve been known to steal food (and even cell phones!) right out of people’s hands, and honestly, my largest fear was getting scratched or bitten by one and ending up in a Malaysian hospital with rabies. Crazy and morbid, I know. What can I say? My mind wanders.

The drive was less than 20 minutes (there was no traffic because, per our Grab driver, it was a public holiday and everyone was off and the locals were flocking out of KL and into the surrounding resort towns for the long weekend) and she dropped us off right at the gate. It was busy, but not nearly as bad as we’ve seen it get in some of the pictures we saw on Instagram.

We weren’t sure initially if we were going to climb: 272 rather steep stairs is no joke and neither was the heat. We were on the second day of a nearly three-week long trip and we were flying the next day, so the possibility of hurting ourselves or getting super sore loomed over our heads. Ultimately, though, as we walked in and started walking a few steps to take some pictures, we said screw it – we were going for it.

The walk up was much easier than I thought it would be and we scaled all 272 steps with a few breaks to snap pics or stretch, in maybe 10 or 15 minutes? And there were monkeys, many of them, but they weren’t nearly as aggressive as some of the horror stories we’d read. We let them be, they let us be.

As we took the last few steps towards the top of the first cave, we turned around and the view of the golden statue of Lord Murugan against the blue sky, the KL skyline behind it, we both felt the climb up was totally worth it.

There were more caves behind the first one but we didn’t go any further. We wandered around, looking at the art work and rock formations. There were some shops and kiosks selling snacks, drinks and souvenirs. We didn’t buy anything because we didn’t want to carry it down or have food residue on us to attract the monkeys.

The climb down was probably the worst of it. The ascent up didn’t feel strenuous, didn’t make us feel achy or out of breath, but the walk down was kind of scary. The first stretch of it was fine. As we came across more monkeys, I was moving faster, which gave me a little vertigo, so I ended up locking up my muscles a bit because I was feeling wobbly. I was going to be sore for a few days, for sure.

We made it back to the bottom, snapped some pictures, bought some cold water (even in the early morning, it was H-O-T!), snapped some more pictures and hailed a Grab. I think the entire visit took less than an hour. Definitely worth it.

Our Grab driver couldn’t come in to get us so we had to walk a bit outside of the area to find him. This was becoming a theme, which made Grabs a little more difficult (especially given that we didn’t speak Malay and our cell service was slow and shoddy). There’s an MRT that goes from the city out to the caves, but Grab was so cheap that we defaulted to using it where we could just out of sheer convenience (even though pickups were tricky near popular attractions).

We went at the perfect time because the sun was starting to peek out from behind the hill as we were leaving, pouring sunlight directly on the steps. As it was, even in the shade, with the humidity and tropical temps Kuala Lumpur is known for, we were drenched in sweat. We decided instead of heading to our next place, we’d head back to the hotel for a little siesta to get refreshed and relax a little bit.

A few hours later, we were hungry for lunch and so we decided to head out towards Petaling Street to find Merchant’s Lane Café, a restaurant I found on Instagram. Petaling Street is KL’s Chinatown, with tons of shops, cafes and markets. Merchant’s Lane was behind a non-descript door, and as soon as we opened it, we found a bustling café with a line that snaked down the staircase. We put our names down and I think it was a half hour before our table was ready. The menu was limited but full of interesting fusion items. Stephanie ordered a burger with a fried egg and peanut sauce and I had some kind of kung pao beef sliders. We paired them with iced coffees and kicked back in the air conditioning. They’re big on the AC in Kuala Lumpur and I was ever so grateful – the heat is no joke!

We walked off lunch, just kind of shuffling along the street to see what we could find. We came across the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, which we both had bookmarked. The oldest Hindu temple in KL, the temple dated back to the late 1800s, with a colorful restoration in the late 1960s. We didn’t go in, but the outside was just beautiful.

After the temple, we found our way to the Petaling Street Market, one of KL’s most famous markets. There were booths selling mostly generic souvenirs and designer fakes and we just kind of glanced through the, but I was a little disappointed. I was walking through one of KL’s most well-known markets, and I didn’t want to buy a single thing. That’s SO unlike me! Even the doorman at the hotel had mentioned that Stephanie and I had some shopping to do because we hadn’t come back with shopping bags yet! We were still so early in our trip and we knew there would be plenty of shopping ops to come (hello, HK Night Markets!), so we snapped some pics and headed out to explore the area around the market.

The midday heat was stifling at this point, so we headed to the nearest fast food joint for some ice cold soft drinks to plot out our next move in the air conditioning. We pulled up our Google Maps, where we had saved any attraction, market or café we had found while we were planning and looked for whatever else was nearby. We discovered we were within walking distance of another market, the Central Market, as well as one of the city buildings I wanted to see, so we set out back into the heat, walking towards our next attraction.

Central Market is an indoor craft market with plenty of air conditioning and even better merch than the Petaling Street Market. I didn’t want to buy anything at Petaling Street. I wanted to buy everything at Central Market. We perused aisle after aisle, shop after shop. We bought batik textiles and hand fans. AND we found some gorgeous lacquered jewelry boxes and brightly colored sarongs. Stephanie even bartered to get a lower price – so proud of her!

We were running low on Ringgits, so we headed out back into the heat towards the Sultan Abdul Samad building. On our way, we found this town square that was shaded from the midday sun, with swing sets on the side. We couldn’t pass up the chance to get a swing in!

The Sultan Abdul Samad building was a short walk from the square, just past a gorgeous textile museum that I would have loved to visit if we had an extra day. The building is home to the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Tourism. It was closed for the day, but was still beautiful to take in from the outside.

We contemplated picking up a Grab, but the streets were closed down with a street bazaar taking up shop for the holiday, but thankfully, we were a short walk from an MRT station that would take us back to the hotel and, hey, we like public transit (well, I like public transit. Jury’s still out for Stephanie, but she doesn’t take it every day like I do!) and it was an opportunity to observe the infrastructure of the city. The MRT station was clean and modern and a ride only cost 1.80 Ringgits – the equivalent of $0.43. You buy a ticket from an automated machine outside the entrance and it dispenses you a token. You tap the token when you enter, but hold onto it – you’ll need to drop it into a turnstyle to exit the station you get off at.

The MRT left us off at the Suria KLCC and we made a quick detour at McDonalds for some frosty cold drinks before heading back to the hotel. When we left the mall, it was starting to get a little dark and overcast. By the time we got back up to our room, the sky was dark gray and visibility was waning by the minute. Within ten minutes, the skies were completely dark, visibility was zero and a massive thunderstorm rolled in. We turned off the lights, kicked back with a plate of treats the concierge had left for us and watched the storm rain over the city below. You know those rainy days at home when you cuddle up on the couch with a blanket and a book and it’s just so relaxing? That’s how this felt. Normally, I’d hate any and all weather that keeps me from being outside exploring a city, but we were still jet lagged, still sore and we had so much vacation to go. And, beyond that, we had seen most of the top things on our lists and we knew we weren’t going to make it everywhere. I had more than 35 coffee shops and cafes on my list. In three days? There was no way. So I enjoyed the opportunity for a little afternoon relaxation sesh, grateful that it was coming after we’d exhausted the sunny part of the day with outdoor exploration when it mattered.

I had hoped the storm would be one of those quick tropical ones that clear up and make way to robust sun and rainbows because I wanted to have dinner at a night market – I was really craving some Indian street food like whoa – but the storms kept pounding against the windows, so we decided to just hack a dinner together from the spread at the evening reception in the Club Lounge.

When the weather cleared up enough to go outside, we headed back to the Suria KLCC mall to visit Innisfree, a kbeauty store that specializes in sheet masks. We stocked up on all kinds of potions and masks, enough to make us glow for at least a solid few weeks, and then called it an early night.

Back at the hotel, our room was turned down with another box of truffles waiting on our pillows and a plate of treats on the desk. We took turns showering off the ick of a hot day off our skin and choosing shows to watch. Stephanie was beyond thrilled when she found HBO on the hotel channel list and even more thrilled that she could watch the Game of Thrones finale (Mom had been texting her a play by play while we were at the Batu Caves and Stephanie thought she’d have to wait until we got home to see it!). I don’t do GoT so I flipped through my pictures and constantly asked Stephanie to explain all the things that were happening on the screen.

We probably should have packed, but you know how I feel about packing. I figured I’d pack the next afternoon right before our flight and took a nap instead. I needed less naps today than I did the day before, total progress, but taking evening naps also meant I was up until 2:30 am because I wasn’t tired anymore.

Oh well. Sleep. I’d get it one way or another, but we had one more day in Kuala Lumpur and I was going to make the most of it regardless.