Kuala Lumpur is the cultural, financial, and economic centre of Malaysia and is one of the leading cities in the world for tourism and shopping.

I decided to travel from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur by bus. The distance between the two cities is around 200 km. The bus was relatively comfortable. It took us an hour to the border. After very quick electronic checks on the Singapore side, there were a few more questions for me on the Malaysian border, such as where, what, with whom and why I am travelling. After half an hour I was allowed to join the other passengers.

The road to Kuala Lumpur was good, mostly a 4 or 6-lane road. We made one stop to get something to eat. First problem! As I didn’t have Malaysian money and they didn’t accept any kind of bank cards, I almost remained hungry. But! There are always kind people around. A man from the Philippines noticed that I have a problem and bought me a PANCAKE. Thank you :))

The landscape we passed by was almost uniformly overgrown with oil palm trees. One of the most important Malaysian export items is palm oil. Years ago it was latex, obtained from rubber trees. Due to modern technology, the demand for latex had decreased. The rubber tree plantations were replaced by oil palm trees. It goes even further - large areas of rainforests were cut down and replaced by palms so it became a major environmental problem too. The benefits for the rich? Palm oil is used in food manufacturing, cosmetics and as biofuel. It has damaging effects on human health as it is a source of saturated fats. But enough of that - let us focus on my adventures.

After six hours of travelling, we arrived in Kuala Lumpur. My second problem! How can I get a taxi as I am without money? People on the bus told me to be careful with taxi drivers as they don’t accept cards and what is more, they will try to charge me too much :((. And again - a good Filipino offered to come with me to exchange the money and call a taxi. Thank you, Filipino!

The hotel in Kuala Lumpur was fantastic. It was high a 4-star hotel, located near Chinatown. For the first day, I decided to take a private Kuala Lumpur city tour with a visit to Batu caves. The driver Louis was Indian and well-educated about the history of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur and its main attractions. I headed to the Observation deck and Skybridge of the most known city attraction - The twin towers. The towers with their 88 storeys and 451.9 meters are the tallest twin towers and the 20th tallest building in the world. The view from the top is magnificent and I enjoyed every minute of it. The attraction I liked was the Batu caves. Batu caves are impressive shrines in Malaysia’s largest Hindu site. To come to them I had to walk up the 272 steps but as this was my only exercise that day I didn’t mind. The temple was worth visiting. During the tour, the driver told me that I could see all the major city’s attractions on foot as my hotel had a really good position.

On the second day, I took a tour around the city on foot. My main goal was to walk in the Taman Tugu trails area. This is a rainforest near the city centre of Kuala Lumpur just next to the well-known Botanical gardens. I did two hours of trekking and I got a good rain shower in that rainforest. It is Malaysia with its weather, so what could be done?! I had an umbrella, so everything that remained dry was my head… The rain stopped in half an hour and I continued visiting the Botanical garden and the largest Bird park in the world. The Botanical gardens didn’t make much impression on me, but I was excited about the Bird park. It is the world’s largest free-flight aviary with more than 3000 birds. I could spend there hours and hours. On the way back I passed a National mosque, an old railway station and a national monument - almost the same things as I saw the day before with my driver.

And that was it. Again, I did not have enough time for a city like Kuala Lumpur although I have to admit, that I got a good impression and an insight into the city and the land itself. Also, a special thanks to Louis, my driver.

My advice and impressions:

My next stop are the Cameron Highlands.