Malaysia honestly wasn’t part of the plan. We started this trip with only a few fixed points: fly into Bangkok, fly out of Shanghai one month later, and loosely make our way through Phuket, parts of Vietnam, Hangzhou, and maybe the Philippines. Malaysia never even crossed our minds. But while we were looking at flights out of Krabi, we noticed that Kuala Lumpur was only a short flight away. Since we were already thinking about going to Singapore, KL was basically on the way.

Our travel style has been moving pretty quickly—about 2–3 days per city—so we decided to spend two nights in Kuala Lumpur and two nights in Penang. While we were in Istanbul earlier in the trip I had gone down a YouTube rabbit hole watching videos about Penang, Langkawi, and Borneo, but since we only had a few days we decided Penang made the most sense. Langkawi and Borneo are definitely still on my bucket list.

And honestly, Kuala Lumpur ended up being way more interesting than I expected.

Kuala Lumpur feels like a city of contrasts. One minute you’re looking at massive luxury malls and high-rise apartments, and the next minute you’re walking past street food stalls or temples tucked between buildings.

What stood out to me the most was how diverse it is. The mix of Malay, Chinese, Indian, Bangladeshi, and other cultures is everywhere—in the food, the languages, and the people you meet. Also, everyone seems to speak at least two languages, if not three or four. During one of the afternoon showers, we ducked into a mall and Justin decided to get a foot massage and I got a mani-pedi. As I was sitting in the chair, I watched the salon owner call out “mani pedi!” to people walking by in Mandarin, English, and Malay like it was nothing.

Growing up Chinese-American, Mandarin was something I mostly spoke with my parents. In the U.S., bilingualism can feel optional, sometimes even niche. I didn’t know Malaysia had such a large ethnic Chinese population, and I didn’t expect to use Mandarin so naturally here. But in KL, I moved fluidly between English and Mandarin in taxis, restaurants, and shops. It felt surprisingly familiar in a place that was totally new to us.

🛕 Batu Caves

This was my favorite place in KL. The highlights of Batu Caves- the 272 colorful steps that lead to a Hindu temple inside a limestone cave and my new favorite animal (the Macacque monkeys) are everywhere.

Logistics tip: The main cave and steps are free. Some of the smaller caves require a ticket. Make sure you cover your knees and shoulders. There are staff in front of the entrance to the steps and they enforce the dress code. Don’t hold food unless you’re ready to share with the monkeys.

Congkak: the best meal of the trip

It was the first menu I’d seen where everything was written in English, and I still understood less than half of it. Somehow, that made it better.

What we ordered: What we ordered: Bihun Sup Tulang (bihun noodles in a rich beef bone broth with beef slices, sambal, and fried shallots), Ayam Goreng Berempah – deeply spiced, impossibly crispy fried chicken, Kupang Pucuk Paku – mussels with young fern (unexpected and excellent), Iced lychee tea, Soda Bandung (a rose syrup milk soda topped with chia seeds)

Malaysian food is a reflection of the country itself—a blend of Malay, Chinese, and Indian influences. And in KL, you’ll find it everywhere: hawker stalls lining sidewalks, food courts inside mega malls, late-night street vendors tucked beneath high-rises.

🏙 Bukit Bintang & The Mega Mall Phenomenon

The layout of Kuala Lumpur doesn’t entirely make sense at first. Many neighborhoods blur together with some mix of hawkers stalls, high-rise apartments, and megamalls.

We spent an afternoon wandering Bukit Bintang, ducking into mega malls to escape sudden tropical downpours. I got a mani pedi at nu sentral while Justin got a foot massage next door.

KL might not be conventionally “walkable” in the European sense, but it’s extremely livable. The infrastructure is modern. Payment is easy. Even the vendor selling bananas (still not sure if they’re for the humans or monkeys) outside Batu Caves accepted card.

🏊 Recharge Mode: Imperial Lexis

After two weeks of moving nonstop, we needed a little rest and recovery, Our typical style of travel involves spending 2-3 nights in one place and then moving onto the next. In the past, we’ve squeezed 3 countries in a one week trip.

We stayed at Imperial Lexis Kuala Lumpur and spent the hottest part of the day at the rooftop pool. I did read a few blogs that recommended booking a hotel with a rooftop infinity pool to get a view of the KL skyline and they were absolutely spot on. If you’re planning on going to Kuala Lumpur, a rooftop pool is a game changer and relatively affordable compared to what a similar hotel would cost in NYC or any other American city. Somehow we’d avoided sunburn up to that point, but the Malaysian heat is different—dense and humid. This was the first time that I’ve ever experienced sunburn on my toes!

To get to Penang, we took the KTM ETS train from KL Sentral.

We weren’t able to book tickets online, so we went to the station the night before and bought them from the kiosk, which was super easy.

A couple things to know:

The doors close 5 minutes before departure, which we learned the slightly stressful way.

The train itself is really comfortable with lots of overhead space, but there isn’t much room for huge suitcases.

A Few Helpful Tips: wear comfortable walking shoes, card payments are accepted almost everywhere- even the banana vendors at Batu Caves, monkeys at Batu Caves look cute but will absolutely steal your snacks, expect random afternoon rain showers.

Final Thoughts

Kuala Lumpur was one of those places that wasn’t even on our itinerary, but ended up being a really memorable stop.

At first glance the city can feel a little confusing because so much of it looks similar—high-rise apartments, huge malls, busy streets—but once you start exploring, you realize how many different cultures and influences are layered into the city.

Between the food, the languages, the temples, and the random monkeys, it turned out to be a pretty fun place to spend a couple of days.

And honestly, two nights didn’t feel like quite enough.