Flights became super super expensive during the two weeks of christmas school holidays in Luxembourg. We were endlessly looking for affordable flights, however without any luck. Flights to Thailand reached the 2k limit (a single ticket), other destinations like Guatemala just came up with a horrible flight schedule. In the end we ended up booking two city trips, of two cities and two countries I haven’t visited yet:
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Singapore, Singapore.
Well after having visited most asian countries, you could think “Kuala Lumpur …oh just another asian capital.”. However it was just the perfect match for us, as we have been traveling to asian- and arabic cities. We discovered both worlds, both cultures… and suddenly both world fuse together.
Bali, Thailand, Vietnam, … you will find minorities of the muslim religion. However in Kuala Lumpur it was the main religion. It was a melting pot of muslim, hindu and chinese culture. And it just felt different than any other previous country we visited prior this trip.
The airport of Kuala Lumpur is located further away from the city center. It easily takes between 60-70 minutes to make it to the airport by uber/taxi. Everything is quite cheap in Kuala Lumpur. And you get endless food options. Arabic-, halal-, chinese-, indian food… you never get bored while looking for the perfect dinner place.
Uber which is crazy cheap in KL, makes everything easily accessible. Our hotel was located in the Bukit Bintang area. It was the heart of the city center, surrounded by a couple of muslim corners, where you would find endless options of restaurants & supermarkets, a night food market, and millions of shops (shopping malls).
Every Uber we booked was between 1-5 euros.
The highlight in Kuala Lumpur was the majestic Batu Caves Temple. It’s definitely an eye catcher. It’s for free. If you get there early in the morning (around 10am) you still can avoid the crowds that show up during mid-day. The big golden statue, the colorful steps, the hindus, the inside of the cave.. this all sums up to make it a crazy photogenic place. Definitely the highlight in Kuala Lumpur.
Jalan Alor.
Jalan Alor was located next to our hotel. It’s one of the most popular street food markets, maybe the biggest one? It wouldn’t beat the ones we’d visited in Thailand. However it’s worth a visit, especially at night with hundreds of hanging red lanterns. We opted for a delicious Iraki Restaurant, called “TARMA” just around the corner.
Petaling Street Market.
Petaling Street Market is part of the chinese neighborhood. The main street, is packed with stalls, that sell all kind of crap nobody needs. However the whole area has a couple of cute restaurants, an indoor market, plenties of street art. It’s definitely a spot where you can easily spend some hours and take some photos. Besides the market street, it feels authentic, and we tried to make it back at night for dinner, as it seemed to become very colorful at night, however due to the rainy weather we couldn’t make it back on our last night in KL.
The Federal Territory Mosque
From afar we could witness a beautiful mosque with a huge dome. We decided to visit the mosque as we were kinda attracted by its size. As we were entering the building we were greeted by security, and they informed us that we had to visit the mosque with a guide. The first moment we were hesitating, as it mostly comes with a donation, many attempts to slightly convert us into muslims (kind of). We weren’t in the mood, to hear the stories of how great their religion is. It was just too warm outside for this kind of activities. However we ended up in a small office, all three of us, dressed up in religious dresses. Our guide was Shahira, a lovely older lady. We couldn’t see her face, as she was wearing a facemask, due to covid. The tour lasted almost an hour, and it turned out to be pretty interesting. The whole tour was for free, nobody ever asked for a donation, no attempts to convert us… super friendly people, doing an effort to show tourists their place of worship. We donated a couple of bucks, as the whole ambience was super welcoming. Just the opposite of what I’ve experienced in Morocco.
Later I noticed, that we headed to the wrong mosque. During the whole trip I wanted to visit the pink mosque. So that’s gotta be for the next time.
Petrona Towers.
Obviously they’re part of the city’s landscape. But they’re only magnificent at night. At nighttime both towers shine like a pair of diamonds, and you can see them from almost every corner in the center of KL.
Not too far away from the towers, we went to the Heliport Bar, which seemed to be a cool bar, at the top floor of a skyscraper. From the bar you would walk up to a helipad (during the day), that transforms into a rooftop bar at night. We paid 20$ entrance, even though Valentina wasn’t allowed to make it onto the helipad. So we decided that we would enjoy some drinks, and just have a sneak peak individually on the helipad to take a great photo of the splendid view of the Petrona Towers. While having our drinks it started raining like hell, and they had to close the access to the rooftop. Unlucky again.
Thean Hou Temple
This one is definitely an eye catcher among all the worship places in Kuala Lumpur. What makes it very “picturesque” are the countless hanging lanterns filling up the roof-level of the outdoor area of the temple. Needless to say, we didn’t pay much attention about its history, we tried to get a couple of descent shots, while having only a couple more hours left in Malaysia prior our flight to the next destination. You get a descent skyline view from the temple. In its basement you can try some local food. As it’s located a little bit further out from any busy street, we had a hard time finding an UBER, as there was no wifi connection nearby.
Definitely a great spot to take some fancy photographs.
And this is how the first part of our trip came to an end. After spending 3 nights in Kuala Lumpur, we definitely enjoyed our time there, and made the best out of it, despite having a couple of hours of rain in the evenings.
The kindness of the local people, the cheap prices, and the diversity ,in general, that Malaysia is offering to the tourists, convinced us to come back in the nearby future, where we would love to explore the beaches & islands of Malaysia, and Malacca a charming city nearby Kuala Lumpur.
SINGAPORE.
This was my first time visiting Singapore as a destination. However I already had a 10 hour stay in Singapore, due to a connecting flight to Bali. Back then, I really didn’t enjoy Singapore. After discovering one of Indonesia’s most popular Island, Singapore felt rather dull. However as we looking for a second destination on this one-week journey, Singapore just felt like the best option. I had absolutely no expectations for the second part of our trip.
Mostly, every time I visit a country, I didn’t like at first sight, it keeps growing on me after getting there for a second time. And this was the case with Singapore.
On my first trip, I rushed from the airport, to Little India, the Marina Bay Sands shopping center, and the Garden by the Bay. Everything felt artificial, kind of like Dubai. It was a melting pot of multiple cultures, but didn’t really had a face of its own. I think back then, I was looking for photogenic spots, busy streets, … the stuff I encountered in Bali.
On this trip, I somehow started to enjoy these same aspects of Singapore, that I didn’t like on my one day visit in 2018.
Traveling as a family.
Maybe it was the fact, that we were traveling with a one year old kid, that made Singapore more enjoyable. Singapore is super clean, getting around in the city is super convenient, it’s safe, and it offers lots of indoor activities as well, if the weather won’t show its best smile.
Little India.
As we haven’t been to India recently, I really enjoyed spending some time in Little India. It’s not as photogenic as India itself, but it has a very similiar vibe, especially in the evening or the early morning. Little India is busy, it’s colorful, it smells like India, and it’s full of Indian people dressed in sarees and dottis. And in comparison to other areas of Singapore, the food in restaurants is quite cheap.
Chinatown.
I read several articles that Chinatown in San Francisco, would be the biggest community outside of China. To me, it seemed that Singapore’s Chinatown was way bigger than the one in SF. The restaurants along the main road, were super packed in the evening. Most of them, were serving authentic Chinese food. It was loud, stressful, and the food was different, from that what we were used to eat in chinese restaurants.
The beautiful Buddha Tooth Relic Temple was our favorite spot in Chinatown. I’d recommend to visit the temple at night. It looks way more impressive when it’s dark, due to the red shining color.
Kampong Glam.
The hippest among all the cultural neighborhoods was the Muslim area called “Kampong Glam”. Haji Lane is colorful, packed with street art, hip shops, it’s not the kind of street you would except in a muslim neighorhood, nearby a big mosque. The food variety is endless, from Mexican, to Thai food, and several Arabic restaurants.
The Sultan Mosque is quite the eyecatcher with its golden dome covering the antique looking building.
Sadly it was the only place in Singapore, where people were bothering us, and asking us constantly to visit their restaurants.
The Bay Area.
The Marina Bay area, is quite touristy. Its mall is very posh, and you won’t find any budget-friendly shops. The food court is interesting though, as it offers every food you can imagine. As for the kiddy part: you can book a canal boat ride through a canal that goes through the mall. I think it’s 15 to 20$ per boat. Next to the foodcourt, is a digital playground for kids.
The famous lit trees at the Supertree Groove, start their show at 7:45 pm, and there’s another show at 8:45pm. One night we were passing the magical garden after 10:00pm and whole place was dark, all the lights were turned off. Just as a reminder that the trees aren’t lit all night.
The park is quite big, and it’s definitely enjoyable to have a walk through it.
From the garden, you can walk through the Marina Bay Hotel, to reach the shopping Mall. You gotta cross a bridge, from which you can witness the inside of the expensive hotel. Its fantastic roof-top swimmingpool is only accessible for their hotel guests. Next time when we will be in Singapore, we will try to spend at least one night at this hotel, just to get access to its pool area.
Eats & drinks.
Drinking gets quite expensive. One afternoon, we went to the Raffles Hotel, to stop there for a drink, as the cocktail “Singapore Sling” was invented in that particular place. To witness that historical bar, we had to stand in line for 20-30 minutes. Prices per drink, were insane. One “Sling” was 35us$. They were delicious… what else would you expect from a 35$ drink? As we really enjoyed the vibe of the bar, we went for a second round. They were serving free peanuts, and you were allowed to discard its shell on the floor.
It was funny to watch the people leaving the door with a big smile on their face, while we were waiting impatiently in the entrance queue. I guessed everybody was feeling tipsy after two or more drinks… or maybe it was the satisfying smile of a happy customer.
The bar is worth the visit, their Singapore Sling is the best I ever had.
Even the salty check, wasn’t able to remove the grin from our face while walking out the door.
Night Food Market.
Lau Pa Sat Hawker Centre is big food market, that attracts many tourists and locals as well. It’s a place where you can find cheap food in Singapore, as some restaurants can get quite pricy. As for myself I was overwhelmed, as I had way too many options to chose from. At first sight it seems easy to get lost among the hundreds of people running around ordering their favorite dish.
Singapore is full of colors, full of flavours, it’s clean, it’s convenient.
You get in touch with the 3 main cultures: arabic, chinese, indian. It’s all a melting pot of diversity.
If I could choose between Dubai or Singapore, I’d go for Singapore in a heartbeat.
Maybe as a solo traveler Singapore isn’t the best option, however as a group of friends or family, it’s definitely worth the visit for a couple of days.