Holiday in Malaysia

I had heard so many good things about Malaysian paradise islands and Kuala Lumpur (KL) from my sister so I wanted to visit there as well. My boyfriend and I had the opportunity to visit Malaysia in May 2014 because a family friend of my boyfriend was living with her family in Kuala Lumpur for a few years. She had invited many Finnish friends and relatives to come over since they had a lovely apartment with a guest room.

At first we flew from Helsinki to Singapore and took a connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur. :) I was very tired because I fell asleep during landing, even though I’m a little bit afraid of flying – I remember when the plane landed at the KL airport I suddenly woke up “what was that noise”.

Hot in KL

Malaysia was the first Southeast Asian country that we visited. As in my previous text I shared you my trip to Korea in winter so I was wondering what we think of the hot and humid climate in Malaysia. And yes, we liked it, just need to remember to drink much water and walk slowly – otherwise you might get a headache from dehydration (been there).

On the first day we took a taxi (which was easy to call by a taxi app) and visited a Hindu temple and shrine at Batu caves, 13 KM from KL to north. The giant statue was beautiful and the stairs enormous with 272 steps. Even though it's very hot outside, remember dress code. ;) I remember the weather was like being in a sauna for 24/7, especially when we took a tour inside the Batu caves, for safety reasons the entire group had to wear helmets which made us sweat even more. I learned during the visit that you should always be careful what you speak abroad, for us it seems – there are Finns everywhere. Our friendly tour guide asked everybody ”where are you from” and when we said “Finland” she knew how to say thank you in Finnish, which was cool. Then another girl said “Finland” as well. We didn’t realize she was Finnish, even though she was sitting next to us waiting for the tour to begin, because she was speaking English with her friend. The experience in Batu caves was memorable, even though a very hot and humid one!

42.7m long statue dedicated to Murugan, a Hindu deity

On the second day we got a ride from the husband of our family friend to get to city center of KL when he was off to work and our family friend went to her voluntary work meeting. We visited the landmark Petronas Twin towers, the tallest twin tower on earth so far. We also went to a close by hotel’s sky bar to see the tower better. There was a swimming pool which made the air so humid plus big roof top windows it was very hot inside. 

Petronas Twin Towers

After that we went to a big aquarium which we visited before leaving back to the house. Btw, the neighborhood we stayed in had a common swimming pool, which we tried once. It was refreshing!

I was so happy that I took manicure and pedicure in a local nail salon of the neighborhood. As I sat in the back massaging chair the nail artists gave me a hand and a foot massage, then she painted beautiful flowers to my nails – I could never draw that accurately small details on my nails. I think they must have used pretty strong nail polish since it lasted more than a month in my nails and toe nails for six months! It was also an experience that I walked from there alone to the house and I was a little nervous if the neighborhood guards won’t let me in, what if they don’t recognize me.. But they did recognize me and I didn't need to show IDs.

Amazing decorations to choose from!!

One day we visited Utama, a really big shopping centre and we spent the whole day there. No need to explain more! During that shopping tour we had a small break in a –not giving any names- popular café where the waiter was really friendly. He asked where we are from and shook our hands to welcome us to Malaysia. He also gave us to choose the regular customer card. :) Of course our coffee and ice cream coffee were quite expensive but that’s what you get in that coffee shop. ;) 

One evening we went to an Indian restaurant with the family (dad and son), it was an exciting experience to eat the food from a banana leaf. I learnt some Malay words during our trip which are for example, “terima kasih, selamat jalan, keluar”. Even my name ‘sini’ means ‘here’ in Malay! It is interesting how Malaysia is multicultural with its ethnic groups; Malay, Indian and Chinese.

On our final day we visited Chinatown to buy some souvenirs and our family friend recommended us a fancy Thai restaurant – so far the best butter chicken / pad thai noodles I had eaten, and my boyfriend’s shrimp dish was also very delicious.

We spent our final night playing board games with the family, eating and talking. It was really wonderful to get to know to this family. I’m so grateful to the family who invited us and showed us what it's like living as expatriates abroad. I think the family spent the time there really well, as KL has a good location they visited many Southeast Asian countries, for example, Vietnam and the Philippines. We also learnt about the school life (American and British way) in KL, and it seems they have stricter rules compared to Finnish school system as you need to wear the school uniform even though it’s very hot. Besides, there are so many social or sports activities to choose from, which is nice.

On Saturday morning we left to the airport. The flight went by fast, it took only about one hour and then we arrived again to Changi airport in Singapore, from where our trip in Singapore began. I felt excited to see what Singapore brings to us!