The Kuala Lumpur Homecoming
The back story (part 1)
Upon arriving in Kuala Lumpur, my priority was to figure out how to get to Kuala Kubu Bharu. This town, located about 35 miles from the bustling city, holds special significance as it is where my dad lived during his teenage years. He also lived there after marrying my mum in India, and later with her and my five older siblings.
First to acclimatise to the city and embrace all it offers. The warm welcome came from the best hotel ever, the Ruma (appropriately translated as home or house). We rarely eat at hotels we are staying in, preferring to get out and explore other places. The exception is in cases of extreme heat and exceptional service. This is what we experienced here, so we decided to have our first dinner at The Library.
Apart from the magnificent hotel which I know I will be thinking about for years to come - until we come back - this trip is highlight-heavy.
The first was the fantastic massage on the much-visited well-being floor. Having had a little tour of the hotel, I popped into the spa and instantly felt compelled to book a semi-planned treatment. From their modern science, ancient healing menu, they recommended the Dusan Inan body therapy, a traditional massage given to people working in the paddy fields. The therapist offered me a tea menu afterwards and this treat was served in the lounge afterwards.
Visiting Kuala Kubu Bharu, the town where my family come from.
I stood outside the hospital where my siblings were born. I walked the streets my parents did. Most importantly, I paid my respects to the gurdwara my mum would have visited. The volunteers there welcomed me unconditionally despite no evidence of my religious belief, as I have none. After I dropped my donation in the box and respectfully bowed in front of the holy book, I chatted to the person on duty in English and gave her my parents’ names. I hope she went home that night and shared this with her elders and someone recognised them.
I know custom dictates that I should accept offers of refreshment and I gladly sat down for my first cup of chai of the trip. I did have to say no to food though as we had our driver waiting. Our brilliant concierge arranged this trip which gave me huge relief knowing I could safely get here for this pilgrimage.
The most touching part of this experience was seeing the lady lovingly tie a hair covering on my beloved’s long hair so he could join me inside for chai. That memory alone will stay with me for y lifetime.
It was a highly emotional day. I felt truly blessed to walk those streets. I touched the ground of my ancestors with my hand and felt overjoyed to be my mother’s daughter.
On the way back we asked the driver to drop us at the Batu Caves. We forgo the 272 steps to get to the temple although I did enjoy meeting the monkeys wandering freely. And I got to eat my only paratha of the trip at a local cafe. This is another childhood food staple that I thought would be available on every street corner with a cup of chai but that was not to be.
Being in the country during Diwali week when every shopping centre, hotel and public spaces were decorated to celebrate the festival of lights.
The Petronas Towers and the KLCC park at the base in which huge crowds gathered each night for the light and fountain displays. These were a few minutes walk from our hotel. The towers were magnificent whether viewed from the park or from afar. And extra magical as the backdrop to my birthday afternoon tea and when viewed from the wellbeing floor of our hotel later that evening.
I met a KL-born British woman at the hotel breakfast, and I had a nodding acquaintance with her for the rest of the trip. I also encountered a Swiss couple at a tiny laundrette in Bukit Bintang, which, on Sunday night, felt like Birmingham’s Broad Street on a payday Saturday night. The laundrette was difficult to find, not due to a lack of pathways leading to it—as I experienced on other occasions—but because it turned out to be located in the basement car park of a hotel.
The birthday tea at the Grand Hyatt was truly wonderful. Someone had mentioned it was my birthday, so we were given the best seat in the house, and the table was adorned with petals. I have always loved afternoon teas, especially because they take place when I'm usually hungriest and offer a delightful variety of small bites.
That night, we decided to have some late-night snacks in the bar and were thrilled to find sliders on the menu. We enjoyed these with exceptionally attentive service (shoutout to Azlan!) while looking out at the Petronas Towers. I think this is the night we happened to see the towers light up in red for a brief moment. It was magical.
The following night, we discovered the buffet dinner at The Mandarin Oriental hotel, which turned out to be the food highlight of my trip. We sampled an incredible variety of dishes, including chai on tap and cuisine from across Asia. As expected from the Mandarin, everything was luxurious. I also learned that my big sister, who visited Kuala Lumpur for her 60th birthday, had experienced the same wonderful buffet.
Kuala Lumpur is a shopper's paradise. The shopping centres give us both shelter from the heat and food courts so we were in and out most days, like we are when visiting hot Asian countries. They are vast, busy, airy and plentiful.
After the high of visiting Kuala Kubu Bharu, we had the best evening shopping experience I can remember. Hitting all the greatest hits, Innisfree, where our spends earned the right to make a product grab - pick up as many travel-sized skincare products with one hand. The shop assistant hadn’t realised how big my hands were compared to the Malaysians so we got quite the haul. This has been our favourite inexpensive skincare store since we first shopped in it in Hong Kong and we had been looking forward to seeing it on its home turf.
Plus we found products we never see in Muji, and bought plenty of Tigerbalm from Watsons - where they endearingly shout, ‘Welcome to Watsons’ when you walk in. The beloved did his usual t-shirt run in Uniqlo and I bought shoes from Charles and Keith (see Singapore) with a work bonus. To top it all we, had dinner in Shake Shack which holds many memories for us from Tokyo and other Asian trips. Afterwards, we explored the views from the roof gardens before picking up Dunkin Donuts.
And this was the day BEFORE my birthday. What a treat.
I loved visiting Little India and buying some shiny Indian jewellery for each of my sisters from their birth city.
The food in Kuala Lumpur ranged from good to excellent to incredible whether it was at tiny cafes, large hotels or in food courts and restaurants. We ate dinner at Dark Horse and WiP which are close to the hotel and had lunch at Stuff'd and Toast Maker in Nu Sentral and Common Man Roasters, which, like many coffee shops, offered good food too.
This was one of those trips where it was far too hot to have coffee and I had quite a few alternatives such as sweet mint tea at Pucks Coffee and cold concoctions at 5coffee and Blitz & Co. The best coffee experiences were at 103 Coffee, Kopenhagen Coffee, and on the last day, a blowout at Ralph Lauren Cafe, just because.
I saw the coffee shop inside Uniqlo too but never experienced the novelty of buying any. This was subsequently seen in Tokyo, where every brand seems to have an in-house coffee shop.
If I make this trip sound spectacular that’s because it was. The only downside is the intense heat and that the city is built for the car. Crossing roads where paths don’t always exist is made more challenging by the heat. The traffic lights change slowly as they focus on keeping traffic moving.
There were some exhausting walks that in reality were a few minutes but in the heat, it felt like walking through a boiler room. The wonderful woman I met at the hotel who was born in KL but grew up in England told me was the largest gurdwara in the city. Getting to it involved us getting a train and then an unshaded walk only to find it on a cluttered and dirty street. This was so upsetting we sought refuge outside an empty, long-forgotten hotel while we waited for a car to take us back to the hotel.
As for the National Gallery, it appeared to be across the road from the train station. However, with no physical path to follow, it took us 10 frustrating minutes of dead ends before returning and finding the entrance visible from the main, traffic-heavy road. Similarly, when attempting to visit another major museum, when we eventually found a way to cross the road (via the underground station), we claimed the heat-soaked steps to the top only to they only accept cash to enter.
But I know I will soon forget about these little moments as we already know Singapore and Kuala Lumpur are going to be a regular destination for us. Good public transport helps and in Kula Lumpur, the stations are spacious and airy, with seating in the middle of wide platforms.
It helps that it is an inexpensive country. Our living spends for the week, not counting a fair amount of personal shopping, were not much different from a weekend in the Netherlands in the following month.
I love the vibrancy, the service, the choices, the scenery, and the people. I have a family connection to Kuala Lumpur—now I just need to learn how to handle the heat.
October 2024
See the Singapore trip here.
