Kuala Lumpur: Perfect Weekend Getaway

There was a 3 day holiday weekend in May, but even looking 3 months out, flights were already crazy expensive, so we decided to do a road trip to KL. It wasn't super high on our list of places to visit, but overall we really liked the city. There was a lot to do for the weekend, and it felt very livable.

Since it was a holiday weekend, we knew we had to hit the road pretty early Saturday morning to avoid horrendous lines at the border crossing. We left our condo at about 4:40am, which wasn't quite early enough, as we still sat in line over an hour to get through both checkpoints. Could have been much worse, but leaving a bit earlier would have been better. The girls were troopers though, and both took naps in the car in the morning.

We arrived in KL around 10:30am and after checking out the Petronas towers, went straight to the science/discovery museum inside the towers. We had read that it was quite good and interactive for kids, but it exceeded any expectations I had. You begin by riding a car to the entrance of the museum, which is more like an amusement park ride than a car ride. Inside, there were tons of interactive exhibits from outer space and dinosaurs to engineering and physics. Emmeline's favorite was the dinosaurs, and even though she knows they aren't real, I think she thinks they still might be.

 

 

 

Because we were worried about the border crossing lines, we decided not to book a hotel before we left just in case we gave up and stayed in Singapore. In the end, we ended up booked a Marriott chain hotel with a free night and points we had. It was a great choice, with a huge pool and gym, and a great club where we enjoyed free nightly drinks and nibbles before going out to dinner.

 

The towers, of course, are the highlight of KL. They really are impressive, both during the day and at night. There's a large park on one side, with the biggest playground I've ever seen and a splashed/pool to cool off afterwards. The girls thoroughly enjoyed our morning spent here.

 

 

 

We also made the short trip to the nearby Batu Caves, which is one of the largest Hindu temples outside of India. It recently got a colorful makeover, where all the steps where painted in different colors. This was everyone's favorite part, and Emmeline was so intrigued that she climbed all of the stairs up and down by herself! She was so proud of herself and didn't even want to hold anyone's hand. The cave itself was only interested for a few minutes, but we are glad we made the short detour out of the city for this excursion and glad we left early to avoid the crowds (and monkeys that apparently come out in droves later).

 

 

 
 


Although we enjoyed some Malaysian food, since it's pretty similar to Singaporean food, we opted for some yummy other meals too-Italian and Pakistani/Mediterranean fusion. All in all, a great little weekend trip, and pretty easy from Singapore too. The girls were great on the road trip, sleeping or playing with little whining. Luckily, border crossing on the way back was better, as we beat most of the rush back to Singapore! :)