12.1. 2023 – 15.1.2023
We slept in the capsules surprisingly well. Marko was a bit too tall for the capsules, though. We think the capsules were designed more for the Asian-size people. There was no breakfast in this “hotel” either, so we had just the yogurts we had bought the previous evening and hopped on a taxi. The taxi took us to the bus station where we were given the registration plate of the bus to find the correct one. Finding the bus wasn’t difficult, because there was only one waiting on the platform.
The bus was really nice and comfortable. The reclining seats were super soft and wide. They had two adjustable foot rests too. There was a lot of space between your chair and the one in front of you, so even Marko had enough space for him to sit and rest.
Crossing the borders was super easy. On Singaporean side we just had to take our passports and go through an automatic passport control. For some reason Marko had to show his fingerprints too, but the machine wouldn’t accept them, so he ended up going to the counter to finish the border crossing. On Malaysian side we had to take also all of our stuff from the bus to be X-rayed. After that we went to a counter to get our passports stamped. There was hardly any people at the crossings, so everything went very smoothly.
Soon after arriving to Malaysia we stopped for a lunch and toilet break. There would have been all kinds of good looking local dishes available, but unfortunately they didn’t accept cards. We were pointed to a “market” at the end of the hall to do our shopping there. We thought we bought different kinds of salty pastries, but the first bite proved us wrong. They were more on the sweet side. Not a bad taste, only weird. We also bought some drinks and dried banana slices to the bus for us. With them we could manage until Kuala Lumpur.
The bus dropped us off at a bus stop nearby our apartment building. We took a taxi, which took us there on a 30MYR (7€) fixed price. The apartment was fancy! Probably one of the fanciest we’ve ever been to. It was located on the 50th floor and the view was amazing. On the rooftop there was a bar-restaurant where we popped in for a dinner, and of course an infinity pool, where we dipped in before going to bed. Marko tried to go and buy some groceries for the next morning from a nearby supermarket, but it had closed at ten pm.
The next morning at nine Marko had a new try, but the doors remained closed until ten o’clock, so we ended up having a very late breakfast that day. After that we did some school stuff and went for a swim.
In the evening we went for a dinner at a restaurant nearby, which was apparently very popular among the locals. The food there was cheap and tasty. It was very spicy though, especially for the children. Risto ate bravely one piece of chicken and washed it down with a glass of freshly squeezed apple juice and couple of glasses of water. Ronja managed to tackle two and a half pieces until it became too much for her too. After that the kids concentrated on rice and naan bread. Especially the roti pisang (banana bread) was our favourite. After dinner we popped by to see the Petronas Towers in night light and walked back home.
We had booked this apartment in Kuala Lumpur on purpose for a bit longer time without any specific plans what to do or see here. Sometimes it’s just best to stay put and relax. So after a late breakfast Marko went for a swim with the kids and Jaana tried to make a visit to a tourist info nearby. It was supposed to be open, but the only person there was the tourist police, who’s on call there 24/7. We didn’t need his services, even though the traffic here is somewhat chaotic! The cars don’t necessarily stop at the red light and the pedestrians cross the road whenever they can. So Jaana joined Marko and the kids to the pool.
At pool we talked about how most of the ”swimmers” there only snap photos of each other or themselves in the pool and don’t swim at all. We shouldn’t have criticized them too soon, because in a minute we were in the pool with our phones taking pictures. But we weren’t taking pictures of each other, but the two guys hanging on to two ropes and washing the tiles of the skyscraper next door at the level of 53rd floor. What a crazy job to have!
In the afternoon we experienced our first thunder storm here. It was very brief, but for a while the view from our window was somewhat blurry. In Finland the rain makes air fresh, but here it just becomes more hot and humid. We noticed that when we walked the two kilometres to the Jalan Alor food street.
The food stalls were offering all kinds of local delicacies from frogs to lobster. Since a frog skewer was a no go for the kids, we sat ourselves in a restaurant that offered also more conventional dishes. We ordered lemon chicken for the kids (this time we made sure it wasn’t spicy at all), satay chicken skewers, barbecue prawns, frog in ginger sauce, rice, French fries and of course freshly squeezed juice for everyone. All that cost only 149MYR (33€). And with only a teeny weeny amount of pressure, we got the kids to try the frog also. Didn’t become the ‘next big thing’.
After the dinner we walked back to the Petronas Twin Towers to check out the light and music show by the fountain. We had been standing next to a fountain yesterday also, but it was the wrong one. The bigger one was behind the towers and we never walked there yesterday. The show lasted only ten minutes, so we quickly popped in the shopping mall underneath the towers. As a great relief to the kids, the toilets there were very clean. Risto came even to the ladies side with a big smile on his face telling that there had been toilet paper in the men’s toilet and a proper toilet seat. He wanted to know if we had enjoyed the same facilities.
On Sunday we visited KL tower. Fortunately the lift was working, because it would have been quite a climb with 2058 steps. There were hardly any other tourists there, so we had a great time spotting different buildings from the height of 300 meters. We spotted the world’s second tallest building called Merdeka and also our swimming pool. The tallest building Burj Khalifa we had seen in Dubai already, but the third tallest skyscraper is in China, so we’ll give that a miss.
Below the tower there was a mini zoo. Because the whole family likes all kinds of furry creatures a lot, we decided to go there too. In the zoo we got to pet and feed wallabies, different kinds of parrots and tortoises. Apparently Ronja has finally overcome her fear of parrots, because she let them sit on top of her without screaming and shouting.
Again one day has turned into a night. The best thing so far has been that there’s no rush, and the fact that we have time to just be together as a family. Of course new places and sights are great to see and experience, but especially walking on the streets of the cities has given us the time to really talk with the children. And boy, they do talk a lot, sometimes even too much. Then we have just politely (?) told them to shut up for a while. The kids really do talk and ask questions about the things they have seen and they want to know more. By travelling this way they definitely learn more than just the stuff they study at “mom’s school” during the weekdays.