A city built in the jungle

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (10.02.2013)

Day 1

We were quite tired after the long journey and decided to go for a nap after checking into Shangri-La.

Had a good two hours sleep and took off to explore the city itself.

After walking around for a short while we decided to go for dinner in our hotel restaurant (it was a grill and bar) which offered quite high prices but we were very satisfied with our meals. A burger cost around 13 euro and my chicken and beef satay cost 10 euro. Both were very tasty and the portion was so huge that we were barely able to finish them. Plus I couldn’t resist getting the most divine New York cheese cake with blueberry compote. Amazing!! In the end we paid 25 euro each but it was worth every bite.
Kuala Lumpur bars / restaurants charge a standard 10% service fee and 6% city tax. Bare in mind that there is an additional 16% charge on top of all prices.

I have to say one thing about KL – if you are going out for drinks do not think a pint would be the cheapest option. It is actually the most expensive option. A pint in a bar cost around 7 euro whereas we got GT’s for 5 euro each and there was definitely some gin in it :)

Our plan for tomorrow was to go and visit Petronas Towers but as it turns out the place is closed on Mondays. How disappointing! At least we got some great shots of the twin towers. Such an amazing view! 

Day 2

Decided to spend the remaining hours that we had before the flight to Sydney visiting Batu Caves. Easy enough to get there and only half an hour train ride away. Train ticket cost a ridiculous 1 RM going out and 2RM coming back. I will probably never understand why prices vary both ways! Either way 1 RM was around 25c so basically nothing! Our 5*luxury hotel offered us a tour for 130 RM but we decided to go and explore on our own. Wise choice as the caves are not that special and it would not justify the money that the hotel were asking for it.

It was pretty much a couple of hours trip enjoying the outskirts of KL and good exercise after stuffing ourselves with the fabulous breakfast at the hotel. We really ate way too much but it was all worth it.
Had a jug of beer at some random bar in the afternoon. Some places offered 3 pints (not really 3 pints but less) for 10 euro - ridiculous price considering we are in Malaysia. However, it is possible to find cheaper options if you shop around and find the right places which we found on the second day only.