Another Side of Kuala Lumpur

I got to fall head over heels with Kuala Lumpur for the second time around last August. But much like the first visit, we have not gotten the chance to go inside the Petronas Tower yet again. I hope I can already go up there the next time I visit the city.

Anyway, our itinerary did not fail to compensate for the failed visit to Petronas. To tell you the truth, the trip exceeded my expectation!

If you are travelling, the largest component of your expense can be attributed to fares. It was a real blessing to meet uncle whom we contracted for just RM 150 to tour us around the city for the whole day with his taxi.

He brought us first to Beryl’s Chocolate Kingdom. I have observed during the whole duration of our Malaysia getaway that the locals has a strong affiliation with sweets and I had seen that with the many chocolate boutiques that they had established within the peninsula.

We were actually shoving people aside so that we can pave a way for ourselves towards the counter but we eventually gave up and left the store because of the long line that welcomed us. That’s how crowded the place was!

We made our way to Istana Negara where the King of Malaysia resides. It was really good timing that we witnessed the changing of guards!

We headed afterwards to a Chinese temple located on the southern part of the Istana which is the Thean Hou Temple.

The six tiered temple is mainly built by the Hainanese community living in KL for their Goddess Tian Hou, which literally means Heavenly Empress or Heavenly Queen in English.

 

At the back of the temple is this humongous and beautiful tortoise pond.

For the Chinese, the tortoise had divine attributes. It is the symbol of heaven and earth in which the shell is comparable to the heaven while the underside to the Earth.

One of the highlights of our trip is us being able to see the Batu Caves. A 13 kilometer drive from KL is necessary to reach Batu Caves as it can already be found outside the city; specifically in Gombak district, north of Kuala Lumpur.

We can already see the Murugan statue standing right outside the caves while uncle was still driving us towards the place.

The 42.7 meter high statue is the tallest statue of this particular Hindu deity in the whole world. It is basically made of 1550 cubic meters of concrete, 250 tonnes of steel bars and was finished with 300 litres of gold paint bought from Thailand.

 

The most visited cave within the area is the Temple Cave as it houses a Hindu temple inside it. The cave can be reached through these 272 concrete steps found at the back of the statue. A really good exercise for all ages! Even us were panting as we ascend the stairs.

 

What you will be witnessing inside the cave are these beautiful and naturally structured limestone that will left you in total awe and appreciation of God’s greatness.

I was so happy to see something new in KL. Limestone formation just outside the city? That’s something very worthwhile to see. I just have to tell you though to watch out for these two enemies that you would encounter while you are savouring the whole place.

After which, we went back to Kuala Lumpur to catch the Petronas Tower with its full lights on during the evening. Uncle had already dropped us on KLCC’s pavement and was about to exit then out of the center when we realized that we still want to go to Merdeka Square as my mom and I wanted my brother to see the place for himself for it was also his first time to be in Kuala Lumpur. Not thinking twice, we immediately hailed his cab again and drove off as fast as we can to the Independence Square.

 

You may have noticed the prevalence of the Malaysian flags in our pictures. It was because we went there days ago the country’s much awaited National Day, which falls on August 31.

Anyway, we went back to Suria KLCC to have our dinner and to catch the beautiful Petronas Tower in its full bloom right after we are done eating.

 

How lovely! What better way to wrap up a tiring but fun filled day than to just sit around the foot of the towers and observe how beautifully the towers glow until it is already time to go.