By Callum Taylor
It had now been around a week since Marta and I had left the wild untamed jungles and villages of Indonesia. The urban sprawl of Singapore and Malacca had ensured we were now well and truly back into the city life. Kuala Lumpur was waiting for us along with Christmas which was just a couple of days away. We were interested to see how Christmas in a country like Malaysia was celebrated.
Kuala Lumpur
We arrived to KL late in the evening and made our way to our AirBnB in a suburban apartment. The Grab driver took ages to arrive as we watched him circle the bus station endlessly. He tried calling for help but our nonexistent knowledge of Malaysian meant we weren’t of any assistance. Grab and Uber drivers must hate tourists.
On the way it seemed as if KL was just endless clusters of high rise apartments. The city centre was nowhere in sight but 20+ floor buildings were in abundance. Eventually we made it to our place though and settled in to our home for the next few nights. The owner and his family were away for the holidays so we had the whole place to ourselves.
Welcome to KL. Photo: Marta Pascual Juanola
Waking up the next day we decided to simply walk around the centre seeing the main city sights. A quick walk to the local supermarket for breakfast supplies saved us from the horror of having local fried rice or chicken for breakfast again. Not saying the food tastes bad, just that we were still recovering from the three tonnes of rice we consumed in Indonesia.
Market central. Photo: Marta Pascual Juanola
A taxi to the centre brought us to the buzzing marketplace on the border of the old and new part town. Tourists and locals strolled through the market streets trying to decide whether that poorly made Chinese imported gift was worth it or not, while the merchant assured them it was of the highest quality at a special white-person discount. A nicer indoor market was just around the corner though so we went for a stroll inside before stopping for lunch at a nice traditional food restaurant.
Afterwards we walked to the site of many old colonial buildings and one of the world’s biggest flagpoles. Here there was also one of the world’s oldest cricket clubs where only men are allowed entry. A visit to the only square in the city followed before we decided to head back to the apartment.
Nice clock. Photo: Marta Pascual Juanola
For dinner we had been invited out by a friend we had met earlier in Kota Kinabalu named Safwan. He had promised to show us around KL when we arrived and act as our guide. He picked us up in the evening and took us to a local restaurant where we enjoyed some Malaysian cuisine and talked about KL, Malaysia and our lives back home. A visit to one of his favourite shisha bars followed where we finished up the night.
Ol mate Safwan. Photo: Shisha bar employee
The next day Christmas had finally arrived. We spent the morning skyping my family and crying over the fact Santa clearly got lost trying to find us this year. For those who know Catalan Christmas traditions, you will also be able to appreciate Marta’s disappointment at not having a log shit out any presents or chocolate.
From what we had seen online, Christmas in Malaysia was essentially the biggest day of the year for shopping. Once we had finished speaking to people back home we decided to venture out and see what all the fuss was about. The internet wasn’t wrong.
It was absolute chaos in the streets and in the shopping malls. We had barely enough room to stand in some places. Why anyone would want to brave this and shop on Christmas I have no idea. What was impressive though were the festive displays. The malls had gone all out in trying to make the most extravagant Christmas display and it was interesting to go from mall to mall just to see them.
Christmas bling at the local mall. Photo: Marta Pascual Juanola.
With no interest in shopping or suffocating in the stampede of people, we spent the rest of the day just walking around the city. We visited the famous Petronas Towers, got caught in pouring rain, and dried off with some cake at a small cafe. To finish off we headed to a local bar for pizza and beer.
The grey highlighting our Christmas emotions. Photo: Marta Pascual Juanola
With no presents and no family to celebrate with, Marta accurately summed up the day with this quote: “I feel like if Christmas was a family, then I am an orphan”. For all this lack of Christmas spirit though there was one shining light. Marta’s temporary resident visa application had been approved and we just needed to be in Australia for her to receive it. My parents had deposited some money as a Christmas gift into our account, so we used that to book us flights home for a week over new years. Vegemite was calling us.
Getting Christmas-ey at the local pub. Photo: Marta Pascual Juanola
With a few days left now before we would depart Malaysia, we decided to actually go and see one of the main attractions of KL. The Batu Caves were just a short train ride away, so we aimed to make a day trip out of it. Missing the train by five minutes and having to wait 45 for the next one didn’t help but soon we were on our way.
Two minutes into the train ride and Marta and I had basically been put on the brink of death from pneumonia. All public transport in Malaysia likes to put the air conditioning on Antarctic apocalypse mode, putting a seemingly 300°C difference between the inside and outside temperatures. We managed to find some jackets though and just survived the journey.
The Batu caves were essentially just a home for monkeys, Hindu statues, and visibly overweight and unfit tourists. The caves themselves were a steep climb up a number of stairs where many people came close to dying from huffing and puffing. Inside it was a little bit of a let down. Instead of simply preserving the original site, it appeared as if it was being developed and altered into a fake idea of a temple. The historical structure was still there, but now new pieces were being built in the cave which took away the shine a bit.
Sweaty but happy to not have been attacked by a furious macaque.
After walking back down the stairs and having a quick look around at the bottom we decided to head back. Luckily we didn’t have to wait long for this train and we were in KL within an hour. It was our last night in the AirBnB apartment so we now had to go and make sure we were packed and ready to move to a new hotel. So for the rest of the day we relaxed in the room.
Our next hotel was more centrally located and for the rest of our time we just basically waited until our flight back to Australia. The neighbourhood was a real mix of cultures, particularly Chinese meaning plenty of good food around. A nearby shopping mall with an oddly controversial children’s character statue was the real highlight of the area.
Not overly amused by the child-friendly bong. Photo: Marta Pascual Juanola
Our friend Safwan took us out for another meal on our last night where we got to enjoy some delicious local chicken satay before saying goodbye. It was great to have someone show us around and take us to places we probably wouldn’t have seen.
Date night with Safwan. Photo: Satay bar waiter
Finally it was time to fly home though. We departed at night, arriving to Perth in the early morning. Home comforts were a welcome return, and being able to spend new years with friends and family was better than being stuck in a tiny village and, following on from Christmas, becoming ‘New Years Day orphans’. Soon enough however we would fly back to KL and be back on our way to Spain.
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