We make our way up the elevator to the 46th and top floor of the south tower of the Robertson Residence. The observation deck allows us to view our new city and we’re just floored. Building after building, tower after tower, entire neighborhoods span out as far as the eye can see. Kuala Lumpur is modern and beautiful in every direction. Look closely down below and you’ll see the “funky Asia” we’ve also become accustomed to, with street markets and sections of town with max 3-4 stories per building that haven’t seen maintenance in a generation at least. It’s a majestic mix of the old and the new. The longer we stare at a section of city skyline, the more we see. Our eyes couldn’t process all this information if we tried. The heights are dizzying and occasionally we feel the vertigo of the endless space between us and everything else around. The Petronas Twin Towers in particular sparkle day or night and it’s hard to take your eyes away once you see them. We can see several mosques in the distance, many are quite beautiful. One could get lost in this, but we have a city to explore. Down the tower elevator we go, stopping several times along the way for people from all parts of the word, getting on and off.
It’s sunny, hot and humid, even more so than we’ve experienced so far in Thailand or Vietnam. We make our way across a busy street where the cross walk is less than clear when or where to proceed. Driving is on the left hand side of the road, with the steering wheel on the right, occasionally leading us to glance and think a child or sleeping person is driving. Despite the bustling of a large city, it’s fairly quiet, no horns and far more cars than 2-wheeled vehicles here. Everything feels slow compared to the frenetic chaos of Vietnam. Traffic stops when the light turns red.
Thankfully there’s a covered walkway, critical for a bit of shade as we walk through the Bukit Bintang neighborhood. We quickly find a main street that takes us northeast toward KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Central). There are businesses of every type and in every direction, banks, restaurants for locals and tourists alike, massage spas, gift shops, cafes, shopping centers, you name it. It’s clearly a multi-cultural mix here with Malaysians of every skin tone, Indians, Chinese and foreigners from seemingly everywhere. It’s a Babylon of languages if you listen in. About half of the women cover their hair, about half don’t. The women are generally very well dressed with colorful scarves and makeup done perfectly. The men wear long pants and dress shoes, even in the stifling head and humidity.
From down here, we feel like ants compared to the scope of this place. Soon there are crowds forming and a thickening of the volume of people in every direction. We’re getting close to something, but we’re not sure what. It’s like making your way down Broadway in NYC, or perhaps the Gran Via in Madrid. We see a fancy and modern looking shopping center called Pavilion ahead and make our way inside, mostly with the hopes of stopping ourselves from sweating completely through our clothes, which will happen any minute.
A note here, we’re generally not “mall people”. Back home, a mall feels like a depressing place, with bad design, bad lighting and grouchy people. They’re so often full of consumerist junk and bored people spending money they don’t have on stuff they don’t need. Nobody looks particularly happy to be there and it doesn’t always feel entirely safe, depending on the place.
Not here in Malaysia, they do it on a totally different scale here, we suspect because indoor life is so important in this year ‘round heat. We had no idea…
We would actually describe shopping centers here in Kuala Lumpur as quite beautiful. Fantastic design of both indoor and outdoor areas. High ceilings and beautiful lighting, Well thought out walkways and escalators connecting the levels, high and low. Somehow each shopping center seems to lead into yet another, one to the next. It’s like an indoor city, but gorgeous and with anything you can imagine. Food in every direction, fancy restaurants or affordable food courts. Fast food if you want it, local cuisine, western food, something sweet, whatever you want, it’s there… Luxury shopping with all the fancy brands we’d never dare to buy, but the more common and approachable places as well. Coffee shops every few steps, which suits us just fine. You can get a meal for $2 and go to the Gucci store within 2 minutes if desired.
Somehow this indoor paradise leads to yet another covered walkway, with signs pointing us to KLCC park. We follow along out of curiosity. Another shopping center and an aquarium, lead us into an out door area. We find one of the most beautiful parks we’ve ever seen, perfectly manicured and with water features and lovely walking paths to boot. We’re in the heart of this shining metropolis and they’ve prioritized an absolutely incredible and quite large green space. We’ll return here for sure.
Kuala Lumpur is beautiful, interesting and safe. We could live here. Or perhaps not, it’s so darned hot…. Maybe we’ll have to just live bouncing between our fancy apartment tower and one of these epic shopping centers, of which we learn there are many more to explore.
Did we mention the pricing here? Big city with everything, shockingly affordable. We’re lucky to have a month to test it out, we’re loving this place already.
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