Written on Monday, March 30, 2026

I started writing this two days ago (March 28).  All I was doing was bitching so I stopped.  I guess I wasn’t quite in the right head space to write.  It sounded like all was doom and gloom and I hated Kuala Lumpur.  While Kuala Lumpur is not my favorite place we have visited, I haven’t completely hated it.

I’ll post my gripes later in the blog so they are documented and I don’t forget them just in case we think about coming back and need to factor them into our decision-making process.

Today Is A Travel Day

As I write this, we are at the lounge in the airport.  It is a weird travel day in that our flight leaves at 2:20 AM tonight and arrives in Osaka at 9:50 AM.  We decided to do this hoping we will be tired enough to sleep on the 6 ½ hour flight. UGH!

We got up this morning at a leisurely 7:30 AM.  OK - I woke up then.  Blaise was already up since he always wakes up long before the sun comes up.

This is the first time on this trip I didn’t do any packing the night before.  Our checkout time was 11 AM so I knew we had a huge amount of time to kill today before the flight.  Blaise and I decided to stay at the AirBnB for as long as possible because of the flight time.  This is particularly difficult for Blaise because he gets antsy on travel days and wants to pack and get out as soon as possible, no matter the time of the flight.  Normally on travel days,I can feel him getting testy when he is ready to walk out the door and I am still packing or getting ready. Today that did not happen.  He was calm as can be, at least externally.  But it is normal for us BOTH to get really snappy at each other on travel days.  That was not the case either today.

We checked out of the AirBnB around 10:30, having left our apartment at about 10:15.  We left a bit early because it could often take a while to get an elevator (sometimes 15 minutes or more).

Once done and checked out of the AirBnB, we hung out at the Vietnamese coffee place we found that is coincidentally and conveniently located at the train station where we needed to catch the train to the airport.  We didn’t catch the train until almost 1 PM and now we are sitting in a lounge outside of security since we cannot drop our bags off  until 10:20 PM.

Side note:  We do have only carry-on sized luggage but the weight limit is 7 kilograms for carry-ons.  Our carry-on luggage ranges from 13-16 kilograms every time so we have to pay to check it.

Lounge Access

How do we have lounge access?  We have a CapitalOne Venture X card.  It has free lounge access.  Unfortunately, starting February 1, they eliminated the lounge access for all authorized users who are not the card holder.  Since the card is in Blaise’s name and not mine, my free lounge access ended.  However, we can pay $125 annually so I have the same lounge access as Blaise.  Since we travel so much, we bit the bullet and paid for my lounge access for the year.

It is so nice on days like this to sit in a comfortable area, eat free food, and drink free alcohol, while waiting for our flight.  No free alcohol this time except for beer.  I haven’t had a beer since I got sick in Da Nang in January and I am not interested in drinking a beer anytime soon as a result, even though I think it was the ice that made me sick.

Thoughts On Our AirBnB

When we first got to our AirBnB we liked it, but as time went on, the elevator situation got worse, taking longer and longer to get up or down (we were on the 45th floor). 

The clientele at this building seemed to get worse and worse.  They got younger and there were fewer families. I am not sure if there was a cause and effect with that, but they got ruder as time went on, with one woman bypassing the line to get on the elevator in the lobby and just hopping on the first available elevator with the other three people in her group.  I almost said something to her since there were at least a dozen people waiting for an elevator ahead of her arrival on the scene, but I decided to keep my trap shut.  I’m in a foreign country at an extremely international building.  Whose to say what the customs are in her country regarding queues and elevator etiquette?  At home I probably would have said something.

Petronas Towers and Visits with Friends

Blaise did not want to go up into the Petronas Towers; he has issues with height. I won’t call it a phobia, but maybe it is.

Fortunately, my former managing attorney, Brenda, from the OU Legal Clinic, and her husband were here for 9-10 days (their long journey in this part of the world finally overlapped with ours).  Brenda did not want to go up to the top but her husband did so he and I went up while Blaise and Brenda waited for us at the bottom.

I’ve seen lots of skyscrapers/high rises in my life but I think the Petronas Towers are the most beautiful day or night, close or far away.  I love them and I am so happy I had the opportunity to go to the top and to walk on the walkway between the towers.

It was a good day.  Brenda, Kurt, Blaise and I had a lovely lunch afterwards.  We had dinner with them one more time after that before they left.

I had dinner with them once before Petronas also.  Blaise was supposed to go the first time but was slightly injured earlier in the day and was in pain.  We were doing laundry earlier that day.  The swinging bench we both went to sit on while waiting for the washer, gave way, and we both fell on our butts, with Blaise re-injuring an inline skating injury from when the kids were young.  He’s still suffering but it is definitely better than before.

I was sad to say goodbye to Brenda and Kurt when they left for Bali.  I hope we can meet up with them again someday on our travels.  It was so very nice to spend time with people we have a history with from home, that speak English, and get our point-of-view.  I miss you Brenda and Kurt!

Here are some pictures of the Petronas Towers and views from said towers:

The bridge between the two towers on the 43rd? floor

View from the bridge between the two towers on the 43rd?

View from the top (83rd floor)

View from the top

A zoom-in of the other tower from the top of one tower

Me at the top of the tower

An early evening picture of the towers

Batu Caves

The other big tourist spot we went to while in Kuala Lumpur is the Batu Caves.  They are Hindu temples inside of caves, similar to the temples in the Marble Mountains in Da Nang, Vietnam.  

You have to take 272 stairs up to the caves/temples.  We got up early to beat the heat and arrived at 6:30 AM before the sun came up.  We were up the stairs and in the caves before the sun decided to show its face.  THAT was the way to do it so you don’t get all hot and sweaty walking up all those stairs in the heat, humidity, and sun.  Especially as underwhelmed as we were with the Batu caves.  The ones at the Marble Mountains were SO much better.  I would have been pissed if I had done this at 11 AM, walked up all those stairs becoming a hot sweaty mess.  So underwhelming and it  would not have been worth the sweat of doing it later in the day. But maybe I am just all "templed out."

We were back in our neck of the woods and eating breakfast by 8:30 AM.

The steps leading up to the caves

A temple in the cave

And then there was this guy next to the entrance to the Batu Caves grounds

Pros and Cons of Kuala Lumpur

This is the point where I revise the bitch session I wrote two days ago and make it more of a pros and cons.

Please don’t use this blog to determine if you are going to visit Kuala Lumpur. Or any place for that matter.  I write this through my lens - what is important or irritating to me.  Those things that mean something to me or annoy me, may not have the same affect for you.

This is the first time on this trip Blaise and I both have been ready to move to the next location days before leaving. While we enjoyed certain aspects of KL, it is just not our vibe.

Pros/Likes of Kuala Lumpur

1. The infrastructure here is strong and comprehensive.
2. While we ended up not liking our AirBnB, it was a fantastic location - near a mall (important when it is so hot) and close to public transportation.
3. It was cleaner than any place we had been on this trip since Osaka (our first stop after the cruise).
4. Seeing the Petronas Towers
5. You can flush your toilet paper here.  We haven’t been able to do that since Osaka in October.
6. Grab, the Asia version of Uber, is readily available and costs a fraction of what Uber costs at home.

This was something cool in Kuala Lumpur at some places where you would order a drink.  After they made the drink for you (fresh), they would put the cup in a machine and it would seal the cup.  They would give you a straw that was pointy on one end so you could stab the top to insert the straw.

Cons/Dislikes of Kuala Lumpur

1. It’s HOOOOTTTT and muggy here.  No Bueno.  We would go out in the morning, be back at the AirBnB by noon or 1, and then go back out again at night.  The temperatures have been mid to high nineties with high humidity.

2. The people here are different. They aren’t welcoming and some border on rude. There is a general indifference and sometimes annoyance from those serving (restaurants, grocery store, etc.) people.  No one has been outright rude to us.  But people seem to be annoyed with us from time to time; something we have not yet seen on this trip.  And we try to be very polite and kind with our interactions with people.  We try to learn basic words in whatever language is prominent in whatever location we are in (hello, goodbye, thank you, excuse me, please).  The people of Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia were much more welcoming and kind.

3. I thought the loud speaker prayers from the mosque several times a day was a Ramadan thing but Ramadan is over and the chanting prayers continue multiple times a day beginning before the sun ever comes up.  I DO understand this is a Muslim country and they are simply worshiping.  I get that.  It just adds to the reasons we are ready to leave.

4. People can’t figure out what side of the sidewalk/walkways to walk on.  KL is a place with lots of international visitors.  Malaysia drives on the left and from what we have read, we are to walk on the left.  But because there are so many international visitors, particularly in the area we stayed in, everyone just walks everywhere.  Which would be fine, if people would recognize that someone is heading their way going the opposite direction and move over, but they don’t.  It’s like they expect the other person to make the space concession and move out of the way entirely so they can walk with their group exactly as they were before - side by side.  We have always approached this situation with the thought “Oh!  Someone’s heading our way.  We should move single file when they get near to make it easier.  Not any more.  I just keep walking next to Blaise.

5. Many people look at their phones while they walk and not pay attention to where they are going.  It happens quite a bit at home too, but not as much as here.

6. Many public restrooms  for women have communal toilet paper, meaning the toilet paper dispenser is outside of the stalls, by the sinks, and you have to get your toilet paper before you enter the stall.

Ordering a Chicken Roti

Blaise had an encounter worth noting.  He went to get a chicken roti for dinner one night.  The woman selling them did not speak English.  But that did not deter Blaise nor the woman selling the roti.  Blaise was struggling to explain what he wanted in a way the lady could understand.  Fortunately, she was only selling rotis so the struggle was limited.  Finally, the woman flapped her arms like she was doing the chicken dance and BOOM! Blaise had dinner!

Ramadan

I don’t know much about the Muslim religion.  I do know during Ramadan, which lasts roughly a month, practitioners cannot eat from sunrise to sunset.

Because of the heat, we would, on many days, walk to the mall to find something to eat for dinner.  The choices for food were plentiful and tasty.

What we found is that those observing Ramadan (remember it is 60-65% of the population of Malaysia), would start camping out at restaurants 1-2 hours before sunset (between 7:23-and 7:28 PM) just waiting to eat.  They would order their food after 7, get it, and sit there until sunset.  Then they would say their prayer and eat.

Next Steps On Our Trip

We get to Osaka at 10:50 AM in the morning (Tuesday). We will be there for 3 weeks.  The first week will be the height of the blooming of the cherry blossoms (Sakura).  I am nearly as excited about this as I was to hold a koala. And we all know what happened right after that!  Let’s hope I don’t slip on a fallen petal!

We leave Osaka on April 24 and will be in Seoul, South Korea for 2 weeks before heading back to Tokyo to catch our Azamara cruise to Whittier, Alaska, which leaves May 9, arriving in Alaska on May 21.  We are just now looking at what we are going to do and where we are going to stay in Alaska.

Between Blaise and me, we have 4 bucket list items left on this trip: 1) the Japan cherry blossoms for me; 2) the Kukkiwon (the world Tae Kwon Do Federation headquarters); 3) the DMZ between North and South Korea; and 4) Alaska/Mt. McKinley.  The cherry blossoms are mine and the Kukkiwon is Blaise’s.  The other two are both of ours.

The Kukkiwon is the place everyone practicing Tae Kwon Do in South Korea must go to take their black belt test.  Being a second degree black belt, this has been on Blaise’s radar for a very long time.

Lastly - for Jackie - I have not forgotten your question about our favorite place we have visited so far.  It is a surprisingly difficult question to answer since there are aspects of various places that we absolutely love.