May 19, 2022 – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Author: J)
If you are considering visiting Kuala Lumpur (and I hope you are), rest assured that it has lots more to offer than what my family was able to experience. By the time we reached our final destination, we had had lots of early wakeups, full days in the hot sun, and minor travel stresses. We were in need of the proverbial vacation from our vacation, and the Mandarin Oriental provided us with a great location for that vacation.
We woke up well-rested and decided to start our day with a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. The elaborate breakfast buffet at MOKL fit the bill. (While the buffet is a bit pricey, the exchange rate made it a splurge we could indulge in more than once during our stay). The buffet had pastry, Western, Chinese, Malay and Indian stations with so many options that it would take weeks to eat all of them. D and P stuck with Western choices again, while I did my best to sample a little bit of everything. I was particularly excited to try the nasi lemak station because I had not yet tried this ubiquitous Malaysian dish.
Once we were all over-stuffed, we headed out for the day’s activities. Our original plan had been to visit the bird park. But P was not feeling up to a whole day out in the heat. He requested that we instead visit Aquaria KLCC, which had the advantage of air conditioning. The aquarium was just a short walk from MOKL, a walk that gave us the chance to enjoy KLCC park. We arrived at the aquarium, which is located in the lowest level of the KL Convention Center, just as it was opening.
In total, we spent maybe 90 minutes in the aquarium. It is modern, with interesting exhibits, but not very large. The highlight is the moving walkway that goes through a tunnel underneath an enormous aquarium tank. Unfortunately, once you go through the tunnel, there is no way to turn around and visit other exhibits. This led to some disappointment as we had skipped over certain exhibits due to crowds with plans to revisit them.
After the aquarium, we stopped in the food court in the convention center for teh tarik (yum!) and then went to Suria KLCC, a large mall, for some window shopping and lunch at the food court. P and I shared a thali from a vegetarian Indian stall and D had a sandwich (from Subway, which really is everywhere, it seems).
We spent the afternoon relaxing at the rooftop pool in MOKL. Although not as elaborate as the pool area at Shangri La, this was probably our favorite hotel pool of the trip. The pool area had lovely landscaping that made you feel like you were in a little jungle oasis in the city. And the pool staff were friendly and attentive, making sure that we had towels and water (and bar items if we were so inclined).
That evening, we had reservations at Lai Po Heen, a Cantonese restaurant at the hotel. When I originally booked the trip back in 2020, I chose this restaurant because the chef had a vegetarian tasting menu. In my zeal to recreate the elements of our original trip, I didn’t think to double-check the menu at Lai Po Heen before rebooking. Unfortunately, it turned out that the tasting menu was no more and the veg options were very limited. We did not go hungry, but we probably could have eaten better elsewhere. On the plus side, the Lai Po Heen dining room has great views of the park and excellent service.
After dinner, we went outside to watch the fountain show in the park. This free show combines lights, music and choreographed jumping fountains; from the right vantage point, you can watch the show with the lit-up Petronas Towers in the background. Enjoying the show in the perfect evening weather was another one of those moments that reminded us of how lucky we were to take this trip.
Travel Monkeys 