May 20, 2022 – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Author: J)
After 4 long months, it is time to wrap up this trip report with our final day in Kuala Lumpur and our flight home, including a stopover at Jewel Changi.
When I planned our trip, we knew that I wanted to go to Singapore and P wanted to go to Borneo. The rest of the itinerary came together based upon flight availability in 2020. From Sandakan, our options were to return to Kota Kinabalu and fly home from there or fly to Kuala Lumpur and fly home from there. There were no flights from Sandakan to Singapore in 2020 (or in late 2021, when I rebooked our trip). The primary reason that I chose to fly via Kuala Lumpur was so that we could visit the Batu Caves. On the last day of our trip, that is where we headed.
After breakfast, we called a Grab and headed for the caves. The ride took us through some areas of KL we hadn’t had the chance to see, then through some outlying suburbs. Finally, we were dropped in front of a non-descript (other than the line of cabs) gate. Once we were through the gate, we were greeted with the jaw dropping sight of a giant golden Lord Murugan.
For those unfamiliar with the Batu Caves, it is a Hindu shrine built into a series of caves not too far from KL. It is featured in 99.999999% of YouTube videos about KL and bajillions of Instagram photos because of its photogenic set of multicolored steps. More important to our family, it is also home to a troop of macaques.
As we moved away from the gate, P huffed, “It doesn’t seem like there are any monkeys here at all.” Before the complaint had even left P’s lips, hordes of monkeys started making their way across the roofs of the complex. They were a rambunctious bunch. Two baby monkeys stole a box of plastic spoons and began throwing them about. Other headed straight for the oranges and bananas that had apparently been left for them and began fighting for the choicest bits.
Some of the reviews for the Batu Caves warn that the monkeys are aggressive. However, based upon our observations, I would describe them as paragons of restraint. While we watched, we saw tourists crowd monkeys for selfies, attempt to hand feed the monkeys, and standby without intervening while their young children attempted to pet the monkeys. None were attacked. The highlight for me was seeing a man step backwards to take a photo and inadvertently step on a monkey’s tail. The monkey responded by delivering a quick smack to the man’s bottom before scampering off. I can now say that I have seen a man spanked by a monkey.
If you do visit the Batu Caves, I would suggest giving the monkeys their space and leaving plastic bags and bottles at your hotel. The monkeys are quite adept at stealing food and, to them, plastic = snacks inside. And that’s logical from their perspective, because they are used to being offered food from plastic bags. The downside of all of this is that there was quite a lot of plastic garbage on the ground outside the caves, but there were also people hard at work cleaning up the rubbish.
After spending quite a while watching the monkeys, we headed up the steps and into the cave complex. It was mercifully cloudy and cool, which made the long climb more bearable. (Do keep in mind that you need appropriate attire to enter the temple; we saw women turned away because they wore shorts and tank tops).
Inside the cave are multiple shrines. The colorful statues would be a sight to see in any location, but they are all the more interesting inside their dramatic limestone cave setting. D, who knew nothing at all about the Batu Caves before our visit, was amazed by the experience. Given the number of YouTube videos I had watched while waiting for our trip, I can’t say that I was surprised by anything I saw. But the caves met my high expectations and then some. So, if you can avoid watching 4 or 5 dozen YouTube videos before visiting, I do think that would enhance your experience – but I would rate the Batu Caves a must visit either way.
After going inside the caves, we grabbed some drinks and took a walk to see the Hanuman statue around the side of the caves. Visiting Hanuman seemed appropriate given all of the monkeys we had just seen, and it also allowed up to stay away from the live monkeys while we had tempting drinks on our persons. Before departing the Batu Caves, we spent some additional time watching the monkeys. P was so enamored that he climbed back up the entire flight of steps to get better photos. He rated this day as one of the best in his life for the sheer quantity of individual monkeys observed.
We headed back to the gates and called a Grab, which took only a few minutes to arrive. (If you are worried about transportation, rest assured that there were also plenty of waiting cabs). Because the US was still requiring covid testing for incoming travelers at this point, our next step was to stop at Prince Court Medical Center. It took about an hour to complete our covid testing from start to finish and then we decided to walk back to the hotel.
We arrived at KLCC park after 1 and headed to the mall for lunch. If you are a foodie, you are likely to be appalled by our choice; we ate at Chili’s. Yes, that Chili’s. P has a weird obsession with the kid’s menu there and was really excited to find his old favorite halfway across the world. The Chili’s location at Suria KLCC is apparently quite popular and had a long wait. The upshot of this was that we didn’t finish our lunch until nearly 3. It was clear that we weren’t going to be hungry at 6, the time of our dinner reservation at a vegetarian restaurant in Chinatown. I tried to push our meal back, but there were no later reservations available – not surprising on a Friday night. We cancelled instead.
We spent our final afternoon relaxing by the pool at the MOKL and packing. With the time lost on covid testing, trying to cram in another sight didn’t seem doable to us. (I am sure that those of you who enjoy a more packed vacation schedule could have done better; our hope is that we will be back to KL in the future to see all that we missed).
That evening, we had a late dinner at NZ Curry House, which was recommended on TripAdvisor as a good place to eat a budget meal with a view of the Petronas Towers. Of course, D and P plopped down at the first table they saw, which had a view of the cash register, rather than the towers. But our food was good. I had a dosa – my first of the trip — and D and P each had naan and sambal. We also had our final taste of teh tarek, which someone really needs to start selling here in the states. Our entire meal worked out to less than $10 US.
After dinner, we had an enjoyable, if sweaty, walk back to MOKL. Then, we lightened our wallets by spending the rest of our ringgits on macaron from the cake shop. Since we hadn’t tasted durian yet, I took this as my opportunity to try a durian flavored treat. Back in my room, I took a bite of that cookie first – and did a spit take. It tasted how I imagine salty gym socks would taste. P wisely advised me that I couldn’t say I had given durian a fair chance yet because it was possible that whoever made the macarons was just terrible at baking. Fair point. Trying actual durian will have to wait for our next trip too.
May 21, 2022 – Changi Airport and Flight Home
The following morning, we had a final breakfast at the MOKL buffet and took a car to the airport. While waiting to check into our flight, I noticed that our covid test results identified P as “female.” (The nurse at Prince Court had been pretty set on referring to P as “my daughter” despite my repeated corrections, so I should have been more careful in reviewing the test results when they came). Fortunately, we checked into our flight with no problem. Because we had an 8-hour layover in Singapore, we checked our carry-on suitcases and headed to the gate with just our backpacks. I was glad that we had eaten a large breakfast because dining and shopping options in the KL airport were limited. (Hopefully that has improved as travel gets back to normal).
Our flight to Singapore boarded a little late, as all our prior flights had. But with a long layover, we weren’t worried. The flight itself was pleasant and our economy seats on the Singapore Airlines flight from KL to Singapore were probably the most comfortable and spacious economy seats I have experienced.
When we arrived in Singapore, we went through immigration and, after a warning to be back at least 3 hours before our flight, headed over to Jewel. (We did have to submit our arrival information for this visit even though we were there on a layover because Jewel is not in the arrivals and departures area).
We had a lot of fun at Jewel. I purchased combo tickets that included the mirror and hedge mazes, the climbing structure, and the topiary gardens. We also fit in some shopping and had dinner at a Korean Pizza place, which is apparently a thing. One thing to keep in mind is that Jewel is super popular with both travelers and locals, so you will probably have to wait for a table if you visit any of the restaurants at peak dining hours. We wisely chose to eat at 5:30, allowing us to sneak in before any of the restaurants got busy.
Around 8, we headed back to our terminal, where we cleared security and found our gate. The next few hours were tough. We struggled to stay awake until boarding started for our midnight flight. With little open in the airport, there wasn’t much to distract us from our exhaustion. It was a relief when we could finally board. We spent the 17+ hour flight from Singapore to Newark watching movies, napping, and eating. Singapore Airlines really spoiled us; I can’t imagine taking a flight of this length without the comfort and service level that SIA offered.
We landed in Newark early on Sunday morning. After a long wait for immigration and another long wait to claim our bags, my parents picked us up at the airport. We visited with them for a bit before driving home to Boston. Meanwhile, my parents boarded a plane to Italy, where they were soon to contract covid and spend 2 weeks in quarantine – but that is another story.
Travel Monkeys 