Malaysia and Things You Should Know

Malaysia seems pretty cool, though I can't speak for all of it because I only saw the tiny pocket that is Kuala Lumpur. As big cities go it's an impressive one with lots of skyscrapers and greenery jostling for space. One of my favourite spots in the city is the Eco Park, a small segment of rainforest in the middle of the city. There is a treetop canopy walk where you can see skyscrapers peeking through the trees.

I started off my week in Malaysia with a parkrun and impressed myself by achieving one of my best times despite it being one of the hottest runs I've ever done - even at 7:30 in the morning!

The one problem I had with KL was the rain. It would be crazily hot and humid and with no warning a massive crack of thunder would announce torrential rain to extremes I'd never seen before. My first night as I was getting dinner the rains came and the whole street turned into a river, drains were overflowing and gutters were waterfalls. For maybe thirty minutes or an hour, then the downpour stopped and the waters drained away and it was as if nothing had happened.

That's all fine when you're undercover in a restaurant. Not so much when you're on the highest peak of a quartz ridge that's taken you 2 hours to scale. Bukit Tabur was more rock climbing than hiking and I had views that stretched for miles; KL on one side and a beautiful blue lake on the other. As we started to head down the thunder rumbled and minutes later in came the rain. The climb up which had been difficult enough became treacherous. The water ran down the track in a river, turning the dirt to slippery mud and the rocks into waterfalls. By the time we finally got to the bottom we were drenched to the core. Normally on hot sunny days people cool off in a beautiful pool at the end. We jumped in with our clothes on because it's not like we could get any wetter!!

Then there were the Batu Caves;  an insanely brightly coloured stairway up to an enormous cave housing separate brightly coloured temples.

And of course the famous Petronas towers

And now the overall round up with Things You Should Know About Malyasia;

1. It's wet. Very wet. Not always (apparently!), but when I was there it went from dry (but humid) to flooded streets in 30 seconds flat. The thunder is also the loudest I've ever heard.
2. It's a mad mix of Malay, Indian, Chinese, Iban and Kadazan people and cultures.
3. You can't walk anywhere. Pavements suddenly end and you'll find yourself on the side of a highway. Bridges and underpasses are often closed so you might find yourself (like me) walking up spaghetti junction and crossing 5 lane traffic to get to a meeting point and ending up in the closed off basement of the building!!
4. I stayed in an area called Bukit Bintang which is funny because Bintang is the national beer in Indonesia. Apparently it means stars, so Bukit Bintang means Star Hill.
5. There's an odd mix of super modern buildings next to run down ones.
6. KL is the land of enormous playgrounds.
7. They love their skyscraper rooftops. From bars and restaurants to infinity pools and yoga spots. You can even get a drink on a helipad.
8. There are 272 brightly coloured steps to the Temple Cave of Batu Caves fame. There was drama when the stairs were painted last year as it was not authorised by the heritage department and as far as I know the disagreement is ongoing...
9. Early in the mornings, on a Saturday at least, the parks are full of people being active. There's walkers, runners, yoga, tai chi and even dance groups.