Well, I guess this is my first travel blog post. I have started with KL (Kuala Lumpur) in Malaysia as this was the first time I did an extended stay to do a bit of backpacking.
Never having the opportunity to venture outside Europe before this, meant that it was completely different to what i was used to. My first opinion as i stepped off the plane kind of went something like ‘omg the humidity of this place feels like Ive just walked in steam room’. After only seeing a bit of the main town a few nights and seeing the fields of venturing to and from the circuit every day, the Malaysia Grand Prix was over, meaning my personal adventure began.
After saying farewell to my colleagues as they left for the plane, I took a taxi into the centre of KL to check out the local markets of experience the local life of Bukit Bintang. After grabbing some snacks and browsing the huge array of fake designer clothes, watches, and even pens, I decided to go catch a taxi to a buddy of mine, Jake’s place in Northern KL.
Bukit Tubur Hike
It turned out that Jake had a little bit of a itinerary for me, so I happily obliged. After getting settled in, we had an early night for an early rise the next morning to hike one of KL’s viewpoints, Bukit Tubur in the far North East of the city. I consider myself at a good level of fitness, this being said i was being a tad ignorant to what lay ahead. We were met by a local enforcement officer at the bottom of the trail asking us to sign in which nerved me a tad. Stupidly, i rushed and didn’t eat anything before so i wasn’t in hiking shape but we started the hike. The trail got steeper and steeper before eventually becoming actual rock climbing up parts of the trek with nothing more than a rope tied to a tree that had been dangled down the rock (presumably from a local to help us tourists!). We bumped into many locals during the climb, and sometimes over taking them which is definitely more difficult than you think when you have sheer faces either side of you and the path is only wide enough for a single person! After about 2 hours of trekking through the forest, we made it to the peak which was incredible. The views of KL made it well worth it. We got an obligatory selfie on the peak and before having a mooch around admiring the views, we descended back down.
At the bottom of the trek was a local Malay man who seemed to live in the forest making a living selling cans of hydration drinks for the equivalent to about 30p. We chugged down 2 of these each and said goodbye to the man. A little hidden gem on this trek was right at the bottom of Bukit Tabur. When you are back on the road, turn right and walk down for about 5 minutes and you will come to a waterfall which you can cool off in under the hot Malaysian sun. Jake knew about this gem, and thus ensured that i took a pair of swimming trunks in preparation.
Out on the Town
After some much needed recovering by the pool in the afternoon with some ice cold Somersby ciders, we decided to get ready and go out for some drinks and food. With Jake and his Girlfriend and also being the tourist that i am i wanted to visit a bar that overlooked the Petronas towers, in which they knew just the place. A place on top of a hotel called SkyBar. This was a chilled cocktail bar that had a huge swimming pool going through the middle of it which meant i could have a few bevvies and get some touristy photos of the towers.
Pretending I could wake board and exotic pets
Awakening with a slightly thick head the next morning, next on the itinerary was to head up to a town called Seri Kembangan which was more to the southern part of the city. Met by a Malay bloke who asked if i had any experience in which my reply was to convince that i used to skateboard loads….(bad idea). Strapped to the back of a speedboat whilst laying on back, I was wondering how i was going to pull it off….which failed for the first 6 attempts at the boat hurtling off at full throttle with me being dragged on my front in tail. After much deliberation and against our instructors words, I changed my technique and swapped to a lefty side even though i am right footed/handed. This somehow worked and before i knew it was like Kelly Slater of the Wake. Jakes friend bought his drone, so we got some wicked aerial shots. It was an amazing experience, but unfortunately it felt like it didnt last long!
We didn’t mean to stumble across an exotic pet convention, but somehow we did, and for equivalent to £1 entry meant we couldn’t say no. There was everything here from dressed poodles being carted around in a pram, to poisonous spiders and exotic fish worth thousands. We had a browse and some (me) of us were brave enough to handle the spiders, before leaving on our way.
Overall I loved KL. I thought the relaxed vibe that the city gives is amazing. The food is great and it seems to cater for everyones choice of activity. I was fortunate enough to stay a friends place which meant my costs were cut down, however overall it is a cheap city with plenty to do for your money including many free ways to spend your time (checking out markets, hiking, £1 pet conventions!). This is my first blog so please don’t shoot me if there is anything that I’ve missed. Next on the agenda = Mexico City, peace. x
Life in the Fast Lane 
Great blog – really interesting! I hope I can meet up with you in Thailand in December.
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Enjoyed reading this! 😊
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Thankyou! 🙂
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