Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
After the Maldives, I was searching for a cheap flight out. Kuala Lumpur was such an option. I also intended to continue to Japan later, so KL was a great stopover. I’ve been to Malaysia before, but only for 2 weeks. This time, I booked a place for a month. I arrived just on the evening of Chinese New Year, and many things were happening in the city centre. A local friend showed me around that weekend and we got to know the local traditions in a Chinese temple with the dragon and their dances. Quite interesting.
I liked Kuala Lumpur a lot. People were friendly; the city has great infrastructure, safe, and different neighbourhoods with many kinds of food. Also the city is very cheap for a such central and advanced city. I felt great. My wework office was within walking distance of my apartment, the mall, the twin towers, many restaurants. So life in Kuala Lumpur was very effortless, which I greatly enjoyed. I got into a great work/life schedule and was very productive and happy.
I intended to spend a month in the city, but my travel plans changed significantly because I fell sick for over a week, was in really bad condition, and had to look for a medical clinic to do a checkup. I also had to cancel my Japan trip. I wasn’t looking forward to travelling ill and staying in a tiny Japanese capsule hostel in that condition, so I decided to rent another month and stay in Kuala Lumpur.
The city has many high buildings. The famous Petronas Twin Towers (450 meters) were the world’s tallest buildings until 2004 and remain the tallest twin skyscrapers to date. By now, they’re not even the highest building within the city, which is pretty crazy and shows the technology and crazy skyline Kuala Lumpur has. The Merdeka Tower (680 meters) is the world’s second highest building, just behind the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
I continued to enjoy my stay in the city. I found a couple of local friends who spontaneously came out to hang out after work; a long-term digital nomad friend stayed in Kuala Lumpur as well, and I attended a language exchange group where we once continued to go out and ended up in some nice bars. Great company always.
Langkawi, Malaysia
After almost two months in the capital of Malaysia I wanted to continue to Thailand. On the way there I thought I’d stop in Langkawi, a Malaysian island just next to the Thai border. So I looked for a quite Airbnb somewhere on the island and found a tiny house a bit out of the busy areas of the island. It was cheap and simple, but exactly what I needed after a long time in a busy city. My host was a local couple, very sweet and helpful. The internet was very good, so I stayed all day in the cottage. Worked, cooked and just enjoyed.
During my time there it was Ramadan, so not eating for locals. I halfway also did that. A bit a later breakfast and then no dinner before it got dark. One evening I was invited by a local to join her group of friends to break the fasting on the town’s main square. It was a very special moment. First we went to the street food market and bought dinner, then went to the square at the sea were we started eating after seeing the sunset. A lot of people did the same on this big square. I like to be with locals and do what locals do.
