Good Times In Kuala Lumpur With The Kids

Hello again! We left Kuala Lumpur a few days ago after spending a wonderful time there. KL, like the rest of Malaysia, is also very kid-friendly and people were always trying to make our kids smile and interact with them.

This was our second time in KL. We really loved it when we visited in 2011 and we were excited to see it again, this time as parents.

While in Kuala Lumpur, here are some of the things we did:

• We visited Merdeka Square, where Malaysia declared its independence from the British in 1957. It is a big open grassy area surrounded by some beautiful buildings. While we were there, some Ramadan festivities were ongoing (more about Ramadan below), and there were lots of food trucks and a band playing great Arabic music. Hugo sat in front of the band and attentively listened to the music, and Valentina started dancing to the new beats. They both got filmed for TV!

• A huge and awesome playground at KLCC Park. It was like someone combined 10 or 20 playgrounds into a single area. As we walked farther into the playground area, we kept being amazed at all the structures we saw. There was also a large wading pool area (which was being cleaned while we were there), which is a fantastic idea for cooling off after running around a playground in the heat. All of this with a gorgeous view of the Petronas Towers in the background!

• The KL Bird Park. This is the largest walk-in aviary in the world and all the info we read about KL said this was not to be missed. We had a mixed reaction. On the one hand, it was a really neat space with lots of large birds (like peacocks, storks, and pelicans) walking right next to you on the paths and many other birds flying overhead. We all enjoyed seeing the birds right up close, and they are completely used to masses of people so you walk within inches of them when going down the path. On the other hand, it was frustrating watching other kids harass the animals by yelling and chasing after them. In addition, there were some caged birds, including hornbills, eagles, and owls, which didn’t belong in cages and had visibly sad expressions. So we left with mixed feelings about the experience. While the kids definitely enjoyed the experience, for us, it wouldn’t make our list of the “must see” in KL. We also used this opportunity to teach our kids about the fact that animals belong in the wild and that zoos are mostly for people’s enjoyment and can be a sad place for animals to be.

• Canopy Walk at KL Eco Park. This was one of our favorite outings in KL. You start at a trailhead and then walk up a tower to a series of suspension bridges in the forest canopy. We did this on our 10^th wedding anniversary and it was a great way to celebrate! We only saw two people while we were up there. We felt like we were in the middle of the jungle while still being in the heart of KL. The canopy walk took us to…

• KL Tower. This telecommunications tower has a great panoramic view of KL. We had done this on our first visit to KL and thought it would be a fun place to bring the kids to. We took the elevator up 276 meters (about 90 stories). The kids both really enjoyed the views and the experience of going up there.

• Malls: Malls are a great place to visit because they are full of fun activities for children (play areas, small rides, toy stores) and they are all air conditioned, so it’s easy to walk around without getting really hot. Also, the malls in KL have great food options (not fast food chains), so it’s a great place to get lunch or dinner. The kids especially enjoyed The Parenthood play area in the Sunway Putra mall, and Hugo also liked the amusement park rides inside Berjaya Times Square.

• Jalan Alor is a street that is lined with restaurants and street food vendors. We had a delicious meal of amazing pan-Asian food here. (We should point out that most everywhere we’ve eaten at has had a high chair for Valentina to use. In the rare cases where they didn’t have one, they have stacked up chairs or given us extra chair cushions to help her be comfortable at the table!)

• From Jalan Alor we walked to Petaling Street Market. It was a hot and tiring walk (we carried the kids for half of the way there) but it was a lot of fun to wander around the market and squeeze through some of those tight passages past the knock-off designer purses/sunglasses/watches etc. and to browse the toy stands they had there.

We really enjoyed our time in Malaysia. It is a very diverse and tolerant country where you find a Buddhist temple on one corner, a Mosque right across the street, and an Indian temple down the street. People of all faiths seem to coexist peacefully and happily. We really enjoyed explaining the beauty of tolerance to the kids.

We are traveling during the month of Ramadan. Islam is the official religion of Malaysia and about 60% of the population is Muslim. We have been enjoying hearing the prayer calls from the mosques and seeing all the food that comes out after the sun goes down. (As a side note, it is easy to travel during Ramadan in Malaysia; given the multicultural nature of the country, restaurants and food stalls are still open. If anything, it’s a neat time to visit because there are extra food treats and markets all over the place.) Traveling during Ramadan has also been a great opportunity for us to teach our kids about a different religion and culture. Some people call this “world schooling,” which is teaching your kids about the things they see while they travel. We really love this idea and look forward to teaching them more about all the things they will see on this trip!

We were going to visit Melaka, Malaysia after KL but ended up changing our plans and coming to Dubai instead (our tickets involved a layover in Dubai so we just moved the first leg of our flight a few days earlier). The main reason we changed our minds was that getting to Melaka was going to be a bit more complicated with the kids, baggage, and heat, and we decided we didn’t really want to go there that badly. So stay tuned for our post on Dubai!