6a011570d70884970b01347fb86663970c-600wiOur latest visitor in Kuala Lumpur was my cousin Rayna’s hand-drawn Flat Stanley, a school project where a little boy gets flattened so he can visit places where regular people can’t, and we took him along to some of our favorite places, like the monkey hill.

We were lucky to have a steady flow of visitors from all over the world during our time in Kuala Lumpur.  Although we tried to make every group’s tour a little different and cater to what they might want to see and experience here, we also developed a repertoire of “must-eat, must-see” spots in town.  A visit here might not include all these spots, but we always tried to include one or two of our favorites from below.

6a011570d70884970b01347fb90670970c-600wiWild monkeys swinging from the trees at the Monkey Hill

1.  Monkey Hill in Taman TAR and Dinner at Mandi-Mandi.  If watching a hill full of wild monkeys play around doesn’t make you feel like you’re in a Southeast Asian country, then surely dinner afterward at a Malaysian-Thai restaurant nestled into a dense tropical setting will.

2.  Kopi at Yut Kee.  This 70-plus year old Malaysian Chinese coffee house roasts and grinds their own beans to make some of the best coffee (kopi) in town.  Plus, there’s a fantastic deep-fried roast pork sandwich (the roti babi) that complements caffeine beautifully.

3.  Curry Laksa, Hainan Tea, Karipaps and Tropical Fruit at Imbi Market.  My favorite meal of the day in Southeast Asia is breakfast.  This outdoor market is home to some of the city’s best and just minutes from most major downtown hotels.  Our Gravy Train special tour wakes you up extra early to ensure a good seat in the market so we can have prime view for people-watching as we down a heavenly roast pork curry laksa, a dark cup of Hainan tea, and homemade curry puffs.  We’ll also stop through the vegetable and fruit stalls to bring home some of the region’s tropical fruits, such as rambutanspassion fruit, local mangoes, and dragon fruit.  One exception – no durian in the car, please.

6a011570d70884970b01347fb953cd970c-600wi Not my photo, sadly; I took it from Luxuo.com

4.  SkyBar at Trader’s Hotel.  If the city skyline of Kuala Lumpur could be described in a sentence, then Petronas Towers would be the two exclamation points.  While most tourists head for the Skybridge connecting the two towers, we like to bring visitors to this rooftop bar for the best views of the Towers.  The cocktails are pretty good, and their bar snack is a sesame-covered spicy rice cracker that I can’t stop eating whenever I’m there.

5.  Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary.  If there’s an extra full day in our already-busy schedule, the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary is a new stop on our tour, but one that’s well worth it.  The sanctuary is about an hour and a half drive from the city, and home to rescued elephants both from within Malaysia and the region.  Visitors have the opportunity to feed, ride, and swim with the elephants.  Last week, I packed a picnic lunch, which we enjoyed in the sanctuary’s park before spending the entire afternoon meeting the most gentle giants.

6.  Tandoori Chicken on Jalan Ampang.  We’ve made believers out of countless friends who have doubted that tandoori chicken, of all things, could really be that good.  But part of Malaysia’s uniqueness comes from its strength in three types of cuisine — Chinese, Malaysian and Indian, so it should come as no surprise that a couple of guys with a cart in a furniture store parking lot could make the chicken to change your life.

6a011570d70884970b0133ec897dd2970b-600wiA delicately-shaped roti tissue, right before I destroyed it

7. RotiRoti, Everywhere.  The Malaysian breakfast flatbread of champions, you can order roti in a variety of forms — roti canai (plain), roti telur (with egg), roti pisang (with banana), and roti tissue (a light, airy cone-shaped version sprinkled with sugar), just to name a few.  Every kind comes with some sort of light curry dipping sauce, and every kind is magnificent in its own special way.

8. Pavilion KL.  From a real estate perspective, I think this mega glamorous shopping center has it all — mixed-use office, residential and retail space, great layout, interesting shared indoor-outdoor portions on every floor, and a huge roster of high-end luxury tenants.  It’s an impressive shopping center no matter where you are in the world, and a great example of the development Kuala Lumpur has experienced compared to its Southeast Asian neighbors.  Plus, there are some delicious pork dumplings to be had at the newly-opened Din Tai Fung, a Taiwanese eatery that got its start as a cooking oil shop near my dad’s childhood home in Taipei.

9.  Fish Spa and Peter Hoe.  At Central Market, a tourist market selling all sorts of Malaysian tchotchkes, there’s a fish spa for you to try out one of the world’s weirdest spa treatments.  Afterwards, we have to hit up Peter Hoe Beyond, a boutique of batik (hand-painted fabrics) and tasteful Asian home goods.  For nibbles, the cafe at Peter Hoe makes a delicious mango cheesecake.

6a011570d70884970b0133ec896ef6970b-600wi

The sunset view from the windows of our home

10. Home Sweet Home.  The hubby and I love our home here, and we love entertaining.  If you don’t mind sacrificing a night in, I’ll make you a rendang or curry based on spices from my favorite spice lady at TTDI Market and accompanied by coconut rice.  In the mornings, the hubby makes great pancakes and a mean cappuccino.  His skills in both of these areas factored heavily (more than I’d like to admit) into my calculus for marrying him.

To all my Kuala Lumpurian friends reading out there — what do you think of my list?  Is it a good snapshot of this fine city we live in?  And, to our friends and family in the US and beyond — visit anytime!

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