What Kuala Lumpur Did To Me

This was, arguably, my favorite city of the entire trip, and I still can't fully explain why. Maybe it was the friends I made. Maybe it was drinks on top of a helipad thirty stories up. Maybe it was the heavenly food tour, or the truly remarkable cultural melting pot and the earnestness of the people who call this place home.

It might have been Wanjo — a restaurant that's been family-owned and operated since 1964, where I had one of the best meals of the entire trip: a mango smoothie and marinated chicken with rice and veg, good enough that I went back twice in three days.

It might have been the markets — Pesar Seni, Petaling Street, Chow Kit Road Market, Pasar Malam Taman Connaught — each one different enough from the last that walking through them never felt repetitive. It might have been the Malaysian cover band playing Western hits with more vigor and precision than the originals. It might have been the Petronas Towers, which I still think are the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen in my life, lit up at night.

Whatever it was, I was not bored for a single second. Even just walking the streets felt different from the weeks that came before it. I skipped Batu Caves after hearing it was overrated — just two big chasm rooms and a lot of tourists — and I don't regret it.

I can't fully explain what made Kuala Lumpur stand out to me the way it did. But if you visit, I hope it does the same to you.