A Weekend in KL

Last week we decided that a group trip with our friends -- Nikki & Leon and Lou & Eric -- to Malaysia's capital and largest city, Kuala Lumpur (KL) was in order.  We all left our island home and drove 4 hours down the peninsula for a weekend of fun, food, shopping and friends! 

 

The view from the hot tub!

Eric and I arrived early Friday evening after battling KL's rush hour traffic.  Penang and Austin have nothing on this traffic!  It was serious.  We met up with our friends for dinner and a shopping trip to China Town, where you could buy any knock off purse or accessory you ever desired.  Eric purchased a laser which he will use to play (torture) Coco with.  We ended our evening at the bar next to our hotel drinking amazing beer and listening to awesome music -- two things you don't get much of in Malaysia.

On Saturday, we joined Nikki and Leon for a tour of the KL Bird Park -- the world's largest free flying aviary.  There were hundreds of different birds from all over the world.  Pretty neat!  Here are a few shots:

A Rhino Hornbill

One of the coolest portions of the bird park was called "the World of Parrots" where you could feed the birds.  Well we found one in particular that really loved us.  In fact he was not interested in bird food, just licking all of the sweat off our bodies.

We spent the rest of the afternoon checking out the Central Market area, shopping and going for a dip in our hotel's sky pool on the 31st floor.  The six of us and Mia reconvened for happy hour at our hotel before heading for dinner at the best Italian restaurant we've been to in Malaysia.  So good and full of non-halal meat...pork!  Yum!

After dinner we all hopped into one cab and drove the the famous Trader's Hotel for a drink at the Sky Bar overlooking the famous Petronas Towers. 

Yes we squeezed 4 Westerners into the backseat of the smallest cab ever.

We arrived by taxi, while others arrived in either a Ferrari or Lamborghini

The ladies enjoying a drink at the Sky Bar

After having a proper night out in KL we returned to our hotel and the bar where we spent the previous night.  Eric enjoyed the beer selection and Jenn went to bed.  It was a great evening!

We spent Sunday doing what every good Malaysian does...shopping and eating.  Our day started at the Pavillion -- the largest shopping mall in Malaysia.  We then moved on the Ampang Grocery store -- the largest American import grocery store in KL and Malaysia.  Let's just say we were like kids in a candy shop and RM750 later we left with a trunk full of maseca flour, Stubb's bbq sauce and kraft mac n cheese.  We then moved on to the Blue Cow cafe where you can buy your meat from a skilled Western butcher.  We enjoyed fresh ground burgers before filling our cooler with chorizo, bacon, ham and beef sausage.  

Here is a display off all our finds.  

It's amazing how much you will pay for things when you can't find them!

We had such a great time in KL and there is so much more left for us to see there!  We will have to go back to restock the fridge and pantry, but probably not for a month or two.  Hopefully next time will be just as much fun.