Kuala Lumpur
05 - 09 March 2020
We were lucky. But I don’t think we realised just how lucky we were.
The world and our freedom are currently a fond memory whilst this horrid virus rages around us. But, before we had our world taken away and the borders closed to outsiders, the very first Ladies Long Weekend spent an incredible 3 nights in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
We set off on a morning departure with Malaysian Airlines and, with 3 of us being mothers to small children, thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to relax and catch up on the latest movies. It was a relatively short flight, only 8 hours, and we landed to the wonderful smells and heat that Asia is known for. We made our way into the City by the means of a private transfer and arrived at the incredible Traders Hotel. Greeted by the Hotel Manager and the Traders Executive Club floor manager (we felt like royals!) we happily checked in to the most incredible rooms with floor to ceiling windows looking out at the renowned Petronas Towers. We quickly freshened up before making our way to the Executive Club lounge to enjoy the daily cocktail and canapés which are an inclusion of staying on the Club Floor. What a way to start the trip! We spent the next few hours sipping and nibbling and getting to know each other before having an early night.
Waking early the next morning, we enjoyed a little lie in before heading out for the day. It wouldn’t be a visit to Kuala Lumpur without a shopping trip and this is one of the reasons I chose KL as the first LLW departure. Having visited this incredible city over 5 times personally, I felt it had a variety of options to keep us entertained. We walked the short distance to the incredible Pavilion Shopping Centre where we were overwhelmed with the variety of stores on offer. WE then headed out to enjoy some local cuisine for lunch before enjoying in a very relaxing massage to ease our sore feet. We headed back to the hotel to freshen up for our daily cocktails and canapés before moving upstairs to the hotels well known Pool Bar for our welcome reception. From here, 3 of us decided we wanted to see more of the KL nightlife and found ourselves at Marini’s on 57 - Malaysia’s most iconic rooftop bar, Italian Restaurant and Whisky & Cigar lounge. Here we made some new friends and literally danced the night away.
A relatively quiet day the next day before heading to China town for a spot of bargain and knock off shopping and a very relaxed but delicious dinner.
A trip to KL must always include a trip out to the Batu Caves - a limestone hill that has a series of caves and cave temples in Gombak, Selangor. It’s an easy 20 minute drive and once you’ve climbed the 272 colourful stairs to the top it’s quite an incredible sight.
As our last full day and night in KL, we made the best of it with our nightly cocktails and canapés before heading out to the Changkat Bukit Bintang area and enjoyed a lovely dinner.
With a full day ahead of us before heading to the airport at 6pm, we decided to indulge in a food tour of the outer suburbs of Kuala Lumpur with Urban Adventures. What a fabulous day and a great way to get amongst the locals and eat as they do.
An exhausted yet invigorated 4 women boarded the return flight that evening and we all headed home to our families not knowing that the following week our country would close it’s borders to the world as the world took on the biggest fight of the current times.
I look forward to sharing more international departure with the LLW community when we can safely do so. In the meantime, there is plenty of Australia to experience. We really are very lucky!
Tina x
