8 Kia Peng Suites
We stayed 4 nights at the 8 Kia Peng Suites on the 32nd floor. This was by far my favorite place we have stayed during our time in SE Asia. I am also saying this after spending 4 nights at a nice boutique hotel on the beach in Thailand. The room we stayed in was huge (~730 sq ft). It included a kitchen, washer/dryer plus a bonus bedroom that I used as my walk-in closet.
Excited about my "walk-in closet"
The building had a restaurant on the top floor which used to have a gorgeous view of the Petronas Twin Towers but unfortunately another apartment complex was being built next door and now blocks the view. Luckily, we could still see the towers from the pool area!
The view of the Petronas Towers from our rooftop pool
The staff at the 8 Kia Peng were super friendly and accommodating and they even wrote us little personalized notes after they cleaned our room.
A nice personalized message from our cleaning staff
My absolute favorite part of the building was the infinity pool on the 7th floor (or maybe it was the 8th? We have stayed in too many places and they are starting to blur together!).
Viewing the city from our infinity pool
They advertise it as an olympic-size pool which I was a bit skeptical about but it legitimately was that long! It is seriously the best pool I have ever had the chance to swim in. I had a lovely time seeing the Towers as I swam back and forth. Zach even joined me one day which is really hard to convince him to do but shows how cool the pool was. We couldn’t believe that the total cost for 4 nights at this amazing place was $220! This was less than spending 1 night in Singapore.
Morning swim in our olympic-length swimming pool with a view of the Petronas Towers
Towers
What I found most surprising about Kuala Lumpur is the number of skyscrapers the city has. KL is home to Merdeka 118, the second tallest building in the world right behind the Burj Khalifa (2717 ft). The Merdeka 118, recently completed in 2023, stands 118 stories and 2,227 ft tall. I like to call it the “Mr. Narwhal” building because it looks like the character Mr. Narwhal from Elf. “Bye Buddy. I hope you find your dad” always pops into my head whenever I see it ?.
The Merdeka 118 Tower which looks a lot like Mr. Narwhal from Elf
The Petronas Twin Towers are another famous landmark tower in KL. These towers are beautiful especially when they are lit up at night. From 1998-2003 these were the tallest buildings in the world standing at 1,483 feet tall until Taipei 101 surpassed them in 2004. We really wanted to go inside the towers and walk across the Skybridge but they were closed the day we planned on going. We definitely will have to come back to check this out.
The Petronas Towers taken from KLCC Park
KLCC Park
One of the things that has been lacking in some of the cities we have visited is a place to walk around while completely zoning out. Pretty impossible to do in Thailand and Vietnam since you always have to pay attention to motorbikes and crazy traffic. The area we stayed at in KL had a wonderful city park, KLCC Park with a walking and running track as well as a playground for kids. No need to worry about motorbikes whizzing past us! Zach walked around there most mornings while I swam in the rooftop pool but I did join him one morning ?
Aquaria KLCC
The Aquaria KLCC is right by KLCC Park and we spent a pleasant afternoon checking out all of the aquatic life it had to offer. The aquarium is a decent size and you can easily spend 1-2h checking out all of the exhibits. My favorite part was the underwater tunnel with a moving walkway. It was so cool watching the stingrays and sharks swim all around you as you rode through the tunnel.
Watching the shark and stingray in the aquarium tunnel
Coffee
Of course we have to spend some time sharing our coffee tasting experience in Kuala Lumpur. We enjoyed some delicious hot espresso drinks at The Coffee Academics which is a chain that was originally established in China and has expanded to a number of SE Asian countries including Malaysia. We highly recommend their coffee and breakfast foods.
Flat White and Latte at the Coffee Academics
We mostly had been ordering espresso drinks during our time in SE Asia but we decided to change it up in KL and got a taste of their cold brew. We are so glad we did because the cold brew we tried was super unique! We went to Feeka Coffee Roasters which was a recommendation from one of our British friends (thanks Charly!). Zach got a cold brew with milk already mixed in (Cold Brew White) which they served with a glazed orange slice giving it a very unique flavor.
Zach was extremely excited for his cold brew from Feeka!
We also went to Brew and Bread in Bukit Bintang where I got a cold brew called Snow Black. The cold brew was topped with milk cream and pink sea salt which gave it a rich salty flavor. The location was also really cool and had a pool with a rabbit statue in the back. The staff were also super friendly which gave it a nice welcoming feeling.
Lovely flat white and salty Snow Black from Brew and Bread
Both Feeka and Brew and Bread were in a part of town called Bukit Bintang which had a ton of other coffee shops, resturants and bars that we wished we had more time to check out!
Strolling around Bukit Bintang which was a great area for food and drinks
Pavilion Kuala Lumpur
KL also has a number of really nice indoor malls. I hated going to the mall when I lived out in the suburbs of Chicago. I would get a “mall headache” if I stayed there for more than 2 hours. However the malls in KL were nothing like the malls in the US suburbs. They are much nicer!
Because it was so hot during the day, we spent a decent amount of time in the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur. We had nice lunches, dinner and coffee there. It was very different from the crappy food courts that we are used to seeing in US suburban malls. I also got a really nice pedicure while Zach shopped for a new wallet that he found made out of recycled truck material.
There was a movie theater in the mall so we decided to go see the new Antman movie one evening. The movie was just okay (it definitely was no Avatar) but it was a fun experience going to a movie theater in another country. We even got a free beer in the 1664 lounge while we waited for the movie to start.
Free beer before watching the new Antman movie at the mall theater!
Overall, our trip to KL exceeded our expectations and we can’t wait to go back to explore more of the city! I am definitely going to stay at the 8 Kia Peng so I can swim in that infinity pool again ?. Zach is in charge of our next post and will tell you all about our trip to Singapore!
