Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. July 2023.
We felt like professionals running on a rubber track in the KLCC park, right in front of the Petronas Twin Towers. We competed with locals on a 1,2 kms loop around magnificent gardens while Kuala Lumpur financial district was waking up.
TLDR; “too long, didn’t read”
- I just want to run! Take me to RUN.
- I have 1 minute. Take me to USEFUL INFORMATION.
- Running is my excuse for travelling. Take me to TRIP.
- Running is my excuse for eating. Take me to CARBOLOADING.
- I want to know what to read in the plane. Take me to ONE BOOK.
🌍 The trip 📷: What to see in Kuala Lumpur in a couple of days
We arrived in Kuala Lumpur very late at night. Even at 2am, Kuala Lumpur’s airport was buzzing, with open cafés and busy customs officers. This is a vibrant city that prides itself on its business’ orientation. But it was not until the morning after when we could visit the city and appreciate its mixture of skyscrapers and lush vegetation.
Comparison with Singapore
Kuala Lumpur is often compared to Singapore (see its post here). In one of the books I was reading, the amusing “Inspector Singh investigates: a most peculiar Malaysian murder”, the main character comes from Singapore and dwells on the competition between the two vibrant cities:
“Between Malaysia and Singapore there is no respectful distancing or formal conflict resolution,
Any difference of opinion becomes a family feud. If a Malaysian is pressed to give a reason [of Kuala Lumpur’s superiority] he will fall back on that old story that seems to sum up everything negative about Singapore.
But your government forbids you to chew gum!’”
But, contrary to Singapore, in Kuala Lumpur most of the buildings appear dark due to years of carbon dioxide fumes. Kuala Lumpur is the capital of opaque, dense verticality. It is a thick city, with roads busy with traffic and solid skyscrapers.
Batu Caves
We first paid a visit to the amazing Batu Caves. Announced as “the sanctuary of colors”, they are a series of caves in a very steep-sided hill with hindu temples inside. The contrast between the nature of the caves, with infinite stalactites and vegetation falling down, and the splash of colors of the temples, is truly beautiful.
Special mention to the 272 steps that go up to the caves, next to a grand golden statue of the God of War. The way the stairs were painted reminded me to a pantone guide 🙂…
📝Tip: Be careful with the monkeys and do not feed them!
Colonial Walk
We also visited the city center, walking around what it is called “the Colonial Walk”: we started in the big square decorated with a massive Malayan Flag, the Dataran Merdeka or Independence square, next to the beautiful Sultan Abdul Samad building, a combination of British and Indian architecture which was opened in 1897.
In the Colonial Walk you can also see historical buildings like Saint Mary’s Anglican Cathedral or the Old Central Railway Offices & North Goods Yard. The one I liked the most, though, was the Royal Selangor Club, also known as “the Dog” (name coming from a Dalmatian dog owned by a former owner’s wife), because of its unexpected architecture, which reminded me of Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare’s birthplace 🙂
Petronas Twin Towers
And, obviously the day after we went up the Petronas Twin Towers. The twin towers were the tallest buildings in the world until 2004 and are inspired in Islamic motifs, like the Arabian Islamic star. Now they are still the tallest twin buildings in the world. The entry gives you also access to the “skybridge”, on the 41st floor, which is the highest two-story bridge in the world.
The sights are incredible, with many skyscrapers nearby and their infinity pools on their roofs, and the top of the second tower so close in front of you.
🍜 Carboloading 🍝: What to eat in Kuala Lumpur if you are a runner
And we also visited two very distinctive neighborhoods: Petaling Street, the center of Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown, and Brickfields district, which is Kuala’s Lumpur “Little India”, but, despite the very many Chinese and Indian restaurants around, we opted for Malaysian cuisine for carboloading:
We ate Nasi Lemak, the national dish. It is coconut rice 🍛 which comes with roasted peanuts, fried anchovies and sambal eggplant. Samal is a delicious, but actually Indonesian, spicy sauce. For recovery, we tried Mee Goreng 🍜, stir-fried noodles prepared with a spicy sauce, vegetables and tofu, and, in our case, chicken and peantus to have more protein.
🏃♀️ The run
We set off from our hotel which was located 2,5 kms away from the KLCC park, where we wanted to run, since it is very well suited to train and includes a circular rubber track field.
The initial part of the run allowed us to immerse in the chaotic life of Kuala Lumpur’s business district. Running in those streets means having to watch out for cars and motorbikes when crossing the streets without traffic lights, or waiting for minutes to cross the ones with. An ad for “Mission Impossible” was playing on one of the street screens and we joked about our own mission impossible: to cross Jin Sultan Ismail avenue. This part is run on asphalt, concrete and pavement.
The atmosphere
It was early in the morning, before 8am, since the hot and humid weather makes it very difficult to run afterwards. We brought some water with us, although there are frequent water drinking fountains in the KLCC park.
The streets were packed with people going to work, and the impression was that of a “vertical jungle”: so many tall buildings everywhere, which make the atmosphere quite dense. Not too great for running. It was similar to Manhattan or Canary Wharf, but the people made the difference: many men wearing water bottles of 2 liters, and even more women with their hair covered (and some with covid masks adapted to hijabs).
Another difference were the street stalls: plain tables with some plastic food-storage containers. They serve breakfast and lunch for the workers of the office buildings full of banks, insurance and energy companies.
KLCC Park
The scenery and the running conditions get much better when you reach the KLCC park.
After passing in front of the posh Petronas towers, with ads of very white and very thin Asian women showing off De beers diamonds, you reach the 50-acre “urban sanctuary” that is KLCC park. It is full of tropical vegetation, lakes with water fountains and a massive childrens’ playground. And all times, the sight of the Twin Towers dominates your workout.
Curiously, we had seen the park also from the top of the towers:
The loop is exactly 1.2 kms long and is half flat, half going up and down a hill: which is perfect for training! You also have grass extensions where to warm up or do core exercises, yoga or pilates.
Since the rubber track surface is very forgiving in your muscles and joints, we picked up speed while one local tried to keep us with us and did so, but only for 200 meters. He made us run our fastest mile tracked in our GPS watches, so kudos to him.
🏃🏼♀️ Running tip 📝: some track workouts from San Francisco’s track and field club, here.
Most of the runners are quietly strolling, with more female runners than male, for a change 😍 Malaysia is a Muslim country, however it is ok to run in tank tops (very useful in this climate). I did, and many local runners also do.
The loop allows you to customize your workaround with the exact length you desire, but there is more to it: the park also has very nice footpaths in which you can also run, to distract yourself from the oval route, or just to relax.
As we left to go back to Kuala Lumpur’s streets, I was thinking to myself: the KLCC park is perfect for running!
Useful information
🏆 Route with 1,2 kms (0,75 miles) loops.
⛰️ Difficulty: Easy. Flat, fast course.
👟 City shoes, or track & field shoes. Sunscreen and hydration if you are running to / from a distant point in the city. In the park there are drinking water fountains.
✅ Perfectly conditioned for running: rubber track field, water fountains and grass to do some stretching or core exercises.
✅ Flat and scenic course: not too crowded and with the best view of the Petronas Twin Towers.
❌ The climate is hot and humid, making it difficult to run unless you do it very early in the morning or late in the afternoon.
❌ The loop is only 1,2 kms long, so not suitable for long runs.
Map
One book
| 📖 “Inspector Singh investigates: a most peculiar Malaysian murder”, by Shamini Flint 📖 “The House at the Edge of the Jungle: A Novel”, by Mary Morgan 📖 “Time for a tiger”, by Anthony Burgess |
“Inspector Singh investigates: a most peculiar Malaysian murder”, by Shamini Flint
This was the second novel of Inspector Singh that I read, and I also enjoyed it. It is lighthearted but spiced up with ironic and insightful comments on the reality of life in Kuala Lumpur. You get a sense of how life really is, not what you see in the sightseeing tours.
In this book, Inspector Singh is sent to Kuala Lumpur since the main suspect of a murder is a Singapore’s citizen. With this direct, no-nonsense attitude, Inspector Singh is navigating the troubled waters of Kuala Lumpur’s most rich and famous.
⭐⭐⭐
“The House at the Edge of the Jungle: A Novel”, by Mary Morgan
The novel centers around Isabel’s discovery journey. She was six years old when she was evacuated, just before Malaya fell to the Japanese in 1942, with her baby brother, to England.
She returns and sets off to explore the enigmas that still haunt her”. The book is interesting and deals with a very sad episode that it is sometimes forgotten in the many tragic events that happened during WWII: the evacuation of English people from colonies; in this case, Kuala Lumpur, and it touches briefly on the misfortunes of those who were kept in prison camps. Although I found the characters, quintaessentially british, to be a tad annoying.
⭐⭐⭐
“Time for a tiger”, by Anthony Burgess
Written in 1956, in the middle of Malaysia’s independence struggle, known as the “Malayan Emergency”, the “tiger” refers to a local beer which is still very popular.
The writer, Anthony Burgess, later famous for “A clockwork orange”, was teaching in Kuala Lumpur at the time, and the main character of the novel is an alter ego of himself. He struggles with demons of his past but also at seeing how the Communist movement underground is picking up importance, and the consequences that the activism will have for everybody.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
