Chilling out in Kuala Lumpur and Partying in Bali

In case you didn't know, all the cool kids call Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, "KL". I didn't know that before Remote Year but now I'm one of the cool kids. I'm not going to lie, when I looked at the itinerary for my potential Polaris journey for a year abroad, Malaysia was one country where I sort of shrugged my shoulders and went "eh". I also thought that about Peru initially and Peru wound up blowing my mind and is definitely one of the countries I'd love to revisit. I wish I could say the same for Malaysia but it turns out this stop went about as expected. I was told to expect amazing cuisine and fast internet and an amazing digital nomad atmosphere. I was told to expect the city to be awesome and the apartments to be among the best, if not THE best, on all of Remote Year.

Well, they got one thing right. My apartment WAS amazing. And I hardly left it. It's a running joke in Polaris that I never left our apartment building but that isn't too far off from the truth if I am being honest. My apartment building housed ALL of Polaris and it was in a relatively upscale hotel and condo high rise. We had a swimming pool, gym, two cafés, a steakhouse, a mini mart, and a bakery. Why would I need to leave? Also, the master bedroom I had was huge and had amazing floor to ceiling windows with a view of the skyline. The pic below doesn't really do the view justice but apparently all the other images I took of my view are videos, so you will just have to take me at my word that the views were pretty dang cool.

The view from my balcony of KL at night

I don't want to sell KL short by any means and perhaps I didn't give it a fair shake like I feel like I didn't give Santiago a completely fair shake. In all actuality. Santiago and KL are good comparisons on my evaluation for each. I didn't really love Santiago because it felt too much like a "normal" city with not a lot of culture or cool experiences within the city itself. KL felt similar though KL definitely is cool for the mixture of cultures it represents. There's a huge population of Malays, Indians, and Chinese. This got me excited because I love Indian and Chinese food and Malay food was supposed to be a mash-up of these cultures cuisines. Unfortunately, I realized I preferred the un-mashed version of these. I'd rather have straight Indian food than Malay Indian food. I'd rather have Chinese food versus Malay Chinese. The food WAS good but it wasn't the culinary climax it was built up to be. In Santiago, I had my best experiences outside the city. In KL, there weren't places outside the city that I even felt like exploring. I can see the appeal of KL as a digital nomad destination. It's very cheap and allegedly the internet is really good (though it wasn't great in our apartments or the workspace). But it just feels like a big city. When I DID leave my apartment, I basically went to the mall.

This isn't to say my time in Malaysia was bad. There were tons of rainstorms, epic thunderstorms with ridiculous lightning that was among the coolest storms I have ever seen. The thunder would literally shake our apartment building. The KL tower was really cool and had a variety of shops and food options inside it I wasn't expecting. The views from it were incredible. We also went paintballing which was fun and enjoyed a "dining in the dark" experience, although both of those are not unique to KL obviously. Malaysia is also incredibly close to other countries and you can find cheap flights to other countries pretty easily. You can use KL as a base while venturing to other areas. After months of really crazy experiences during our Asia portion of our itinerary, KL was a nice place for recharging the batteries a bit. The weather helped provide a reason not to venture outside much and I could focus on work, catching up on Netflix shows, and admiring a rain soaked view from the comfort of my bed. In reality, it felt like being at home a bit, especially because our apartments were so comfortable. I'm not sure if Remote Year has KL on the itinerary precisely for this reason but it definitely feels like a location where remotes can catch their breath a bit before they head to the next leg of their adventures (KL is usually the stop before groups head to Europe). I also wouldn't be surprised to find out if Malaysia is the most "opted-out" country of the Remote Year countries offered. I'd say one-third of our group opted out of Malaysia entirely, meaning we didn't see some of our tramily for more than a month. KL was one of our 5-week stops and many people chose to opt out of the month to continue traveling in other areas of Asia. I didn't choose to opt out of Malaysia and I am glad I didn't but I also planned a European trip with a fellow Polarian that cut my Malaysian stay 2 weeks short so I was there just over 3 weeks instead of the full five. I feel like this was a good choice on my part. I also booked a 5 day reprieve from KL to go to Bali which also cut into my Malaysia time. In hindsight, I am incredibly glad I did all of this as I got to see KL but also didn't waste a couple of extra weeks just chilling. I got to experience 4 different countries in that time frame (Indonesia, Holland, England, and the Czech Republic). If you're looking for a big city vibe with nice cultural diversity, KL is a nice stop. If you're into tourism and seeking out experiences hard to find elsewhere, KL may not be for you.

On the -5 to 5 scale, I'd give Kuala Lumpur a -4. I doubt I'd go back to visit, I didn't do or see much I couldn't do back home or elsewhere, there wasn't much natural beauty, and it rained a ton (which was cool but also limited options and pool time). It doesn't get a -5 because the people were friendly and the cultural diversity was a welcome sight. The food was good but not in a way that would make me say you HAVE to go to experience it. There are a lot of places to see in the world. I don't think KL needs to be one of them.

Since I have very little to offer in regards to Malaysia recommendations, I figured I'd combine this entry with my Bali side trip as well. Bali had been on my travel list for a long time, even more after I missed out on visiting Indonesia last time I traveled to Southeast Asia. However, my view of Bali was much different than the actual experience. I always considered Bali a vacation type of getaway where one goes to relax, soak in amazing views by the ocean, experience epic sunsets, and genuinely kick back and relax. In a lot of ways, I viewed Bali as the Southeast Asian version of Hawaii. Well, you CAN do those things. We didn't. Bali was a constant party and while we did enjoy beautiful landscapes and epic sunsets, we also drank a lot and partied into the wee hours of the morning, only to sleep in and do it all over again the next day. In hindsight, I would have preferred to spend way more time in Bali doing a bit of everything. I really wanted to put my newly scuba certified license to work diving since Bali is well known for it's underwater beauty but I never made it into the water (unless you count running naked into the Indian Ocean). I wish I had caught a few more sunsets but alas, we chose to just party hard and have a great time instead. It was a blast though. We stayed mainly in Canggu although I spent my last 24 hours in Uluwatu.

Bali was indeed gorgeous and I'd highly recommend a visit. It's super cheap and it felt like the Thai islands. It has something for everyone. If you want to party like we did, you can find that pretty easily. If you want to relax and zen out, you can find that too. If you want to do a yoga retreat you can find a variety of those. It is very laid back. Expect bad traffic though as the infrastructure in Bali needs some work. Overall though, I'd go back in an instant.

I'd give Bali the inverse of KL, a solid 4. There isn't much to dislike about Bali besides the traffic and the poverty. Tourism helps them big time and it is a gorgeous locale. It is everything you'd want in a get away: cheap, fun, relaxing, pretty, and the weather was fantastic. Definitely put Bali on your travel list. The only negative is that it has SO many tourists now that it may cheapen your experience but it didn't bother me in the slightest.

Macster Recommendations

In KL, go to the KL Tower for the views.

My apartment building had a placed called Toast Box and I ate there nearly every single day. I loved the potato puffs (essentially samosas) and the peanut butter toast. It's a chain and I don't even know if it's strictly Malaysian, but if you find yourself in KL, seek one out for a coffee and a snack.

There was a cool Avengers/Marvel experience thing at the mall. Maybe do that? It looks like it's a temporary exhibit however, so... shrug.

A few friends traveled to Penang, which is actually in Malaysia and not in Thailand, and the home of where Penang (or Panang) curry came from. It also houses one of the world's largest water slides I guess? I don't know, I didn't make it there, but if you find yourself in KL, I've heard it's worth the trip.

Those are my recs. You can see I didn't experience much while in Malaysia.

As for Bali, just go there and do your thing. If you do find yourself in Canggu, check out some of these places:

The Lawn is an awesome restaurant/lounge right on the beach. Great food and great views and vibe.

The Black Cat Mini Mart is a pretty cool speakeasy bar hidden behind a broken fridge door in a small mini mart. It's more of a dive bar and it's relatively small. It's worth going to just for the entrance. I'd recommend going here for a drink or two and then going next door to the Pretty Poison bar, an actual bar that has a skate pool outside that's pretty dang cool.

We spent a few nights partying on the beach at The Sand Bar. It felt like a smaller version of the Full Moon Party from Thailand. Lots of sand, lots of dancing, lots of drinks. If you want to party, check out this place.

Old Man's and Finn's are also two really popular spots to party. They're not right on the beach but they're close. Also, keep an eye out for a hot dog vendor right outside of those two places. Those hot dogs may have been the best hot dogs I've ever had!

My select photos of Malaysia and Indonesia: