It’s been a while since we’ve had a big city exploration day. As you may have read in between the line recently, we hadn’t loved Malaysia. But it turns out we just didn’t love Penang. So far, one day in, Kuala Lumpur has been awesome.

We didn’t get any breakfast stuff for our Airbnb so we went out for coffee and some food as soon as we woke up. We came back and showered and then set out for the day.

We are very centrally located but KL doesn’t seem to cater to pedestrians. Everywhere took a while to walk to even though it appears close on the map. We arrived at KLCC park and were very sweaty from the walking. It is 85 degrees and humid.

Millie spent a while playing on the huge playground. It was like 8 playgrounds all installed right next to each other. This is about half of it.

When she got too sweaty we walked over to the fountain that had a bunch of kids in it. We didn’t have a bathing suit so she just stripped down and played in her shorts. Even the kids had conservative swimwear. Except for our little girl gone wild.

We had an amazing view from here of the iconic twin towers.

From here we began the walk to Time Square Theme Park, which is an indoor theme park with a bunch of rides. We all needed a break from the heat.

We took two AC breaks during the 30 minute walk. First, to get cold drinks and sunscreen. And then, to browse H&M for some new shirts for Millie. She has worn her 4 so much that they have unremovable stains.

After a successful shop and quick outfit change into a new dress, we arrived at the mall that housed the theme park.

For the 8th time this year, we were lost inside a mall. Eventually we found it. Believe it or not this was somehow hard to miss.

It was as hellacious as it looks. Millie loved it. She rode all the rides she was tall enough to get on, and played for a while on this awesome climbing net thing.

She befriended a little Russian girl whose parents were nowhere to be found. They ran around together and rode every single ride. They were in similar outfits and looked like sisters.

I lost Nick at one point and then turned a corner to find him like this.

We had to bribe Millie away with caramel corn, but eventually we did leave the acid trip mall. We called a Grab and rode to the botanical garden. It was sensory whiplash, from loud, artificially lit, and colorful, to this:

It was more of a public park than a botanical garden, but I’m not complaining. We walked through as the post-workday joggers were starting their early evening runs.

We stumbled upon yet another playground. All the grownups wanted to do was stroll and enjoy the quiet. Nick said “why is it that when we want a playground they’re nowhere, and when we don’t want one, they’re everywhere?” Today was a heavy play day.

We walked through the whole park and then came out on the other side in central KL. We couldn’t figure out where to get a car, so we took the metro. It was rush hour and very packed. So packed that we had to wait for a second train because the first was too full. I was impressed by the patient and orderly queuing for the trains.

We got off and came upstairs to the food market. It was energetic and had stalls selling all sorts of things. We started with some fruit. A mixed cup for Millie (that I mooched off) and durian for Nick. She tried it, hated it.

Then we walked the whole market to make our decision.

We were tired from all the walking, so we got a table at a restaurant and ordered chicken satay and morning glory shoots. I’ve seen these everywhere for weeks so wanted to try them. It felt good to have a healthy meal.

From here we got a meat sandwich thing that we had seen a bunch of people with. It was very very good. The beef was stewed with good spices, and the cilantro and green pepper made it taste complex and fresh.

Nick ordered a burger known as a “ramly” burger. It was wrapped in egg? Also very good, though I was too full to really chow down.

We walked to a good pickup point, and passed a line of older people meditating with these very intense signs about organ harvesting.

I have spent some time worrying that Millie’s reading isn’t progressing fast enough, but in this moment I was so glad she couldn’t read the sign. With her interest in bodies and dying, this would have become her new obsession. For now, I can keep it as mine. I’m off to read what it’s all about and inevitably fall down into some dark corners of the internet. Good night.