KUL is a big airport. Upon arrival, we exited into the concourse and followed signs to immigration. We took the business/first class lane, which I was surprised led to a door where we waited for a bus. There is a small waiting area with drinks and snacks.


Somehow, I missed that we needed to fill out a form pre-arrival. It was simple enough, and there was no line for the e-gates. For an unknown reason, my wife was rejected, and unlike at LHR and elsewhere where I've seen e-gates, there was no one staffing the lines to ask for help. She had to submit the form again, and that worked.

It took us an hour to make it to the baggage claim and through the customs scanner. From there, we quickly found the hotel representative and our pre-booked car.

We made it.

We missed the elite happy hour (where guests get 2 complimentary drinks each), but the front desk staff member kindly offered to escort us to the pool bar/club and arranged for us to take advantage of the offer. Tomorrow, I will just get a Tangueray and tonic; I wasn't a fan of the gin fizz cocktail.

We got the room we booked--it is a holiday weekend, after all. I like it.

We were up until after 2 am on the phone trying to sort out the remaining details of the changes to our trip.

The Marriott Ambassador agent put in cases for the return of the nightly upgrade awards pulled for our two nights in Bangkok (which we were able to cancel without penalty) and for a request to cancel the third night in Phuket without repricing the whole reservation. We then booked another night for Phuket on the front end of that reservation.

The rate at the Marriott Merlin Beach has more than doubled since we made our reservation--I'd guess that this is both due to Eid vacationers and the "White Lotus effect." We thought about staying elsewhere for the first night, but it didn't seem worth it.

The other surprising thing was that, when calling Thai Airways to cancel our BKK-HKT flight, the agent told me that it could take up to 180 days to process the refund! Perhaps I would have been better off using the tickets' value for KUL-BKK-HKT, but I wanted a direct flight.

We ordered room service to accompany these calls; the satay was a lot better than the Hainanese chicken.

The breakfast buffet is expansive and of very good quality. It isn't even much of a letdown from the St. Regis. We came down just a few minutes before breakfast closed, so I didn't have time to photograph much of it. There are at least 6 different cuisine groupings, plus the usual suspects.

We didn't do any research about KL and asked the concierge for tips.

First stop was Batu Caves, a Hindu temple complex.

Next up was Merdeka Square, also known as Independence Square.




Obligatory

We retreated into the Pavillion Mall to beat the heat. Though we initially planned to visit a Malaysian chain, we couldn't resist the siren song of TGI Friday's.

We are now at Bar Trigona at the Four Seasons, just beating the downpour. This is a beautiful bar with friendly and welcoming staff.

I started with the honey flight, all featuring honey from the eponymous bee. Sipping a drink while watching the rain is wonderful.







I followed that up with the Watermelon, a really interesting cocktail containing something called sonic water. Edited to add--I was thinking too hard about what sonic water is. It's a portmanteau.


I concluded with the Immortal, a nice take on a mezcal negroni.

Just kidding--we really concluded with the fried chicken. Very good.

We then visited another bar on the Asia top 50 list, Penrose (coming in at number 8 in 2024). We couldn't get a day-of reservation but were swiftly ushered into a space to stand. I liked the two cocktails I had--they were thoughtfully designed with an impressive melange of flavors--but we would have been more comfortable with bar seats, so I recommend getting a reservation.

For dinner, we went to the restaurant we had been considering for lunch, Madame Kwan's. This is a chain with locations in the city's major malls and elsewhere. We went to the outlet on the fourth floor of the Suria mall at the base of one of the Petronas towers after stopping by a bookstore on the same floor. The restaurant was bustling, but we were seated quickly. The food was outstanding.





The chicken satay was the best of the trip by far.

Stir fry beef noodle

Nasi lemak with beef rendang

I really liked Kuala Lumpur and will need to visit again, perhaps as part of a longer trip to Malaysia and Indonesia.

The trip to the airport was very smooth, and the airport is very quiet. Most holiday travelers have already left.

We initially went to the check-in area assigned to our flight, H, but the agent at the priority desk directed us to D1-3. This is the business suite/Emerald check-in area. While not as separate as first class check-in at LHR or JFK, it does offer seating. We asked about business class seats, but, as expected, the cabin is full. (I had tried an instant upgrade bid, but it was rejected due to the lack of 2 available seats.)





From the check-in area, we headed toward departures, passing again through a boarding pass scan, the customs scanner, and exit immigration e-gates. There was no queue whatsoever. Security screening is done at the gate.

The Golden Lounge for regional international flights is located between duty free and gate H2. It offers a solid buffet, a barista counter, a salad bar, soups, and alcoholic drinks from a bar.

Other than the chicken, which was a bit dry, this is some of the best airport lounge buffet food I've had anywhere.









I love that the bar is called the Sports Bar and offers some bar food in addition to beer, wine, and spirits.

On the way to the bathroom, I noticed there are nap rooms (separated by gender).

I just received an email that boarding has begun for our flight, so we will head to the gate soon.

Thanks! I hope you have a great stay! This was the fourth one I've stayed at; this one and Mumbai (at least in 2019) were excellent. I can't imagine landing in MLE and not staying awhile...

The slimline seats on Malaysia Airlines are perfectly comfortable for a short flight, and having selected two aisle seats, we each had three emergency exit row seats to ourselves. They even serve a snack box on this ~1 hour flight.





The reason I wanted business class tickets was not for the flight but for priority immigration lane access. We passed Aeroflot, LOT Polish, and Air China planes at gates on the taxi in, and the immigration lines are long. However, the agents are processing people quickly, so the wait shouldn't be too bad.

We made it through immigration in about 30 minutes, and our bags came out shortly after we got to the baggage claim belt. From there, we met the agent who was coordinating transport for several hotels, and our pre-booked car arrived minutes later.

For the next three nights, we are staying at the Marriott Merlin Beach. It's located past Patong, about an hour and fifteen minutes from the airport.

We received the warmest elite status welcome we've received at a Marriott hotel in quite a while.

We purchased the all inclusive option for about 3000 THB for the two of us, which seems to be an incredible relative value given that cocktails are 330 THB.

This isn't a tranquil oasis like the Maldives, of course, but I am liking it so far. After we got settled in the room, we repaired to the pool bar.

There are about 5 restaurants and three bars on property. One restaurant has a buffet each night, and the three other restaurants open for dinner have a la carte options. Almost everything is included in our package.

The plan for tonight is the prime rib buffet, the Thai restaurant, and the rum shack bar, in some order.