Kuala Lumpur is an exciting destination if you happen to be in South East Asia. One of the most multicultural environments you can find, where Arabic, African, Chinese, Western and Malay cultures interconnect.
Apart from its amazing malls and gastronomy, Kuala Lumpur also offers a rich cultural offer for those eager to discover it. This time we went to the outskirts of the city to visit the impressive Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Masjid mosque, which undoubtedly can be named as one of the most beautiful ones that you can find in SEA region.
The mosque is the main state mosque in Selangor and to reach it you will have to travel by car around 50 minutes – 1 hour outside of the centre of Kuala Lumpur. Luckily in the Malaysian city, services like Grab taxi work like a charm, and pretty unexpensive. A trip to the mosque and back to the city centre would cost you around 50-55 ringgit total, so around 10-12 euro. Not bad for one hour trip to go and 1 hour to return, right?
The mosque closes at 12:00 am and reopens at 14:00, so be mindful not to arrive there during lunch time, or you will have to wait for quite a bit.
Once you arrive, please remove inmediately your shoes or the ladies in the info desk will not be happy that you are stepping with shoes on. Visiting alone by yourselves is not allowed, but after a bit of waiting at the front of the building, a guide will appear and kindly will give you a free tour around the facilities.
Also be aware that being a Muslim religious site, you must wear correct attire. For men it is recommended to wear long trousers and for ladies clothes covering the legs and the shoulders, but do not worry if you did not prepare for it, cause before starting the tour, the guide will also provide appropiated clothes to cover to those that need to.
I found the visit pretty pleasant, as the guide was cheerful, funny and intelligent to explain about the building (the biggest mosque in Malaysia and the 4 minarets are some of the highest in this kind of construnction in the world). Visiting with just the guided tour means that the place was pretty empty, and you are given a lot of time and freedom to take all the pictures and videos that you wish. There is also a nice explanation of the help and services given to the local community, and you can also take some funny memory pictures in the wedding room at the basement of the building.
All in all, if you have half a day free in Kuala Lumpur, I would totally recommend visiting the mosque. Just the view from outside is breathtaking, and inside as you can appreciate in the pictures, it is a delight of architecture to be contemplated. The building was finished in 1989, so it is still very well preserved.
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