"Time spent amongst trees is never time wasted."
Zira and I were excited to hike the KL East Park trail on Sunday morning. I personally haven’t been hiking in years so the two-kilometer hike was somewhat challenging, but definitely worth it. We both drove and parked at KL East Mall which is the nearest parking to KL East Park. For a little over four hours, parking costs about RM4 which is reasonable since parking in Kuala Lumpur (KL) can be expensive. We got a little lost trying to find the right exit from the mall to get to the park so make sure you head up to the third floor and look for the exit next to K Fry Urban Korean restaurant and Kenny Hill Coffee shop. From there, you take a left, cross the street and walk about 10 minutes uphill to the park entrance. Or if you want to take the train, get on the LRT, stop at Gombak station and walk about 20 minutes to the park.
Since you need to have a pre-approved booking for the hike, I tried several times to get the 9 AM slot on a weekend, but it was fully booked so quickly. In the end, we settled for an 11 AM hike as both of us were looking forward to check out this park. You can make your booking on the KL East Park website 72 hours in advance (link to the website provided below) and you’ll get an email with a QR code for the security guard to scan as you enter and exit the park. If you come early, they’ll ask you to wait for visitors to exit the park before you can enter right at 11 AM.
There’s a guardhouse and restrooms at the park entrance, but no cafes or restaurants so do make sure that you bring enough water and something to boost your energy like energy bars, etc. I would also recommend bringing a hat, small towel, and hiking stick if you have one as the trail can be quite steep sometimes. The trails are clearly marked so you won’t get lost and there are shelters, seating areas, and first aid kits readily available under or next to some of the signs. At times you’ll be climbing up and down some stairs, crossing a few small bridges and going over or under several fallen tree stumps. There’s a limited number of visitors for each two-hour slot so that there’s not that too many people hiking at the same time. Watch out for tree roots as you’re on the trail as you can easily trip over them. The Lookout Point midway through the trail gives you a great view of the KL city skyline with plenty of benches for you to take a break and enjoy the scenery.
You’ll definitely feel the difference in temperature the moment you step into the rainforest. Outside, the temperature was 30.5 degrees Celsius and inside the rainforest was 23.6 degrees Celsius. As a nature lover, I found it interesting that some trees are clearly labelled with their common and scientific name, as well as a QR code which you can scan with your phone to find out more information. My favorite one is called ‘Cinta Mula’, which means love begins, because I couldn’t believe this was the name of a tree. (It really exists by the way. Google it.) We saw some beautiful iridescent blue peacock ferns, as well as wild brown mushrooms growing on a few tree stumps, and although we couldn’t see any birds during our hike, we could definitely hear them.
Be sure to add KL East Park to your list of places to visit as it’s open every day from 7 AM to 6:30 PM with the last hiking slot at 4:30 PM. Admission is free until the 31st of August, 2023 so come check it out as there will be an entrance fee after that (check their website for any updates).
Lastly, don't forget to watch our YouTube video:
KL East Park
Address:
Lot 201064, Jalan Melati Kuarza 3,
KL East, 53100, Kuala Lumpur
Location:
Google Maps or Waze
Email: info@kleastpark.com
Phone: +6019 300 3634 (Phone calls only)
Website: https://klepark.simedarbyproperty.com/
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