Coming off from an 18 day exploration of the state of Kerala in India, I decided to stay for a few days in Kuala Lumpur before heading back to Manila. My choice of accommodation requires a strategic location close to a food district, the Petronas Towers - which I wanted to see again after 7 years, fits my backpacker budget and a walking distance to train stations. I searched around hotel booking websites until I came across Metro Hotel Bukit Bintang at agoda.com

Metro Hotel is a simple and no frills accommodation that suits travelers who wanted to have a comfortable bed in a nice and clean room while being right at the center of one of Kuala Lumpur's highlight district, in this case - being within the immediate vicinity of the massive mall of Berjaya Times Square, the hawker food stalls at Jalan Alor and its adjacent rows of cool pubs and clubs.

I booked a deluxe room located at the 12th floor which gave me a wonderful view of the city, including the nearby monorail line which proved very helpful for me in exploring part of the city the next day. 

Even if I just left India, I felt I am still in Kerala when one of the staff I met at the elevator made small talk to me in broken English, he asked me where I came from. I told him "I'm from the Philippines" and that "I just flown over from Kerala, India" his eyes lit up and told me he was from Cochin in Kerala and smiled as he disappeared from the floor he stepped out into. 

Over-all, Metro Hotel is a great value for money, it isn't like the other pricier and fancier places located around it, but as long as it does the trick of providing travelers like me with a safe environment, comfortable lodging, an okay breakfast buffet and being at a strategic location - close to some of Kuala Lumpur's attraction and transportation hubs, then I consider it as a good Agoda find for me. 

My short return visit to Kuala Lumpur provided me an opportunity to revisit the twin towers of Petronas, visit the Batu Caves for the first time and feast on the many hawker food stalls at Jalan Alor along with meeting Kuala Lumpur-based Filipino travel bloggers, Joey, his wife Sky and Riz. 

I mostly travel spontaneously and part of it is to find places to sleep on-the-spot while on the ground carrying my heavy rucksack. This time though, I appreciated the importance of booking a place to stay days ahead of my trip. Doing so, I was able to choose the location where I wanted to stay - which made my brief stay in the city easy and convenient. Agoda.com is a great website to start your search, as you can read guest reviews and ratings, which will definitely help you choose the best accommodation that fits perfectly into your itinerary.

Day 10 of Kerala Blog Express 2: Our afternoon was well spent cruising on Periyar Lake and spotting sambar deers, black monkeys and an assortment of endemic birds including the Kingfisher at the surrounding forest—where if you get lucky, you also get to spot some leopards. Tough luck, we didn't saw any but the scenery was still something to marvel at.