April 9–11, 2024 / Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
On this day, I moved to a different hotel.
I went to lyf Chinatown Kuala Lumpur.
It was very close to the previous hotel, so I walked there.
When I got inside, the place felt clean and comfortable.
There was a cafe, a coworking space, and even a gym.
It seemed like a pretty good place for a workation.
After resting for a while, I headed to a library I had been curious about.
It was within walking distance from the hotel.
Working at Kuala Lumpur Memorial Library
The library seemed to have a dress code.
Shorts and sandals were not allowed.
I put my bag in a locker and went upstairs.
The space was wide and open,
with plenty of seats for working.
There didn’t seem to be many people that day.
It was quiet and easy to focus.
After working for a while,
an announcement started playing, and the lights began to turn off.
Ah, it must be closing early because of Ramadan.
A little disappointing, but nothing I could do.
After leaving the library, I tried going to Light Capture,
a cafe I had wanted to visit for a while.
It was closed again.
Maybe because of Ramadan.
I’ll try again next time.
Instead, I found LOKL Coffee Co.
I had a chocolate cake and a latte,
and worked there for a while.
The staff were warm and smiling.
It felt good to be there.
Meeting Someone at the Coworking Space
After returning to the hotel,
I went to the coworking space and started working.
There was a man working there too.
I talked to him,
and he kindly told me a lot about the hotel.
Apparently, there was a kitchen and a shared fridge.
Now that I think about it, my room didn’t have a fridge.
As we kept talking,
we ended up going to ORIENTAL KOPI in Pavilion together.
He was Malaysian and had a lot of experience abroad.
He told me about doing music,
and how he liked this hotel so much that he was basically living there.
I could understand that.
This hotel was pretty nice.
I’d like to stay here again next time.
Looking for a Coworking Space at KL Sentral
The next morning, I worked at sloaft cafe on the first floor,
with a bagel and a latte.
I wanted to try working somewhere different,
so I searched online for coworking spaces.
Many places seemed to be closed because of Ramadan,
but Spaces Platinum Sentral at KL Sentral looked open on Google Maps.
So I went to KL Sentral.
I arrived in front of Spaces Platinum Sentral.
・・・
It was closed.
Of course.
I had a feeling this would happen.
So I went to the Starbucks inside KL Sentral instead.
I ordered a latte and worked there for a while.
The name written on my cup was “Hite.”
Closer than the previous “Hita.”
After that, I walked toward Brickfields and found a small cat.
It wasn’t shy at all
and followed me for a bit.
Maybe there are a lot of cats around this area.
The Day I Left, and the Flight Back
I had booked the hotel until the 12th,
so I had some extra time.
I spent part of the day in the hotel coworking space,
talking a little with the person I had met before
and doing some work.
My flight back to Tokyo was at night.
I called a Grab,
but it kept getting canceled.
Even after waiting for more than an hour,
nothing really happened.
So I decided to walk quickly to Masjid Jamek Station.
Then I realized something.
Wait.
Do I even have enough cash?
I searched through my coins
and somehow managed to buy a ticket.
When I finally reached KL Sentral,
I felt relieved.
On the plane,
the seats on both sides of me and the row behind me
were filled with a group of young Indonesians.
The guy sitting on my right started talking to me.
“Are you Japanese?”
He seemed really interested in Japan
and looked genuinely excited to talk.
I was planning to sleep a little,
but somehow we kept talking all the way to Tokyo.
He liked Japanese cars
and said he wanted to study more.
For some reason, he wanted to take a photo with me,
so we took one together, and he looked really happy.
He seemed very pure.
I hope his dream comes true someday.
We exchanged contact information
and got off the plane.
Early in the morning, I arrived in Tokyo.
Kuala Lumpur felt warmer than I had expected.
Not the weather.
The people.
Update
After writing this article, MeowSnap was released on November 13, 2025.
It’s a small app that lets you quietly keep track of the cats you meet while traveling on a map.
