KLIA was built in the middle of a palm oil plantation on land so swampy engineers drove piles fifty metres into the ground. Kisho Kurokawa designed an airport in a forest: columns shaped like palm trees, boarding areas looking onto preserved jungle, a walkway between terminals passing through actual rainforest.
KLIA2 next door handles AirAsia with cheerful chaos. Newer, more commercial, better food. If transiting Southeast Asia on a budget, KLIA2 is your airport. If you want a building that respects the land it sits on, KLIA is your terminal.
Other airports clear the jungle.
Kuala Lumpur built through it.
KLIA main terminal roof is supported by columns that branch like tropical trees. The satellite terminal, connected by an automated train, has boarding gates that look directly onto jungle canopy. The covered walkway between buildings passes through preserved rainforest — you can hear birds.
KLIA2, the low-cost carrier terminal, is a modern shopping mall with gates attached. The food court on the mezzanine level is enormous and cheap. The gateway stores sell Malaysian batik, pewter, and durian products.
Nasi lemak — coconut rice with sambal, anchovies, peanuts, cucumber, and a boiled egg — is the Malaysian national breakfast and costs two dollars at the airport. It is served wrapped in banana leaf at the food courts. Eat it.
Roti canai (flatbread with curry) is available twenty-four hours. Laksa — spicy coconut noodle soup — ranges from three to five dollars. Teh tarik — pulled tea — costs one dollar and is served in a performance: the vendor pours hot tea between two cups at arm length, aerating and cooling it.
First: the jungle boardwalk between KLIA and the satellite terminal. A glass-enclosed walkway through actual rainforest. Most passengers take the train and miss it.
Second: KLIA2 food is cheaper than KLIA1 food. If you can get between them (free shuttle bus), eat at KLIA2.
Third: the Sama-Sama Hotel is connected to KLIA by covered walkway. Day rooms from forty dollars.
Fourth: the KLIA Ekspres train reaches KL Sentral in twenty-eight minutes for fifteen dollars.
The Plaza Premium Lounges in both terminals offer hot food, showers, and day beds. The Sama-Sama Express hotel inside KLIA rents rooms by the hour. The KLIA2 sleeping pods are cheaper — twelve dollars for three hours.
You have two hours. Or four. Or eight. Or thirteen. Here is what to do.
Stay airside. Nasi lemak. Teh tarik. Walk the jungle boardwalk. Browse Malaysian handicrafts. Return fed for four dollars.
Still airside. Shuttle to KLIA2 for cheaper food. Laksa. Roti canai. Explore both terminals.
KLIA Ekspres to KL Sentral — twenty-eight minutes. Grab to Petronas Towers. Walk KLCC park. Lunch at Jalan Alor hawker street. Train back.
Ekspres to KL Sentral. Batu Caves — thirty minutes by KTM train. Back to the city. Chinatown. Central Market. Dinner at Jalan Alor. Ekspres back.
The KLIA Ekspres runs every fifteen minutes to KL Sentral in twenty-eight minutes for fifteen dollars. Taxis cost twenty-five dollars. Grab (ride-hailing) costs fifteen to twenty dollars. The Ekspres is the fastest option.
Find the jungle boardwalk between KLIA main and the satellite terminal. Switch to 0.5x wide angle. Frame the rainforest canopy through the glass walls with the modern terminal structure above.
An airport that built through the jungle instead of over it. That is the photograph.
