KL Trip Day 1 con't and 2

DAY 1 con't

Then it was an hour drive by taxi to the hotel from the airport. When we reached the hotel and got everything that was required done to check into the room, it was already midnight.
It was a nice room with a fantastic view of the city, however the television in the room was small and we even had to pay for things like robes and slippers which other hotel would provide for free. The staffs on duty were not too sure what they were doing too. It seems like English is not something they are familiar with even though it is a hotel with occupants from many countries that uses English as a first language.

I was too tired to pursue the matter and all we wanted was to get to the room to rest.
DAY 2

We started our day at 0800 hours. The first thing I did was to admire the morning view. It was truly amazing view. The hills had mist overlaying them and you can start seeing the city coming to life again.






The first place we went to start our shopping adventure was at the famous KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre). It was where the highest building of Malaysia is located at. The PETRONAS Twin Towers. We were lucky enough to get 1015 hours tickets to tour the sky bridge and to learn a little history on the PETRONAS Company.
We stand 150m above sea level when we were at the Sky Bridge which was 40th story of the building. Our tour was limited to the bridge due to security concerns.





After the tour we toured around KLCC shopping centres. It was like Orchard Road in Singapore but the shopping centres here are bigger. It was the so called ‘Higher end’ kind of place which house stores like Prada and LV. The prices of the goods after conversion to Singapore dollars were almost the same. This however is not what we came for.








So we took the taxi to the famous Sungai Wang Plaza.
It really makes you appreciate the Taxi services we have in Singapore. The taxi drivers in Malaysia would not usually use the meter and would charge at a fixed price. Knowing that we are tourists, they would sometimes overcharge us. Taxi Touting in KL is a very common sight and it seems like the government do not really want to get involved to clean up their outrages acts.
Then again, I am here to enjoy and not to change the government.
The word ‘Wang’, in Sungai Wang Plaza, means money. Some fun fact.
It reminded me of Far East Plaza at Orchard Road in Singapore as the building does look somewhat alike. We spent almost 5 hours there shopping and we bought a lot of things ranging from bags to shoes. The best part of it, we each spend less than S$100. We have to be lucky to live in a country whose currency conversion is higher than some.
That was only part one of our shopping journey.
We made a little ‘Pit-Stop’ back to our hotel to put down our shopping achievements. Rested for a few hours then continue to the second part of the objective for the day.
This time, we decided to try using the monorail system. I heard it was like our Singapore MRT. The nearest station was only a 5 minutes’ walk from the hotel. That was so wrong.



The station looks run-down and it looks like the government rushed into making such a system for the people as they did not though through a lot of things. Firstly, the monorail is very very small. It like a small sardine can. It only had 2 carriage and 4 exits. The seats were place in an inconvenient position. The Malaysia government did not spend much money educating the people unlike Singapore, in allowing the passengers to alight first then board. As the people boarding would just rush into the monorail and thus trapping us inside. I had to pull my girlfriend and plow my way through them like bashing in the jungle. It seems like courtesy is not their best policy in Malaysia.
The ticket for the journey for the both of us combined was only RM1.60, which was much better than facing and getting conned by those taxi “scum’ drivers. That was the only drawback for the cheap journey.







We reached the other famous Times-Square which is one of the biggest shopping centres in Malaysia then even has an amusement park called Cosmo World inside.

When we laid eyes onto the roller coaster inside the amusement park, we knew we had to ride it. We were like adrenaline junkies who love heart-attack like fun.
Even though the amusement park was designed for kids, the roller coaster ride was no joking matter.
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The ride moves at a very fast speed, pushing a lot of G force onto your body and turns you upside down, 3 times, along the course of the journey.
The other ride we took was a fulcrum like rocker called Space Attack. It would rock you up and down and spin you around so many times that would make you ask yourself, “Why did I want to sit on such a ride”.
After the rides, we left the amusement park with our wobbly legs to have our dinner. We decided to dine at a fast food restaurant called Marybrown. It was place that served chicken ride but fast food style.

Well nothing is what it seems. Everything on the menu looks so nice and the portion was a lot. However, when they served us the food, not only the portion looks small but it looks nothing like the picture in the menu. It reminded me of the Long John Silver in Singapore. The power of advertisement, I must say.




After dinner, we shopped around a little more and had to call it a day as the shops were closing and we were to tired after all the ‘adventures’ we been though.
On the way back to the hotel, we saw a lot of rundown buildings and shabby, abandon shop houses and power cables left around like nobody’s business. It reminds you of the not so prosperous part of KL compared to the city at the city centre. It reminds you of how Singapore was like in the early 70s.


The pavements were filled with sand and man-holes not properly covered. The air is bad and there were not as many trees as compared to Singapore.

On the bright side, it is a good place to shop and to have a holiday. You see things you do not see very often like an amusement park inside a shopping centre. That is crazy.
This is the second day here and we have somewhat gotten used to the culture and people here. Like they say, “man greatest ability is to adapt”.
I am excited to find out the adventure that lies ahead of me for my next few days left in the country and in just 2 days here so many things have happened.
I will have to stop writing here as I have to rest for the long journey ahead and this is only an article on my fist 2 days here,
Until next time.