Kuala Lumpur I

Day 1:

We landed safely in Kuala Lumpur. Kuala Lumpur, aka KL means "muddy confluence" and is home to just under 2 million people. Greater KL counts over 7 million souls though. The temperature is very constant throughout the year with Dec being a chilly month with a daily mean of 27.6°C and May having a daily mean at 28.8°C. KL is a rather young city beginning its story in the mid 19th century and was built at the back of Chinese tin mines.

Upon reaching Malaysia, the first thing that struck us was the heat and humidity. We made our way rather swiftly through immigration, booked a taxi via "Grab" and for a RM120 fare and 1.5hrs ride we got to the Oasia Suites in downtown KL.

We were all exhausted and hungry - so we headed quickly to get some food. We did not walk too far and settled for a Chinese Restaurant close by - it was late (about 10pm local time) and the restaurant was empty. They took last orders and we returned home tired.

Day 2: Petronas Twin Towers and Food Street

Upon waking up we had a quick breakfast in our apartment and headed on foot to the Petronas Twin Towers (Wikipedia link). These towers stand tall at 452m and were a must see on our list. Disappointing I must say ... it was expensive and during the 45 minutes visit, the (otherwise very helpful) staff did not do much more than ushering us from one lift to another. I had expected a little more "flesh on the bone" with explanations of the whole constructions, architects, anecdotes, etc ... zip!

After this visit we walked towards our apartment and stopped for lunch at a local favourite, where many office workers were having lunch. Quick, no frills, good food. The tandoori naan was delicious.

After a nap, we made our way to the 24th floor and the rooftop swimming pool. It was warm and the pool was just what we needed to cool down and get ready for our evening adventures.

We bathed the girls and set out again towards Jalan Alor : the famous street food paradise!

First though we sorted out our SIM cards - we got a prepaid from Digi (RM53 for 6GB valid 30 days, plus 3GB valid every day from 1-7pm).

*Remember you will need to have your passport with you as they read the magnetic tape on it.

The other two major networks in Malaysia are Celcom and Maxis.

 

Finally we got to Jalan Alor and started taking in the atmosphere. This is the type of things I expect to experience in South East Asia : bustling streets, a myriad of food stalls and cheap delicious food.

We sat down  at "Restoran Sun Chui Yuen" and were met by Jenson ... who spoke a little French!

Our dinner place

Anyway we ordered in English (just to be sure) and had a superb variety of foods : BBQ Prawns, sizzling beef in black bean sauce, roasted duck, fried rice and mee hoon (mee foon for Mauritians :-)). The ice cold Tiger beer help wash down all these goodies and we were off.

After a 20 minutes walk back home, we were ready for bed!

Day 3: KL Tower

I don’t know if it was the heat, the fantastic curtains that keep all light out or the long nice walk from the night before but we slept like logs. The girls slept for 12 hours straight and were not even ready to rise when we woke them up at 9.30am.

Anyway we regrouped the troops and decided we would go to the closest attraction which was the KL tower. The highest telecommunications tower in SE Asia and the 7th in the world. It towers at 421m above street level and considering it is built on top of a small hill, its tip reaches higher than those of the Petronas twin towers.

KL TV Tower

Going there we took a little shortcut through the lobby and 7th floor of the next door hotel and stated the ascent to the tower. It was short but intense. We reached the top sweating and we re-hydrated.

We decided to first visit the EcoForest park, a small strip of tropical forest in the middle of the bustling city. It’s on the same location as the KL tower and entrance is free.

We walked over the swinging wooden bridges hanging over the forest canopy. Constantin conquered his fear of heights and did not let anything show as he bravely completed the circuit.

After this modest incursion in nature we did the tourist thing, we visited the upside down house. And paid RM67 for it. It was so bad...as a matter of fact Lea probably sensed the mediocrity and decided she would stay with Constantin outside. Well done Lea!

After that we doubled up on the tourist trail and showed up at the KL tower...we paid as much as for the Petronas towers and went up.

We were extremely lucky as there were no queues, which also finished convincing us to visit the attraction.

Tip1: Pay for the whole thing to the sky deck and sky box. Don’t go cheap and pay only for the observation deck, it’s half price but not worth it.

Tip2: pay RM5 extra per person on the KL tower ticket to have access to the upside down house, the mini zoo and a couple other things.

All the way up we got the best 360• view of KL and its high rises. From the sky boxes we stood 370m or so above ground with only a 4cm glass floor denying Mr. Isaac Newton another demonstration of his apple eureka moment.

View from the SkyBox

After the tower where we bought our professional pics shots, we went to the Japanese place place we had spotted the day before. We sat down, ordered, ate, paid and commented it was expensive for very ordinary “chain style” japanese food.

We walked back home and started packing.

In the afternoon we went up to the 24th floor again for the part of the day the kids (and us) had been waiting for: the swimming pool. We spent a good hour and a half there. We had loads of fun and Mara continued making good progress.

After that, showers and some more packing. Then I went down to Dominos Pizza to pick up our dinner. After dinner we finished packing and went to bed around 10-10.30. Wake up time 4am!

For more pics : Pics of KL