Kuala Lumpur This Time Around

Malaysia is  a mix of the modern world and a developing nation. It is bordered by Thailand on the west, it is connected by a causeway and a bridge to Singapore, and has coastlines on the South China Sea and the Straits of Malacca. Malaysia, therefore, for most visitors, presents a happy mix: there is high-tech infrastructure and things generally work well, but prices remain more reasonable than Singapore. And for Filipinos, no visa is required when we visit.

Malaysia is a cultural society. It is a mix of Malay, Chinese, Indians and some other ethnic groups. Of course there are also expats who live and work in the city, and thus makes it an international mixture of cultures.

Join me again on yet another travel as I share the places we went to in 2014. I went with my older sister and my younger sister, and we stayed at the InterContinental Kuala Lumpur. This hotel is right in the center of KL and is accessible by train.

Bus ride to the city

We arrived in KL late afternoon, and we took a bus from the airport to KL Sentral. KL Sentral is the main bus station in the city and from here departs buses that go to the outlying areas like Melacca and others. From KL Sentral, we took a train ride to the hotel, and the nearest train station is Ampang Park station. 

hotel entrance

The hotel is a 10-minute walk from the iconic Petronas Towers, KLCC and others, and I will be sharing those shortly.

This is the hotel lobby. The staff were very nice, and they provided very good service. I made the reservation using a special rate and on two of the nights, that special rate was not available. I called the hotel if they would honor the rate I booked for the rest of the stay as I was celebrating my birthday albeit a couple of weeks later, and I was told that I just had to send an email to the General Manager to put in a request, which I did, and the very next day, I received an email back saying that they will indeed honor that special rate for me which was very, very nice of them.

pool area of hotel

This is the pool area of the hotel, and of course in this picture we just went to take some pictures before going out for the day. We were visited by our niece who works for a company in KL.

This is the foyer. And the stairs lead to the various function rooms. All in all this hotel is superb with excellent service and facilities. I highly recommend this hotel of course. :-) This trip was already my second time, my younger sister used to work there, but it was the first time for my older sister and we wanted her to see the beauty of Malaysia as well, so we took her there.

On our first day we took the Hop On Hop Off bus, which takes you around the famous tourist spots in the city. The ticket is good for 24 hours and you get off at the designated stop of your choice, and when you're done, you get on again and repeat the process. Same thing we did when we were in Seoul. The bus costs RM40 and it covers 23 stops, which covers more than 40 tourist destinations. To maximize it, ride it as early as you can and get off as late as you can, that way you get your money's worth. Lucky for us the bus stop was almost in front of our hotel and we went on the upper deck to have an unobstructed view for picture taking.

This picture shows Istana Negara, the official residence of the monarch of Malaysia. Since the palace itself is not open to the public, people can only take pictures at the gate and try to take pictures of the inside through the gates. There is a mounted royal guard at the gate and it was so hot by the time we got there, we just took a picture of the gate and ran back to the bus before it left to go somewhere else as it would have been a waste of time staying there doing nothing for the next 20 minutes. It was just worth taking a picture, ha ha.

This is the KL Menara Tower. Along with the Petronas Towers, the Menara Tower is also one of Malaysia's famous landmarks. The tower stands at 421 meters and effortlessly trumps the Petronas Towers with the highest and most spectacular view of the city. The viewing deck of Menara KL is at least 100 meters higher than the skybridge of Petronas Towers.

Another stop of the Hop On Hop Off bus is the Central Market in Pasar Seni. It is not a wet market, but a building full of shops wherein you can buy different kinds of souvenirs- key chains, cups, bags, clothes, you name it, they have it.

The whole building is air conditioned, so it  is nice to shop here. You can always try to haggle, and if you're lucky, they might just give you the price you're asking for. It's better to buy in bulk, that way you get a discount.

In this picture you see the variety of merchandise you can purchase- from every day trinkets to something more traditional. You can just take your pick.

There were so many shops, and we took our time shopping for souvenirs to give to friends and family back home so that we wouldn't have to go back just to shop again.

This is part of Merdeka Square, the historical place where the Union flag was lowered and the Malaysian flag was hoisted for the very first time in August 31,1957. Merdeka means independence, hence the name Merdeka Square. The flagpole  that holds the Malaysian flag is the highest in the world hovering at 100 meters. The fountain in the picture is named Cop's Fountain, as a memorial to Steve Harper, a popular police inspector.

Just across Merdeka Square is the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, where the offices of the Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture of Malaysia. The building was named after Sultan Abdul Samad, the reigning Sultan when the construction works for the building began,

This is the same building, but this shot was taken at dusk. It started to rain just as we were passing by, and this picture was taken while the bus was moving. :-) In fact, you can see the reflection of the glass window of the bus.

Some tall palm trees are planted on the square as well, and I took this one near the flag pole that holds the Malaysian flag.

We passed through Chinatown as well, and we just took a picture of the lanterns hanging on the streets because they looked so colorful and pretty. Perhaps there was a festival going on at the time, like the Chinese New Year.

Another picture taken from the running bus is the old Kuala Lumpur Railway Station. It used to be the KL Railway station until 2001 until Kuala Lumpur Sentral took over much of its role. From the outside appearance, it doesn't look like a railway station at all, don't you think?

This fountain is also found on the Merdeka Square area. Behind the area is another one, which is circular in shape and has pillars surrounding it.

This picture was just taken from a different angle. This is still the area near Merdeka Square. This is the building right next to the Sultan Abdul Samad Building.

This is the famous Petronas Towers. The  twin towers was inspired by then Prime Minister of Malaysia Tun Mahathir Muhamad's vision for Malaysia to be a global player. The Skybridge that connects the towers is the  world's highest.

The towers resemble the letter 'M' for Malaysia. The jagged outline subtly resembles one of Malaysia's famous traditional handicrafts, basket weaving, thus highlighting her cultural values. Pretty neat huh? Imagine coming up with an idea to incorporate it into the design.

Below the twin towers is the Suria KLCC, or the Kuala Lumpur City Center, a premier shopping destination in Malaysia. Outside the KLCC is a fountain, and at night, lights come on to give the fountain  beautiful colors. The colors change on intervals and a lot of people gather to watch the light show every evening. It is a nice place to just relax, have a date, eat ice cream while watching, and so many more.

Here is another collated picture of the fountain show without us as extras. It was indeed a nice way to cap the day, as we traveled all around the city.

This is the Suria KLCC during daytime. There is the fountain up front, but the fountain with the light show at night is on the other side.

Thus ended our first day, and it was concluded by a hearty dinner of laksa, one of the local dishes that I love eating. Me and my older sister are fans of this dish, ha ha. We went back to our hotel tired and ready for bed.

Join me in the next article as I share pictures of the other places we visited. 

You can also read more travel articles here.