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Published: February 22nd 2010
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An earlyish start today as we were advised to get to the Petronas Towers early if we wanted tickets for the viewing platform. Just as well we did - we got there at 8.45am and only one more couple were allowed to join the queue after us. 75 minutes later and our two tickets were issued for the 5:15pm visit.
That left just enough time to dash back to the hotel for breakfast. Boy were we glad we did, you should have seen the spread, Valerie’s face lit up the instant she saw the dim sum and, after taking a plateful, rather regretted having already put an order in for omelette. There were curries, sausages, stir-fries, noodles, sushi, Japanese miso soup, cold meats, cereals, cakes, fruits, etc. etc. However, the most bizarre were two chocolate fountains, one with chocolate, the other a chocolate orange fondant! Unsurprisingly, neither of us fancied the idea (but we’re working on it!!)
Offering people choices seems to be real feature of the Traders hotel. Another unusual one amongst the hotel services is the choice of four different types of pillow - contour, bolster, buckwheat, or foam. Clearly, some people have far too few things
to worry about as the beds certainly rank amongst the most comfortable we’ve experienced all trip!
After breakfast we made our way back to the Central Market. Although quite good for shopping - lots of fabric (which suited one of us) - there was very little evidence of Art Deco style inside save the odd floor tile! Valerie did manage to find some shoes though (Croc flip flops for £3 actually!) There were a couple of antique shops, and we had a wonderful time looking at some of the bar ephemera that the storeowner had collected - including some original Guiness glasses from the 1930s.
Just as we were about to leave a Chinese Dragon entered the complex and started dancing down the aisles. Luckily, it made its way back to the car-park in front of the market and performed a routine there - most enjoyable.
Having pretty much exhausted the market by this point, we strolled through the streets to the old colonial heart of the city. This took us past a number of very attractive, if somewhat run down, old buildings. It will be a shame if these get torn down in place of yet
more high-rise developments as they add a real character to the place.
After narrowly avoiding the National History Museum, we came across the old cricket ground with a spectacular pavilion and a single covered strip in the centre. Boy, with heritage like this, it’s a real shame this part of Asia didn’t latch onto the cricket in the same way the Indian sub-continent did. I really fancied pulling on the whites and taking to the field. As the next place we we’re heading was a district called “Little India,” I could probably have rustled up 22 from somewhere given time!
However, as you may have guessed, our mission there was to hunt through the hundreds of fabric shops for the perfect batik cotton and to secure it at a rock bottom price. I finally persuaded Valerie that she was close enough to their lowest price at the end of the fourth set of harrowing negotiations but any hope this might bring a rapid end to our shopping were quickly dashed - we moved on to buying checked fabric! By this time we really needed to get the underground back to “The Golden Triangle” district for our twin towers
visit.
After a short video presentation about Petronas (Malaysia’s National Oil Company) and the towers themselves, our bags were subjected to airport style screening and around 40 of us crammed into a lift to the 41st Floor to walk across the bridge that joins the two towers. As we were escorted onto the bridge the views all around literally took your breath away. Looking down on so many huge buildings it was almost unreal - especially when you looked up at the towers and realised you were barely half way up! Our 15 minutes to admire the views and take photographs raced by - words can’t do it justice so I hope the photos help! Suffice to say, if you’re ever
here, make the effort to get a ticket - we’ve done some amazing things on the trip so far and this ranks right up with the best.
As if that weren’t enough excitement, we went back to the Sky Bar on the 32nd floor of the hotel for a quick swim and long relax in a hot jacuzzi admiring the very towers we’d visited less than an hour before - life just doesn’t get much better. Some good Malaysian cuisine at the Bijan restaurant, including a magnificent Lamb Rendang curry, ended the day with dreams of the Cameron Highlands awaiting us tomorrow.
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