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Published: December 21st 2014
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We had a very comfortable bus for our seven hour trip up to Kuala Lumpur - immigration proceedings took an hour of that time. The scenery was ordinary so we were pleased when we reached the outskirts of the city. However the city traffic was horrendous and it wasn't improved by the heavy rain which had started to fall. Eventually the bus stopped at the edge of a very busy street and we all exited into the heavy rain. There was no cover and we had no idea how close we were to our hotel. Thankfully we were able to wave down a taxi before we were totally soaked and were soon checking into the hotel. We had chosen to spend this weekend in style at the 5* Traders Hotel which is situated at one side of the park which leads to the Petronas Towers. We had a lovely room and a fabulous view of the towers, though they were partially obscured with mist and rain.
The 88 stories of the Petronas Towers house retail and office space and are connected via a double story skybridge on the 41st level. Retail shops are mainly upmarket and include one of
the best book shops I've ever visited. During our weekend in the city we planned on relaxing and winding down before we returned to Australia. Also Jerry's birthday was the next day so a celebration dinner was a certainty. After being told that there was an underground walkway connecting the Convention Centre (which was attached to our hotel) and the towers we decided to stretch our legs checking out the shops and having a meal in the food hall of the shopping centre. It was still raining heavily outside.
Next morning after breakfast at a cafe in the park (the sun was shining brightly though the daily wet season downpour was expected again later that afternoon) we caught a taxi to the Chinatown and the nearby Central Market. We spent a short time at the Chinatown markets but high pressure and very persistent stall holders soon made browsing unpleasant. We lunched at the Central Market after checking out the souvenir shops there before making our way to the MRT station which looked positively old fashioned and grimy after the many Chinese ones we had travelled on in the previous weeks. A quick trip back to the towers and we
walked back through the park to spend an afternoon in the hotel, enjoying the luxury of our room.
Heavy rain again late afternoon - we spent the early evening in a bar at the lovely Mandarin Hotel, enjoying wine and nibbles and listening to their resident pianist. To celebrate Jerry's birthday we had decided to partake of the seafood buffet at Traders. It proved a good choice - a great buffet spread of everything, plus seafood.
Next day we once again took the MRT to the Central Market where we followed the signs and walked the overhead passages from the MRT station to the main station, down the platform and out onto a street where we eventually sighted the spires of the mosque near the Islamic Arts Museum. We had visited this museum previously and thoroughly enjoyed it. I love Islamic arts and wished to revisit. The museum didn't lose any of it's appeal with the return visit - stunning gilt embossed ancient Korans and Mughal jewellery and furniture make for fascinating viewing.
Afterwards we walked around the park nearby before more rain chased us back to our hotel. We spent the evening watching the non existent
sunset (it was still raining lightly) and the city lights from the top floor of the hotel at their Sky Bar. Next day we left the city for the two hour bus trip to Malacca where we were to spend another two nights before returning to Singapore. Both of us had thoroughly enjoyed our three nights of luxury and doing little. We were actually happy it had rained as it really encouraged us to slow down - not something we probably do enough of when we travel overseas.
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