Malaysia- Kuala Lumpur

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May 20th 2010

Published: June 3rd 2010

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KieranandKate

Kuala Lumpur

Graffiti in the stairwell's of Ladywood isn't this good

K.L. is the capital and largest city of Malaysia with an estimated population of 1.6 million, greater K.L also known as the Klang Valley, has about 7.2 million. When Kate and I got off the coach in K.L. the entire 7 million population must of been on the streets. The roads were packed, the pavements had no space to walk on and we were still about a mile from our hostel. But being the intrepid travellers that we are we mounted our bags and pushed, scratched and kicked our way to our new home for the next five days called Wheelers. Sidenote- we had got very stressed trying to negotiate our way the five blocks to Wheelers but we did walk past a Nandos which made the both of us VERY happy!!

The entrance and stairwell to Wheelers can only be best described as something that looked like a drug den in The Wire. Even someone with a slight sense of sanitation and hygiene would not of even walked through the door nevermind try to negotiate the stairwell. Stairwell's in the deepest backend of Ladywood were more appealing than this. But in the spirit of travelling we held our nose's

Kuala Lumpur

This was their attempt at sprucing the entrance up

and went as quickly as possible to the the top floor. As we got nearer to the fourth floor we did notice that the proprietors of Wheelers had tried to spruce the stairwell up with paint, flowers and elements of decor which eased our trepidation. This was short-lived as we were faced with the biggest lady-boy receptionist this side of Phuket. Even though she was sat down I could tell she had played centre in the NBA and was taller than the Houston Rockets Yao Ming (7ft 6in). I didnt fancy shaking his-her hand so we took our keys and vowed to avoid that beast after dusk.

After relaxing for a few hours from our journey on the bone-rattler we went to the near-by Chinatown to look at the endless market stools and their counterfeit goods. We had been told by Mick and Karen's daughter Lyndsey that the bags they sell at this market were some of the best fake designer bags she had ever seen. Lyndsey told us that the last time she was in K.L. she bought a dozen bags and had a designer friend at home look at them and even she couldnt tell the difference.

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Doesnt look too bad does it??!!

This was enough testimony for Kate and she made it her mission to buy a new hand bag. To be fair to Kate she needed a new bag and had been looking for one all through Thailand and Vietnam. Once Lyndsey had told her about the markets in Chinatown she had waited very patiently for her chance to let loose on the market traders. The only downside is that there was so much choice is was going to be a long evening. After eventually leaving the market, it actually took the stalls to shut for the evening before Kate would leave, we decided the only thing for dinner would be Nando's!! We had spent the last week or so not really enjoying the food in Malaysia and here was Nando's to save us.

Our first day in K.L was going to be a relaxing one so we could get use to such a drastic change in environment. K.L was the most cosmpolitan city we had been to since Bangkok and there would be so much to see in our four days. Close to where we were staying was the Perdana Lake Gardens. It is a huge manicured garden near

Kuala Lumpur

We were that happy with Nando's we even took a picture of the sauces. They are the same as back home :-)

the Malaysian Parliament building which includes a Butterfly Park, Deer Park, Orchid Garden, Hibiscus Garden and Kuala Lumpur Bird Park, Southeast Asia's largest bird park. The amazing thing about the park was how suprisingly quiet it was. It was located right next to a number of passing motorways and encased by highrise buildings but it was very peaceful. Ive never been to Central Park in New York but I imagine its a similiar experience. We spent the afternoon sunbathing and even had a go on some waterbikes on the lake. Theses bikes were literally attached to floats and you to had to peddle to power it use the handle bars to steer it, fortunately we didnt fall off but i cant say i didnt try to ram my waterbike into Kate to see what would happen.

Although where we were staying in Chinatown wasn't the most salubrious area, once you get on the rapid transit system at KL Sentral station a fews stops later takes you to more prosperous parts of K.L. As the fastest growing metropolitan region in the country, in terms of population as well as economy, the centre of K.L is very industrialised and remains as

Kuala Lumpur

Manicured Garden's in the centre of K.L. I havent seen a park like this since Small Heath park

the economic and business center of the country. Within the centre of K.L they have attractions such as the Putra World Trade Centre, K.L Tower, the Petronas Twin Towers, extensive nightclub scene and 66 shopping centres/megamalls (inside of which one of them has its own theme park complete with rollercoatser). Rather than the old school type of approach to life that we had witnessed in Lankawi and Penang, K.L was definitely on a different stratosphere and has firmly embraced the ideals of materialism and consumerism. That evening Kate and I went to one of the main shopping malls the Suria KLCC complex, underneath the Petronas Twin Towers, to visit the cinema.

The next day was quite relaxing and in the evening we had arranged to meet Rachel and her friend Ellie. Rachel, if you can remember from earlier blogs, was a girl we had briefly met in Chang Mai, was suppose to meet again in Ko Phi Phi and KPN but didnt and then bumped into again in Siam Reap. We had exhanged emails and Kate had kept in touch but the girls had taken a different route to us and travelled the east coast of Malaysia so K.L

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High-rise buildings on the edge of the park

was the first time we were in the same place. So we met in the only place that would suit everyone.... Nando's. We were introduced to Ellie and had a pleasant evening catching up on our adventures since the early days of North Thailand.

The next evening was a Friday so we met Ellie & Rach for a drink in the rasta bar opposite Wheeler's. The girls had a friend that lived in K.L who was going to show us the bright lights. We met their friend, Paul, and a few of his friends in a downtown bar. The bar had a special happy hour offer which was you pay 25 ringit (5 GBP) for your first drink but then the following drinks were only 5 ringit (1GBP) each. We only had two hours to make the most of this and make the most of it we did. We left that bar slightly intoxiated and proceeded to a few more bars before going back to Paul's friends flat for a party. After a few more drinks and few games of pool in the guy's living room the rest of the evening becomes more and more hazy. Kate informed me

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We were contemplating going on this lake

the next day that we had gone to another bar afterwards but I was that drunk I had to be put on water and eventually Kate gave up and took me home. TUT TUT!!!! Ive come to slowly realise, after 28 years on this Earth, that I cannot handle large quantities of alcohol in short periods of time. Happy Hours are for the young!!!!!

We had a very hungover day after the previous night's escapades but managed to drag ourselves out of bed for a visit to Suria KLCC again to watch Avatar. The film was amazing and we thoroughly enjoyed this 3-D attack on the senses. The other place we wanted to visit before we left was the Petronas Twin Towers. Unfortunately it meant getting up early to queue up at the KLCC for tickets. The deal is that they only have a certain amount of tickets per day for tourists so its first come first served. So we joined the queue at about 8.30am and finally got tickets at about 11am. On receiving your ticket your request an available slot and then come back for that time. As most of the early slots had gone we had

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and these waterbikes were what we had to use

to book in for 2pm which meant an afternoon looking round the shops and surfing the web whilst sat in Starbucks (we had to kill an hour somehow).

After a brief video (in 3-D) about the construction of the towers and the information about the Petronas company you take a lift to the skybridge for near-panoramic views of K.L. The Petronas Twin Towers were the world's tallest buildings from 1998 to 2004 but their height was surpassed by Taipei 101 in Taiwan although the towers remain the tallest twin buildings in the world; the sky bridge between the two towers on 41st and 42nd floors is the highest 2-story bridge in the world. The Petronas Towers have been used in a number of films but more famously was the location of Sean Connery's 1999 film Entrapment. We spent an hour or so in the Twin Towers and then caught a lift downstairs to look around the KLCC shopping mall.

That evening was to be our last in K.L so we urgently had to tie-up a few loose ends. Namely eating in Nando's again and buying Kate and my sister a handbag for her birthday. Kate finally decided on

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a look of trepidation

a lovely black Chanel option and we bought Kirby a nice Gucci number. Once we had got our tickets booked to travel to Singapore with the girls we returned to Wheelers for our last night in what hasnt been the nicest place we've stayted in but it definitely has the most 'character'.

Overall we've spent five nights in K.L and I have to say that it wasnt as bad as I expected. After coming from Penang and Lankawi we really didnt have high expectations for the rest of Malaysia; after hearing reports from Barry and Elaine who had been here a few weeks earlier we thought we wasnt going to enjoy it. Yet once we had spent time looking round the area of the metropolitan city we were very impressed. It has all the contemporary attributes of any major city in the world with the architecture, transport and culture to match. We had enjoyed the suprise of seeing this innovative and modern side to Malaysia and it definitely seemed worth of being such an iconic capital city. The one downside to K.L. was the bus station, that is currently under construction, which we have to negotiate tomorrow morning.