Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur

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Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur:

Unfortunately (yet quite sensibly) we had decided to cut our trip short. The original plan was to fly into Bangkok, spend 2 days roaming around integrating with the locals and then catch a sleeper train to Kuala Lumpur.

Mother nature had other ideas, and decided to put a large part of Bangkok under water. We didn’t want to take the risk of getting out to Bangkok and then finding that where we were staying was in a state of crisis, so a few days before departing Heathrow, Natalie cancelled our reservation at the Bangkok hostel and got a flight out of Bangkok airport a few hours after we arrived.

So, on the 1^st November we flew out of Heathrow en route to Bangkok, via Mumbai as it worked out cheaper stopping off. And somehow, you can DEFINITELY see why. A solid piece of advice that I think anyone who can use should, is DO NOT stop in Mumbai airport if you can avoid it! It was as smooth and easy getting through security as it would be trying to get a whale up your arse. You would have honestly thought that we had both turned up trying to catch a connecting flight to Thailand wearing “I love Gary Glitter” t-shirts. Helpfulness and politeness is not something shared in common with the folk who work there, so useless were they in fact that we almost missed our next flight because firstly, they wouldn’t release my hand luggage (there was a cigarette lighter in there, and there are no signs displayed anywhere informing people what to do with liquids), and secondly they managed to forget to stamp Natalie’s hand luggage with a security pass, so after walking all the way to the gate, the guy there turned us away and sent us back to security.



After that fiasco, we were eventually happy to just get to Bangkok to chill out for a while, and fortunately the rest of our journey went fine. After arriving at Kuala Lumpur, we caught a cab to our hotel which cost about 70 Ringgit (14GBP), and for the distance (nearly an hour’s journey) that was cheap considering we went through 2 toll booths as well.



We stayed for 4 nights at a hotel right in the city call The Prescott Inn, which I would recommend to anyone. The room was large, clean and tidy, the bathroom was again clean and tidy, and room service came round every day. They have good wifi, but you do need to go to reception to get a code for it (which is free) and each code only lasts for 24hours browsing. NOTE - This is 24 hours browsing time, it doesn't expire 24 hours after first activation. A picture of the view from our room is on the blog.



The only thing to avoid here is the breakfast. Unless it is already included in your room rate, don’t pay extra for it. Stick to the omelette’s if you do have something, because the fried dishes come out as cold as an eskimo’s jockstrap.



We could go to Kuala Lumpur again, as it is just such a beautiful and diverse city. Even the cab journey from the airport was amazing us; just some of the buildings are incredible, nothing like what you see in the U.K. The people are friendly, the transport is easy and there is plenty to do. It actually worked out better for us missing Bangkok, as it gave us extra time here and in our next destination (Singapore), and it would have definitely been too much of a rush and too much travelling in the original plan. Plus it gives us an excuse to go back there for a holiday… 😊



After getting our bearings and picking up some tourist brochures, we decided to go to the KL Tower, which is the enormous spire in the picture of our room view. It has an observation deck and is surrounded by a small tropical rainforest. It was 45 Ringgit per adult to get up there, and if you can catch it on a clear day it is well worth it. Unfortunately our day was fairly damp to say the least, and the rain clouds were so low that it almost seemed that they engulfed the observation deck. NOTE – The price of a standard ticket not only allows access to the tower, but also 1 of 3 attractions which are listed at the ticket desk. One of these MUST be chosen when you buy your tickets, it can’t simply be redeemed willy nilly. We weren’t told this, and the staff were at first reluctant to allow us to then choose an extra, but with some fairly convincing British persuasion we got our ticket to the F1 simulator (Formula 1 fans don’t get too excited; it’s basically a relatively good arcade machine).



There’s fantastic views of the city from the observation deck, especially the Petronas Towers which are absolutely stunning. The pictures that we got from the observation deck are on the blog.



There is also a revolving restaurant there, which we did book to go to as we thought it would be great to get some night shots of the city. It’s a buffet meal, which is about 200 Ringgit per adult, but we thought for the view it would be well worth it. Unfortunately we missed our reservation, but the money wasn’t paid up front so we just decided to go back into the observation deck, and you can see the night pictures are just amazing.



After this we decided to stop off for some traditional, authentic Malay food, and found a street vendor not far from KL Tower called The Sizzling Steamboat! It was fantastic, and a bargain as well. You just pick out some uncooked kebab sticks and they fry or grill them off for you. It really shows what you can get for your money.



The next day we thought we would walk down to the Petronas Towers to see if we could get onto the Skybridge. We asked reception at the Prescott to make sure that it was open and was told it was, so made our way to see them. Disappointingly once we got there, it was closed, had and would be for some months, but it wasn't a wasted trip. Inside the centre of the towers is a pretty plush shopping centre, which has both designer and high street brands. NOTE - The centre does a "Tourist Privilege Card", but you will need to have your passport with you for I.D. Pop to the desk on the ground floor to get the card, and if you spend 500 Ringgit you can get a cutlery set, and for 1500 a duffel bag. You just need to produce receipts.

Later on that day we decided to turn into true tourists and go on a sightseeing tour. As with most Cities, there was a hop on hop off bus tour that went around the whole of Kuala Lumpur. The whole tour took about an hour to complete and all major tourist attractions were covered; the Petronas Towers were no exception. We joined the tour from a stop that was a five minute walk from the Towers. The tour cost 38 Ringgit each and the ticket was valid for 24 hours.

Overall, the tour was quite disappointing. Not because of the sights or Kuala Lumpur itself, but it was poorly run. At least our bus was. There were stickers on some of the windows which didn't allow some seats to take any photos, and if you think you could stand up to take them instead, think again! It was less like a Sightseeing bus and more a London double decker at rush hour. Too crowded and too hot, if you weren't lucky to get on it when there were free seats you probably weren't getting one.

One of our highlights of Kuala Lumpur was visiting Central Market and China Town including Petaling Street...which was abit like Staines Market on a Saturday Afternoon, your one stop shop for all things fake...!

Our last experience was KL Sentral Train station, and it definitely is an experience when you're there for 3 hours because the train is delayed. There was no communication from the staff either which was getting a little frustrating, adding to the impending 6 hour train journey. Fortunately for those of you that have trouble resting, they do have massage chairs available for 1 Ringgit each. Perfect.

Next stop, Singapore!!

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Photos

Shopping centre
This is the mall inside the middle of the Petronas Towers.

Kuala Lumpur at night
Taken from the KL Tower, it really looks amazing!