Advertisement
Published: July 18th 2007
We had a mammoth journey to get to Kuala Lumpur (KL) our next destination. We left Ko Samui at 4.45pm on Saturday taking first a taxi, then a boat, followed by a bus and train journey that took us to Butterworth. During the journey we had to disembark with all our luggage to go through Thai emigration and walk 20feet to Malaysian immigration and then back on the train!
We had an 8 hour wait for the next train so decided to take the ferry to Georgetown on the island of Penang, described as a "fascinating city with a cultural history." The reality though was very different. The town was dilapidated and run down, a real ghost town. We traipsed around for ages in the boiling heat trying to find something interesting and some lunch with no success. We headed back to the train station early, preferring to just sit and wait.
The final train journey took us to KL arriving at 8am Monday, the total journey time being 39 hours and 15 mins! After this exhausting journey we had a very chilled out first day and recharged our batteries.
KL is a mix of modern and
Old and New.
View from Merdeka square.traditional buildings mixed with local markets, culture and religion. We explored the markets of Little India and China Town sampling the street vender's snacks and walked to the Merdeka Square which is flanked by a mixture of Tudor and Muslim architecture. This square was where Malaysians celebrated there independence 50 years ago hence it's name, Merdeka meaning freedom.
We also visited the nearby Masjid Jamek, the most attractive Mosque in KL and nearly 100 years old. We didn't stay long as we both had to wear full length robes covering our bodies and as I was a women I also had to cover my head by wearing a headscarf. It was seriously hot!
There are two ways of getting stunning views in KL, the Menara KL and the Petronas Towers. We started with the Menara KL which is 1389 feet high, a high speed lift takes you to the observation deck at 911 feet where you get 360 degree views of the city. Above that is a revolving restaurant. The Menara is surrounded by a small protected jungle which we walked around and spotted a little monkey.
The next day we visited the world famous Petronas Towers,
the worlds highest building between 1996 and 2003. They stand at 1491 feet and are made of stainless steel and glass. The public are only permitted half way up to the sky bridge which links both towers. From this vantage point you get a great close up look at the towers and a good view of the city. To get up to this skybridge Jason had to rise very early as I sent him to get us tickets!! They only allow 1600 people a day to go up and the tickets are usually gone by 10.00am. Jason got there at 8.00am and had 300 people in the queue ahead of him! At the base of the towers is a large plush shopping centre, KLCC with obviously loads of shops but also lots of good restaurants.
Opposite the towers is the Aquaria, an aquarium with over 5000 freshwater and marine animal exhibits. Many of which can be viewed through a 297 feet underwater tunnel, including some large sharks and rays. We also had the opportunity to hand feed the turtles and small sharks in a special feeding tank, hold starfish and tickle baby sharks!
The only thing that we
have missed out on in KL was a trip to the Batu Caves which we had planned to do on our last day but Jason had a stinking cold so we will do it on our return to the main land.
After our monkey sighting and trip to the aquarium we have decided to head for the state of Sabah, on the island of Borneo, to experience and see these creatures in there natural habitat.
Since there are no boats to Sabah (mainly due to piracy!) we flew with the Asian version of Easy Jet - Air Asia, which was surprisingly good. We landed in the capital of Sabah, Kota Kinabalu ready to begin our wildlife adventures.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.052s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0298s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Clive & sarah
non-member comment
robes
loved the robes!! very fetching. China town India town the monkeys and the list goes on again looks like your having a great time. love mum and dad xx