Day 24 – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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When we made all our original booking for the holiday, we booked for afternoon tea at Atmosphere 360 which is the revolving restaurant at the top of the Menara KL tower. It was booked for 3.20pm tomorrow, but as we leave early on Tuesday, we had a quick re-think and have changed the booking to High Tea instead today. We were going to be truly amazed on all counts with this.

The Menara KL Tower was opened in 1996 and is 421 metres tall. It is the 7^th tallest freestanding tower in the world. The observation deck is 276 meters above ground level.

We grabbed a rare lay in and then left the hotel about 12.30 for the mile and half walk to the KL tower. The walk was a real test in the intense humidity. This on hindsight was a bad decision as it was really hot outside and as the dress code for this restaurant is collar and long trousers for men. George was really hot when he got there. The walking challenge was picked up and achieved.

Luckily there is a free shuttle from the base of the hill to the entrance of the tower. Whilst we were waiting for this, we spotted a drinks machine and decided that we really needed something to drink. Only problem was, the smallest note we had was a 50 ringgits and the machine would not take it. There was a local Malaysian girl at the bus stop, and when she realised what our problem was she gave us the 2 ringgits needed for the machine so we could get a much needed drink.

Once we were off the shuttle bus, we went to register for our meal reservation, but were informed that we could not go up until 3.15pm. But they were able to change our 50 ringgit note for us. By now the girl from the bus was nowhere to be seen. We needed to repay her cash.

There are a team of people base jumping from the very top of the tower this weekend, and luckily for us, they started to do it whilst we were waiting to go up the tower. It was great watching the people launch themselves from the top of the tower. When they were about half way down their parachutes would open and they were landing in the vegetation nearby. There was a team from the local fire brigade on standby at the tower.

Whilst we were watching one guy in bright yellow attire jumped. This looked very wrong right from the start. His arms and legs were all over the place. He was about three quarters of the way down before his parachute opened, and he landed on his feet in the car park in front of us. He looked very shaken, but at least he was alive. We really seriously thought he may not make it when he was on the way down. We were quite relived he made it down. The normal landing area for the base jumpers was a nearby green area. We subsequently checked the Internet and found out there were two hundred base jumpers participating that afternoon.

We watched these for a while then went back inside to get the lift to the top so we had time to look around the observation deck before our high tea. Luckily, when we got inside, the girl from the bus was there so we were able to give her back the money. She really did not want to take it but we managed to convince her otherwise. A quick walk around the observation deck for some photos then we made our way to the Atmosphere 360 restaurant.

Atmosphere 360 is a revolving restaurant 282 meters above ground level. The high tea is advertised as Asian cuisine with continental influences. All the tables and chairs are laid out in an area of floor that revolves. The desired dress code provided easy admittance.

Luckily, we got allocated a seat near to the window. Theresa put her bag on the ledge next to her. About 10 minutes later, one of the servers came up with her bag as our bit of floor was moving, but where the bag was did not move. Very disorientating until you fully understand what is moving and in which direction. Fun though.

Our high tea lasted for just under two hours and saw several revolutions of the tower and the city. Whilst dining, from the floor above, we saw at regular intervals various base jumpers launching themselves off the top of the tower and passing very close to our window outlooks. It was a really odd but equally an exciting experience.

The food was buffet style and of a very good quality. We both tried some different dishes again that we would not normally eat. Price came out at about £20 for the two of us which we thought was outstanding exceptional excellent value.

We stopped off at the club lounge on the way back to our room at the hotel and had a long chat with the manager. We have been really happy with the hotel, for the price we paid. But it is obvious that there are some issues. He has been moved to here from another hotel to try to resolve these issues.

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