A Short Stopover in KL

Friday, February 18, 2011
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
From its origin in 1857, when a group of Chinese of tin prospectors set ashore at the confluence of the Klang and Gombak rivers and named the place Kuala Lumpur (muddy confluence), the Malaysian capital has grown into an affluent, modern Asian city. Known as KL, the city is dominated by massive skyscrapers rubbing shoulders with historic mosques, temples and churches, shopping malls, a myriad of restaurants, local traders' stalls, and hawkers serving food from across the continent. There are also numerous parks and monuments dotted around the city. The city is renowned for its cultural diversity, with a harmonious mix of ethnic Malaysians, Chinese, Indians (both Hindu and Muslim) and British colonials.

I caught my flight from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday 15 Feb; it took ~8 hours and got into KL at about 8.30pm. Since it was getting quite late by the time I had got through customs and got my bag (KLIA is probably the biggest airport I have ever been in, it took about half an hour to walk from the plane to immigration), I decided to get a taxi to my hostel. The taxi was RM74 (just get a taxi coupon and pay at the taxi counter in the terminal) and took an hour to get to my hostel, the traffic in the centre of KL was gridlocked, even at this time of night.

I was staying at the Green Hut Lodge, which got decent reviews in my Lonely Planet (and had free WiFi), and had booked a single room over the phone a week or so ago. However, the young guy at reception couldn't seem to find my booking so he put me in a rather ramshackle 10-bed dorm room for the night (RM22), which I could just about stomach since it was only for the night and I'd be going to sleep pretty much straight away.

The next day, I had a free breakfast (tea and toast with jam), and the woman on reception, who I think runs the hostel, found my booking and I got put into my single room (RM50 a night) - pretty basic but cheap, clean, with a/c, although shared facilities.

I got on the Hop-On, Hop-Off Tour Bus (there was a stop just down the road), an a/c tourist bus that does a circuit of the main tourist sights in KL over ~2 hours. It was RM38 for a 24 hour pass. I got off at the KL Bird Park. This had an incredible free-flight aviary, supposed to the biggest in the world. They'd just put a load of birds in a few acres and covered the lot with a huge mesh net. It's how all aviaries should be designed! There are over 200 species in the Park, thousands of birds, including magnificent hornbills, packed water features featuring storks, ibises, and egrets, and smaller (though still large) aviaries and cages. The ticket was RM45 but well worth the money, I spent quite a few hours there. The Bird Park is situated in the Lake Gardens, a massive expanse of sculpted parks and tropical jungle only metres from the busy Chinatown district. In addition to the Bird Park, there is the Butterfly Park, Deer Park and Orchid Garden.

After the Bird Park, I got back on the Hop-On, Hop-Off Bus and completed the circuit of KL. I had a steak meal with all the trimmings in the evening at The Ship on Jalan Bukit Bintang - it was ok but the steak was a bit fatty. With a couple of Tiger beers, and triple chocolate dessert, it totalled RM83.

On Thursday, I decided to go a for a walking tour and to do some shopping - the centre of KL is quite compact and many of the major sights can be visited on foot. It was hot and humid, the streets were clogged with traffic and you were assaulted with smells wherever you walked - some pleasant smells of the different cuisines from around the world but most were unpleasant of drains and poo. I first kitted myself up with a local Sim card, which at RM10 (including RM2 call credit) was dirt cheap (calls were 36c a minute, about 6p, so I also got another RM10 credit). I visited the following places:

Sri Maha Mariamman Temple:
This Hindu shrine is tucked away in the middle of crowded streets and has a magnificent tower covered in riotously colourful statues of Hindu deities.

Guandi Temple: The main hall of this Chinese temple is hung with fragrant coils of spiral incense, paper clothes and money that are burned to bring good fortune to the ancestors.

Chan She Shu Yuen Temple: The outside of this Chinese temple features intricate carved figurines, with dramatic woodcarvings inside the main shrine.

Petaling Street Market:
Hundreds of stalls selling fake brand-name clothes, perfumes, watches, luggage, fake everything, at vastly inflated prices to naive tourists. Apparently, there is a police station in the middle of the market which demonstrates the lax Malaysian attitude to counterfeit goods.

Central Market:
Housed in an Art Deco building, the market contains many stalls selling all manner of handicrafts, clothes and general tourist tat, with a cheap food court too. I bought 9 bracelets for RM30 and 3 necklaces for RM10 (dirt cheap) and had a lemon chicken and rice with extra vegetables for RM6.80.

Merdeka Square:
Independence (from the British) was declared here in 1957. The square is surrounded by heritage buildings and dominated by an enormous flagpole and fluttering Malaysian flag. In the British era, the square was used as a cricket pitch, and there is still the outline of a wicket there. The mock-Tudor Royal Selangar Club on the west side of the square is an exclusive social club for the KL elite. The domes and clocktower of the Sultan Abdul Samad Building dominate the east side of the square. St. Mary's Church is a white-washed English country church still used today.

The Petronas Towers:
This iconic building is the HQ of the national oil and gas company Petronas, with twin chrome towers joined by a skybridge. The towers were recognised as the tallest building in the world when they were opened in 1998, but not any more, with the Taipei 101 tower opened in 2003, and the Dubai Burj tower recently opened. You can walk on the Skybridge, but you have to queue for tickets really early in the morning and go back at your allotted time slot (plus you only get 10 minutes on the Skybridge!), and the Skybridge is only a third of the way up the towers anyway, so not worth bothering.

The best views of the city are supposed to be from the Menara KL Tower, but I couldn't be bothered to go up. The tower is surrounded by pristine jungle with a number of walking trails. There are guided tours throughout the day, I would have paid a visit to the top and walked one of the trails if I had more time.

Little India:
A bustling neighbourhood of Indian-owned shops and restaurants. Shops are piled high with Ganesh statues and incense, radios blast out crappy Bollywood soundtracks, and busy restaurants serve Indian fayre. Shops sell gold and jewellery, saris, flowers and food. I got a couple of polo-shirts for RM57 (~£11).

I had a 6" Subway in the evening, which was ~RM11 with a drink.

On Friday, I had a flight booked with AirAsia to Kuching, the capital of Sarawak. An eventful trip to the airport - the taxi broke down in the middle of the motorway so we had to wait for a gap in the traffic before we could push it to the hard shoulder, by which time two more airport taxis had kindly stopped to offer help - I ended up transferring my bags to one of them to continue my journey. I'd read some bad things about AirAsia reading some Borneo blogs - flights were nearly always delayed, and it would be a relief to leave on the same day you were scheduled for. However, their flights were very cheap, and more recent reports were that they were getting better. However, on arriving at my check-in desk, I was informed that my flight had been cancelled! Fortunately, they put me onto another flight, leaving an hour and a half later. This one wasn't too bad, it only left half an hour late and I was on my way to Borneo!

Expenses (excluding food and shopping): RM369 (~£74)
Taxi from KL Airport to Green Hut hotel: RM74
Green Hut, Kuala Lumpur: 1 night dorm RM22, 2 nights single room RM100
KL Hop-On, Hop-Off Tour Bus RM38 (24 hour pass)
KL Bird Park RM45
Taxi to airport RM70
Mobile Sim card and credit RM20

Links:
http://www.thegreenhut.com/
http://www.myhoponhopoff.com/
http://www.klbirdpark.com/index.cfm

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