Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

  Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Got to Kuala Lumpur (or KL as everyone calls it) at around 4pm last Friday afternoon. We checked into the Lavender Lodge which is a lovely guesthouse in the Golden Triangle area of the city after talking to a chap from the guesthouse decided to go straight up the Menara KL (or Kuala Lumpur Communications Tower). What I didn't realise when I was coming to KL was that the Menara KL is only slightly shorter than the Petronas Towers (KL's main attraction and the worlds tallest building til 2004). So we went up to the top of the tower and the views were amazing. It was incredible to be looking down on 50 and 60 story skyscrapers, cars looked like ants and we could see for miles and miles in all directions. We stayed up there for over an hour and watched the sun set then walked over to the Petronas Towers. By the time we got there the Petronas Towers were lit up and looked spectacular. We walked round the shopping complex at the base of the towers and splashed out on a delicious dinner in a western style restaurant. Afterwards we sat outside the towers for a while taking pictures and watching the water fountains. 

3-Views from KL Tower

2-KL Tower

On the Saturday we spent the afternoon getting lost in some of the biggest shopping malls I've ever seen. Some had theme parks inside, others ice-skating rinks, all had multiplex cinemas and bowling alleys, it was crazy. Lydia bought a few bits and pieces and my reward for going with her was to be a night in the pub watching the premiership. The night in the pub turned out to be a bit of a disaster. The last Rugby Tri-Nations game of the season had just finished and there were really messy drunk Aussies and New Zealanders everywhere. Drinking in KL is not for the budget traveller either so after one half of one match we went back to the guesthouse and I watched the rest of the football there. Ah well.

1-Petronas Towers

Buildings of Merdaka Square

On Sunday we made our way to Merdaka Square, the centrepoint of the city. After that we spent a few hours browsing around the markets in Chinatown and Lydia decided she wanted a wi-fi enabled phone for her birthday. I told her that KL was probably the best place to get it out of anywhere that we'd be. We spent the evening in phone and technology shops and she decided to go for the Sony Ericson G-900i, a savage phone I must admit. I could only afford to pay half but she was more than happy to pay the rest. I haven't heard from her since she got it, she's constantly online, chatting, playing games, she won't put it down!!!