Chow Kit, Suria KLCC, Petronas Towers, & the Eye

  Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Sunday, September 23, 2007

Off to Chow Kit - one of the many street market areas in KL.

Chow Kit - False Flowers for Sale

The monorail station was close to our hotel so we caught it to Chow Kit. What a fun and very quick experience. Before we knew it we were in Chow Kit and started shopping with a vengeance. Mom was looking a watch for "her man" and the sisters were looking at cellphones, ipods, and more technology items.

Typical Building Wear & Tear in Chow Kit

KL is really clean yet we expected to see rubbish in Chow Kit as it's a different part of town but to our surprise, even though it is very busy and full of people and bartering there is very little rubbish on the streets.

Fresh Produce Stalls

Then we hit the fresh food market! The smell hit me (Lara) like a wave. There were all types of weird foods I had never seen before - quite fun actually. Shame... live catfish were still flapping in the sales display cabinets, live slugs were still wiggling about. No I don't think I could eat that. 

Produce in Fresh Food Market

There was water on the floor full of fishy leftovers and I feared me Crocs would let the water through. We managed to walk about one block through the fresh meat section and then the smell was too much for all of us. We scurried over to the fresh vegetable and fruit section where the smell was easier to handle but it still stank. We had to get out - and as fast as possible! We continued on the shopping experience in Chow Kit and bought a few items before it started to rain. 

Lovely Signage - Not Sure what it means

Mono Rail Experience

Back on the monorail to Bukit Nanas close to the Suria KLCC shopping centre and the Petronas Towers. The Suria KLCC shopping centre is the mecca of designer label shops. What's interesting is that each floor stock a different type of item. For instance one level may be Electronics shops, another clothing, another kiddies wears and toys, another restaurants. It's not all jumbled up like the shopping centres in South Africa.

Suria KLCC

Mom's feet were sore so when Toni decide that she wanted to check out the clothing stores Mom relaxed on the ample seating that was around. After much waiting we met up with Toni and Mom linked up with her. I went on my own discovery journey in the shopping centre.

Petronas Towers

We decided to leave KLCC and wanted to take photo's of the front of the building. Mom and Toni were chatting as I looked up and gasped at the amaizing sight above me. The cameras came out and we started clicking away at the vast beauty of the Petronas Towers and exceptional lighting on the building.

Malaysia Eye

Now we wanted to go to the Eye On Malaysia (Ferris Wheel). Some Teksi's wanted to charge us RM35. We eventually got one for RM15 after much bartering.

I'm sacred of heights but I didn't care... I was going! We climbed on the Ferris Wheel and spent about 15 minutes there. It might sound like a little but it was just enough to see the city buildings lit up and enjoy the ride.

We waited a while for a taxi and then managed to find a taxi man that was very pleasant and informative and proud of his city who took us back to our hotel.

We hadn't eaten yet and Mom decided that she needed a rest and would stay in and order room service. Toni & I decided that we would go explore the local food in Julan Alor. A street renowned for late night local restaurants. Wow what a lovely surprise! We sat in the street and ate the most scrumptious Tom Yam soup. I did however get a bit skweemish as certain seafood smells reminded me of the smell in Chow Kit fresh food market.

We walked back to the hotel late. Mom was still watching a movie on telly and we eventually went to sleep between 2 and 3am.