Joining Tom for SIGNS
Wednesday 24th June - Departure at 1,40am to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where we arrived about 10h30 later at 17,15h local time.
At the airport we arranged transport to our aparthotel at "The Robertson" in the Bukit Bintang area, known for its food markets.
Upon check-in we went up to our apartment on the 11th floor. It was simple but clean, great views...but the internet wasn't functioning and we really needed to find our whereabouts. We called reception who said they would call a maintenance person to come up and check. He came shortly after and said it could only re fixed the next morning around midday!
We went down to Reception and asked for the office password so we could check directions and print screen a map of the area and check family messages.
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| The pool at The Robertson, seen from the bedroom, where you can see a sliver of the Merdeka Tower |
That evening we walked to the Jalan Alor Food Street, just 10 minutes walk from the hotel. It's a street full of open-air restaurants and food carts, very noisy and touristy, with a great atmosphere, huge choice of food and an experience for anyone visiting Kuala Lumpur. So walked up and down unsure of what to order and where, but finally decided on a specific food - prawns and chicken and sat down to order.
On the way back from the market I snapped this photo of the Merdeka 118 building (recently renamed Merdeka Maybank Tower) which was aligned behind the Catholic Church right across our building.
The 118 story tower is the second tallest building in the world at 678.9 metres (2,227 feet). The building is still not fully opened to the public, although it was inaugurated in January 2024, and the Park Hyatt KL Hotel began operating on levels 75 to 112.
Thursday 25th - Before leaving the apartment we took the lift to the 42nd floor to see the view from the top floor. There was another very small pool there too.
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| Views from the 42nd floor |
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| At the top of The Robertson with the Merdeka Tower in the background After a couple of photos, we walked to the nearby Grand Mercure Hotel, as Jose was in the mood for a buffet breakfast, which we paid for. |
After breakfast we bought a 24 hour ticket for the Hop-on/Hop-off bus that had a stop right outside the hotel. The bus had 2 routes - the Garden Tour and the City Tour and you could swap buses at a central interchange. 
We got out in Chinatown to visit the Petaling Street market, a vibrant indoor shopping area where you can buy clothing, jewellery, watches, suitcases, food...
The surrounding area was very colourful...
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| Merdeka tower could be seen from anywhere! |
Still in Chinatown, near the market we stopped to see the oldest and richest Hindu Temple in KL, the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple. Founded in 1873 and initially as a private shrine, it was opened to the public in the late 1920's. The stunning 5 tiered pyramid tower (22,9mt/75ft) is the tallest structure and is decorated by depictions of Hindu gods sculpted by artisans from Southern India.
Across the street was the Guan Di Temple, the oldest Taoist temple in the city, which was founded in 1888. It houses the 59 kg copper replica of the Guan Dao (Chinese pole-axe weapon), which many Chinese touch believing its spiritual energy can bring them good luck.
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| At the entrance to the temple - a lion, warrior, dragons... |
At the KL Tower the bus had a 15 or 20 min stop. The 421mt tall has been an architectural symbol of Malaysia since 1996. We had a little wander, took photos and got back in the waiting bus.
Another stop at the National Palace (Istana Negara), the official residence of the current King of Malaysia, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar. The constitutional monarch elected by the Conference of Rulers, from the 9 Malaysian states, reigns during a 5 year non-renewable term.
The palace (which could not be seen from the gates), was completed in 2011, has 22 domes and is built in a mix of Malay, Islamic and Western architectural elements in a complex covering around 97 hectares.
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| Me in front of the King's guard |
The bus stopped at the Petronas Twin Towers. With 88 floors and 451,9mt high, they were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004, and remain the tallest twin towers in the world.
There is a skybridge connecting the towers at levels 41 and 42 with an observation deck on level 86. There is a shopping centre at the base of the buildings - Suria KLCC, as well as a park and a water fountain with daily light and sound shows.
We decided not to stop anywhere else as the sky was looking far too grey...so I just took photos of interesting places.
The former KL Railway station completed around 1910-1917, was the main railway hub until the new KL Sentral took over in 2001.
Below, this stunning building is opposite Independence Square (Dataran Merdeka), is the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, one of Malaysia's historical landmarks, once a British administrative office, then High Court of Malaya, then National Post Office, then the Supreme Court, before being a heritage site in 2007.
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| Brickfields or Little India |
For a big, super populated and fast paced city I found it had a lot of small gardens and not so small green spaces, like the Perdana Botanical gardens, a Bird park... Even some of the street lights were shaped like flowers :)
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Bird Park |
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| Perdana Botanical Gardens |
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| Street lights in the shape of hibiscus |
In the late afternoon, as we were nearing the bus interchange hub not far from our hotel, it started raining heavily and we exited the bus and ran to the entrance of a hotel to be under cover... we still got totally wet.
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| Dripping wet after a heavy downpour :) |
When the rain subsided we ran to our place, and we thought we would go to the pool, but alas, the pool had closed because of the rain!
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| The dark clouds eclipse the Merdeka tower |
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| The pool |
We showered and went back to Jalan Alor Food Market for dinner.
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| We bought 3 containers of fruit at a mini-mart to eat in the hotel - dragon fruit, mango and papaya |
Friday 26th - We had a lovely breakfast just around the corner at "Grounds & Grains" - a hot chocolate for me and Eggs benedict with smoked salmon.
After breakfast we went back to our apartment to grab our suitcase and check-out. We left our bags at reception, so we had the freedom to walk around.
We wanted to visit a nearby shopping centre - Lalaport - and realized that KL is not a very walkable city, as we could see the shopping from our windows and it looked as if it was just around the corner, but we actually walked for about 25 minutes, as there was no way to cross one of the main streets in front of it, so we had to go further down and go up and down over a pedestrian bridge...
We walked around the pristine shopping centre and stopped to see a contemporary dance demonstration.
We had arranged with the same driver that brought us from the airport to pick us up at 2pm at The Robertson for our 7,40 pm flight, as we had heard traffic could be chaotic in the afternoon.
It wasn't bad at all, so the driver was kind enough to drive us via the Putrajaya area, the administrative centre of Malaysia since 1999, because of KL overcrowding. The area about 30 km from the city centre, is modern, green and built in a sustainable urban planning concept.
The driver dropped us by the beautiful Pink Mosque or Putra Mosque, constructed with rose pink granite and can accomodate 15 thousand worshippers, but we soon discovered that the prayer time was about to start, so we couldn't visit. The wait time would have been long, so we returned to the car and left towards the airport.
Other views from the modern area:
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| Fancy street lights |
When we arrived at the airport there was a group of dancers in traditional attire posing for photos.
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| Inside the KL airport |
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| In the plane, the sun setting in the distance |
Thursday 25th - Finally home having landed at 1,10am. Bring on the jet-lag :)
I loved the visit to KL, wish I had arranged to stay 2 or 3 days more, as there was plenty we didn't see. The city is vibrant and multicultural, can also feel a bit chaotic, not a walkable city for sure, a lot of broken and uneven pavements. Some areas more upmarket and cleaner than others.
A lot of iconic architectural buildings, lots of high-rise apartment buildings, especially on the outskirts of the city, but also a lot of small heritage houses.
Plenty of food choices between fine dining and street food to cater to various budgets. I found the accomodation prices to be very reasonable for us with AUD.
Most people we spoke to spoke English very well, a lot of luxury shopping centres, but you can also get bargains at the Chinatown markets.
We did not use public transport, but I heard they have a modern and affordable transport network.
We have a cruise booked for March and will have a few days in Malaysia again, but just stopping in Penang and Langkawi. Hopefully we will revisit KL in the future.
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| Sign at the entrance of one hotel we walked past :) |
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| A sculpture of the famous Durian fruit, near Jalan Alor Food street |
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| in a restaurant near our hotel where the sticks would move up and down into the bowl |
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| Louis Vuitton shop at KL Airport |
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| Just like in China, there is no Nr. 4 in the lift/elevator |
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| A funny sign in Chinatown with Mr Bean |
Films I watched on the Malaysia Airlines flight home from Kuala Lumpur.
Or another one on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reels/DCw5rlZMlKs/
PS: We are flying out on Sunday to Qatar and a few days later to South Africa - 30 years after I was last there, to attend my nephew's wedding. We return home 4 weeks later.
The Monthly Wrap-up's - July onwards will be taking a while to be posted.
The Monday Murals are all scheduled to be posted at the usual time while I'm away and I will visit you as soon as possible.
