Monday, February 09, 2015

Kuala Lumpur

After a "Melaka City Tour" route on local bus #17 we arrived at Melaka Sentral Bus Terminal and in a few minutes - no time for a toilet run - we pulled out on a bus to Kuala Lumpur Putu Raya Terminal (located in the city center). Again, more palm plantations along the expressway, but in two hours including a bus change/upgrade in Seremban the iconic Twin Petronas Towers were in view.

And an hour later we are installed in room #8817 a the Pacific Express hotel with a view of the Twin Towers and their sister the KL Tower. Woohoo!

We settle into a routine of morning walking tour and lunch at a vegetarian restaurant; back to hotel for some rest and pool time; out at 3 or 4 pm for more touring,shopping, or snacking and dinner at Lakshmi Villas vegetarian restaurant. Life is good.

The weather in KL is noticeably different: hotter, clearer skies, and less humidity - not bad.

From the bus we get our first glimpse of the Petronas Twin Towers of Kuala Lumpur.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Vegetarian dinner.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Our hotel is adjacent to two of the finer Art Deco buildings in KL, the Central Market and the Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation building.
Central Market (Pesar Seni); Since 1888 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Sunrise view from our hotel room.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

KL has more public transportation than I've ever seen in one city.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Buses.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The old train station.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Monorail.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Chinatown main drag - ready for Chinese New Year.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Chinese temple.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The city's main Hindu Temple is also in Chinatown.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Veg meal.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Street Shopping.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Merdeka (Freedom) Square is surrounded by colonial buildings in Islamic style architecture. Not to mention the tallest flagpole in the world.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

These tomato & chilis uttapams from Lakshmi Villas were the best ever!
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Sun-Ling enjoyed walking on KL's skyways which provide quick, above-the-street, covered access from A to B.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I took way too many shots of the Petronas Twin Towers (1483 ft tall). Here are a few.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

These are not models but "in action" heavy machinery demolishing a building(s). Cool, yes.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The Sunken Garden at the Botanic Gardens.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Wedding photo session at the Botanic Gardens.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The Orchid Garden at the KL Botanic Gardens was not as impressive as the one in Singapore but still very nice.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The highlight of our last day in KL was a visit to the Islamic Arts Museum (IAMM). A well designed building with an impressive, interesting, and mostly-new-to-us collection of Islamic Art. Kudos to the IAMM. While Malaysia is an Islamic country, it is certainly not the center of the Islamic world.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Did I mention that our hotel had a rooftop pool?
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

And the final KL sunset view from our room.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

10 comments:

Crash Eddy said...

Holy bat guano, Robin! From Google Maps Earth view, there is one night time photo with the twin towers in the distance, KL is extremely lit up. Where does KL get the power for such.

Kathy said...

Rooftop pool! Living the high life, lol. Did you go up the towers? And does the Islamic museum still have models of all the world's major mosques?

Liz nulton-bodiford said...

Hi. As always - wonderful pictures! I found out several weeks ago that my 4th quarter assessment will be in your current city. I am scheduled to be there the 3rd week of October. I would love a list of the veggie restaurants. The food looks wonderful.

john said...

Ed, Malaysia is doing pretty well. It's per capita GDP is about 25K USDollars. Note that Petronas is the national oil and gas company.

Crash Eddy said...

Petroleum. I shoulda thunk it.

Sun-Ling said...

@Kathy, staying at boxy modern hotels is totally not our style. As you know, the weather is unbearably hot here. John gets soaked through within the 1st hour every day. Being able to cool off in the pool in the pm is a big comfort, so we settle for the big hotels.

john said...

Ed, CORRECTION: Malaysian per capita GDP is 10.5K USD.

Sun-Ling said...

@Liz, you'll love KL!(that's how locals refer to their city, be sure to use that on your KL contacts, haha). There are veg restaurants all over the place. Once you know where you are staying, I'll plot them for you.

Sun-Ling said...

@Kathy, the museum still has the models. We have only been to three of them. Since our chances of getting in a lot of them are not great, we had a good time admiring them in the museum. Aside from the models, how did the museum get all that good stuff???!!!

Liz said...

Sun-Ling, I would love your help plotting the veggie restaurants in KL! I probably won't start planning until sept. It looks like an interesting city.

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