Kuala Lumpur!
Posted by Sarah O'Neill , Monday, 11 October 2010 07:43
Got up and packed or bags (again!) today! I am getting to be a pro at packing my bag now, but I have had a lot of practise! It was short taxi ride to the airport, and then the usual waiting around! Flew Air Asia again which is a budget airline, they are waiting for their 100th Million customer, which we figured we might well be as we are flying a few times with them, but then you win 100 free flights, which won't be much good to us as we're leaving Asia soon!
The flight was fine, less than an hour before we touched down in KL! We were going to get a taxi as it seemed like the easiest option, but it was £15, when we found out we could get a bus to the centre and then a much shorter taxi ride all for £6, which worked out great! The hotel is very well situated in KL for the monorail and subway stations, and was cheap and cheerful. We found it on lastminute.com, and checked out the tripadvisor reviews which were all fine. Ben realised that it is the first room we have stayed in that has carpet, first in five weeks! We are really starting to notice the little things after being away so long!
We literally dumped our bags and headed out for an explore. We walked towards the monorail station that goes to the Petronas Towers, (The world's 3rd Tallest Buildings at present), and a large mall that is at the base. We could already see the towers, and after a while of walking we decided to just continue walking as we seemed so close. Got there eventually, it seemed deceptively close being so tall! The towers are amazing, and look very cool. The sun was shining, and they looked magnificent! There is a skybridge between the two towers on the 41st floor (they are 88 floors), and you can get free tickets to go up it if you queue up at 7am. We are deciding whether to or not, as have read a few reviews that say it's not worth the 3 hour wait for tickets as you only get 15 mins! So might go to the KL Tower which you can go to the top of, and that has a great view of the Petronas Towers!
We then explored the mall, and ended up spending the rest of the day there! Each floor is much bigger than Plymouth malls 2 floors, and it has 6 floors! It starts off with the very posh shops like Chanel, Fendi, etc etc, and then gets more towards our kind of shops with Roxy and Quiksilver! There was even a Marks and Sparks! In the M&S was a small food section, and it made me a little crazy! I got so excited to see all the familiar and delicious food that I love! There were all the biscuits and sweets, and they were M&S ones, so looked especially tempting! I must admit, as we walked around I was fantasising about eating it all, I think when we return home I will have to exercise great caution on my first supermarket visit, if this is what I'm like after 5 weeks!
We walked around every floor and had a great time exploring! We will go back tomorrow, if we take our passports with us we can get a tourist privilege card that will get us a discount in some shops. Although we cannot buy anything, our bags are rammed, but Ben needs to replace a pair of flip flops!
We had dinner in Nando's which was also in the mall. I cannot believe that Ben and I had our first EVER Nando's in Malaysia! It was yummy, and the whole meal only came to £9, crazy!
We decided to get a taxi back to our hotel, as it was dark and we weren't sure of the way! There was a sign saying use the taxi rank with metered taxis not taxi men loitering around. So we headed to the rank and found a taxi, however he told us it would be the equivalent of £8 (it is only a five minute drive!) when we had paid £5 to get all the way accross town earlier in the day, crazy! We aksed him what about the meter, and he said no. Moved onto another one, asked him for a metred taxi ride, and he asked where to, when we told him, he wasn't interested! The crazy thing is, that on the side of every taxi there is a sign saying "This is a metred taxi, no haggling, ask for your receipt". They seem to take no notice of this. When the next guy said the same thing, I asked him about the sign on the door, and he sped off so quickly that his wheels screeched and the door was still open! Crazy! We were just about to give up when I found a nice taxi man who seemed to abide by the laws! He was really lovely, talked to us the whole way and was a really nice guy! He restored my faith in KL taxi drivers!
Off to bed now, not sure what tomorrow will bring!
Sarah x
I'm laughing about the flip flops Ben. Have you lost a pair? Do you remember that last minute check and packing of your bags when I said "Why so many pairs of flip flops Ben?" and you promptly removed some!!So maybe it's not always right to do as mother says! :) Hope you are enjoying your 2nd day in KL.
XXX OOO XXX