The bus trip from Malacca to Kuala Lumpur lasted 2h30 (RM9.5) and was again very boring, going through palm oil plantations via the highway. We arrived at Pudu Raya Bus station in Chinatown and it showed us the very messy and dirty side of Kuala Lumpur. Very different from the clean and rich area around the Petronas Twin Towers that we discovered later on. We stayed in a hotel called StayOrange located on Petalling Street very close to the bus station. Petalling Street is a very busy and full of little stands where you can buy t-shirts, belts, caps, watches, handbags, wallets...all fake brand items. There are also plenty of shops selling fake DVDs and CDs. We found out that visiting Kuala Lumpur is a tiring exercise, the weather is very hot, the traffic very heavy and between sites you often find yourself walking along high speed roads. It would have been much easier to get taxis between the site but to save money we walked a lot!
We wandered around the very busy Chinatown, saw the Chinese temples Chan See Shu Yuen and Thean Hou, but they were not as nice as the ones we visited in Malacca. From the temples we walked to the old train station, nice but not outstanding as our guide book described it. The City Halł and the Central Post Office did not impress us, the same for the central place, however we found the Sultan Abdul Samad building opposite this place very nice. A bit further North there is Little India, an interresting place to see as well as the Central Market even if it is now only offering shops for tourists. What we liked the most in Kuala Lumpur was the Petronas Twin Towers, the KL tower and the Lakes Gardens. The Petronas Twin Towers are really impressive however the visit is not that great but still worth it. Free tickets are issued every morning and visit times are allocated. For those who don't want to queue there is the option to go in the afternoon and take the tickets of people that don't turn up...that worked for us. During the visit you see a stupid movie about the company Petronas and then your guide takes you to the Sky Bridge located at the 41st floor, 170m high , only half way to the top...via the service lift! The shopping centre attached to the towers is very impressive by its size and it has a lots of shops selling guenuine products...at expensive prices! We liked this shopping centre as it is a very quiet place compare to the rest of the the town where we could come and enjoy a good coffee. The KL tower (RM20 entry fee) offers a much better view on Kuala Lumpur than the Petronas Twin Towers, from its observation deck at 282m you get a 360 view on the town. Finally the Lakes Garden is one of the rare park in Kuala Lumpur, but it is not easy to walk to it as it is surrounded by highways!...but we still manage to get to it. The gardens are nice but the highlights are the Butterfly (RM17), Birds (RM35) and Orchids Gardens (free entrance). Our favourite beeing the Butterfly Gardens...even if the biggest moeth we saw was in the Orchids Garden (see picture).
We felt that three and an half days gave us plenty of time to visit the city and to be honest we would not stay longer as we could not wait to go to a quieter place....our next stop, the Cameron Highlands.
We wandered around the very busy Chinatown, saw the Chinese temples Chan See Shu Yuen and Thean Hou, but they were not as nice as the ones we visited in Malacca. From the temples we walked to the old train station, nice but not outstanding as our guide book described it. The City Halł and the Central Post Office did not impress us, the same for the central place, however we found the Sultan Abdul Samad building opposite this place very nice. A bit further North there is Little India, an interresting place to see as well as the Central Market even if it is now only offering shops for tourists. What we liked the most in Kuala Lumpur was the Petronas Twin Towers, the KL tower and the Lakes Gardens. The Petronas Twin Towers are really impressive however the visit is not that great but still worth it. Free tickets are issued every morning and visit times are allocated. For those who don't want to queue there is the option to go in the afternoon and take the tickets of people that don't turn up...that worked for us. During the visit you see a stupid movie about the company Petronas and then your guide takes you to the Sky Bridge located at the 41st floor, 170m high , only half way to the top...via the service lift! The shopping centre attached to the towers is very impressive by its size and it has a lots of shops selling guenuine products...at expensive prices! We liked this shopping centre as it is a very quiet place compare to the rest of the the town where we could come and enjoy a good coffee. The KL tower (RM20 entry fee) offers a much better view on Kuala Lumpur than the Petronas Twin Towers, from its observation deck at 282m you get a 360 view on the town. Finally the Lakes Garden is one of the rare park in Kuala Lumpur, but it is not easy to walk to it as it is surrounded by highways!...but we still manage to get to it. The gardens are nice but the highlights are the Butterfly (RM17), Birds (RM35) and Orchids Gardens (free entrance). Our favourite beeing the Butterfly Gardens...even if the biggest moeth we saw was in the Orchids Garden (see picture).
We felt that three and an half days gave us plenty of time to visit the city and to be honest we would not stay longer as we could not wait to go to a quieter place....our next stop, the Cameron Highlands.
