Tag: <span>merdeka square</span>

Date: 3rd October 2010

Today was going to be our last full day in Kuala Lumpur, so we had to make the most of it. Some of us had shopping to do, and I wanted to see a bit more of KL.

But the first thing we did in the morning was get ready to go the Petronas Towers again. And when I say “we,” I mean Ramesh and I. Loi wanted to sleep in.

The reason why we were going back to the towers were to try and a get a ticket for the sky bridge/observation deck. Why “try”? Because that’s how the system is. You go there early enough, wait in line until the ticket counters open and whoever gets the tickets, gets to up at a pre-determined time. The earlier you are in the line, the sooner you get to go up. It’s free, but an inconvenient method. (EDIT: Turns out there is a much higher observation deck at the 86th floor for which you can pay RM40 and go. I didn’t know about it until much research after coming back from this trip)

When we did our research, we saw videos of the view from the 41st & 42nd floor and after having been to the top of Burj Khalifa, the view from the Petronas Towers wasn’t astounding or anything. Which is why I was more keen on going up Menara KL (KL Tower), something I was going to do later in the day anyway.

Still, since we didn’t have a whole lot planned for the morning, myself and Ramesh thought: “What the hell, last day in KL. Might as well try and get a ticket”.

So we set out, took the monorail and got down at Bukit Nanas station.

Malaysia Tourism Centre Kuala Lumpur — The Malaysia Tourism Centre

We walked towards the KLCC Suria and when we finally made it to the ticketing counter…

Petronas Tower skybridge tickets sold out timing — … it was 8:55am when I took this

Sold out. Oh well.

Not that we were sorely disappointed or anything, but if you are one who is very keen to visit the Sky Bridge, be in line by at least 7:30-8:00am.

Me and Ramesh then just decided to check out the mall.

Suria mall mostly caters to high end brands and luxury designer wear, most of which are on the lower floors. We checked out a few electronics stores, Ramesh checked out the Harley Davidson store, and then we decided to find out where the Aquaria was.

Ryan Seacrest Fly FM banner Kuala Lumpur Malaysia — Oh Ryan Seacrest, there is no escaping you is there?

KLCC Aquaria entrance Malaysia — It wasn’t open yet

Ramesh was keen on checking out the Aquaria, the largest aquarium in Kuala Lumpur. I, on the other hand, wanted to see more of the city, so we parted ways. I inquired on how to get to Merdeka Square while Ramesh went in to Aquaria.

Here are a few photos from inside the Aquaria, all of which are from Ramesh’s camera.

KLCC Aquaria inside directory Malaysia — Entry is RM35 (Rs. 510/$11/€8) for adults

KLCC Aquaria piranha closeup Malaysia — Wonder what they feed piranhas here

KLCC Aquaria electric eel Malaysia — Well, that’s a bit harsh on the eel isn’t it?

KLCC Aquaria Matamata Malaysia — This ‘turtle+croc+weird’ looking creature is called the Matamata

KLCC Aquaria coatimundi Malaysia — This one is called a Coatimundi

KLCC Aquaria fish tree glass cylinder Malaysia — Pretty cool

KLCC Aquaria diver playing around with tourist — Cheeky

KLCC Aquaria inside underwater tunnel — The Aquaria has the obligatory underwater tunnel

KLCC Aquaria Pincecone fish ikan Malaysia — Pinecone fish

The above are only a few of the photos Ramesh took. He took much more. There are sharks, lion fish, water rats and all sorts of other waterborne creatures. From his account, Ramesh said the experience was “okay” — so I don’t know how it compares to a similar offering I experienced in Dubai Mall.

When Ramesh stepped out, he saw a gathering of superbikes and stalls by Yamaha on the occasion of next week’s Malaysian MotoGP.

That concludes what Ramesh saw.

Now back to me 🙂

When I left the Petronas Towers, I took the monorail to Hang Tuah station. From there I transferred to the RapidKL line, for which you need to buy another ticket/pass as the monorail card won’t work on this rail service. From Hang Tuah, I headed towards Masjid Jamek station.

Stepping out of Masjid Jamek station Citin hotel — Once you come out of the station…

Jalan Melayu shopping Kuala Lumpur Malaysia — … you are on Jalan Melayu

Jalan Melayu Endhiran poster ticket offer Kuala Lumpur Malaysia — Luring customers with tickets to new Rajinikant film. Works wherever Tamilians exist 🙂

Jalan Melayu street market Kuala Lumpur Malaysia — Nothing special in here. The usual street market stocking the usual goods.

I came here to go to Merdeka Square, which is a significant landmark in Malaysia’s independence from Britain.

Merdeka Square lawn palm trees Kuala Lumpur Malaysia — Merdeka Square literally means “Independence Square”

Merdeka Square film shoot Kuala Lumpur Malaysia — There was a film shoot happening

Merdeka Square film stars Kuala Lumpur Malaysia — No clue if this was a South Indian/Malay-Tamil/Sri Lankan or Bangladeshi production

Merdeka Square flag pole Kuala Lumpur Malaysia — This flag pole is nearly 312 ft high, one of the tallest in the world

Restoran Warisan Merdeka Kuala Lumpur Malaysia — Merdeka Square is surrounded by old colonial buildings

Merdeka Sqaure old Dutch buildings lawn Kuala Lumpur — Not sure what these buildings were

Merdeka Square Sultan Abdul Samad building Malaysia — Plenty of tourist buses stop in front of the Sultan Abdul Samad building

Merdeka Square Sultan Abdul Samad building bank headquarters Malaysia — Sultan Abdul Samad building in front, several bank HQs in the background

Merdeka Square highest flag pole Kuala Lumpur Malaysia — Merdeka Square is the venue for Malaysia’s annual National Day Parade

Merdeka square filming actress Kuala Lumpur Malaysia — The one on the right seems like the lead actress in this shoot; they were shooting with RED cameras (Yes, I’m a nerd, I notice these things)

It was time for me to move on.

Merdeka Square bricked road Kuala Lumpur Malaysia — Not that I knew where I was headed next

Kuala Lumpur city river stream banks — I just like to roam about and explore

After passing by an area full of businesses serving Bangladeshis and Pakistanis, I found myself in an alley which housed what looked like a Chinese temple.

Sin Sze Si Sze Ya Chinese temple entrance Kuala Lumpur Malaysia — So I went in

Sin Sze Si Sze Ya Chinese temple parking Kuala Lumpur Malaysia — As I left the temple, I found out the name of the place

Jalan Tun Tan Cheng lock yellow building graffiti — I walked a bit further out…

Jalan Petaling street main road entrance daytime traffic — … and I soon realized I was in China Town

There was a shopping complex right opposite the entrance to Petaling Street and so I decided to check it out. I unfortunately couldn’t take any photographs inside because the security guard asked me not to. But inside were stores selling essentially the same goods I saw yesterday night in Petaling Street, but at far lower prices.

So word of advice, just because you see bags on Petaling Street with it’s street market appearance, don’t assume the prices are low. There are plenty of other places, like this not-so-fancy shopping complex right outside Petaling Street selling the same stuff at lower prices.

In fact when I called up Loi to tell him about bag prices here, he told me he found similar prices in the shops on the higher floors of Times Square shopping mall.

I had lunch from a burger joint and continued my ‘walk around town’. I asked around for where “Little India” was and was directed to walk towards KL Tower.

Mydin Wholesale Reject shop Kuala Lumpur — I stepped in but quickly found nothing worthwhile

Brickfields Indian restoran Kuala Lumpur — Yes, to the right is a ‘chapathi house’ named Restoran Santa

Brickfields Little India Kuala Lumpur Malaysia — I came across this street which looked more like “Little Chennai”

There’s a slew of silk shops, and plenty of pure-veg restaurants on this street.

Masjid Jema' Bandaraya entrance Kuala Lumpur — I found myself back at Masjid Jemak

Masjid Jema' Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur — Masjid Jema’ (mosque)

Masjid Jemak dress code etika Kuala Lumpur Malaysia — I didn’t qualify for any of the above, so didn’t bother going in

It was time for me to head back to the room and catch up with Ramesh and Loi.

Beauty show Berjaya Times Square KL — Some beauty show at Berjaya Times Square

Once I got back to Irsia, the three of us decided to go to Midvalley Megamall, one of Kuala Lumpur’s largest malls.

To get to Midvalley Megamall from Berjaya Times Square, take the monorail from Imbi to KL Sentral. Then, you need to transfer to the Komuter train line, and Midvalley has a stop by itself.

Midvalley Megamall Kuala Lumpur Malaysia — The mall is pretty huge

Midvalley houses a Carrefour, JUSCO, Toys ‘R’ Us, Harvey Norman and plenty of other brands. It isn’t ‘high street’ fare like KLCC Suria mall in Petronas Towers.

Jigsaw puzzle world Midvalley Megamall KL — This store had a whole bunch of cool imports from Japan

After Loi’s shopping from Toys R Us, Ramesh’s purchases from Carrefour, we headed up to the top most floor.

Midvalley Megamall centre court Kuala Lumpur Malaysia — They have an exclusive ManU store and an 18-screen multiplex up here

Midvalley Megamall Anime Tech store — Went in here as well

Midvalley has a few nerdy joints up here, including video arcades and a store dedicated to board games. But we couldn’t hang out any longer, it was nearing 7pm. There was one last thing I wanted to do for our last day in Kuala Lumpur — head to the observation deck at KL Tower to get a view of Kuala Lumpur city at night.

To save time, we took a taxi… and got a driver with some pretty good taste in music 🙂

After an enjoyable ride, we reached Menara KL, which is perched atop a small hill called Bukit Nanas. Thus making it ‘taller’ than the Petronas Towers. Myself and Loi bought our tickets and made our way up, Ramesh stayed below to check out an F1 Zone.

Menara KL Tower elevator observation deck — Tickets cost RM38 (Rs. 550/$12/€8) for adults

I was more keen on visiting the observation deck of KL Tower than the Skybridge at Petronas Towers, simply because the viewing height at Menara KL is much higher.

View from Menara KL tower night Kuala Lumpur — And I was right…

Menara KL tower view of Kuala Lumpur city at night — … the view was great!

Menara KL tower observation deck glass reflection — But there was one annoying problem

Menara KL tower observation deck souvenir shop — The bright lights from the shops up here!

The whole experience of the view at night from up here is marred by the lights reflecting off of the glass — which also made for tricky photography. And because I didn’t have a tripod, it was tough for me to get steady shots.

Menara KL tower observation deck jewelry shop — Why on earth would you want to sell jewelry up here? ‘High’ prices?

Menara KL tower observation deck view city lights — We went around the observation deck

Menara KL tower World's Tallest comparison — They have a display showing you the other tall telecommunications towers around the world

Menara KL tower observation deck Petronas Towers at night — Menara KL is the fourth largest telecom tower in the world

Menara KL tower World's tallest towers comparison — The tallest is still the CN Tower in Toronto

Menara KL tower observation deck Times Square view — You can see Berjaya Times Square from up here — also ‘cos it isn’t that far 🙂

Menara KL tower observation deck view at night — I took one final shot of the Petronas Towers before heading back down

Menara KL tower observation deck restaurants — There are two ‘sky high’ restaurants at KL Tower

Menara KL tower elevator lift lobby — This is the elevator lobby

Menara KL tower ticket counter — Timings are 9:30am to 9:30pm

Menara KL tower Malaysia cultural village — Your ticket also includes entry to the Cultural Village, which was closed by 8pm

Menara KL Tower F1 Simulator zone dummy cars — So we used our ticket to avail the one free ride around the (virtual) Sepang circuit

Menara KL F1 simulator zone dummy BMW car — In the small cars though, you have to pay to sit in one these life-size replica cars

Menara KL F1 simulator zone Sepang game — Ramesh paid to sit & play in the Ferrari car

Menara KL Tower F1 simulator zone Ferrari store Kuala Lumpur — There’s an F1 store here as well

Menara KL tower pony ride Malaysia — You can opt to use your ticket for a complimentary ride as well

Menara KL Tower free shuttle service — We waited for the free ride down to the base of the hill

Once at the base, we walked towards Bukit Nanas monorail station.

Menara KL tower lit up night — One final look

Hard Rock Cafe Kuala Lumpur bikes parked — Walked past the Hard Rock Cafe Kuala Lumpur

Hard Rock Cafe Kuala Lumpur Harley Davidson Club — Which saw a gathering of Harley Davidson owners that night

Kuala Lumpur Petronas Towers surrounding buildings panorama — One final look at the beautiful twin towers

Kuala Lumpur monorail network station map Malaysia — This is the monorail network map

Inside monorail train Kuala Lumpur Malaysia — The monorail trains aren’t very big

Once back in the room, we decided to enjoy our final dinner of this trip, and sit somewhere nice. There are a few cosy eateries behind Berjaya Times Square, where we were and so, we sat down at Wings musicafe.

Wings musicafe Kuala Lumpur Malaysia — They have a live stage where artists perform every night

Wings musicafe Kilkenny beer Kuala Lumpur Malaysia — Had Kilkenny Irish beer for the first time

It was a relaxing dinner to end our last day of sight-seeing in Kuala Lumpur. The musicians were mostly local artists, aspiring singers who performed mellow acoustic fare. Much needed for us tired souls.

Once back in the room, we packed up. And when I mean “we,” I mean myself and Ramesh…