DAY 2
Morning: Petronas Towers
If your hotel is in the Golden Triangle, it is a short walk to the Petronas Towers. It’s the world’s second tallest building: 452m, 1,483 feet from street level, 88 floors, 58 elevators, and 32,000 windows. You can go up to the sky bridge, where you’ll have a spectacular view of Kuala Lumpur. This visit is free, and this is how to get your entrance ticket. Join the queue--the earlier you are there, the shorter it is. You are issued a ticket that states your time slot. To while away the time, take pictures of the towers from all conceivable angles. Walk in the park at the foot of the towers. Shop at the luxurious, six-level Suria shopping complex. When it is your turn, you are whizzed up 44 floors by speed elevator. From the sky bridge, you can take interesting close-up pictures of the towers ’architecture.
Time to have lunch. Take a taxi to Jalan TAR No 100, The Coliseum Café. Have a pre-lunch drink at the bar, where Somerset Maugham was a regular. Enjoy sizzling steaks or traditional Malay food in colonial-era ambience.
Afternoon: China Town and Sri Mariamman Temple
This is the buzzing centre of KL’s Chinese community. Wander through the narrow streets and look up at the beautifully decorated fronts of the Chinese shop houses. On Jalan Tun HS Lee, you will see Sri Mariamman Hindu Temple. Its pyramid-shaped entrance gate is decorated with thousands of multi-coloured deities. Entrance is free, and don’t forget to leave your shoes at the entrance. This Indian temple in a Chinese street is not incongruous but shows the ethnic composition of Kuala Lumpur’s inhabitants.
Early evening: Central Market: Hawkers Stalls
The Central Market, or Pasar Seni, was once the city’s wet market, which means that it was a fruit, vegetable, and fish market. This Art Deco building has been transformed into an arts-and-crafts market. Downstairs, you can find good-quality souvenirs from all over Malaysia, but also from Indonesia and Thailand. There are the usual t-shirts, but also traditional handicrafts: hand-painted shadow puppets, batik sarongs, porcelain statuettes of Chinese and Hindu deities, and orang asli wooden sculptures.
On the second level, there is a good selection of hawker’s food, and this is how it works:
- Look for a table and sit down. If it is crowded, sit with other people. This has the advantage that you can ask them for recommendations.
- Put a box of tissues or anything else on your table to indicate that it is taken.
- All tables are numbered. Remember your table number.
- Look around you, and you’ll see food stalls. Stall 1 sells satay; Stall 2, nasi lemak; Stall 3, mee soup. All stalls have one specialty.
- Walk around and decide what meal you will have. Tell the stall-holder your table number and give your order. The cook will now start preparing your meal.
- Go back to your table and wait. Your ordered dishes will appear one by one. You pay for each dish when it is brought to your table.
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Order drinks from the drinks stall.
When you have ordered from several stalls, you will notice that the plates are marked or have different colours. This way, the stall owners can easily retrieve their plates when your meal is over.
Late Evening: Pasar Malam or Night Market
If you are in KL on a Saturday night, go to Lorong Tuanka Abdul Rachman, just off Jalan TAR. This night market, or Pasar Malam, is open from 5pm to 10pm every Saturday and hums with activity. Stroll along the stalls and enjoy the variety of goods on sale, the busy crowd, and smell of local delicacies. And if you decide to buy something, bargain--bargain hard.
Very Late Evening: Bangsar
Bangsar is 10 minutes by taxi from KL Golden Triangle. It is the place where chic, young Malays want to be seen. It is an interesting mix of restaurants, bars, pubs, cafés, fast-food outlets, coffee bars and ice cream parlours.
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Two days are not enough to see all Kuala Lumpur can offer. Come back another time and stay longer.
Chow Kit Market
Little India
The Lake Gardens with the butterfly and bird park
KL telecommunication tower
And there is more, much more.