MALAYSIA, Kuala Lumpur 22-24 January 2013
Arriving from the UK with snow into Malaysia at KL (Kuala Lumpur) to 30c & Jet Lag & Discovery
Malaysia 22-24 Jan 2013, Kuala Lumpur , plus a verbal reading of the diary covering amongst others concorde inn , leaving uk in snow, istana negara / national palace, menara tower, st marys cathedral, petronus twin towers, batu auch, batu linting, year of the snake, china town, burial poles, malay traditional housing, national museum, dataran merdeka square, cricket, colonialism, poverty, endless motorcycles , lovely hibiscus flowers, hop on hop off bus tour , total number of images with text is 121 in selective slideshows
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Tuesday January 22nd 2013
After collecting the hire car from the East Midlands airport and dropping keys etc around Craig’s house, we set off for Heathrow. Heavy snow in fields in countryside but Heathrow was clear. We flew British airways 8.30pm to Singapore, although the plane was waiting to taxi down the runway for 45 minutes.
We had a few hours snatched sleep on the plane and arrived at Singapore at 5.40pm on the Tuesday. The flight was 12 hours 35 minute long.
British Airways food was Ok but not enough seat space / leg space , cramped conditions, definitely what we call “cattle class” . We were cheeky and asked for an upgrade but were told there were no first-class seats available.
Wednesday January 23rd 2013
Arrival Kuala Lumpur via Singapore
Arrived Singapore (in transit) for Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia, sent text message to Doug. Phoenix’s parents staying with them currently in Singapore, where they were officially married at a civil ceremony on the 24th. We only had 1 hour 30 minutes to sort out our transit arrangements which was stressful since baggage had to be checked out and checked back in at the Changi counter, time flew by.
Singapore lovely airport (Changi surprisingly was once a prison used by the Japanese to hound Singaporeans, bad news) and modern , tube used to take passengers to baggage hall / passport check etc.
Flew Jet Star (operated by Quantas) 7.40pm to KL. Liked the airport in KL , clean modern etc. Flight was about 50 minutes. Found free shuttle bus at KL airport to take us to the Concorde Inn Hotel very near to the airport. Nice spacious deluxe room and wet room shower. Arrived at the hotel at 10.10 pm very tired and hot. After snow and freezing temperatures in England, arrived in jungle heat and then a ‘terrific tropical storm’ directly overhead with thunder and lightening. The thunder was os loud it was like an explosion.
Spent 24 hours travelling fron the time we left home to arriving at the hotel in KL.
Thursday January 24th 2013
Kuala Lumpur
Woke at 6.20am. Bit jet lagged.
Went into Kuala Lumpur city today having had a lovely hotel breakfast. The coffee machine inspired my 60th birthday present. Bought a batik fabric from the hotel foyer gift shop and practiced our Malay language skills. Got free shuttle bus from hotel to main airport and then took rapid train into the city (took 28 minutes) passing many palm tree plantations. Train cost 70 ringgits each return (about £14 at the time) and was like a very modern tube train.
Got hop on hop off (HOHO) coach tickets from outside the station, cost 35 ringgits each or £7 which was very good value. The bus tour took in all the city sights / sites (😉 ) , old colonial buildings and those that were ultra-modern, including the world famous Petronus Twin Towers, 3 green belts in the city with flowering shrubs and trees. We saw monkeys outside the national palace fence. The whole bus tour took about 2-2 ¼ hours as they stopped for photo opportunities on several occasions. KL was not very crowded surprisingly. The Chinese shops were very interesting and lots of market and food stalls were available.
We visited the national museum of Malaysia and saw traditional long houses and the Sultan’s throne and a man with a yellow python. Also on the 2nd tour around the city we stopped at a traditional crft centre and chatted to a batik designer / artist from Borneo. Terrific tropical storms again at 5.50 pm, we got back on the bus tour but interestingly the bus well and truly leaked 😉 We had a chicken meal at the main station got back to the Concorde In hotel at about 9.20pm tired, happy and educated (travel definitely broadens the mind) and very ready for bed.