Weekend in KL

Jeff had a business meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Monday, Sept. 26, so we decided to make a weekend of it.  We felt like real jet-setters as we alighted from the plane on Friday evening and were whisked away to the Shangri-La Hotel (splurge!) in downtown KL.
Continuing in the hipster mode, we unpacked and headed to the Skybar on top of the Trader's Hotel.  It was 9:30 - almost past our bedtime, but we were assured of getting a table by the window since the maitre d' noted that it was "still very early"!

The Skybar has been haunting Jeff since business trip to KL last year.  It is the ideal spot for photographing the Petronas Towers, and the view at night is especially gorgeous.  On Jeff's last visit, as he was leaning over the infinity swimming pool to get a better view, his BlackBerry fell out of his shirt pocket and drowned in the pool.  We were determined to erase that bad memory and get some good pictures this time.  On our way into the bar we paid attention to the warning notice on the door!

The night was crystal clear, and the towers shone in all their glory.  The buildings are 88 stories tall, and there's a skybridge connecting them on the 41st floor.  The design is modern-Islamic, a reflection of  Malaysia's official religion.  We were told that the lineups to buy tickets to the bridge are very long, so we decided to forego that experience for our next visit.

Armed with our confusing map and the lack of consistent street signs, we set off the next morning to explore the city.  Eschewing the taxis, we chose to take the monorail to Merdeka Square.  Although the monorail stop appeared to be close to the Square on our map, we ended up walking a few kilometres through Chinatown to get there (in the 32C heat).  Jalan Petaling is filled with cheap stalls selling fake designer belts and handbags, as well as souvenirs.  We quickly walked through this street to reach our destination.

Merdeka Square is the venue for national celebrations.  The world's tallest flagpole (95 metres) marks the spot where Malaysia's independence was proclaimed in 1957.  Across the street from the Square lies the Sultan Abdul Samad Building (built in the late 19th century),  a beautiful example of Moorish architecture.  We were surprised to learn that the building was designed by A.C. Norman, a British architect whose projects were influenced by the mosques that he saw during his travels in India.

We continued our walk around the historical central district.  Masjid Jamek (designed by another British architect, A.B. Hubback) is one of the oldest mosques in KL.  Each female visitor is given a long black robe and a head covering.  Not the most comfortable pieces of clothing in the extreme heat!
Our next stop was Peter Hoe's store.  We literally walked around in circles until we found the entrance to this emporium.  Peter Hoe sells beautiful southeast Asian furniture, jewelry, clothing, and housewares.  The store is an upscale oasis in the middle of old KL.  We bought very colourful batik place mats.  I also bought a wide-brimmed sun hat, and Jeff bought a black and white shirt.  (Thanks again to Cindy in HK who recommended this shop to us!)

The Central Market was a delight.  It is an enclosed 2-storey building, containing numerous gift shops selling Malay and other handicrafts.  We appreciated the fact that it was air-conditioned, too.
The second floor has a large fast food section.  Since our trip to Penang last December, I've had a hankering for laksa soup, and the $3CDN bowl in Central Market did not disappoint.

Fortified by our lunch, we continued walking.  We passed the old colonial railway station (left), the Masjid Negara (national mosque) (right), and the Islamic Arts Museum.  We were too pooped to spend any time looking at the collections in the museum, but we spent a few minutes in the lobby cooling off and finishing yet another bottle of water.

Had we realized how great the distances were on our map, we never would have walked (hiked uphill) all the way to the National Monument!  As we approached the monumental hill, we passed through a beautiful sculpture garden, with exhibits donated by each of the ASEAN countries.
We then climbed up the hill to the National Monument.  This is the world's tallest bronze freestanding sculpture grouping.  It commemorates those who died in Malaysia's struggle for freedom, principally against the Japanese occupation during WWII and the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960).  The sculpture was designed by Felix de Weldon, the American sculptor who also designed the famous Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington Cemetery.

After a short nap, we showered and headed to Bijan for dinner.  Many thanks to the Bills for this recommendation!  The food was very tasty, and the atmosphere was lovely.  Our original intention was to eat at the hawker stalls, but we were exhausted from our long walk, and decided to treat ourselves to a classy meal instead.



We never seem to learn from our mistakes:  the next morning we once again took the monorail in search of Kraf Kompleks, a series of buildings that sells Malay handicrafts.  We could not make heads or tails out of the map or the street signs, but finally found the Prince Hotel, where the concierge directed us half a kilometre down the road to the site.  (Oh - I forgot to mention that it was pouring ...)
Afterwards, we gave up walking, hopped into a taxi (even cheaper than HK), and returned to the Central Market for lunch (and more shopping).

I flew back to HK later that afternoon, while Jeff stayed on to work.  There are a few more places on our  (ever-growing) list to visit in Malaysia ... next time!