The brakes screeched and my body jolted slightly off the
chair as the bus stopped in a rather unwelcoming bus station on the outskirts
of Kuala Lumpur. It was a strange
feeling to be in the midst of a big city again as the last big metropolis I was
in was Bangkok. Kuala Lumpur felt
different to the other Asian capitals I had been to, it was modern, westernised
and with it a mixture of ethnicities.
Mark, my friend from Norwich whom I had worked with on the Maddermarket
stage in the production of Arsenic and Old Lace during August 2010 had very
kindly put me in contact with his brother Darren who lives in Kuala Lumpur and
hand generously offered to accommodate Barbara and I during our time in the
city.
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| Merdeka Square |
We got off the bus not knowing where we were or where we
were going. Our only plan was to head
into the centre where we could find an internet café to call Darren who would
be able to give us directions. The bus
station was conveniently placed beside metro stop where we found a map of the
transport network. The only problem is
we had no idea where we were but a passing man saw us studying the map with
confusing and helped us out telling us where we were and where we should
go. So we headed for Little India.
The train pulled into Little India’s metro station and we
walked down onto street level where we found a Burger King with free
wi-fi. Excellent. In we went and onto the internet we go. I open up Skype, which has been invaluable
during my trip, and dial Darren’s number.
What the hell, we had to choose the precise time they decided to put up
a flat screen television upon the wall.
The noise of the drills drowned out Darren’s directions and coupled with
the bad connection made it very difficult to hear. We managed to get his address and directions
to get there. We had to get the metro to
KLCC and grab a taxi to his house.
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| The Petronas Towers |
The taxi driver was an idiot, we gave him the address and he
continuously enquired where it was and how he should get there. We had to keep reminding him that we didn’t know,
which you should never say to a taxi driver I know, but what else can you say
if you have no idea where he should be going.
We eventually pulled up outside Daren’s house where we were greeted by
his wife, Gina and their young child, Dana.
They had also just recently been blessed with their second child, Tristan. As soon as we crossed the threshold their
generosity and hospitality was astonishing.
It was hard to come to terms with though, after months being on the road
and stopping in crappy to mediocre hostels/guesthouses it was strange being in
a family home with a comfortable bed and home cooked meals.
Waking up in a comfortable bed is unbelievable and to follow
that with a beautiful breakfast laid out for us was awesome and set us up
nicely for the day. No visit to Kuala
Lumpur is complete without a visit to the Petronas Towers and a walk along the
skybridge that links the two towers on the 41st floor. To be able to visit the towers, you must get
there early and secure one of the limited tickets available for the day. Barbara and I got there a little late, but
with some convincing the lady on the ticket desk found two tickets for the last
trip of the day.
KLCC, Kuala Lumpur City Centre sits below and around the
Petronas Towers and hosts numerous high end shops and more importantly a
concert hall where we were lucky enough to attend an open concert of the
Malaysian Symphony Orchestra. This was
one of my most treasured highlights of my visit to Kuala Lumpur as it’s one
thing watching and listening to a concert but it’s amazing to watch the magic
being created and the conductor fine tuning ever little tone, rhythm and
dynamic. We couldn’t have gone to a real
concert anyway as we didn’t have the right attire to adhere to the strict dress
code.
The only issue was that my eyes were feeling quite heavy so during
the interval, I headed to the shop outside and bought a bottle of Coca Cola, a
Mars Bar and some flavoured Mentos which seemed to keep my eyes wide open.
There were a few hours following the concert until we were
allowed up the towers, so we went for a wonder around the city from Little
India, Merdeka Square to Chinatown.
Merdeka square is at the centre of Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia as this is
where on August 31 1957, Malaysia first celebrated their independence from British
colonialism by raising the Malaysian flag up the, apparently, tallest freestanding
flagpole in the world which stands at 100 metres tall. The walk around this section of the city
proved my initial feeling of multiculturalism, with architectural influences
from around the world merging to form something beautiful.
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| On the skybridge |
The 451 metre high Petronas Towers are at the epicentre of
the Malaysia, an icon of the country’s economic success and houses Petronas,
the nation’s oil and gas company. Before
heading up the lifts you are invited into a room where there is a lot of
background information on the towers, how they were built, the architect’s
vision and general information on the future for the towers and Kuala
Lumpur. It was very interesting to see
how they designed the building and how the architect and the engineers built
the skybridge. Interestingly, the
skybridge couldn’t be firmly fixed in place due to natural movement of the two
towers. “Blue tickets.” A lady announced and requested that we check
our bags and coats into the cloakroom and then congregate by the lifts for our
vertical journey up 170 metres. The
skybridge gave some impressive views of the city however, I’m sure they would
have been even more stunning should it be a clear day but as it’s wet season it
tends to reliably rain at 4pm each and every day.
Later that evening we went for a meal with Daren, Gina, the
kids and their maid at a local restaurant.
The restaurant seemed to pride itself on having no frills but was highly
thought of by the looks of the expensive cars in the car park. It was a delicious way to end our short time
in Kuala Lumpur and to say goodbye to such fantastic hosts. Daren and Gina are an excellent example of the
generosity of human nature and I couldn’t thank them enough for putting us up
for a couple of nights. Such a wonderful
family.
Although we didn’t spend a long time in Kuala Lumpur, I feel
that we managed to get a feel of the city and see most of what there is to
see. It was time to move on to our next
destination, Malacca, and my final stop within Malaysia. The bus station was the other side of the
city to where we were and Daren very kindly drove us there.
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