September 19, 2003

It was a great day to both my wife, Siew Yen and I; we bind legally in marriage. To make this day more memorable, we made last-minute arrangement to have a short trip nearby. In the late afternoon, we board a Transnational VIP coach to make 5-hour journey to Kuala Lumpar, the capital of Malaysia via the under-utilised Tuas Second Link. The coach ride was nicer than what I had experienced before -- wide seat with leg rest and a stewardess serving our dinner onboard, it really made a good start for the coming tour.

The coach bus brought us to Malaysia Tourism Centre around 2200hr. Our very first prominent sight was the standing of two majestically-tall Peronas Towers, sparkling behind the dark night curtain. Since the hours were late, we hailed a cab to bring us to the Hotel Nova where we reserved a room online. The hotel situated near the Jalan Alor road, queued with food stalls and coffee shops alongside.

September 20, 2003

Early morning, we took a bus #11D near Bangkok Bank building to the outskirt of Kuala Lumpar city. We alighted near a highway where we crossed recklessly to arrive at Batu Caves. The caves hid inside a limestone hill amidst flat plain and were the Hinduism landmarks for religious artform and practises. Every year during Thaipusam festival, there would be hundreds of thousands of Hindu devotees flocking to the caves.

Stairway to Batu Caves

We ignorantly paid RM13 for the audio tour and entry to Gallery Cave, later discovered the fee was not necessary to enter the Temple Cave, the tallest and largest among the three main caverns. We ascended to the Temple Cave along a steep stairway, of which each step was numbered. The stair looked daunting, but we overcame easily. The cave ceiling was around 100m above ground, sheltering several shrines and deity statues. We had witnessed some Hindu practices such as baptizing baby and burning incense. Descending down using the same staircase now appeared more dangerous with its steepness and narrow steps. We would less willing to use the parallel railings along which mischievious monkeys were loitering around for food.

Not far from Temple Cave across a man-made dirty lake was the Dark Cave . There were wall paintings depicting Hindu religious stories, several of which were unfinished or vandalized. The neighbouring Gallery Cave was more interesting with many displayed statues of Hindu deities implying more mythology.

We took the bus back to KL city and consumed our lunch in air-conditioned Macdonald restaurant,away from humidity and hotness for a while. Next, we decided to go to this so-called Forest Institute for some jungle walking. Unfortunately, this place seemed to be unheard of by the locals and we could not find any suitable bus to reach there. After nearly two hours of searching and asking questions, we were forced to give up the plan and spared the remaining time to enjoy the LRT ride. We soon realised that walking around places was a challenge as the roads were very much pedestrian-unfriendly. We even had to dash dangerously across the highway just to get to the other side. After much walking and sweating, we finally reached the 1910 Moorish-style train termainal decorated with spires, domes and pillars. It was phased out and replaced by the nearby modern train station. Opposite this old station was the brownish Railway Administration Building, also Moorish in architecture. Afterthat, We took glances at the Masjid Negara (the National Mosque) and Lake Garden park before we hailed a cab to Kuala Lumpar City Centre (KLCC).

KLCC was the landmark of Kuala Lumpar and Malaysia because it stood the world's tallest building, Petronas Towers at 451.9m high with 88 storneys. Beneath this symbolic twin towers was a grand shopping centre crowded with shoppers and tourists. Inside the shopping centre, we both loitered for a while and realised that products were not so cheap. Soon, boredom came over us, thus we travelled to LRT to somewhere new. We bypassed the Central Market situated underneath the LRT railway track before reaching Chinatown. It was filled with Chinese crowds, street stalls, smoking food and dangling bright lights. We hurried off to the more famous sectionof Chinatown, Jalan Petaling; to our dismay, the street was closed for restoration. After walking for many hours, we grew tired and sleepy. We quickened our pace towards our hotel, in between consuming our dinner. Our energy had almost drained out, so much so that we preferred to sleep early for tomorrow activities, than to continue exploring the nightlife of the city.

September 20, 2003

Left: Pentonas Twin Tower; Right: Malaysia Tourism Centre

This sunday morning, we were revitalised by our early sleep. This day we intended to go somewheres higher literally. Free tickets were offered to reach the skybridge linking the 42th floor of Petronas Towers. Thus, to catch a tower view early, we hurried back to KLCC. There were only about 20 visitors in each timeslot access. Though the view was not from the greatest height of towers, we still saw vividly how the urbanisation hastily merged with some lowdown shophouses. As a city-dweller, the bird-eye view afar did not captivate me much, yet I was very impressed of the building where I stood. Shortly, we departed from the tower and headed to the recreational park nearby. Children could really be pampered by a big baby pool and numerous playgrounds offered by the park.

Although the Petronas towers were most magnificent, it was KL Tower, soaring high at 421m, that brought tourists to a higher, more impressive height at a fee. Its circular observation platform reveals the city at 360 degree. We could spotted Batu Caves, a very flagpost hoisted large Malaysian flag at pahang, blue star-shaped roofed National Mosque and of course, the neighbouring Petronas towers. An hour later, we went back to hotel for checking out. And before we left this interesting city, we loitered around Bukit Bintang Plaze for last-minute shopping. Even though this city tour gave no deep impression of us, it was surely a brief getaway from work duties.Check out my sketch of this trip.