kuala lumpur - singapore day 4 - april 26, 2009

9 April, 2009

It was 3.30 am when I glanced at the time. The bus stopped at Puduraya Station. We were welcomed by taxi drivers hailing at us, offering their services. Meme warned me about this, and so did Vivi—my colleague at work. It does look like Terminal Kampung Rambutan, but I thought that it couldn’t get worse than Jakarta, eh? My ‘positive’ thought, however, didn’t last long. The appearance of an enormous-sized she-male out of the blue got me off guard! She wore dark blue sari and pants. I instantly froze. Anything but that!

15 minutes to 4, we’re standing in front of a 24-hour KFC holding tight to our suitcases and traveling bags, feeling uneasy about the whole ‘Bronx’ situation (never been there yet, but heard the stories, yes). We contacted Rully, our mate who’s supposed to pick us up at 4. He overslept! Thank God the location of the hotel he’s staying at is close to the Puduraya station. He arrived by taxi not long after, just like a TKI-in-charge-person, picking up newcomers in town. We tagged along without making any sound, secured our baggage and rushed into the taxi as if we were chased by predators.

In the taxi, Rully explained that since we online-booked a room in the same hotel as he and Kikay—another travel mate—did, Replica Inn, for the 9^th, we’d have to wait until 2 pm to get a room, or until someone checked out. So, we just waited and rested in their place until morning came. At 8, I asked whether or not we’d have breakfast. It appears that budget hotels don’t normally include such generosity. Now I know… Anyhow, Rully’s very convincing in persuading us to have a go for breakfast at the famous & legendary ‘nasi lemak’ near the Bukit Bintang market, established since 1981. A walking-distance location from our hotel, the place is an open buffet of Malayan food (very similar to our very own ‘Padang’) that serves menu such as rendang, ayam panggang, and gulai. However, as familiar it looked like, it had certain distinguished curry-spice flavor compared to ours.

After breakfast, KL Tower became our first destination of the day. We took a monorail to Bukit Nanas and attempted to read the map to reach the 4^th highest tower in the world. We tried to ask some people, one of them suggested going there by taxi to eliminate the complication. That’s exactly what we did, eventually. The ticket costs RM 30, including free pony ride, an indoor-mini zoo trip, and a snow-something performance. We went to the top of the tower by an elevator, which beams information to show level of height (100 meter, 250 meter…) instead of the floors’. Kikay didn’t feel well, so he stayed in the lobby, WiFi-ing.

What I thought of the tower as something like Monas was completely mistaken. As we walked out from the elevator, we were greeted by friendly looking attendee and cool breezy AC. We are able to watch and listen to the history of the tower through MP4 video players available and have clear image of the view by using a kind of semi-telescope (am not sure what it’s called, but we have one of those in Monas). There were visuals prints on glass walls that give information about 10 of the world’s highest buildings. Highly representative! Especially since it’s not simply just the view-from-the-top-of-the-building experience, but also equipped by additional bonuses of riding a pony and the mini zoo adventure on which we can take a glimpse of monkeys, snakes, and guinea pigs.

Afterwards, we headed to KLCC, which stands between the famous Petronas Twin Towers. I was so excited of going there for my student’s recommended me to go there when I have the chance to. After we all had lunch at the food court, we set off to PetroSains, like our museum IPTEK in Taman Mini (again, following the recommendation of my student). She told me that it’s twice better than the one we have in Taman Mini. I found loads of fun going to Indo’s version of PetroSains, so I wouldn’t stand a chance of missing the opportunity there in KL. Unfortunately, the place was closed when we got there. It’s open from 9 am to 3 pm. And when we got there, it’s already 3.20. Hiks…well, next time ‘ll do lah…

Next, we went in and out a couple of shops for the sake of window shopping and ended up at Vincci, which was on sale, so…well, you can imagine the hysteria, encouraged by the loud techno music intended to stimulate people to  shop, shop and shop, fast! Neither Meme nor I walked out with a shopping bag, only Kikay. He purchased a pair of sandals for his beloved Dina with Meme’s personal shopper taste and assistance to find just the right size. Done with the shopping, we planned to take a visit to Little India. Kikay passed this one up and decided to go back to the hotel instead and rest his feverish body.

We took an LRT, a lot like a subway or MRT in Sin, after indecisive arguments about whether to take a taxi or LRT in such after-work hour with traffic jams in every corner of the street. The Little India in KL is slightly different to the one in Sin. However, they’re both equally respected and encompass strong solidarity with other religion and culture. I guess that’s just the way all differences are supposed to be accepted, right? Without our ego, we’re all just one.

PS: At dinnertime, I had the best Tom Yam Goong ever! Freshly cooked by a Tamil-Indian near our hotel in Bukit Bintang. The sourness, the thickness, the shrimp, the calamari, each heavenly drop of it, superb! Additional satays we ordered was sort of suspicious, though…Pinkish, sweet-flavored, and the texture was somehow, not ‘beefy’.