February 9th – 15th 2017

I flew from Manila, Philippines with Air Asia to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, it was one of the most turbulent flights I have experienced, but also to my surprise the aircraft was sprayed with I don’t know what. I did not have full disclosure of this procedure happening, therefore I was surprised and not happy at all, as I do not know what chemicals were sprayed and how harmful they are, or for what reason the cabin needed to be sprayed, thus I sent off a complaint letter via email to Air Asia wanting answers. After a few days of no response sent off another email, response being…be patient we’re looking into this. I even went into a service centre while in KL to talk with someone face to face about this matter, the service agents were useless and could not help me at all, very frustrating.

Anyways I landed in KL, took a bus from airport to Chinatown area for 11 ringgits, one can also take the train too which probably would have been faster, but a little more cost. The bus ride was about 1 1/4hrs or so. I suggest the train as one gets off at the Pasar Seni station and it is just a short walk to all of the affordable hostels and guest houses in the area and there are many. I stayed at Suzie’s Guesthouse KL which cost me 26 ringgits ($7.65CAD.) a night for dormitory room although they have free breakfast, it’s not much of a breakfast, white bread, jam and 3 in 1 coffee, that’s it. But the showers are extremely hot, and it is a very quiet place and close to bus and train transportation and near Chinatown, but then as with all the other hostels because they all appear to be in the same area.
Talking to another traveler, she stayed at Mingles Hostel in Chinatown and for the same price a better breakfast and she said she’d like to live there that’s how nice it was…..so one has choices.
So because it’s not much of a breakfast at Suzie’s as I do not like sugar or whitener powder in my coffee, I’ve bought breakfast just a few doors down at a place called ‘Lucy in the Sky Cafe, great place for coffee, although a little pricey and the omelettes very tasty and very quick to get after ordering. They do have a few vegetarian meals on the menu which I appreciated, again a little pricey but good tasting meals.

First place I needed to go to was the authorized Olympus repair centre for this camera to be repaired, found out it’s the lens and too costly to repair and thus it was suggested to send back to Canada for warranty repair, I wish I did this in the first place 2 months ago instead of being without a camera for so long. Perhaps I would have had it back now using it.

I ventured out one morning to see the Petronas Twin Towers to go up and take photos of the city from a high viewpoint, but apparently one must arrive early in the morning like around 8:30am because I was told tickets were sold out for the day at 11:30am. The next day I was standing in line at 8:50am, and I just missed the cut off for tickets being sold for the day, so it appears tickets sell out within 15 minutes. After this I was told of a free viewpoint, well for the cost of a drink, it is at Traders Hotel and one goes up to the ‘Skybar’ for a drink and free viewing of Kuala Lumpur.
Now from the hostel it looked as if I could walk to the Twin Towers and knowing myself I could have no problem, (actually another day I did, on my way to walking to the KL Tower), but I took the train because it was just behind me like only 1 block away and it was only 4 stops to get there, from Pasar Seni station to KLCC station for a cost of 2.10 ringgits (.60CAD) Now there is a free bus service that takes one around and throughout the city also, after walking to KL Tower and the to Petronas Twin Towers, I took the free bus service back to Pasar Seni, with one transfer of buses.

So nearby walking distance at the Twin Towers, there is a big tourist Aquarium attraction, so since I was in the area I partook in the attraction and for the 64 ringgits ($18.85 CAD) it was worth it I suppose although I truly feel animals and marine life should not be prisoners in cages and tanks for the rest of their lives for man’s personally gratification, just a personal feeling with me. But so many fish and marine life, with a tank just for Piranhas and a great number of them, a tunnel for viewing sharks, sea turtles, sting rays and every other kind of fish on each side of you and over your head, very cool. These fish are plentiful in numbers and size, the tanks are very big as I saw three scuba divers in the tanks, one was vacuuming the sand clean, while the other two were feeding the fish, fish…mmmm…..does this mean they’re cannibals and if so what’s stopping them from eating each other. Apparently there is another aquarium attraction at KL Towers too.

After viewing the aquarium when I popped outside I had a beautiful view of the Petronas Twin Towers and a little walking around more lovely views of a water park and more beautiful buildings and skyscrapers, this area was called the, ‘KLCC Park’ very cool because one has a 360 degree panoramic view of buildings and yet standing in centre of park with water fountains. I enter the ground floor of the Twin Towers once again and many, many expensive shops like Gucci, so if you have deep pockets and like to shop this is the mall for you, it’s a huge shopping mall and a few levels too, along with food courts of just about whatever you wish to eat or drink.

Also nearby the hostel or Pasar Seni station is the Central Market, also referred to as Pasar Seni Centra Market apparently built in 1888, with more than 350 shops and kiosks in a bazaar-like concept. This place has just about everything anyone could want for Malaysian handicraft, batik, souvenirs, antiques, collectables and local artists. There is every kind of souvenir one can think of relating to Malaysia as I bought my Malaysian flag pin for the cap from here, and there is also an area called ‘Little India’, and upstairs clothing, and garments of beautiful bold bright colours of everything. Do check it out if your into buying some colourful authentic looking local clothing or endless souvenirs choices.

Just up from Suzie’s Guesthouse is a Hindu Temple called Sri Mahamariammam Temple this is extremely colourful filled with so many character statues, it is awesome looking, so much detail and work went into this creation on the outside of the Temple. It is the oldest Hindu temple in Kuala Lumpur. The temple apparently was built in 1873, but in 1968 the original structure was replaced with the current building of today, having a five-tier gopuram (tower) which is carved in South Indian style, with 228 brightly coloured figurines from the Indian epic, Ramayana. Admission is free, finally no charge. I really do not believe in all of these admission fees, as everything is all paid for. It’s funny how people do not realize this or ask someone if they had everything that they needed or wanted to do, would you be willing to help, work for free a few hours a day and looking out for another for the betterment of all and everything on this planet we call home? It seems to me the answer is yes, but actions show different as man wants to pay for everything and still not be able afford everything he needs or wants to do, because he believes in the illusionary idea of ownership, therefore does not realize everything is all paid for already.

In this area called Pasar Seni or Central Market, the tourist brochure lists attractions to see within walking distance all from the Pasar Seni Central Market.
1) Petaling Street 3 min. walk;
2) Masjid Jamek 5 min. walk;
3) Lebuh Ampang (Little India) 5 min. walk;
4) Sultan Abdul Samad Building 5 min. walk;
5) Guan Di Temple 2 min. walk;
6) KL Bird Park 20 min. walk;
7) Sri Mahamariammam Temple 3 min. walk;
8) The National Mosque 15 min. walk

In this area there is a strong influence of Indian, Chinese, Arabic cultures and Muslim religion, which is pretty good if you like eating different foods. I have been told all of Malaysia is very multicultural.
It appears lots of construction happening here in KL with many towers being constructed and cranes everywhere, I thought this was a good thing for KL economy and keeping the local Malaysians employed, but told that Malaysians don’t like to do this type of hard work and thus many of the workers come from Indonesia. Also many of these high rises unfortunately sit empty due to being built upon speculation of the booming years, but construction continues all over.
I am not a big fan of paying so many fees as they add up quickly for someone who needs to conserve money to travel, and I was told about a free Cultural Dance Performance and I highly recommend this very entertaining and bright colourful costumes of dancing and singing, again a free daily venue at 3pm except Sunday’s and public holidays, lasting for 1 hour of great entertainment.

My one week stay was short, as so many things to see and explore but I did get a taste of the city life and needed to see other parts of this very diversified country and smaller cities. I want to visit Phuket, Thailand, so I decided to travel north of KL to Taiping by bus told about a 4 hour ride and it cost me 27 ringgits.