Category: Travel

Chinese New Year 2010: KLCC Suria Decorations

Bradley Farless2 Comments

KLCC Suria Mall had some decorations set up for the Chinese New Year.  There were these neat looking decorations hanging from the ceiling:

As well as a stage set up with a woman playing a song on an instrument.

Also, near the rear exit by the fountain they had this screen set up.  Groups of people were posing in front of it to get their pictures taken.

The decorations look nice, but they seem a bit sterile to me.  I think Singapore will do it better.  I’m looking forward to seeing the Chinese New Year festivities later this month.

California Pizza Kitchen at KLCC Suria Mall

Bradley Farless2 Comments

While we were in Kuala Lumpur over the weekend we decided to go down to KLCC to look around and have dinner.  We weren’t sure what we wanted to eat but as we were looking at the electronic store guide I saw that there was a California Pizza Kitchen in the mall.

Neither of us had ever eaten there before so we gave it a try, with mixed results.

The ambience is very, very nice.  The place has a clean, uncluttered, modern look that was refreshing and relaxing.  Also, the service staff was incredibly friendly and helpful.  No complaints there.

The food wasn’t too bad, I guess, but what bothered me about it is that everything was incredibly oily.

The first thing we ordered was an appetizer.  I think it was called an ‘avocado turkey bacon roll’ or something along those lines.  It’s the first item on the menu under appetizers.  It was described as a fusion between Eastern and Western flavors and was basically a cheesy, gooey, extra greasy egg roll.

While eating the thing the hot grease was running out of the roll all over my fingers and forming a small puddle on my plate.  That’s a definite no go.  Also, the taste of the oil was a bit overpowering, to the point that I couldn’t even distinguish the taste of the avocado.

In fact, in this second photo you can actually see the grease dripping from it.

Shortly after finishing the appetizer the pizza showed up.  We got a thin crust ‘Sicilian’ pizza.  Thin crust pizzas are usually less greasy than full crust pizzas.  Unfortunately that’s not the case with CPK’s thin crusts.  It was oily as well.  We went ahead and finished the pizza, but after the second slice I could’ve walked away from it.

My wife and I have changed our eating habits over the last year and we’re consuming less and less oily foods.  It’s better for us, and less oily foods taste better anyway.  I was reminded again of how good Trattoria’s pizzas are in that 313 @ Somerset mall in Singapore.  CPK’s offering wasn’t even in the same league and cost nearly the same price.

The Best Way To Get From LCCT (Or KLIA) To Kuala Lumpur

Bradley Farless3 Comments

This is assuming you care about how thick your wallet is when you do get to the city.  If your only concern is speed then your best bet would be to just get the RapidKL train that goes from KLIA to KL Sentral.  I don’t think that train stops by the LCCT, but if you’re flying into the LCCT I doubt you’re going to want to ride that train anyway.  The last time I checked I think the tickets were 35 RM per person, per trip.

So, if you’re looking for the best way to get to Kuala Lumpur without paying excessively high fees, just use the bus.

LCCT

As you’re walking out of the LCCT terminal, just past customs, you’ll see some booths on the left with people selling tickets.  If you go through the sliding glass doors and see the sign for the toilet, you’ve gone too far.

You can get a round trip ticket, good for one month, on the Aerobus for 14 RM.  That’s a damn good deal and the ride isn’t bad at all.  The train gets you to KL Sentral in about 20 minutes.  The bus does it in 50 minutes for a fraction of the cost.

After you buy your tickets, exit through the sliding doors, walk forward until you see the McDonald’s, then make a right and follow the sidewalk down past the Mary Brown and the Coffee Bean (or Mr Bean?  forget which).  You’ll see buses pulled up along the sidewalk.  You need to find berth number 4.

The buses you’re looking for will look like this:

KLIA

There are similar buses going out of KLIA.  It may be the same operator, but I don’t remember for sure.  I’ve only flown into KLIA once, whereas I’ve gone through LCCT twice.  I can’t remember exactly how to get to the buses but there are signs.  The costs are nearly the same as well.  I think the tickets are 9 RM apiece.  I don’t know if there’s a deal for getting a round trip ticket.  Regardless, it’s still cheaper than a train and definitely cheaper than a taxi.

Bus Service Quality

If you’re wondering about the bus quality, they’re in good shape.  Depending on what countries you’ve been in you might be used to seeing beaten up buses.  That’s not the case with the buses shuttling between KLCC / KLIA and KL Sentral.

The buses are clean.  There’s no eating or drinking allowed onboard.  The seats are pretty comfortable and they recline.  It’s a luxury type bus with cushioned seats, rather than a city bus with hard plastic seats.  So, you get to really relax.  There’s no TV or radio in them but they are air conditioned.

KL Sentral

The buses all drop you off on the lower level of KL Sentral.  That’s good because most hotels / hostels / etc. are along the train or monorail routes and you can easily get to the train or monorail from the drop off point.

For the train, you just go up the stairs and into the building.  You can’t miss it.

For the monorail you have to go around the block that’s adjacent to KL Sentral.  Depending on how soon you go (relative to this post) you’ll notice that the area you have to go around is under construction. It’ll be to the right of the bus as it pulls in.  Your best bet is to just follow the crowd.  A lot of people will follow the sidewalk around to where the monorail is as they get off the bus.

Here’s a map to give you an idea:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=KL+Sentral&sll=1.352083,103.819836&sspn=1.022803,1.245575&ie=UTF8&hq=KL+Sentral&hnear=&radius=15000&ll=3.134088,101.686696&spn=0.071946,0.071946&output=embed
View Larger Map

(Zoom in to the see the building and the train, monorail and RapidKL drop off points.)

The bus will drop you off on the road that’s just below the RapidKL marker on this map.

Chow Kit Wet Market, Kuala Lumpur (Pictures)

Bradley Farless4 Comments

Just down the steps from the Chow Kit monorail station.

The busy Chow Kit wet market.

This photo was also taken in the Chow Kit wet market. The man is using a machine to shred coconut meat.

A neighborhood in the Chow Kit area.  The houses seem to be arranged in such a way that some don’t front the street at all.  You can see the blue house in the background which only has access to the road using a driveway.

Chow Kit street cats.

I took this photo from a bus when we were on our way back from the Batu Caves.  Mangay’s.  I just thought it was an interesting sign.  We saw a McCurry and a McBath along the same road.
I’m still very much looking forward to the next time we’ll get to visit Kuala Lumpur.  I miss the food and the excitement there.

McCurry and McBath

Bradley Farless1 Comment

Both of these photos were taken in Kuala Lumpur.

I saw this McCurry while riding a bus and had to rush to snap a photo of it.  This place is owned by a local business man and I remember reading about an 8 year legal battle they went through with McDonald’s, who sued them for trademark infringement.  In the end, the Malaysian courts ruled in favor of McCurry, which only makes sense.  I’m sure the name of this store was inspired by McDonald’s but how can you trademark the “Mc”?  Though not common to Malaysia, “Mc” is a common part of names.

I guess this place followed suit and took it a step further by equating the “Mc” with an American Standard.  I didn’t realize there was an American standard for McBaths or McToilets, but if you’re looking for McBathroom Fixtures this is the place for you.

The Running Green Man

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I’ve done quite a bit of traveling and I’m used to seeing things that are a bit different from what I’m accustomed to, but this one caught me by surprise.  In New York City the green lights for pedestrians have the word “WALK” in capital letters.  In Singapore the green pedestrian light is an image of a guy, accompanied by an audible alarm when you’re able to cross and meant to wait.

The pedestrian green lights in Kuala Lumpur are the coolest I’ve seen though.  What’s great about them is that they’re not just plain and boring; they’re animated!  Audible alarms are nice, especially for people with vision problems, so it would be great if they incorporated that, but watching that green running man is really entertaining.

Here’s a video of it:

Kuala Lumpur Trip: Hostel Cosmopolitan Review

Bradley Farless2 Comments

Hostel Cosmopolitan is located near the Chow Kit monorail station.  It’s a bit hard to find when you first get to Chow Kit, so make sure you take a map with you!  Also, don’t be put off by the outside of the building.  It’s a bit rough looking, but the interior is very clean and comfortable.  Hostel Cosmopolitan is one of the best places I’ve stayed, guest house or not.

I was a bit worried at first that the hostel was too far away from anything, but it’s actually within walking distance of quite a few eating establishments.  Not to mention the street out front gets filled with stalls selling everything from satay to stuffed animals.  That’s kinda fun, especially since the sellers aren’t over-aggressive like the ones on Jalan Petaling in Chinatown.  Also, the monorail is a pretty quick and fun means of transportation.  It takes about 20 minutes to get from KL Sentral (where you can switch to the RapidKL line) to Chow Kit and I think you can get off at Bukit Nanas and walk to the Petronas Towers.  There’s also a bus stop a few streets over where you can get a ride to the Batu Caves for roughly 2 ringgit.  So, don’t worry about the location.  It’s not bad at all.

One of the best parts about staying at Hostel Cosmopolitan was how many great people we met, starting with the staff.  The guy that greeted us and checked us in, named Mohammad Abdullah, was very friendly and very helpful.  He even let us have a real free meal when we showed up early and couldn’t check-in yet, but were starving because we’d missed breakfast.  The other guests were also very cool and some had some interesting stories to tell and tips to share.  Hostels tend to draw a fairly well traveled crowd.  We met people from the US, the UK, Australia, Pakistan, Greece and Italy (just to name a few) who had traveled all over Asia and South America.  During the mornings when everyone was getting ready to head out the door, they almost all stopped in at the kitchen area to grab a bite of the free breakfast.  We had some great conversations with the other guests there.

The amenities are also very good at Hostel Cosmopolitan.

I can’t comment much on the mixed dorms, since we stayed in a private room, but I didn’t hear anyone complaining about them and they looked fairly comfortable when I glanced in on my way down the hall.  Our bedroom was average sized.  It wasn’t very big, but it didn’t feel small either.  It had a place to hang our clothes, a set of shelves and a bed.  Sheets and towels are also provided.  The air conditioning was so cold at night that I woke up shivering and had to turn it off.  The only complaint I had with the room was that the air from the air conditioner didn’t smell very fresh.  It smelled a bit sour.  I don’t think it was just our room unit either because we could smell it in the hallway as well.  It wasn’t unbearable but hopefully it won’t be there the next time we go for a visit.

The community area has a lot of shelves with books to read, in case you get bored.  It also has a TV with cable.  I think it has a few movie channels on it too, but we didn’t spend much time watching it.  What little time we spent in the community room was usually spent in front of one of the desktop computers available for internet access.  The hostel also has wi-fi which I was able to use with my iPhone.  The internet service is all completely free to guests.  There is no hourly charge.  The TV hours in the community room are 8 AM to 11 PM.  The TV was usually on later than that, but Mohammad Abdullah let us know that if it was bothering us we could ask that it be turned off.  We never had a problem with noise there.  Everyone was considerate of each other.  Also, there’s no drinking allowed on the premises.  That probably helped.  There’s also no smoking allowed, but there is a ‘smoker’s corner’ in the stairwell just outside the hostel.

Interesting side note: Notice the guy with the long hair in the second photo in the above set.  He played Baldur’s Gate on his laptop non-stop for the three days we were there.  That must be a damn good game.

The kitchen area has a small range, a sink, and a storage area for dry goods.  There is a microwave, two toasters and a radio.  There’s no refrigerator available to guests.  I’m guessing that there might have been one before, but people probably didn’t keep up with what they put in it and it became too much of a hassle for the staff.  There is no refrigerator for guest use at all in Hostel Cosmopolitan but there is a 7-11 directly downstairs.  I think it’s open all night long.  Like I mentioned before, there’s a free breakfast set out in the kitchen area in the mornings between 9 am and 11 am.  It consists of toast and a choice of jam or margarine.  Each guest is allotted up to six pieces, but we never had more than 3 each.  I have to wonder at what happened to cause the management to have to put up a sign limiting the amount of bread a person could have.  Was someone snagging whole loaves and hoarding them?!

The toilet area was clean and ventilated.  The plumbing all worked well and the showers had warm to hot water.  The toilet area and shower area is all mixed, but the shower stalls have locking doors and are large enough to change in.  It’s also very well lit.  The hostel had a LOT of female guests while I was there and none of them seemed to have any issues with the arrangements.  The whole place felt pretty safe.

Speaking of security, there are wall lockers that can be used.  I’m not sure if locks are provided.

Also in the hallway are bulletin boards full of information.  If you’re ever at a loss for something to do, all you have to do is read the boards!  There are also warnings posted there, like information about taxi and gambling scams, like in the first photo.  In that particular case women, believed to be Filipinas, would lure lone tourists to their home, get them to gamble and then cheat the person out of their money.

And last but not least, Hostel Cosmopolitan has three cat residents.  My wife and I have two cats at home so this didn’t bother us.  It was, in fact, one of the reasons we selected the hostel from the list of potentials.  They really added to the atmosphere of the place.  It’s fun to sit and have breakfast while watching two cats chasing each other up and down the hallway, or to have a cat taking a nap on the table next to you while you use the desktop computer.

Naughty Nutty

Winnie

Mr. Jinja

Overall, the place is a great choice for a hostel to stay at in Kuala Lumpur.  It’s very affordable and more than that we both felt very comfortable and welcome there.  We had a lot more fun on this trip and I think that Hostel Cosmopolitan played a big part in it.  Mohammad Abdullah and Muhammad have really gone out of their way to make sure the place is as comfortable as possible for the guests and because of that, I’m looking forward to the next time we’ll have the chance to stay there.

Kuala Lumpur Trip: Day 3

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The last day of our trip was still an eventful one.  But, before I get into that I’d like to share this with you:

The previous day, after we got back from the Batu Caves and waited out the rain, we went downstairs and walked to the monorail station.  On our way we thought we saw a cat that had gotten run over in the street.  Turns out it wasn’t a cat!  I put my foot next to it for a frame of reference.  I wear a US 9 and I think a UK 43.  After seeing that rat we’d stopped to smoke and saw two more running around on a window sill on the building across from us.  I guess there are a lot of them in that area.

Anyhow, we got up on the third day with no clear goal in mind.  We had to check out at 11 am that morning.  We were able to leave our bags in the lobby area so that wasn’t a problem, but we wanted to go somewhere close by so it wouldn’t take us long to come back and get them before heading to the airport.  I wanted to go see the museums and art galleries, but decided it was a bit far away.  Then our stomachs made the choice for us.

On the small map we were given at Hostel Cosmopolitan we saw a place marked Kampung Baru.  It was close by and the description said it was a food center.  So, we went downstairs and headed in that direction.  I wound up leading us to the wrong street at first and thought the place wasn’t there anymore.  Luckily, we found it by accident!  I suggested we go down a side street and then we stumbled into Kampung Baru.

The place must be more lively at night because the map said that there are hundreds of stalls.  We only saw a few and wound up picking a really big one that had a huge crowd.  It’s always good to follow the crowd when it comes to eating establishments.

It doesn’t look like much, but the food was really good and it was really well priced.  When you walk in you get in line and self-serve yourself from the buffet tables.  There are a lot of selections available.  After you take your seat a guy (or girl) will come around and take your drink order.  They’ll also write you out a receipt that you take the counter when you’re done.  It seems to be a sort of honor system, but I guess they’ve had problems because I saw a sign that said theft would be prosecuted.  I think we paid about 16 ringgit total for the two of us, including our drinks.

After eating we decided to walk around and explore the area a bit.  We headed off into the neighborhood thinking we could walk straight to downtown.  Well, that turned out to be a minor disaster.  We wound up hitting an elevated highway.  We thought that at some point we’d be able to cross over or under it, but the road we were on kept going until it turned left and went further into the neighborhood.  We had to double back and get on the RapidKL train at Kampung Baru station.   It was good exercise though and we got to see a regular Kuala Lumpur neighborhood which was nice.

Speaking of the RapidKL station… it looks familiar doesn’t it?  People who’ve been to Singapore will know what I mean.

We took the train over to KLCC.  We were hot and tired after walking around, not to mention we were still a bit worn out from all the walking and stair climbing we did the day before, so we figured a good cool mall would be just the place to relax.  Suria KLCC looked pretty much the same as I remembered it.  The only thing that had changed was the central display area.  Instead of a Lego competition there was a huge, garish set-up for some perfume.  I don’t remember what brand.  The Legos were cooler in my opinion.

We sat around for a bit at Starbucks.  I had one of those toffee nut lattes and surfed the net on my iPhone for a while using the free wi-fi.  We also spent some time in the huge Kinokuniya bookstore.  I’ve always loved bookstores and I could get lost in that one for days!

We didn’t have much time left before we had to go get our bags, so we spent the last few minutes of our time in Kuala Lumpur enjoying the area outside the Suria KLCC mall (which is below the Petronas Twin Towers if you don’t know).  The last time we were in Kuala Lumpur the weather wasn’t as nice and it was raining while we were there.  This time we got a chance to look around.

The area is really nice.  There were a lot of people sitting around talking and smoking.  If you look at that second picture you’ll see there’s even a pool area.  The statues of the whale and dolphins was a nice touch too.

After that we took the RapidKL to KL Sentral, then switched to the monorail and went to Chow Kit, then… went back to KL Sentral and got there just in time for the 6:30 PM bus back to Kuala Lumpur International Airport. We realized on the way to Chow Kit just how roundabout of a way we took.  It looked like one of the stations (Bukit Nanas I think it was) was almost right behind the pool area we’d seen. We’ll just keep that in mind for next time.

The bus ride back to KLIA wasn’t too bad at all.  The air conditioning was cold and the total ride time was only an hour.  It didn’t take us long at all to get through the check-in line and immigration check-point.  A short flight later we were back in Singapore.

Tomorrow: A review of Hostel Cosmopolitan, the guest house we stayed at during our trip.

Kuala Lumpur Trip: Manga Exposition at Sungai Wang

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On our second day in Kuala Lumpur we stopped by Bukit Bintang.  While exploring the area we looked around in a mall called Sungai Wang.  I was excited to see that there was a manga exposition set up in the events area.  I’ve had an interest in manga and anime for quite a few years, but I’ve never been to an expo so this was an interesting experience for me.  These sorts of things just aren’t that common in the US, where manga and anime are still considered strange by most people.   I didn’t recognize the name of the publishing company but I got the impression that the event was highlighting and rewarding local talent.  It was nothing major and was set up in a small area but it was packed with people and very exciting.

I took the time to walk around and examine the different storyboards that had been set on display and browsed the racks of manga for sale.  Unfortunately, most of them had been written in Chinese and Bahasa Melayu, so I didn’t see anything in my language that suited my interests.  I’d really been hoping to leave with a keepsake.  The items being sold were limited to two per customer so I assume they’re limited run prints.

If you can read Chinese and / or Bahasa Melayu and want to find out more about the event, it was called Gempak Starz 2009 and you can get to the website by clicking through on that name.  Their site is graphics heavy so it’ll load slow.

Here are the photos I took:

1

This is the main stage area.  I think each cardboard cut-out was done by one of the manga artists whose work was represented at the event.

2

These black boards were set up with manga storyboard panels on them.  Some of them were more complete than others, but none seemed to have any text.  A few had empty speech bubbles but most didn’t even have that.  I was impressed by how detailed some of the drawings are.  Two board sections had color images with ribbons marking them as finalists or winners in a competition.

6 5 4 3

This board was set up in another part of the event area.  Each character drawn here has a signature next to it.  I’m thinking that these were done by each of the artists represented at the event.  Maybe it’s their representation of themselves or maybe it’s their main characters in their mangas.  I don’t have a clue since we walked in on the event late and had missed the opening day.

9

Later in the evening, after having dinner and looking around a bit, we walked back through the event area and saw that they were doing a giveaway.  There was a glass display case with anime-style swords in it off to the left of the stage.  Those swords might have been one of the grand prizes.  We stopped to watch for a while.  We didn’t understand everything being said but there was a lot of cheering and laughing and everyone seemed to be having a good time, especially the kids that were there.

7

8

We also saw these two girls in kick ass maid cosplay. They worked there as part of the event crew. As they walked around the room I think they were handing out fliers.  Oh, and they had candy in their baskets.

Kuala Lumpur Trip: Day 2

Bradley Farless1 Comment

Our second day in Kuala Lumpur was very fun, but also very tiring.

Our first stop of the day was the Batu Caves.  The Batu Caves are a Hindu temple that has been in use since the 1890s and is still a major tourist attraction today.  It is also still used for worship, especially during the holy festival of [insert festival name here] at the end of January.  This celebration draws about a million visitors over the course of three days.

When you approach the Batu Caves the first thing you’ll notice, likely before you even notice the entry arch decorated with Hindu gods, is the giant golden statue that stands at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the caves.  The thing is huge!

After that you might notice the monkeys.  When we first walked up to the stairs we saw a few hanging off the bars and walking on the concrete because people were feeding them.  As we began to ascend the stairs we realized that there were monkeys everywhere.  Some were fighting, some were begging, a few were playing, and we even saw one pair having wild monkey sex on the staircase handrail.  Ya, really.  Later, on the way down we also saw a monkey snatch a lady’s bag away from her to get the food inside.  They can be pretty mean when you have food and don’t give it to them.

The caves themselves are fairly impressive.  The statues weren’t anything we hadn’t seen already, except for the huge one out front, so we were mostly there to see the caves themselves.  When you get to the top of the stairs (there are 272) you’ll be at the entrance to the first cave.  You descend a short flight of stairs into the first chamber and then, when you’re done looking around, you walk up another flight of steps to the next area.  I wouldn’t quite call the next spot a cave since it’s completely open to the air on top.  It’s very cool to look at though.

What disappointed me about the Batu Caves is that they’re in a serious state of disrepair.  I’m not sure what’s going on in there, but the edges were all littered with garbage.  The lower portions of the walls were also covered with graffiti.  I also noticed that a lot of the small stalagmites within arm’s reach were broken off.  I wonder if they were broken into pieces and sold to pilgrims in the past?  Regardless, it makes the lower portions of the caves look really cheap and filthy.  Don’t let that discourage you from going though.  The upper portions are still really nice.  Click through on the photos for a better look.

Oh, and be careful on your way down!  The stairs are very small and steep!

After leaving the Batu Caves we went back to the guest house we were staying at and relaxed for a while.  Those stairs are tiring!  It had started raining too, and who wants to walk around in that?

After a few hours we got back up and went to Bukit Bintang.  We had no clue what was there, but saw it listed as a place tourists should visit so we stopped to check it out.  It was only a few stops away from Chow Kit on the monorail.  It looks like a small version of Singapore’s Orchard Road.

Across the street from where you exit the monorail is a very posh mall called Lot 10, which was almost completely deserted.  The place didn’t seem all that popular.  I wasn’t surprised.  The stores there all seemed to carry very high end items that most people wouldn’t want to be bothered with anyway.

The one cool place we did see there was Jackie Chan’s tea and coffee cafe.  Jackie Chan must like his tea and coffee with a little kick because there were bottles of Grey Goose vodka lining one side of the bar.  Other than the fact that the place had Jackie Chan’s name on it, the couches you sit on are incredibly luxurious.  The bottom portion is very long, so you remove your shoes, climb up, lean back and relax.  Each sitting area has a set of small tables that swivel so you can arrange them the way that’s comfortable for you.

The mall across the street, called Suleng Wang (sp?) was jam packed with people.  It’s huge too.  You wouldn’t be able to tell from the outside but there are hallways running off from the central area that seem to go on forever.  It was definitely the more popular of the two malls and it was so packed it was hard to walk around without having to constantly sidestep people.  I got the impression it was a popular hangout location.

By the way, what’s up with KFC in Malaysia?  There was a KFC in Suleng Wang mall that was huge and it seemed like there was a KFC at every monorail stop.

On the bottom floor of the main area there was a small manga event for what seemed to be local artists.  There were black dividers set up with manga storyboards on display.  There was a stage with figure cutouts, a case with manga style swords, and booths selling manga and merchandise.  I’ll post more about it tomorrow, including photos of girls in maid cosplay!

We spent about 4 hours wandering around the Bukit Bintang area.  It seems to be a major shopping hub.  We saw another mall that I can’t remember the name of that was full of electronics stores.  If you’re from Singapore, think Sim Lim but with the looks of Tampines 1.

After that, it was about 10pm so we took the monorail back to Chow Kit station where we kicked back and relaxed in the guest house for a while.  We wound up going back out at around midnight for more satay!

More tomorrow!