We took a flight out of Bangalore to Singapore. We were misled by some folks in Blr that there were frequent train connections from Sin to Kul (Kualalumpur) and the travel time would be about 2-3 hours. On landing into the beautiful Changi Airport we took a metro to the nearest station for continuing our journey to Kul. We reached the station and got to know that the train would be leaving in less than 5 minutes; we quickly purchased the tickets and literally ran towards the train. We reached there just in time and managed to jump into the train which was about to move. We were in for a shock when we came to know that the train journey would take us about 7 hours!!!!!!!! We had the major part of the day wasted in the journey. Not that the journey was bad, but we were disappointed that we would get so much less time in Kul. We could see the landscape changing from the hi-tech city of Sin to the lush green country side of Kul.
We always make it a point when we travel outside India to travel by the mass transport system. Traveling by local busses or trains just helps us to blend with the locals and have a peek into a normal day in their lives. It’s very rare that we take up a taxi ride. On arrival into KL Sentral Station we walked over to the mono-rail station which was a few minutes walk away. We purchased out tickets and took the first elevated train ride of our lives. As we smoothly sailed through the ride we got to see the city. A beautiful city, growing closer by the minute to modernity but still firmly attached to their roots. The city was all decked up, all around we could see offices and shops all beautifully decorated. It was Chinese New Year time!!
By the time we reached the hotel it was nearly 4 pm in the evening. We quickly checked in, rushed to our room and freshened up. Our room was on the 13th floor and from our room we could see the Petrona Towers. Our stomach was growling loudly……did I tell you….. through the whole train journey we could not get anything to eat as there were no stations and we could not find a pantry area in the train. We hit the hotel restaurant for a very late lunch or should I say a heavy snack round :D. Once our tummy’s growling reduced we saw it was too late to go anywhere far. So we went to the travel desk and arranged for our city tour the next morning and went out to explore the near by places on foot.
View of Petrona Towers from our Hotel room.
I was a little disappointed to find the walkways a little dirty with bits of garbage and a huge amount of rotten oranges strewn around. We got to see most of the shops decorated and another thing that we got to see was next to most of the displays there were a couple of oranges arranged. It’s later that we found out that they were auspicious for the Chinese and this being the new year time they had placed it like an offering to the God. After a relishing meal we wound up to our room. With the lights of the room switched off we admired the brilliantly lit up Petrona Towers and the sky line of Kul. Down below we could see the Monorail zooming by silently.
The next morning we were off on our city tour. The tour was on a seat-in-coach basis, so we had a group ranging from kids to people so old that we were in awe on how they manage taking out vacations on their own at this age………….The tour started of at Jalan Tugu - The War Memorial of Malaysia. The main attraction being a huge Bronze statue comprising of 7 men which is dedicated to the men who lost their life for the sake of the country’s freedom. It was a beautiful place, with a very peaceful surrounding. Just the right atmosphere for a War Memorial.
The War Memorial
The next place we were shown was the Menara tower on the way to Merdeka Square. Here we got to see the Sultan Abdul Samad building that houses the present day Court of Law. It’s a beautiful architectural monument constructed during the British rule. Opposite to the building proudly stood a 100 meter flag pole, the one on which the Malaysian flag was hoisted when the country got their freedom from British rule.
Merdeka Square
From there we moved on to see the Royal Palace. Not really cause visitors are not allowed beyond the main entrance, so we could only get a distant view of the palace. We got to click a couple of pictures of the guards, who by the way looked really stately and grand in those uniforms.
Our next stop was at the famous Batik factory. Here we were given a tour of the factory; we got to see how beautifully the prints were made in no time. The creative hands worked wonders on the simple cotton and synthetic materials. We visited the showroom that displayed the different clothing made at the factory. From here our next stop was at the Royal Selangor Pewter factory. On the way we were shown the famous Batu Caves(famous Murugan temple), but unfortunately they did not stop there so we could only view the place from outside. Once at the Pewter factory we were given a full tour of the factory and also the whole process of turning that ordinary looking metal into beautiful show pieces. We were totally new to this metal, but for sure we fell head over heels in love with it. How quickly it set into the shape required from a watery form. As good as it looks; it was a very pricy metal too. The Souvenirs were very inviting but the price tag burnt our tender eyes :D.
Pewter Factory
Our last stop for the day was the main attraction or rather the landmark of Kul- The Petrona Twin Towers. What looked like a beautiful landmark from the cozy comforts of our room was an overpowering building. As we walked closer to it we were in awe. Both of us hurt our neck by trying to look at the tower from its base. The group was given an option of either returning to the hotel in the same coach or we could break journey out there. SM and I decided to break journey and do a little bit of window shopping and of course put some fuel into our empty stomach.
The Petrona - Twin Towers
Chinese Musicians playing some lovely music within the Mall for the Chinese New Year Celebration (It was truly Heavenly.........)
This was our first time in a full fledged mall (this was prior to the Mall boom in Bangalore), we had a good time doing some window shopping. Then we hit the food court, where we got to see stalls with cuisines from all around the world. We were in no mood for experimentation, so landed up eating some delicious Indian food.After a tiring day we returned to out hotel room. We got freshened up and got ready to catch up with some relatives who were settled out in Kul for many decades. They wanted us over for dinner, so we were picked up from our hotel by them and taken to their home which was on the other end of the city.
A very warm family, whom we had never met before made us feel total at home. They wanted to treat us to some local cuisine, so off we went to a local Malay restaurant. The ambience was good, with more than 90% of the crowd being young guys and girls. There were tables where some birthday celebrations were going on; some folks just chilling out and the rest of the crowd were families out for a relaxing dinner. We had a good time minus the fact that the food was not one bit our kind of choice. But the lovely people that they were, we had a perfect ending to a perfect day.
The next day we bid farewell to this beautiful land, a little sad that we should have planned it a little better and stayed on for longer duration. But with a promise that we would come back here on a well planned and longer holiday for sure…………..
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