Sunday 4 August 2013

Day Twenty Four & Twenty Five - Kuala Lumpa - Malaysia


I woke up in the early of hours of the morning in Penang to the sound of a massive storm. Our room was being lit up by lightning constantly and the wind howling through the high rise buildings. The sea was crashing so hard on the beach outside you could feel its strength from floor seventeen of the hotel. Scaffolding from the building bring constructed opposite was being blown over and crashing to the ground. I was getting worried that our flight to Kuala Lumpa would be delayed in only a few hours time.

We woke up at six and drove in the dark to the airport south of the island. The sky was still flashing with lightning and rain was falling heavily. Already the traffic was bad and it took just over half an hour to get to the airport only a few kilometres away. However, by the time the sun had risen at eight and we were boarding the plane, all signs of the storm had passed. There was hardly a puddle left on the ground and the sky was bright and blue, it's strange how the weather can change so fast here!



We arrived in Kuala Lumpa in less than an hour and had caught a taxi and arrived at our hotel by half ten in the morning. We were booked into the Trader's hotel just opposite to the twin Petrona's towers for the night. We checked in and were taken up to our room on the twenty seventh floor with views looking out over the city which was beautiful.

We dropped off our things and set out to find some fresh clothes at the local super mall. We felt a little rough round the edges now after travelling for nearly four weeks and didn't have the right attire for a smart dinner! We walked a few hundred meters on the sky walk which links major sites in KL's city centre up to one another. Within minutes we had made our way over the busy traffic and streets below to the Pavilion Mall. Inside it opens up into a brand new state of the art Mall with everything you need under one roof and it's beautifully air conditioned too.

We spent a couple of hours in the mall finding a new outfit each to wear to dinner the next few nights in KL and Singapore. We had decided to spend the last few nights of our holiday in luxury hotels to scrub up, relax and enjoy some nice dinners out before we flew home.

At the far end of the mall there was a section called little Tokyo which along with lots of Japanese stores had a section full of restaurants too. We stopped off at one of the many restaurants for a Bento box each which filled us up after or busy shopping trip.

Later in the afternoon, after walking back in the air conditioned sky walk to our hotel a few blocks away, we went to the top floor of our hotel for a swim. We were definitely spoilt at this hotel, the service was amazing and the facilities faultless. We enjoyed a quick swim before getting scrubbed up into our new clothing and going to the members bar for our free cocktails! We watched out over the city of Kuala Lumpa while the sunset over a city that's representative of the future of Malaysia.

The architecture, malls, hotels and transport here are all reflective of a new city that's developing at a fast pace. Everything works and runs on time while being clean and tidy at the same time. It's a truly amazing place but can also mislead you as to what Malaysia really is if it's the only place you visit. Looking back to our stay in Penang, which appears to be a city somewhere on the middle of a sea saw that represents old and new Malaysia. In Penang they also seem to be in such a race to develop that they have forgotten the heritage of the old town a little bit and seem to be accidentally leaving it behind. Hopefully though, as time goes by, they will find a successful way of merging the two together at a more slowed down pace without rushing to build high-rises that will look ugly and outdated in a matter of years.



In the evening we decided to eat in our hotel in Kuala Lumpa as it is rated as one of the best in town. I guess we should have got out and explored the surroundings of the city a bit more than we did, but we had absorbed so much information, from so many different places in the last month that it was nice to just eat, have a glass of wine and enjoy a fantastic hotel. The food was amazing and it was also nice to have a good steak after four weeks too!

We enjoyed our meal, then headed up to the top floor swimming pool to enjoy a cocktail with a cheesy eighths DJ for entertainment. The view is just as amazing in the night with the city lit up to every horizon! I would definitely come back to Kuala Lumpa in the future and the Traders hotel I wish we had more thank a night there!

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