When T paid a visit to Kuala Lumpur from the UK some time ago during the summer holidays, I had to play tour guide – so I took the week off to show him around the city.

Our day started off at the LRT at 7am, where I took him for his first ‘mamak’ session with a roti canai and Milo Ais. It’s funny coz he hasn’t had dhaal before (I thought there were lots of Indian shops in the UK?). He kept marveling at how cheap the food here is, coz a bowl of wantan mee in Hong Kong where he teaches is about 30HKD, and an average meal in the UK is a few pounds. Our meal came up to just RM7, which is slightly less than two pounds.

Constructed in 1995, Menara KL or KL Tower is an important landmark in the heart of the city. It is used as a communications tower (as well as a tourist attraction), and is the 7th tallest freestanding tower in the world. The place is open to the public and even has a viewing deck /restaurant on the top floor. This is the highest point in the city, even higher than the twin bridges at the nearby Petronas Twin Towers.

T and I got there early, so we walked around for a bit and visited the free cultural village at the tower’s base.

Everything is overpriced and expensive here. They have an aquarium and a mini zoo, but each one needs a separate entry fee. Even going up to the tower cost us about RM80.

A rare 100-year old jelutong tree at the tower’s base.

Looking at the various different types of traditional Malay kampung houses in the Cultural Village. They were categorised according to different states, and each state has their unique architecture and style.

The one above, for example, is how a ‘Rumah Sabah’ (Sabahan house) looks like, with the bamboo steps, partitioned room and windows, and ‘living hall’ in the front. The one on the bottom is the Sarawak rumah panjang (longhouses), home to the indigenous Iban tribes of Sarawak.

The inside of an open-air Rumah Selangor (traditional Selangor Malay house). It’s surprisingly cooling inside despite the blistering hot weather. Much better than cement and concrete homes!

The tower opened at 9. The lift ride up to the observatory (276ms high ) took one full minute. I wish they had a glass lift, like the one in Macau, but since KL tower is a communications tower, so they didn’t. Back when I was a kid it used to be the tallest comms tower in the world. I haven’t been up here since the 1990s.

The observatory boasts a breathtaking view of the surrounding city landscapes and the limestone hills that ring it. We were lucky coz the weather was clear.

I live near KL and I didn’t know KL looked so awesome from above lol.

There were also binoculars around the observatory which super zooms in so that you can stalk random people on the street.

Ticket prices: RM52 (non-Malaysian adults), RM32 (MyKad holders); RM31 (non-Malaysian kids) & RM21 (MyKid)

Menara Kuala Lumpur
No. 2 Jalan Punchak Off Jalan P.Ramlee
50250 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia

Tel: +603 2020 5444

Getting There 

Via Monorail – get off at Bukit Nanas station. KL Tower is a short walk uphill from there. 

Took a cab to KLCC. Considering it was so near, the ride was RM15 (!?) wtf what a ripoff.

The plan was to go to Petrosains, then Aquaria, but he got super tired halfway (probably coz of jetlag) so we ended up leaving early.

I haven’t been back in Petrosains since my high school days. Nothing much has changed. Which is kinda sad coz if you don’t keep your things new and updated, people will get bored. Most of the science exhibits were rather run down, but there were a couple of interesting ones that required hands-on experimenting. The dark ride in that ball thingy was still cool.

Didn’t manage to go to Aquaria coz he wanted to sleep, so just spent the rest of the day chilling.

Took him to Taman Connaught night market in Cheras for dinner…and I reversed into someone’s car. That left a huge dent in my backside. I’m hoping the guy I hit wouldn’t call me up for repairs, coz my car was hit way worse than his. >:

Anyway, I was pretty shaken up, so I drowned myself in junk food. No pictures coz the place was SO CROWDED. It’s one of the longest night markets I’ve been to, stretching across a whole kilometer. We had Taiwanese pizza, fried sausages, fried Arisan squid, fried ice-cream, curry fishballs, otak-otak and a tonne of random snacks.