(Updated again at 2:16 Am to clear up a few typos sorry. And I still want to get yo by 9 Am to hear if the Penguins can finally win a game and to see the snow in Pittsburgh while it is still 80 degrees here.)
With a flight time of 9:30 I arranged in advance for private driver Kenneth On to pick us up at our apartment at 7:30 Am. Kenneth is the one the Pan Pacific Orchard Suites hired to pick me up from the Singapore Changi Airport when I had first arrived and I had kept his card.
Kenneth is a very experienced driver and had just spent a week driving Malaysian dignitaries around Singapore for the ASEAN economic conference a couple weeks ago that Putin, Pence and many world leaders attended.
We took the 45 minute flight to Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of neighboring Malaysia, or “KL” as the locals and most others in Asia apparently call it.
I think we picked this place as it was one of the shortest and least expensive flights from Singapore (often under 100 dollars) so we thought it would be another good start to our mini trips after doing Bintan Indonesia last weekend. More than one person had told us that “all it is is a big city with the twin Petronas Towers” but a couple others really liked its vibe, etc. so we decided to give it a go.
The flight on Jetstar (Australia’s Quantas Airlines budget carrier) was very easy so we may try them again as they go to a lot of places from Singapore. I had originally tried logging onto “Scoot”, another budget airline with a “yellow” color scheme and prompts at every booking turn that looked suspiciously like Spirit Airlines in the US if any of you had squeezed into their no frills seats with questions at every turn like “are you sure you don’t want to upgrade” or “pay 15 dollars for 3 more kilograms of weight” above their maximum of 7.5 kilos which is about 17 pounds. I even endured all that and added taxes and fees but had trouble getting it to take my credit card so I finally gave up and used Jetstar which was actually about 100 dollars cheaper!
Jennifer Hollingsworth, you would be proud and amazed as the only piece of luggage I carried was my gray breathing machine bag where I also stuffed in power adapters. toilet articles, a pair of underwear one shirt and my medicine! And I carried it down to the scale in our fitness center and it i it weighed 3.9 kilos! Turns out they didn’t really check or weigh anything unless it was obviously oversized but it was nice to carry one bag rather than 2-3 that I normally take even for a short trip.
It did take us a while to clear customs in KL but when we got to the Arrival Hall, our driver Ameer was waiting for us with a sign. I had researched several tours and on Trip Advisor KL Taxi a particular driver “Rosli” kept coming up with glowing reviews.
Ameer was very nice, spoke good English and was quite knowledgeable when you asked questions but he didn’t volunteer information on his own so apparently “he was no Rosli” but he did know him and said that Rosli was usually booked up two to three months in advance so future travelers keep that in mind. Phone number for KL or maybe just Ameer for our future reference is +60 176848253 although I think we hit most of the KL highlights.
The KL airport is about an hour away from downtown KL after a long immigration clearance wait so we met Ameer who had parked in an adjacent parking garage that was quite crowded so after walking quite a way we went to the sixth floor where he couldn’t find his taxi and remembered that it was on the fifth floor. But instead of going down one floor we went all the way down and then back up again and finally found the taxi so which I gave an ugly American “nice start Ameer” shout out. But we all laughed and headed out for the 55 minute drive.
Along the way Susan started asking questions about the massive number of trees along the road, most of them in evenly spaced rows.
Ameer told us most of these were Palm Trees that grow the Palm Tree fruit used primarily in cooking oil and responsible for employing over 500,000 people.
Later when we arrived at the Hilton Kuala Lumpur and I was reading the paper it turns out that we were on the cutting edge again with current news as the EU is considering banning Palm oil due to the deforestation of the trees and impact on orangutans that live there. One of its supermarket chains Iceland even started a campaign to eliminate Palm Oil from its products but even they were called out by Piers Morgan for still having many products containing Palm oil.
Another article sets forth a defense of the palm tree industry noting that 136 percent of Malaysia’s economy is due to exports versus the worldwide average of 56 percent and that growing is being done in an environmentally responsible manner etc. So who knew we were stepping into this quagmire with Susan’s question? Yes, this blog is not just about Jim’s mishaps but seeks to educate as well. I of course express no views on the Palm tree controversy.
Our schedule with Ameer included round trip taxis to and from the airport and this two day eight hour schedule all for about 150 dollars. Our friends Steve and Shamus had advised against trying to navigate on our own the first time in KL due to confusion at the airport etc. even though it looked like the train going next to our hotel was very easy to get. But as we walked to the car in the 85 degree heat we agreed that taking the air conditioned cab was the way to go. Here was the planned schedule:
Day 1 – 6pm – 10pm
– KL Tower
– Petronas Tower
– Merdeka Square
– Sultan Abdul Samad Building
– Chinatown
Day 2 – start at 2 pm
– Batu Caves
– Putrajaya Sightseeing
– Airport Drop Off at 5:30 for 8:30 return to Singapore.
We were dropped off at the 5-Star Kuala Lumpur Hilton around 12 noon and due to Susan’s Gold Status (down from Diamond with less work travel) we were given an upper level King Size Lake View Room, along with Executive Lounge access and choice of free breakfast downstairs or in the Executive Lounge.
We could see the Lake and gorgeous winding pool below but we left our bathing suits due to concern about the weight limit and busy schedule so too bad for us.
With Ameer due back at 6 Pm we took a nap and woke up in time for Afternoon Tea in the Executive Lounge at 3 Pm. It was delicious with scones (Hey, Marilyn Zawoyski do you remember the “scone” staff meetings I used to hold for the Federal Income Tax Group at USS back in 1987-88 and that Carl Radke continued after I took John Rowland’s place as Director of Taxes for the steel group?). I certainly did and the scones and sandwiches and hot tea were great.
Ameer showed up promptly at 6 Pm and drove us around several parts of the city including the twin Petronas Towers where Petronas Oil is headquartered and which used to be the tallest buildings in the world from 1998-2004. Fortune ranks Petronas as the 75th largest company in the world in 2013. Fortune also ranks Petronas as the 12th most profitable company in the world and the most profitable in Asia. It is wholly owned by the Malaysian Government.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petronas_Towers
We took pictures in front of the towers and then after driving past a couple of museums and nightlife areas we headed to the KL Tower, which is the 7th largest tower in the world and provides great views including views of the Petronas Towers. Unfortunately there was a long queue to get up and one of the elevators was broken so we were among the last ones to visit that evening.
We did take many photos and had “professional” ones done for the “Sky Cube” that hangs out over the tower.
When we finally met up with Ameer around 9:30 he took us to the Jal Alor which is a street area during the day but is converted into a huge food market in the evening with all kinds of food stalls. We debated rushing through before our 10 Pm bewitching hour but instead had Ameer take us back to the Hilton where we had a super dinner at the Chambers restaurant with great service by Vanessa and assistant manager TJ. Even though a service charge was included and it isn’t unusual in Asia not to leave an additional tip, I got kind of carried away and being a math major (for real) I accidentally blew the conversion rate and left a 25 dollar additional tip rather than 10 that I meant to. No wonder they were so friendly when we came back in 30 minutes later after trying the Zeta Bar that was very loud and smoky. In any event we had a very good time and were ready for our big day on Sunday where we were going to go to the famous Batu Caves where one has to walk up 272 steep steps to get there and I went to sleep wondering which air conditioned restaurant to wait in while Susan tried it. But more on that in the next blog as I think this one is long enough especially after the KL, Petronas and KL Tower Photos below. The photos begin with the beautiful Changi airport in Singapore (has anyone else hear if a “Travelator?”) and end with the view of the Petronas Towers from the KL Tower. Jim H
Singapore Travel Blog 
Priceless!!
Keep traveling and keep the pics and stories coming!
Mary and Steve
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