The Sights of Kuala Lumpur
After a good night’s sleep and a steady indian breakfast at the Makan Kitchen, it was now time for my to go out and explore the city of Kuala Lumpur. Luckily most of the haze had now cleared, and I was able to spend time outdoors without worrying about any potential respiratory problems, which the haze has been said to cause.
First off was a visit to the iconic Petronas Towers, situated just five minutes away from my hotel by foot.
The Merdeka Square.
The Old Town of Kuala Lumpur.
Overall my initial impressions of Kuala Lumpur were quite underwhelming. I was able to cover the entire city centre by foot in one afternoon, and there was quite frankly not much to see other than the skyscrapers, shopping malls and the occasional monument. Unlike the other cities in Asia that I’ve visited, KL seem to lack that sense of charm and soul that you’d usually expect to find in a major city. Spending five nights in the city turned out to be a bit of an overkill since you could basically see it all in one day, so for any future visitors I would suggest you’d stay a maximum of two nights in KL.
I decided to spend the evening back at the hotel, enjoying a light dinner in the Executive Lounge and a steady flow of Gin&Tonics, courtesy of the lovely Ruby.
A visit to the much raved about Batu Caves was made the following day. After spending the whole morning at the hotel, I took the LRT to KL Sentral at around noon before connecting on the commuter train to Batu Caves. The ticket from KL Sentral to Batu Caves was silly cheap at just 1 RM and the ride took around twenty five minutes. Upon disembarking the train I simply followed the signs that lead to the caves.
The Batu Caves.
There were plenty of monkeys around, but luckily they didn’t steal anything from me.
Overall the Batu Caves was a pleasant experience, and my visit was rounded off with some authentic indian food from the nearby eateries. The prices were cheap at just 12 RM for a full sized lunch platter of various vegetarian dishes. My visit to the Batu Caves didn’t take more than three hours, and at 15.00 in the afternoon I was back at the hotel where I stayed for Happy Hour, before getting some shopping down at the KLCC Mall.
Flying home on Turkish Airlines
After a pleasant 9 day stay in South East Asia it was sadly time to go home. With my flight leaving at 23.15 I kindly asked Keith for a late check-out. My request was sadly declined due to the hotel being heavily booked for the weekend, but I was able to leave my luggage in the lounge, and use it as much as I pleased for the rest of the day. Bearing this in mind I decided to stay at my room until noon, before checking out in the lounge.
I spent the most of the day shopping at the KLCC Mall, and I returned back to the hotel at 18.00 to pick up my bag before leaving to the airport. After having bid the wonderful staff goodbye, I hopped on the LRT to KL Sentral before connecting to the KLIA Express. I arrived to the airport at roughly 19.00 which was one hour before the check-in counters would open. I spent the hour doing some plane spotting at the viewing terrace before heading back to the counters at 20.00 sharp.
It’s worth noting that Turkish Airlines doesn’t offer online check-in from Kuala Lumpur, but luckily I had already done my seat reservations in advance. After a swift check-in process I’m handed both my boarding passes along with an invitation to the Plaza Premium Lounge. While it would’ve been nice to have used the MH Golden Lounge (which is used by some 3rd party airlines such as EgyptAir and Iran Air) the Plaza Premium Lounge served its purpose.
After a nice hot shower, a change of clothes and a few G&T’s I boarded the plane at 22.30. The load in Business Class was nearly 100% but luckily the seat beside me remained unoccupied, which I assume was courtesy of being TK Elite.
The return flight was practically identical to the outbound, hence why I chose to keep my camera in the overhead. I did however have a very pleasant flight, enjoying the great food and wines. I was also lucky enough to have a lovely young lady serve my side of the cabin.
First of all sorry about the quality. The pics were taken using my old iPhone 3Gs. Starter consisting of seafood platter. Jumbo shrimp, smoked salmon and smoked halibut. It was quite tasty in fact!
The soup served today was a creamy tomato soup. It was absolutely delicious, and I regret not asking for seconds.
I chose the beef fillet as my main course. Not that I’m a big fan of steaks but I wanted to see how well they managed to execute serving a steak in the air. To my surprise the meat was mostly nice and tender, though since it was drying up pretty fast I had to eat it quickly. Some more sauce would’ve been nice, but apart from that it was an OK steak.
Dessert consisting of chocolate cheesecake which was sinister. The cheese was nice and tasty too, though it would’ve been nice with some crackers and fig paste to go along.
Contrary to most other people’s experiences on Turkish the service on my flight was near flawless, with the exception of being served a full-sized glass of Port Wine along with my cheese. I managed to get a good six hours of sleep on the flight, despite the angled seat.
Upon arriving in Istanbul, we once again parked at a remote stand. Luckily however Business Class passengers were allowed to disembark first which didn’t make much sense since I’d rather board the bus last. Nonetheless the airport was fairly deserted, and in no time I was in the CIP Lounge for my seven hour layover.
I decided to get a shower and a nap in one of the day rooms before spending the last two hours enjoying a nice Pannini breakfast and watching a few episodes of Conan. The lounge was petty empty this morning which made for an enjoyable experience.