TPJ

Great deal... VN is not a bad airline, so to fly in C for $40, wow...

JVPhoto

The Ritz Carlton & Kuala Lumpur



I believe the hotel was recently renovated and boy does it show. Absolutely beautiful and spectacular public areas and rooms.






I could have stayed here forever.





Turndown.


Breakfast is 80 MYR ($20) and is served in The Cobalt Room. Nice selection of things from Indian to Malay to Chinese to Western.




Along with the bellhops and guys at the entrance each day their was either a "fancy dress" Malay man or a decked out in a formal kurta, jacket and turban Indian man.


I was starving when I arrived and wasn't meeting a friend until 7:30 for dinner so the closest thing was in Starhill Gallery which is a mall attached by lobby corridor to the Ritz and also houses the JW Marriott. In fact you can walk all the way from The Ritz to Petronas Towers (about 20 min) with only having to be uncovered for the 150 feet it takes to cross the street from Starhill Gallery to Pavilion.

Stopped at Tarbush which also has a Tarbush Express across the street in Pavilion. Not bad for a $8 big kebab plate.




I met a friend who took me to Madam Kwans in Pavilion (it's a chain) and introduced me to nasi lemak which I ate about 3-4x.




I discovered there is not a lot to do in KL! I decided I would take a taxi to the Bird Park in the Botanical Gardens.



Says it is the biggest free flight aviary in the world. It was pretty cool. You get to walk around with tons of birds (other than ostrich, emu) freely. 50 MYR so a little over $10.









You can also buy for 2 MYR a little cup of some milky product to feed the lorikeets.




A 10 min walk down and around the road from the Bird Park is the Butterfly Garden. It's very lush...bordering on overgrown. A little more stifling air than the bird park. Cheaper than the birds but also a lot smaller.







Also some cool things before you leave full of scorpions and beetles and stuff.

I decided to walk back (said it would take about 45-55 min) but figured it was a good way to "explore" and see a bit of the city.
Stopped for another nasi lemak at Hailam Kopitiam "Traditional & Original Since Colonial Times". Not bad for like $4.








I skipped Peatling Street on the way back.

Pretty much most of my dinner and other meals were all eaten at Food Republic food court in Pavilion. It was easy, good and lots of options!

I was thiiiiis close!



I discovred the awesomeness of kolo mee and had it 3x.



I wanted to see the towers at night and when I started to make my way there it rained, I got to Petronas park and went out for a bit then made my way back as I was getting hungry.



I also wanted to visit Batu Caves. I used Uber to go there which was much cheaper than a taxi. The Uber ride was 23 MYR whereas the taxi to the Bird Park was 30 MYR and was 1/2 the distance. It started pouring once I got there so I ducked in an Indian place there (about 3-4 to choose from) and had a....Chennani (I guess?) lunch set.



Waited for the rain a bit here and there and eventually once it let up made my way to the top of the steps...once you get up you are covered.







Fair amount of construction/refurb going on...still very cool to see. Cave was a lot bigger than I expected. Watch out during the rain in the main area...a few pieces of rotted branches/wood came about 2 ft from landing right on top of me.



Took a 19 MYR Uber back from the caves to KLCC so I could go to Suria mall and also have some upclose time with Petronas Towers.



Would come back later that night to Marini's on 57 to meet some friends for drinks (not in line with the rest of KL prices...$10/glass wine etc).



Music was 2x as loud as it needed to be for a lounge. Also watched a nice cockroach shadow crawl along the backlit red bar.

And coming up on my 3rd full day in KL I realized I misplanned and should have shaved a day off of there...I really needed to only be there for 2. Though luckily the 3rd day was the only time a local model I've been following for a few years was available so we were able to finally shoot.



So aside from that and being in the rain I decided to go see a movie. Like Thailand or Germany it's great with assigned seats in modern facilities...wish the US would start!

All in all an enjoyable few days if you want to eat and go to shopping malls. Not sure I'd go back anytime soon or without a specific reason.

GodAtum

I love going to KL, it's such an amazing city.

El Regina

I discovered there is not a lot to do in KL! I decided I would take a taxi to the Bird Park in the Botanical Gardens.


[/QUOTE]

This is actually the main problem that many tourist face everytime they visiting KL. Its not that there arent many things to see & do in KL, but they do not know where to go. I would suggest for future visitors, if you would like to get more information regarding of tourists attractions in KL or Malaysia in general, you can head to Malaysia Tourism Centre also known as Matic where there will always be someone to assist you in getting more infos and knowledge about the country. Plenty of brochures and pamphlets are available there too.

miuk

The memories of the Cu Ci Tunnel tour..... I still remember a local war hero being called the "American Killer Hero" in one of the exhibits. Really gives you the perspective of the other side.

El Regina

From your TR, I can see that you missed a lot of things in KL. You didnt watched any cultural show, a musical theater, visit the National Palace, museums, memorials, historical sites or joining the free guided tours available in the city...

JVPhoto

Actually it was $55. Only reason I know is because my CC was calling about fraud (actually me using it in KL) and I forgot about the transaction and had to look it up. Still well worth it on top of the $65 o/w coach ticket I initially bought!

JVPhoto

Your right I did miss a lot of things. However some things I'm never going to in any city like a cultural show or theater. I walked by the textile museum but was hungry so I passed it to find food.
KL was a modern clean and great city. However, for the type of traveler I am (I'm not one to leave the hotel at 8am and return at 6pm from sightseeing) it didn't have the same type of easily explored sites and buzzing activity like Singapore, Bangkok, etc.
If you look on TripAdvisor at the top things to do in KL about half of them are shopping malls lol.
I know there's other parts of Malaysia that eventually I'll check out and I'm sure are lovely. I would dissuade anyone from visiting KL I would just say to smartly check your days there and itinerary.

TOMFORD

The RC looks nice! Although not as glitzy as the average RC. But still nice.

STLFlyer78

Yes. More app stories to compliment your fantastic photos and journal writing style please. And maybe a few more model photos too! Do you have a portfolio website?

nemme99

As always, I'm loving this report. Your photos are fantastic and I've been going through your reports again as I prepare to go to Thailand for the first time.

adampenrith

KL is a city to shop and eat in.

There really is not much to see or do.

The hop on hop off bus tour gets stuck in traffic and becomes very tedious.

The Presidential Palace is quite nice to look at but its just a building.

The Bird park is great - however the orchid garden is a very very poor cousin of the orchid garden in Singapore

Batu Caves yes.

My husband loves KL but hates Singapore - but when we visit we tend to shop and eat.

adampenrith

Yes we are intrigued - and want details

JVPhoto

Okay so on my last night in Saigon I thought "ehhh...I'm getting bombarded by money boys on Grindr and the price is pretty good why not order in a massage?"

So a bit of blah blah and back and forth settled on who would come over. Showed as being 4,000ft away so shouldn't be too tricky. I sent the location and I should have guessed by the 3 times it took to ask where I was staying (with a GPS map location) that something may be up. "Just give me your room number dear."

This is where I slipped up. I instinctively responded with it (I think out of habit of giving it to the lounge attendants each day) which I normally don't do in a case like this or I give a fake room number (like high number...say 2037 if the hotel is only 15 floors, etc). Oh well, it's not like I've really had an issue before.

"I'll be there in 45 min honey..."
What? You could WALK here in 20.
"There's traffic dear..." (okay you can drop the pet names)
:eyeroll: whatever I would go upstairs for a glass of wine and wait.

Nearly an hour later finally see he's back on and is 500 ft away so I go downstairs. Tells me he'll be there in 10-15 min because of traffic...I could literally crab walk to you and back in 10 min.
At this point I said you've already wasted my time I'm not interested in morning, something is up. Goes offline and I go back upstairs. 10 min later see that he is online and now he is 1500ft away. I said please don't go.

10 min later sends a picture from in the lobby and offers me a discount for being late. We'll sucker for a bargain and a six pack I thought alright I'll go downstairs.

I go downstairs. You exit the elevators and then make a quick turn into the lobby where there's the the row of 3 front desk stations and chairs on the far side. I said near the desks and he looks over at me and I motion a "come here". He turns his head away but next to him are the epitome of a South Asian female hooker in a low cut super tight red dress and what I am assuming is her (also female) handler/chaperone. They motion pointing to themselves and I quickly do a "No! No" motion and walk back over around to the elevators.
I sent him a message saying come back to the elevators and he responds "Get me in the lobby darling..."
Ugh...so I walk back over and just kind of peak my head around again. With eyes like a hawk the two women are sitting there waiting and staring at me.

I hop back over and wait for the elevator to go up. Of course now it's the one time there hasn't already been one sitting. An American family with 2 kids walks up and waits. Then I see turning the corner....THE RED DRESS with one of the hotel lobby attendants. I do not make eye contact, I do not acknowledge. I start making convo with the family...the kids are excited to push the elevator buttons so I try to be jovial and distant and say I've been pushing them myself all week they can do my floor too blah blah.

We get in the elevator and thankfully it was just me and the family.

I just started giggling thinking how funny it was and what a good story it would be. After the phone in my room rang 2x over the course of 10 min I went up to the lounge and had a lot more wine and a lot more snacks as I was hiding out and not going out to get dinner for fear that I may be swooped on by either of my apparent dates that night! I didn't feel bad for my guy (even after getting messages from his 2nd account after I blocked the first saying that I was "not polite") but I'm hoping whoever she was there to see she ended up fulfilling her end of the bargain with him.

Oh life, you funny thing.

adampenrith

Thanks for sharing

PMSL

In KL I have always found money boys to be flaky - but never had an issue with other friends via the apps