Revisiting Malaysia

by John Marx Velasco · April 10, 2014

It was just 5 months ago when I went to Malaysia for a lay over. Then February came, I stepped my foot again for another short stop before we had visited a beach paradise somewhere down the Indian Ocean. Since we only had limited period to spend in the country before our main trip begins, our group spent our almost 24 hours stay by seeing some of the renowned tourist sites in the federal capital of Malaysia.

Kuala Lumpur City is 2 hours or less away from the international airport of Malaysia. The capital city can be reached through public buses which are available outside the airport. One can also opt to ride taxis or pick up vehicle services which are more costly than the buses.

Recommended Guesthouses for a Lay Over

Guesthouses is one of the most affordable and popular accommodations to stay when visiting Malaysia. These type of accommodation is now scattered around the city giving every traveler vast options. One can even get for as low as RM 21 for a one night stay in the city however before booking a stay, consider the place and security. During our lay over in the country, we had stayed in two different guesthouses and hotel. The first one is situated in the city of Kuala Lumpur and the second one is situated at Dengkil.

Travellers Palm Lodge

Travellers Palm Lodge is a family and friendly guesthouse located in Bukit Bintang area. The guesthouse is located in the heart of the city which made it for us easy to roam around and visit some of the tourist spots we had in mind like KL Tower and Petronas Twin Towers which can be both walked from the guesthouse.

I like how homey the guesthouse looks like. It is also safe and secure as door gate are always closed with padlocks.

The guesthouse has 6 types of rooms, namely; dormitory, single or twin with attached shower room, and double, triple or quad family room with attached shower room. Rooms have air-conditioning from 8:00 PM to 8:00 AM.

We’re 8 in our group, 2 couples, so we booked three rooms. Our rooms are 1 Quad Family room which costs RM 160 per room per night and 2 Double room which costs RM 80 per room per night.

It’s required to stay for at least 2 nights when booking a stay in Travellers Palm Lodge but Suzy, the owner of the property, let us stay on her humble accommodation even we will be staying for a night.

Langit Langi Hotel

It was our flight back to Manila when we checked in to Langit Langi Hotel to stay for a short period of time. We had 9 hours to wait for our next flight thus staying in the city nor in the airport aren’t good ideas.

Langit Langi Hotel which is situated in Pusat Perdagangan Deluxe, Dengkil is just a half an hour or less away from the international airport of Malaysia. The hotel is 2 star budget hotel which is perfect for travellers like us who are looking for a comfortable place to stay during a lay over.

The hotel has three types of room, namely; budget room, standard room and deluxe room. We booked a standard room for two persons which costs around RM 65 and a deluxe room for three persons which costs around RM 90. Originally, it was only 5 of us who will be staying in the rooms but since two of our friends haven’t had any bookings yet for a night they’ve decided to join us. We then asked the hotel if they can accommodate two more extra persons. The hotel was fully booked that night but after deliberation and convincing, the hotel allowed our friends to stay in one of our rooms paying the extra person charge.

The hotel provides transport service from and to the airport for a fee. A group booking of 5 rooms or more comes with a free transfer service.

Finally, KL Tower

It was around 4:00 PM when we started touring around the city. Because I don’t want to miss seeing it again, we went to KL Tower first. We walk from Jalan Alor going to the KL Tower, following the street map that I took a screenshot from my mobile map app.

It took us around 15 minutes to finally reach the KL Tower. From the entrance gate, there’s a free shuttle service which takes visitors to the base point of the tower.

The tower is said to be used for communication purposes. It is the highest viewpoint in Kuala Lumpur which is open to the public.

An admission fee of RM 49 has to be paid when visiting the viewing deck situated in one of the higher floors of the tower. Because it wasn’t part of our budget, we had just went to the Cultural Village park which is also located in the area.

Seeing Petronas Twin Towers Again.

We left KL Towers and went to another famous tower attraction in the city, the Petronas Twin Towers. We spent another long walk to reach the tourist site. It was drizzling when we reached the spot. We went to inside of the building and inquired about the free skybridge tour. Unfortunately, the free tickets were already sold out. We then had just decided to get out of the building and took a few snapshots of the magnificent towers.

Souvenir Shopping at Central Market

A few train stations away from KLCC Train Station is where the Central Market is. The market is strategically located near the Pasar Seni Station making it very accessible to reach via train ride.

The Central Market is said to be a main attraction in the city. It is open from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM. The market area is arranged in a stall concept. The area is divided into different section offering different concepts from arts and galleries, food, souvenir items and many more.

In 2011, the market opened the Kasturi Walk which is an outdoor and covered pedestrianised lane. It is lined with several kiosks and stalls.

It was already nearing dinner time when we visited the Central Market so we had just decided to have our meal in one of the restaurants in the area. My companions wanted to have a taste of something Asian so we had our dinner in an Indian restaurant situated in the area. I ordered Tandoori Chicken with rice.

Food Trip at Jalan Alor

Jalan Alor is a street located in the area of Bukit Bintang. It is one of the best places in Kuala Lumpur for food hunt. The street is parked with several restaurants.

Under the scorching heat of the sun, we had soups as our meals to start of our day in Kuala Lumpur. Lunchtime was already finished when we visited the area thus rice meals weren’t available anymore. We had no choice but to order what is something available during that time of the day.

Our food may not be perfect to match the weather that day but undoubtedly, these soups tasted good.

A restaurant that I had really enjoyed its food when I first visited Kuala Lumpur was the Wong Ah Wah Restaurant. Their grilled chicken wings are must try. So after picking up my friend who had arrived late in the city, we had a midnight snack in the restaurant; we had a beer, grilled chicken and fried rice to cap off the night.

It felt nice visiting Malaysia again. The lay over let me able to finally see the KL Towers up close and see the Petronas Twin Towers again. I may not able to get to each of its observatory deck that time but hopefully I will be the next time I visit the country.

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Travellers Palm Lodge

No. 10 Jalan Rembia Off Tengkat Tong Shin

50200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Email: travellerspalm_kl@yahoo.com

Tel: +60-3-2145-4745

www.travellerspalm-kl.com

Langit Langi Hotel

7a, Jalan Deluxe, Pusat Perdagangan Deluxe

43800 Dengkil, Selangor Darul Ehsan

Malaysia

Telephone: +60-3-8768-0542