The bus from Johor Bahru arrived Kuala Lumpur before dawn.
The bus assistant shouted the our whole family to get out of the bus to the road side with our luggage. It took me couple minutes to look around into darkness to figure out that we actually have arrived Kuala Lumpur and Puturay Bus station is a 5 minutes walk down the road.
The bus assistant is certainly is of low quality. But we are contended as long as the journey is safe, I do not expect more. For we do not come for a luxury tour.
We are not alone. There are many traveller like us from different long distances buses. Being too early and too dark to walk to Chine Town where Swiss Inn is, we took refugee in the bus station till sun rise. It was an hour wait and seem a long time for me as I also nervous of bus terminals in Malaysia because of pass experiences of being extorted during bus journeys. (Once in Miri and once at the boarder with Thailand)
When the sky was bright enough, we walked from bus terminal toward Chin Town and finely found Swiss Inn. The sky was still dark. We seated outside on a bench at the hotel entrance and wait for the hotel counter to open.
It is a long wait. Finally the counter has someone, we entered and request for our luggage to be left behind and return later of the day to check into the room. The check in time is 2:00 PM in the afternoon. Its a whole morning time.
So for the mean time we have a whole morning to explore China Town.
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8:20AM Kwong Siew Temple
A Chinese Taoist temple of deity Kwan Ti (God of War and Literature). Two stone lions guard the entrance to this colourful building.
At the lobby, the altar on the right is to Man Cheung (God of Examinations and Fate), and on the left, to the God for the Elderly. In the main hall at the rear, the central altar is devoted to Kwan Ti.
Worshippers bring offerings of flowers and fruits, and light joss sticks incense for the gods. Its only 8:00am early morning and the smoke from incenses already polluted the whole temple inner court. As a result we didn't stay long in this temple for the simple reason of air pollution. So thick the pollution that the contaminated air could be photographed by an ordinary digital camera. See photo on left the greyish colour polluted air flowing out from the main hall. See also photo on the right look through the main entrance to see the air inside so dusty thick in gray colour.
We walked to a Hindu Temple nearby accross the road. And the tranquil atmosphere in this Hindu Temple is just different from here. Free pigeons fly to this Hindu Temple.
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8:48AM Sri Mahamariamman Hindu Temple
Sri Mahamariamman Hindu Temple (1873)
This temple Built in 1873 is the most elaborate Hindu temple in Malaysia.
Its gate tower is embellished with ornate sculptures of Hindu deities and its floors and walls marbled with Italian and Spanish tiles.
Clean and peaceful, we sit in the temple courtyard for a long time appreciating the beauty of the colorful sculptures and submerged in tranquillity of this Holy place.
This Malaysia's oldest temple occupies an important place in Hindu religious life. During Thaipusam, this temple is the main venue of worship attracting thousands of pilgrims and visitors from all over Malaysia.
On the day of Thaipusam, the silver chariot of Lord Murugan will set off on it's journey to Batu Caves. The caves we will visit tomorrow.
STORY OF A NEW PAIR OF SHOES
I bought a new pair of good walking shoes (good means expensive) last night in Johor Bahru. Like every one else entering a Hindu Temple, we left our shoes outside at the main entrance. This main door is beside the bussy road where public passes by. During the hour inside this Hindu Temple, I was completely had not thought of that leaving a pair of less then 1 day old new shoes by the public road side means easily attract attention of petty thievs.
We came out of the temple an hour later. My new shoes were still there at the exact location. Only then I realize my carelessness but the shoes are still there made me realize how wonderful amazing thing in a good society.
Two months later, this pair of new shoes was stolen from door stapes of my own house in bright daylight by suspected young students in my own neighbourhood.
RELATED TOPICS :
Thaipusam in Tawau Town
Sri Mahamariamman Hindu Temple 2006
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Kuala Lumpur Hop on Hop Off City Bus Tour
For family tourist like us, Hop-On Hop-Off City Tour is the best way to explore Kuala Lumpur City. Similar to those services in famous cities like London, Paris and Barcelona, this tourist-bus has been a great way to visit some of Kuala Lumpur’s most popular sights without sticking to a rigid schedule. Hop-on Hop off tourist bus makes a circuit of the main tourist sites half-hourly throughout the day. See KL’s best sightseeing spots including KLCC, Jalan Bukit Bintang, Menara KL, Chinatown, Merdeka Square – Independence Square – and Lake Gardens. Tickets last all day and you can get on and off as often as you like; all in all there are more or less 22 designated stops with over 40 attractions to explore.
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Impression of Kuala Lumpur City from a Hop on
Hop Off City Bus Tour
We began our tour of Kuala Lumpur City with the KL HOP ON HOP OFF tour bus.
Bus ticket is valid 24 hours. Adult is Rm19.00 (for Malaysian) and free for Mei Yin.
Kuala Lumpur is rich with greenery, avenues and gardens; where people are gently law-abiding and obey traffic signals on busy streets. but are not as rigidly disciplined as their law-fearing neighbours in Singapore.
We passed Malay girls in traditional head-scarves, Chinese girls with tight mini skirts, Indian girls wearing jeans, foreign women dressed more like the Indian girls than the Chinese.
Bus ticket is valid 24 hours. Adult is Rm19.00 (for Malaysian) and free for Mei Yin.
Kuala Lumpur is rich with greenery, avenues and gardens; where people are gently law-abiding and obey traffic signals on busy streets. but are not as rigidly disciplined as their law-fearing neighbours in Singapore.
We passed Malay girls in traditional head-scarves, Chinese girls with tight mini skirts, Indian girls wearing jeans, foreign women dressed more like the Indian girls than the Chinese.
The Hop-On Hop-Off bus service launched in conjunction with the Visit Malaysia Year 2007. The bus circle around 40 tourist attractions and 100 hotels and several shopping complexes. The bus has a glass rooftop. This circulating bus is a good concept for tourists to familiarize with the place, but for KL local folks the slow ride in a traffic congested city is rather boring.
The exterior of the double Decker bus decorated with images depicting Malaysia's 50 years of independence. The bus is based on the concept of 'Hop on, hop off' where the tourists can purchase a ticket and hop off at any of the 22 stops round the city.
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| Eye On Malaysia is a 60 meters tall observation wheel
3:35 PM HOP-ON-HOP-OFF bus reach the Eye On Malaysia and stopped for 15 minutes for passengers to look around. We are excited to tried out the tallest (60m structure) observation wheel in South East Asia. Tomorrow we will come back for this Eye.
Twin Towers at the distance
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Suria Shopping Complex in
KLCC - Kuala Lumpur City Centre
The Hop-on Hop-off bus finally arrived at the bus stand at KLCC - Kuala Lumpur City Centre. We got off the bus and for the rest of the day we will spend in KLCC.
KLCC is commonly known as Petronas Twin Towers is the world's tallest twin structures of 88-storey.
KLCC contains a complex of office buildings, conference halls, a sprawling park and an up market Suria Shopping Complex
This gleaming mega-structure was designed by Argentinean architect Cesar Pelli.
Attractions at KLCC are Petronas Philharmonic Hall, Petrosains Science Centre, Petronas Art Gallery and The Aquaria Oceanarium.
KLCC was described by its developers as ‘A City Within A City’. This building complex offers a myriad of interesting attractions Dining, arts, culture, recreation, sightseeing, shopping and entertainment. The place is readily accessible via public transport with many buses operating on various routes within the area and a few train stations nearby.
Around 4:30 pm we found a quiet clean
comfortable table in FOOD ARENA 4th floor of
SURIA KLCC to sit down for energy replenishment. At this time of the day not
many customer in the food arena. First request from Yin was a cup of
Orange Juice Rm2.50 from RASA in the FOOD ARENA.
Around 5:30 We walk over to KINOKUNIYA BOOK STORE at 4th floor of SURIA KLCC where I bought a set of cassette and book on Learning Bahasa Malaysia for my Chinese production manager who recently came from Heilongjiang of Northern China. He has been seeking learning material to pick up Malay in order to communicate with the production team. And for my self I was also looking for learning material on IT. I got for myself MASTERING RED HAT LINUS 9 from SYBEX publisher. This Rm151.80 thick and heavy book became my only luggage burden for the rest of the journey from KL to Genting through JB then back home to Tawau.
Kinokuniya is the biggest bookstore in KL city covering two floors and has a book cafe for tea and cookies while browsing your purchased books. Located at a tourist prominent complex makes Kinokuniya a busy place the whole day.
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| Christmas Tree at KLCC 10 Dec 2007
Christmas Tree at KLCC 10 Dec 2007 MON
KLCC Christmas Tree 2007
(Tallest Christmas tree in Malaysia)
KLCC has a 30 meters tall Christmas tree decoration. KLCC never failed to live up to shoppers expectation in Christmas decoration every year. This huge Christmas tree and small decorations successfully created the atmosphere of Christmas celebration.
This is the 4th year KLCC put up this tree. Those funny white topping are filled with dust, thus the white snow became grey now.
Mei Yin was more interested at the lift beside the Christmas tree. We used the lift several times up and down for her excitement while we admire this tall tree.
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By the time we return to our hotel room it almost midnight. KK SUPERSAVE is a 24 Hours shop just in front Swiss Inn. Here we bought MILO and sugar for a cup of hot drink for the kids before sleep.
Today is a very amazing day. We see so many things in one day! considering that we came from a remote small town where few new things happen. Here, from dawn to midnight we saw many varieties of things and people. All in a day. All in a big city.
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