18^th to 22^nd January 2017 Kuala Lumpur

The trip from the airport to the hotel was 36 miles (58km) and the driver didn’t hang around. We were surprised that the fare was only £24, certainly a fraction of the cost in the UK. The hotel was also incredibly cheap at £75 for bed and breakfast in a 5* hotel (Radisson Kuala Lumpur)

During the few days in KL we tried out the monorail and rapid rail systems as well as the hop-on hop-off buses and taxis, all relatively cheap. However, the hop-on hop-off buses really didn’t work well with a frequency of 30 minutes or more and with the density of traffic in KL.  In practice the bus was taking 4 hours to complete the circuit not particularly useful when one is halfway around at the end of the day and want to get back to the hotel.

Reflections of the Masjid Jamek Mosque 

We made two attempts to see the botanical gardens, the first time we chose the public transport but whilst this worked fine the maps gave us totally the wrong impression as to how to access the park on foot. The main problem was that the different sections of the garden complex were separated by fences and the maps gave no clue as to how to move from one to the next.  On our first attempt we found the butterfly park and the bird park and a street market. On our second attempt we chose the hop-on hop-off bus and with some local advice found both the orchid garden and botanical garden, not that we were particularly impressed with either.

Sheila in the botanical garden

The National Museum was certainly worth a visit and is on the hop-on hop-off bus route but we found it by accident from the south side of the botanical garden.

While in KL we also visited the took a look at the Royal Palace and the Chinese market.

Royal Palace in the distance through the entrance

One afternoon we visited the Panggung Bandaraya Theatre to watched a musical called MUD, about the history of KL, where Sheila joined the cast on stage.  

Sheila joins the cast of MUD

We had a meal under the Petronas Twin Tower with a spectacular multi-coloured fountain display taking place in the background as a rain storm passed through the city.

Dancing fountains