Trip Report Asia 2013: Day 3: Kuala Lumpur

Up reasonably early this morning, I think our bodies are still in pre-holiday work mode – so managed to be at Breakfast by about 8:00am.

The Impiana has just opened a new restaurant on the 15th Floor, Cedar on 15, and as a result they have actually split their breakfast offering between their Ground Floor – Tonka Bean Restaurant and this one on the 15th.  Basically the traditional Asian Style breakfast is on the Ground Floor, while the more Western is up on the 15th.  We were a little torn about which to choose, however strangely enough once we saw the view our choice was made all the simpler!

The outdoor bar area is so cool with open windows it provides a really amazing view of the city. 

We ended up spending about an hour or so at breakfast it was really just so relaxing, you could sit back read the paper and just enjoy being in KL.  Plus I was trying to delay the shopping that was to come.

We headed off in the direction of Suria KLCC – this is the shopping centre that is directly underneath the Petronas Towers.  It is connected directly to the Impiana view the walkway.

I know I touched on it yesterday but basically the walkway is a direct link between the Petronas Towers and Bukit Bintang, so you can basically walk the whole way in relative air-conditioned comfort and also out of the weather.  The added bonus is that it plugs directly into the Impiana Hotel. 

We headed to Suria and grabbed a couple of Sim cards for our phones so that we had data; plus that way we could just text/call each other if we wanted to head off in different directions.  We grabbed them from the Digi mobile store at the Suria, they set them up for us and got the data working on the iPhones.  I think we only paid about 30-40RM total, wasn’t much and that was ample data included.

Mid Valley Mega Mall

Our destination today was the Mid-Valley Megamall.  We had seen some reviews from people that said it was worth checking out, so we figured we would do some exploring.  It is a little way out of the city but so easy to get there.

Check out – www.midvalley.com.my for all the details, but basically the easiest way of getting there is to jump on a KTM Kommuter train from KL Sentral and it stops right at the shopping centre.  Getting there we jumped on the LRT at KLCC and headed towards Bangsar LRT Station.  From Bangsar you just head downstairs and wait at the bus stop, the Free shuttle bus comes along every 30 minutes (and it is well marked with MEGAMALL signs so you shouldn’t miss it).  We waited maybe 5-10mins max. 

This place is really quite big…it has so many shops you could easily sink a day here without worry! We had a bit of a look around – didn’t really need or want much so got a few odds and ends.  The food court isn’t bad, its a Food Republic so you are generally assured of a good feed.  We just grabbed our usual KL fare – Milo Dinosaur and Iced Milo!

After a bit more of a shop we headed back – this time we jumped on the KL Kommuter train to KL Sentral – only cost 2 RM.  From there jumped on the monorail to Imbi. At this point feeling pretty proud at using all of KL’s public transport in 1 day (LRT/Kommuter/Monorail/Bus).

Berjaya Times Square Shopping Mall

Imbi Monorail is your stop for this shopping mall – another GIANT of KL Shopping.  10 floors of shops, an indoor theme park with rollercoaster, and a really great variety of stores.

Sorry for the lack of photos to this point – but they are shopping centres.  I am pretty sure you can imagine what they look like! Although see to the left, just to prove the rollercoaster did exist!

I have in the past sunk 8 hours in this shopping centre – and thankfully they understand the plight of the Western Man, there is ample Man seats – evenly spaced out so your partner can do about 3-4 shops before you need to move onwards towards the next manseat. 

If it all gets too bad, around floor 4 to 6 the massage/reflexology places start to appear so you can retreat for some respite!

Bukit Bintang

Speaking of reflexology, by this time I was stuffed so we headed up to Bukit Bintang and grabbed an hour of Reflexology for about 50RM each.  There are a plentiful supply of places along Bukit Bintang, I just tend to choose the least annoying of them – I did keep a business card from the place we went to but I need to find it!

For Lunch we decided to check out the food court at the Lot 10 Shopping Centre.  In the basement is the Lot 10 Hutong Food Court, which is a collective of about 30-40 stalls, representing a collection of heritage Hawker stalls.  They are all hand picked to be part of the food court and each has their own signature dish.  We were just chasing some roti and a bit of Nasi so chose a place called Sarifah Cafe.  Nice meal.

After lunch, we headed back to Impiana – via the Pavilion shopping centre – and some Turkish Ice Cream out the front of Fahrenheit shopping centre.

Why is it every day I seem to be dragged into Pavilion?

I think in the 5 odd trips to KL we haven’t successfully done every floor of this place. And this time they have now ripped out the TANGS Department store and replaced it with a whole bunch more shops.

The real gem in Pavilion is the food court on the bottom floor, it is a Food Republic, and if you were even slightly worried about eating food in KL (Not that you have any reason to be!) this is the place to start out.  Each vendor sells a particular speciality – be it Claypot Chicken Rice, Chinese, Malay, Singaporean, Hong Kong, Taiwanese – they are all there.  All the meals are generally less than 10RM so really good value.  The trick if you are in a group (and with people who will share) is to each buy something from a different vendor and you get to try lots of different things.

Anyway by this point I was stuffed and needed a break, so we headed back to the hotel, and grabbed a couple of chairs by the pool.  Again 4 trips to the Impiana and never once been in the pool – so already a holiday of breaking new ground (how adventurous!).  The pool deck is actually a pretty cool place to watch the towers around sunset, and to see them light up at night.  Plus the bar there makes it easy to stay chilled!  If you want a swim they provide towels and I am pretty sure I have bought a new car with less paperwork than signing for the towel, but I guess they have lost a few over the years.

As you can see, not a bad view from the pool deck (and I am not talking about the view of me in the pool!)

Dinner tonight we just headed back to Suria KLCC to their Food Court for a cheap meal.  The food court here used to be pretty good, it wasn’t brilliant but again still a reasonably good meal – I got a plate of Chicken Rice and a Drink for 10RM, the lovely wife got Nasi Goreng Ayam and a drink for 12RM so you get the theme there.

Back to the hotel to bed – tomorrow our travel companions arrive from Australia (at about 6am) so we will probably have a busy day ahead of us.

Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow.