Holiday Agent: Farmosa Holiday
Tour Bus: 707 Bus (Love the manufacturer – Scania) – Big & spacy & no smoking in the bus !! It’s a bliss !
Holiday period: 3rd Sep to 5 Sep 2004
Destination: KL, Malaysia
Hotel in KL: Impiana. With effect from Aug 15 – AnCasa Hotel; on Jalan Cheng Lock; 3 star hotel
Be it by any chance, don’t get the hotels on China Town/ Jalan Petaling or Jalan Lekir, they are 2 storey shop houses & you simply can not imagine the amount of noise that you need to tolerate before the nightly crowds go home. Well, unless that you are running on a budget.
Kota Raya[Near China Town]:
Cheap Hair accessories & Rings, Food [Kenny Rogers- priced like SG but in RM, Star Bucks – coffee & cakes]
China Town area:
On Jalan Petaling & Jalan Hang Lekir Intersects Jalan Petaling.
What to buy @ the temporary stalls:
1. Cheap Imitation watches [Swatch, Rolex, Rado, Longines, couple of others]
As low priced as 10 RM for the non imitation brand watches.
2. Fairly priced Imitation handbags & accessories [LV, Gucci, Polo, CDior]
3. Pirated DVD – the latest there – Garfield was just out in SG & it was on DVD there – wow!
4. Guys T-shirts – up to 16”
5. Shoes – canvas/ sneakers [Gucci, LV, converse, Adidas, Reebok]
6. Belts – All kinds, leather & non leather
What to see in the shop houses:
1. Shoes – better ones are in the later section below
2. Ladies clothes – Asian Sizes
3. Moon cakes – a few of the moon cake shops on Jalan Lekir.
There’s a 7-11, 24 hour convenience stall on Jalan Lekir. You can get bottled drinks, beers, magazines, chips, sweets, ice creams ;)
What to eat:
1. Roasted chestnuts, not as nice as the ones at the Tampines Interchange walkway & there aren’t much for what you pay. The ones there, the stall keeper will spray the water on the roasted chestnuts & most of them aren’t roasted thoroughly, so the nuts’ husk are still stuck onto the nuts..
2. Fruits – they sell them in bunches – mangosteens, grapes, strawberry, rambutans; no durians … the ones like grapes don’t keep well, so finish them in one sitting. I got 5 RM worth of grapes, rather a big bunch.
3. Couple of restaurants that serves stir fry food [Go there @ night & also expect to pay more expensive prices for so-so salty food.
4. Coffee Bean – the only one I saw, there are 2 storeys & you can see the 2nd with the sign board. This is pretty hidden, so you need to spot the signboard on the second storey. Not crowded here.
5. Chin Chow Jelly drink or the soy bean drink or mixed [Hei Bai/ black white] about 1.50 RM for each.
What to expect:
The whole street of Jalan Petaling is a sheltered & broad walkway with 2 storey shop houses on either side. Most of the shops are on 1st storey & you might need to bypass the temporary shops to get to the shop houses..
About evening time 5- 7 PM, the temporary stall shop keepers will start coming pushing their folded up stalls & merchandise to Jalan Petaling. The crowds will start coming in & everywhere there will be haggling. The old timers / shop keepers are tactful in telling you that if your bargain is not to their base price – “Give me more & the item is yours”. Please watch your belongings & if you carry a bag, make sure that it is with a zip. Those with a sling or a waist pouch, be extra careful of pick pockets.
S&M plaza
It stands for something ... not sure what, we somehow did not make it to shop inside there… Though it was just next to Kota Raya …
Low Yat Plaza
– nothing much of mention, except that they carry some designer brands, a decent shopping centre.
Lot 10
Giant supermarket is there & a shopping large store similar to Isetan.
Central market – nothing much except if you want to purchase dried chipsfor frying…
Sinar Kota
A&W – not so good, somehow the taste is different from what I remember it to be, but if you are looking for A&W float, they still have them … though the orignal flavour had since gone out of them ...
Bejaya Times Square
The largest indoor shopping & indoor amusement park! The amusement park is located on the 6th to 8th floors in the middle of the complex. Not as big as the ones in Outdoor gold coast or the one in Dallas, after alls it is indoors & safer than the rikety Sunway Lagoon.
What to find in the shops here:
Couple of concepts shops for clothes, good shoes, eateries (Most sorts, International / Asian/ Fusion), jewelers & a supermarket
A Chocolate shop named U-Scoop, Yum Yum! – Most of the famous supermarket confectionaries are here too... Hershey kisses, Mars, M&Ms, and house brands, those with mixed in with alcohols.
Food:
Super noodle house – LG 001 sungei wang plaza, lower ground floor, Jalan sultan ismail, 50250 KL –Tel – 21424729/39
Got to this Chinese/Cantonese noodle house located on the 1st floor, they had a outdoor area too. Noodles here is decent portion for about 6 to 12 RM. Drinks & desserts are separate approximate 1.50 for drinks to 5 RM for desserts.
Should you be looking for a nice Polo T-shirt without breaking the bank for a Polo Ralph for its good cut, go Nicole MJ: Lot 01=03 1st floor –Tel: 603-21411308. I got 2 of good fitting ones. There are a couple of colors there & it costs 19.90 RM each. Wish I had got more ~
KLCC –
Couple of International fashion brands - Esprit De Corps, Hour Glass, Versace, Isetan store, Tiffiny's, etc & etc…
Kinokuniya – KLCC top floor – wider range, good range of English based books.
Major Credit cards are accepted here.
The youths hang around here & there seems so many of them, sharing the vibrancy of the shopping mood of a Saturday in town! Some children on roller shoes, zooming here and there. There’s a discovery centre on the same floor as Kinokuniya, admission is free.
Ate a few yummy Aunt Anne’s, half the price of Singapore’s.
Taxi rides are cheap.
From our hotel to Lot 10 area is 10RM, Lot 10 to KLCC is 7.50 RM, & KLCC back to hotel is 10 RM. Of course, the taxis don’t drive according to the meter.
The Petronas Twin Towers can be seen from any area in KL. ;) it seems so near from China town too, until we took the taxi hehe … The Eiffel Tower must have been the same for the French n France. The lights off the Twin towers in the evening sky are nice to watch. I’m not so sure of the tickets; do check it with the locals, if you wish to go there ;)
As usual bring your brolly. Rains are intermitent but light.
Until the next time ~
