All north-bound train services from Singapore terminated at the Kuala Lumpur (KL) Sentral Station. KL Sentral Station sits proudly on the old Brickfields area where KTM (and its predecessor, the Malayan Railways) maintained their cargo centre. I am familiar with this area because I spent some parts of my school holidays with a Malaysian friend who lived in Jalan Scotts. The old Brickfields area was populated by the Indian community and still is.
Photo 1: KL Sentral Station.
Upon arrival at KL Sentral Station, you walked over to the KL Rapid ticking booth to make a purchase and then walked past the turnstile up one level. Everything was conducted within the same air-conditioned building. KL Rapid is one of the KL’s metro mass rapid transport systems. KLCC Station is the basement station under PETRONAS TWIN TOWERS and its huge shopping mall. There are direction signboards that point the way to the SKYBRIDGE Visit Centre.
Photo 2: The train from Singapore arrives around 6.30 am. Don’t waste time. Hop into KL Rapid and head out to KLCC Station. This was the scene at 7 am over at SKYBRIDGE Visitor Centre (above). You don’t wish to be disappointed to see this on the display monitor (below)?
Although security was tight, I could feel a sense of Malaysian warmth and courtesy, very unlike at Changi International Airport where a hostile look stared into my face especially when I very much loved photography. It appeared that in Singapore we followed everything to the law as well as government policies so much so that the spirit seemed to be missing even in tourism. Tourism Malaysian and PETRONAS must be commended for their efficiency when it comes to queues for ticket purchases.
For a good understanding, do go visit and not believe in what I say.
Photo 3: (left to right) Uniformed security personnel; Scanning equipment
Photo 4: One of the towers of PETRONAS TWIN TOWERS. It was said that the twin towers were built by a Japanese and South Korean contractor who actively competed to see who would finish the building first.
A visit up to SKYBRIDEGE and the 86 Level can be one form of “cheekek” but for me I also took to the skies on a prop-driven aircraft from Lapangan Terbang Subang. Flying just under 2,000 feet, we came close to the PETRONAS TWIN TOWERS. This joy-ride would be my second after an earlier one which was made out of Paya Lebar Airport in 1962. Cost? RM500.
Photo 5: Pilot Aziz brought the Cessna close to Menara KL (foreground) and later the PETRONAS TWIN TOWERS.
When it’s time to move on, you could make your girlfriend or your nagging wife happy by allowing her to shop “till I can drop dead” at the KLCC Shopping Mall. Thank goodness I am over with those issues. My next stop? Hop on another metro train to somewhere.
5 comments:
2 things to remember.
1. PETRONAS TWIN TOWERS sit on the former Royal Selangor Turf Club grounds.
2. Singaporeans aged 55 y.o and above can purchase PETRONAS TWIN TOWERS tickets @50% discount. In fact you pay the Malaysian pensioner's price. SO instead of RM40, you pay RM20.
In Singapore you need to be >62 or is it 65 y.o to get senio citizen benefits?
IN Malaysia, this pensioners benefit extended to all Malaysian tourist places run by the Malaysian govt or its agencies.
Note: All Singaporeans can benefit from this Malaysian pensioners scheme for tourist visis.
There is no discrimination between a Sporean senior citizen and a Malaysian senior citizen.
Thanks, Peter, for the rather interesting and informative blogs on KTM and Petronas Towers.
I too, had the impression that the trains are old, not clean and by some accounts, infested with bugs, etc. In your pictures, they do look decent.
Now, I must try to persuade my other half, who also "prefers to travel in style, gastronomic food and good hygiene".
Thank you very much Peter. You kept your promise to post this blog about the Petronas Twin Towers in KL. The close-up photo of the twin towers was awesome. This aerial photo taken without a chartered plane photography could be possible from anywhere else. Bravo.
Keep it up brother. Your passionate unique photogrsphy skills, imagimation and enthusiasm is fantastic. Cheers!
Oops! Sorry for a slip of the fingers for typing too fast on an iPhone in the train. Meaning NOT possible to have taken that photo from a chartered plane...very professional for a commercial project.
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