Around South East Asia: Part Two

In which I visited the Malaysian Towers

07.12.2022: Tour Day 1, Country 1, City 1 and 2

We halted at Jaipur Mahal for breakfast at around 10am. It was the normal Indian breakfast menu. Here I met Sharvari Gulavani and Sangita Avhad. My neighbor in the bus was Vrushali Sabane. Mandar elaborated on the tour and gave the preliminary instructions which included 3Ps (Passport, Punctuality, Patience) and 3Cs (Coach, Cuisine, Climate). 

Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Malaysia. Peninsular Malaysia shares a land and maritime border with Thailand and maritime borders with Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia. East Malaysia shares land and maritime borders with Brunei and Indonesia, and a maritime border with the Philippines and Vietnam. We were heading to the Putrajaya city. Yeeshwari started briefing on the same. We entered the city around 12pm.

Putrajaya

It is Malaysia's administrative capital, where modern architecture meets lush greenery and scenic waterways. The Seri Wawasan Bridge is an asymmetric cable-stayed bridge with a forward-inclined pylon that has a sailing ship appearance, accented at night with changeable color lighting. It crosses Putrajaya Lake. We halted here for a photo stop. We viewed the Putra Mosque from the bridge. 

We drove further through the distinct streetlights of various shapes. We halted at the palace around 12:45pm for a group photo. Done with the city tour, we headed back to visit the KL Tower and reached the venue at 2pm.

Menara Kuala Lumpur (KL Tower)

KL tower is the seventh tallest telecommunication tower in the world and the tallest in Southeast Asia. Standing at 421m, it is located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. The entrance had a model of the tower. 

We headed towards the lifts, via an escalator. The lift transported us to the observatory deck 276 meters above ground level. The deck offered stunning and thrilling view of metropolitan city. Each building had a different structure. We had a glimpse of the twin tower. There were a series of World's Tallest Towers and souvenirs shops. 

We headed for lunch at 2:30pm at Moghul Mahal, a restaurant on the first floor. 

I joined Tanvi Joshi for lunch. She was accompanied by her mother Sneha Joshi and sister Apurva Joshi. They reside in Goa. The lunch was normal Indian lunch. We also had Orange cordial and ice-cream. Post lunch we drove all the way to our hotel.

We reached the HOTEL FURAMA BUKIT BINTANG at 4pm. Since it was the Christmas month, the decoration was amazing. 

Having done three tours with Veena World, I knew that room-mate allocation is done according to age or if already specified by the guests. Here to my surprise, ladies have already decided on the roommates at the airport. Some met their earlier tour members and decided on the spot. So, at the end I landed up with a 67-year-old, really was not prepared for this. Also, I was getting vibes that it's not gonna end up well. There is an experience with every tour, but this was not expected. I made up my mind that it's just the night that you have to come to the room and sleep and get ready in the morning. We got ready for visiting the twin tower at 6pm. I had already lost my mood for the day, the tour, for everything.

Petronas Twin Tower

Soaring to a height of 451.9 meters, the 88-storey twin structure is Kuala Lumpur's crown jewel. The observation decks are located at Level 86 of both towers. The deck allows visitors to enjoy a spectacular view of the cityscape from above 370 meters. The double-decker skybridge acts as the connector between the two towers on the Level 41 and 42. Each pinnacle features a spire with 23 segments, and a ring ball comprised of 14 rings of varying diameters. We reached the venue at 7:30pm. just had a photo stop here as per itinerary. The area was crowded. The water formations were wow.

We reached Sagar restaurant for dinner at 8:30pm. Well, I just had dinner for the sake of it. We reached the hotel at 10pm. I was already tired of the flight journey, so prepared for the next day and dozed off. It's okay to have a surprising start. Hoping for the tour to go well.

Read next: Around South East Asia: Part Three