Booked our bus tickets through busonlineticket.com
One way bus ticket cost S$30 each and a 5 hour travel time. Bring your passport.
Better buy your bus ticket to Genting Highlands online. We were at the shuttle bus station by 8 am but the next available bus is by 1 pm. They sell out very quickly.
They don't have a card that covers all the train lines so we buy our tickets every journey.
RM1 = PHP14
This is the second leg of our 3 country vacation coming from Singapore. We stayed for 3 days in a hotel at the heart of the city in Bukit Bintang. Visited the most popular attractions of the city which were accessible by trains. After this, we'll be heading to Phuket, Thailand.
September 15
Took the bus from Golden Mile Complex in Singapore at midnight and arrived at Berjaya Times Square in Kuala Lumpur at 5am. Our bus is StarMart Express and each cost S$30 one way.
StarMart Express Bus to Kuala Lumpur
Our hotel is just around the corner and walked just 10 minutes from the drop off point. Cube Hotel is a budget hotel and location is perfect. It's near to a monorail station and the famous shopping street, Bukit Bintang. We stayed in a Deluxe Double Room for 2 nights which cost RM225. It has a bathroom, LCD TV, aircon and vanity desk, no closet and ref. They don't have elevators as well. Nonetheless, we did not have any problems with reservation and with our stay.
Cube Hotel Lobby
Our itinerary for today was city tour. We went to Petronas Twin Towers, Merdeka Square, Batu Caves and Menara KL Tower.
Petronas Twin Towers Skybridge and Observation Deck. As I was searching the web on how I can get tickets I always encounter blogs and articles on how bad the situation in getting tickets. Usually it's sold out if you want tickets for the day. That's because slots are limited and out already by the time the ticket booth opens at 9am. They said people queue up as early as 7am and it's a mile long already. Otherwise, you can get a ticket but for the next day or so. They don't have online booking so you have no choice but to buy the tickets on site. So upon searching and searching the web, I discovered "Nash", it's a website where you can ask them to buy the tickets for you, choose the date and time, and will be delivered it to your hotel. You also get a free stamp if your booking is confirmed. Of course there's a price for all of this, to avoid the long queue and wasting your time, you have to pay more. The ticket for the Skybridge and Observation Deck cost RM80 each. Through Nash, it's RM125 each, which I think is fair enough to avoid the hassles. And most of all, I wasn't scammed. So this morning, the tickets arrived at our hotel together with my free stamps. From Bukit Bintang it's a 30 minute walk to Petronas, there's an elevated and air-conditioned walkway, so no worries. We arrived 30 minutes ahead of our scheduled time of 10am and didn't see the long queue I was expecting. Maybe it's not as bad as what I have read when we were there but looking through the monitors there were a few slots left for the day. Booking through Nash was still a good move. Allow 1 hour for this activity, you are allowed to stay 15 minutes in Skybridge and 15 minutes in the Observation Deck. The nearest train station is KLCC of Orange line.
The SkyBridge. It's a double-decked bridge suspended between the two towers at levels 41 and 42.
Skybridge
Observation Deck. Offers breath-taking views at level 88. You'll also find exhibits, telescope and an interactive screen where you can point the markers on your ticket to the camera and see an augmented reality display of the building on screen.
View from Observation Deck
View the other twin tower and Menara KL Tower
Twin Towers Model
Interactive Monitors
After our reach the skies adventure we head outside to take pictures of the buildings.
Petronas Twin Towers
Merdeka Square. A famous venue for national parades and surrounded by buildings of historical interest. Used to be the main hub of KL.
Merdeka Square
Batu Caves. A limestone hill with series of caves with Hindu shrines. There's a 272 steps that lead to the cave. The nearest station is Batu Caves of the Red line.
Batu Caves
Menara KL Tower. It's a communications tower on top of a hill that offers an array of adventure for its visitors. Of course, it has the observation deck, cultural village, restaurant, banquet deck, theater, animal zone, f1 simulator zone, pony ride, forest reserve, shops and many more. I purchased a combo package of observation deck with f1 simulator for RM57. You can stay as long as you like and have a great view of the Petronas Twin Towers. The nearest station is Raja Chulan of the monorail and about 15-20 minutes of uphill walk. There's a shuttle from the gate to the lobby.
F1 Simulator
September 16
Today, we were supposed to go to Genting Highlands but when we arrived at KL Sentral at 9am, the next available bus was at 1pm. It's too late plus the 1 hour ride to Genting, the park is only open until 7pm, not enough time to enjoy it. So we just cancelled it and wandered around the city instead. We went to Jalan Petaling, the Chinatown of Kuala Lumpur. Lots of shops and eatery, we even saw a disabled man begging for money while smoking and facebooking on his smartphone. Had our lunch at Kim Lian Kee which I discovered on the net and browsed some goods.
Jalan Petaling
Kim Lian Kee Restaurant
Then, we went back to Suria Mall at KLCC to burn some time and watched the fountain show later that evening. Before going home, we passed by the busy street of Bukit Bintang where shops, restaurants, bars and street shows are very much alive. It's the place to go if you want some night life.
Suria Mall
Fountain Show
September 17
Checked out of our hotel and left our luggage to pick it up later tonight. Went to Sunway Lagoon today. The nearest station is Subang Jaya of the Red line. From there you take an ugly, old, small yellow bus labeled No. 77. The fare to the Pyramid Mall is RM1. The same bus will take you back to the train station. We had a great lunch at Old Town inside the Pyramid Mall and behind it is the entrance of Sunway Lagoon, it consists of 5 different theme parks for amusements, extreme, wildlife, horror and water. I purchased our all parks tickets online at a discounted price of RM75 each. Some activities are not included in the tickets. The park is so huge 1 day is not enough. We only tried one park, the Scream Park, because it was so hot that we can barely move. We should have tried the water park instead. And all the rides in Extreme Park doesn't allow us to bring our things and cameras along. They have lockers at the entrance but we were too lazy already to go back. So we just wandered around the park and took pictures. Going back to the bus station, we passed by my favorite restaurant, Bubba Gump, so we decided to just have a great meal after a day of disappointment. Then, we called it the day.
Sunway Lagoon
Scream Park
Water Park
Longest suspension bridge in the world.
At one end of the hanging bridge.
Got back to our hotel for our luggage and waited for our 9pm bus to Singapore. Please see my Singapore post.
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