13 Feb2017
Ultimate Kuala Lumpur tour – the most important landmarks in a day
Ultimate Kuala Lumpur tour
On our last day in Kuala Lumpur we booked a tour via Tinggly experiences. We chose the ultimate Kuala Lumpur tour done by the local travel agency the Legion Travel & Tours.
Batu caves
Our driver Vickram picked us up at the Sheraton Imperial hotel at 8.45 am and then we drove directly to the Batu caves situated 13 km from Kuala Lumpur. We visited the caves on the 7th February which was just before the Hindu sabbatical holidays (big festival on the 9th February) so the caves were already a bit crowded.
There are 272 steps going up to the Batu caves so our driver prefers to do it first thing in the morning because otherwise the guests would be too tired already in the afternoon.
Batu caves Hindu temple was founded in a limestone cave in 1891 (the sign inside the caves says 1881 but online you can find in 1891) but visitors of other religions can also enter without any problems. So we, Catholics, were surrounded by some Chinese and Muslim people, and who knows what other religions were there at the same time.
Malaysia is a good mixture of three cultures: Chinese 25%, Indians 15%, 60% Muslims. Some Chinese and Indians are Catholic.
Batu caves are named after the Batu river flowing past the hill. It is said that the limestone hills are 400 million years old.
There was even a group of Malaysian policemen who are Muslim. They were taking photos of the caves and also selfies, so I asked our guide to ask them for a photo, too :)
Overall, it was such a cool experience to observe Hindu families with children with painted heads praying in the shrine, lighting candles, walking with a metal bowl on top of their heads and young guys carrying huge metal constructions. They seemed not to care about tourists taking photos and videos of them.
Monkeys did no care either. Loads of monkeys were eating everything they found and got from the tourists. Some tourists were even feeding them. In my opinion this is not so good because then the monkeys come to everyone and want to grab everything they see. They could get aggressive but when we where there, we haven’t seen any monkey violence. They just grabbed apples, bananas, oranges and a plastic bag with pastries from a group of tourists.
Once satisfied with our cave photos, we made our way back down for more photos with the Lord Murugan statue. With its 42.7 m it’s the tallest Lord Murugan statue in the world. We can see it at the cave entrance since 2006.
To refresh, Vickram got us fresh coconuts. Compared to Thailand, they were cheaper by the Batu caves. It cost approx. 1 euro per 1 huge coconut and you could also eat the coconut meat after drinking.
Other KL landmarks
After a quick stop at a watch gallery shop not far from the Batu Caves where they sell hundreds of different watches, we made our way to the Pewter factory. There we found out they mix local tin together with copper imported from South Africa to make certain products.
Until 1970’2 Malaysia was the biggest tin producer in the world. In the present, China, Indonesia and Peru produce even more tin.
Also, when Malaysians were looking for tin, they found a black stone onyx which is used for health and good luck. Nowadays, loads of onyx jewelry is sold at the Pewter factory together with the tin vases, plates, Chinese dragon statues and other products. We were amazed by different colorful Chinese tea sets.
Next we drove to the King’s Palace. We were lucky to see the horse Royal guard change. They change every two or three hours, depending on if it’s guards riding horses or standing guards. Only Royal family members can become Royal guards, not other people. The guard job goes from grandfather to father to grandson.
Then we drove to the National Monument Tugu Negara from 1963 to commemorate the soldiers who died in the war. Just a few metres from it the British monument can be found.
31st August 1967 was the Independence day. In 59 years they had only 6 Prime Ministers in Malaysia. Number 4 Prime Minister was the most famous as he was the Prime Minister for 22 years.
We saw some red hibiscus flower lamps along the roads because hibiscus is the National Malaysian flower.
We also briefly drove through the Botanical Gardens as to walk around would take a whole day and there was no time.
Merdeka square used to be a British cricket field before it became the Independence square (Merdeka means independence). There is a Malaysian flag on a tall white pole to designate the Independence. We took photos with the famous I love KL red sign next to the KL City Gallery and also with the beautifully designed Sultan Abdul Samad building behind us. Thanks to a tower with a clock, this building is also known as KL Big Ben as it resembles the London Big Ben a little bit.
Afterwards, we could have lunch somewhere but we were not hungry yet so we just went directly to the Menara KL tower which with its 421 m is the tallest telecommunication tower in Southeast Asia, and the 7th tallest in the world. It’s located in KL city centre in the Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve (translated as pineapple hill) and also resembles a pineapple. Unfortunately, we did not visit the KL Tower Observation deck is situated 276 m above the ground but I’ve heard it’s worth if you get time.
If you are a chocolate lover, then you might appreciate the visit to the Beryl’s chocolate factory where you can taste some chocolate pieces. The factory makes natural chocolate without any chemicals which is also why it is not cheap. It’s possible to taste and buy smelly durian chocolate, milk chocolate, 70% dark chocolate, strawberry chocolate, nut chocolate etc. in a form of chocolate candies or chocolate bars. And if you’ve never seen a cocoa tree, there’s one outside of the shop so check out how a cacao fruit looks like.
During the tour we could also learn how they make batik clothes at the Batik factory but we’d already been there on another KL tour.
Petronas Twin Towers
What we could not miss on our ultimate Kuala Lumpur tour? We saved the best for the last…
Our last stop was the number 1 Kuala Lumpur attraction – the Petronas Twin Towers which with their 451.9 m remain the tallest twin towers in the world. Between 1998 and 2004 they were also the tallest buildings in the world. These office buildings were opened in 1997 after a 3-year construction which cost $1.6 billion!! The steel and glass facades resemble Islamic art motifs because Islam is the main Malaysian religion.
Vickram walked us to the Skybridge line where we waited for other tourists to join us. You need to buy a ticket for a certain hour and be there 15 minutes before. Visitors have 2 options, or just the skybridge, or also with the observation deck. The latter, the whole Petronas tour takes approx. 40 to 45 minutes when you visit the skybridge and then the Observatory.
58.4 m long Petronas Skybridge is situated on the 41st and 42nd floors at 170 m above the road and then the Petronas Obervation deck is on 86th floor at 370 m. First, we were taken to the skybridge connecting Petronas 1 to Petronas 2 towers. The bridge moves when it’s windy as it’s not fully attached to the towers. Tourists can enter the bridge on the 41st floor while office staff can move from one tower to another through the 42nd floor. This double-decker bridge is the highest world 2-story bridge.
After taking photos at the skybridge for 10 minutes, we were asked to proceed to another 2 lifts to make our way to the Observation deck. We had 15 to 20 minutes there. Altogether we took 4 lifts from the main floor to get up to the 86th floor. I have to admit the Petronas visit was worth it. Could easily spend hours there taking photos, videos, and sitting on a small sofa looking at the skyscrapers looking like a Legoland from above.
All pumped up, Vickram drove us back to Sheraton Imperial where we were staying.
Many thanks for the tour. For more information about the ultimate tour around Kuala Lumpur, visit Tinggly experiences website.
