The flight from Taipei to Kuala Lumpur was much longer than I had expected…more than 5 hours. But it gave me some time to sleep because I knew sleep would be a luxury not within my budget over the next few days. I arrived in KL just before sunset, but by the time I took a taxi into the city (nearly an hour drive) it was dark. A few miles before entering city limits, I could see KL’s most popular attraction…the Petronas Towers! I couldn’t believe that I was actually here! It immediately reminded me of the movie “Entrapment” with Sean Connery where they filmed at the towers.
The taxi driver had the directions to the Equator Hostel where I would be shacking up with Bennie, Ket, and Ying…and I trusted he knew how to get there.
Me under the Petronas Towers...taken by Sir Bennie
Unfortunately, he didn’t speak much English and I didn’t know a single work of Malaysian. And come to find out, he took me to the Equator Hotel instead of the hostel. I pointed to the map I gave him, which gave the specific address, and he finally got the hint that I didn’t want out at the hotel. 15 minutes later I spotted the hostel as we drove by. We turned around and I never felt so good to get out of a taxi.
Inside the hostel, the manager took one look at me and asked if I was James! Yes, that’s me! She gave me the room key and said my mates were waiting for me. I went up to the room and found Sir Bennie and Ling. Bennie is an old friend who I’ve met in Europe a few times and it was great to see him again. It was the first time to meet Ling. But Ket was not there…he was out with a friend. Bennie and I decided to head out to check out the Trader’s Hotel bar up at the top.
Bennie under the Petronas Towers...taken by me
Jeff recommended this place because of the view of the towers. And, of course, I wanted to see the towers up close and personal.
Bennie had already seen them, and had gone up to the walkway the day before. But this magnificent pair of skyscrapers is worth seeing more than once. The best time to see them is at night, when they are lit up and glowing. As you can see, I took plenty of pictures, and I didn’t even post half of them. I simply have no words to accurately describe how incredible the towers are! We must have spent an hour or more standing underneath them, just gazing in awe. We went inside for a bit, and then made our way to Trader’s, but not before getting kicked out of the park (it was closed) that would have been a shortcut.
We weren’t sure if they would even let us in because we wore shorts and flip-flops, but they did allow us in, and after a while they even gave us a spot by the windows where we could view the towers.
On the opposite side of us was the indoor pool. No one was swimming, although at closing time some of the girls in the club dove in. Bennie and I had a good conversation, had some beers and drinks, and left around 2:30am. On our way to the hostel we decided we were hungry and elected to visit McDonald’s. It was the first McDonalds I ate in outside of the United States. When we reached the hostel, I spent a few minutes in the hostel’s computer café and let Brett and Erin know my status. Ket and Ling were fast asleep already, but I would see them after a few winks….and I say that literally!
