Monday, October 04, 2010

KL Per Hour

There is nothing worse than coming back from a weekend trip with food poisoning … except maybe starting a weekend trip with food poisoning already. This is what happened to J. unfortunately, on our weekend escape to Kuala Lumpur (KL).

Twins


On a Thursday night, out of a sparkling moment of joy we decided to change our busy weekend routine to take a flight out of Singapore on a run to the nearest destination. After few clicks and quick investigation, the capital of Malaysia seemed to be a fair deal for the buck: major food capital of Asia, with large and new shopping centers and the famous Petronas Twin Towers.

Twin View from Aside


Hotel was booked, flights were locked, camera was charged, and bag was for once almost packed the day before and all of that within a couple of hours. Nothing could spoil our weekend well deserved after all the work we have been putting in lately. But it all started early in the morning and the breakfast did not stay long enough in the stomach to make a lasting impression on J. With some careful planning and smart logistics we both managed to reach the hotel lobby with less than more damage. Legs were weak and stomach light, but nothing that a long and comfortable night could fix, right?

Smile at the Twins


ERROR #1
With no strength to move around the bedroom of the hotel, it was certainly not possible to explore one of the most humid and hottest cities in the world. The goal was then to trick the beast, and to charcoal the bug while refueling fluids to keep a minimum of energy level. The scam seemed to work out perfectly. We squeezed just enough time for the two of us to explore the shopping center district and its AC-ed promise land, and to visit the Petronas tower from afar.

Twin Towers at Night


With so much rebound joy and with the largest Malay food menu in front of you, no one could resist the temptation, and the cooling night at Bijan was a parenthesis in the life of the traveler with a bug. The immediate refueled energy out of the marvelous dinner at Bijan lasted just enough for us to take few pictures of the fantastic tower at night from underneath and from afar at the SkyBar. The night of dancing that we planned before at the nearby Zouk was replaced instead by a mocktail at the hotel Sky Lounge watching the outside line-up growing longer by the night club under a light rain.

Twins under the Spotlights


ERROR #2
J. spent instead the long night dancing in the bathroom while I was inconsiderately sleeping my food off in the bedroom. The next day, after a long flight back of 45 minutes fighting against crowd, delays, traffic, low budget airline and bureaucracy we both made it on time back in Singapore for a scheduled recovery in bed and hot congee.

Clouds Stuck in Towers


No traveler with a bug can recover in 24 hours and food poisoning should not be taken lightly at all.

As for KL, the city seems to be as good as it looks. Food seems great, shopping interesting and the city has even some surprising places to entertain the pleasing crowd at night. KL looks like what Singapore was maybe 20 years ago with some pockets of modernity here and there, but in of serious urban planning. We have to go back there to make sure we have the right impression and this time with no bug inside!