Be warned : 1242 worth of angry naggy words ahead.
Tourists flocking to visit this city, please do enlighten me about what you find so appealing about this city I grew up in.
While I am not one bit proud of it, I feel that it is necessary for me to voice out my displease. As I see it, you can take this 2 ways.
1) Here is one ungrateful person who has nothing better to do but complain about her country and its people. Or, 2) Let's see what she has to say and evaluate how much truth there is in it and what can we do about it.
I really do welcome any sort of feedback.
**
So we started Day 1 going around KL by foot. My friend was staying at this backpackers place called BackHome located on Jalan Tun H.S. Lee so we figured we will do all the sights around the city itself.
Boo. The adventure starts to go downhill almost immediately (or maybe that's just me being biased in writing this post).
First destination was KL Tower, as we were informed that Chinatown would only start picking up by 4 in the afternoon. It didn't help that it was so freaking hot but I guess I shan't be complaining because it's common knowledge that it is HOT in Malaysia.. T__T
(I have just decided to write about this post by focusing on the cost of doing touristic things in KL rather than simply stating what is it we did. It could potentially be beneficial for people who are planning on repeating the same mistakes I did bringing their friends around town).
As I was saying, first stop - KL Towers, costs of ticket : RM 38 (same price for tourist and locals). Ticket includes a visit up the observation deck, plus either a 'pony' ride or a cultural show. FYI, we opted for the cultural show which we never got to witness anyway.
OK, complain mode ON once more. You can skip this part entirely however I sincerely believe that the public should be informed about how lousy a job the people managing our major tourist spot is doing and how embarrassed and angry I felt about their whole "Tidak Apa" attitude.
When we were purchasing our tickets, we were INFORMED by the counter that there will be a cultural show at 12.30pm so we decided to go for it before heading up to the observation deck.
First of all, there were no signs directing us to where the show was to be at and I finally understood why my foreigner friends are so amazed at my ability to speak Good English. Forgive me for saying this but come on, how can you be working at one of our major tourist spot and not be able to string together a proper sentence of English? -__-
So after asking around, this was what we were told, "Oh, they (the performers) already performed at 10am so the next show is not until 2pm". What.. in.. the world did I just hear??
No signs, no notification whatsoever, and you tell me what? I WAS FURIOUS.
I went back to the counter and gave them a piece of my mind. Guess what! This was what they had to say, "Ahh, because the performers are outside people so we cannot tell them what to do. They gave us a schedule but if they don't follow it also we are not informed and there's nothing we can do about it".
O M G, I think I just died of heartache due to how disappointed I was with my own fellow countrymen. And this is not just some roadside operation hello! Mind you, this is KL Tower we are talking about.
We decided to try for the 2pm show. At 2pm we were told that "Oh, the next show is not until 3pm". Seriously loh.
Hurr, that was a mouthful. So that's that.
We went up and thank goodness there was some skydiving activity which kept us entertained for a bit. The weather was a bit on the foggy side so there wasn't much to look at anyway. The only consolation (for me at least) was that some of the skydivers were pleasing to the eyes.
Lunch at KLCC foodcourt - RM8+
Train ride from KLCC to Pasar Seni - I don't know, I had my Touch&Go card
Central Market and Chinatown, look see but nothing much to do.
Snacks and drinks at Chinatown - RM 7+
And that was it. I had no idea what-so-ever as to what else can be done in that area. Okay, I accept that I am at fault for being ignorant about my own hometown, I am a katak di bawah tempurung.
The best idea I could come up with? Take the train home, get the car and go to SS2 for fish spa. T__T I didn't know that Malaysia was known for fish spas. The friend was keen to try it out so as far as my memory serves me, SS2 was the place to go.
Lo and behold, NO MORE FISH SPAS IN SS2. The nearest available fish spa was One Utama, so off we went.
Fish spa in One Utama - RM 38
Snacks in Old Town - RM 10
Resident Evil movie ticket @ TGV - RM 8 (The best part of the day and the only thing I felt was value for money).
Resident Evil movie ticket @ TGV - RM 8 (The best part of the day and the only thing I felt was value for money).
Dinner at Wai Sek Kai in SS2 - RM 10
After dinner, I was drained to the core, clearly not because of the amount of things we've accomplished during the day but more so mentally exhausted.
Misc items include RM 6 for taxi fare, RM 1 for parking and other things go unrecorded.
Total amount spent? RM 126 for one day in KL.
Day 2 was better in terms of how much we spent.
Batu Caves was FOC. Parking per entry was RM2 I believe. My 2 cents worth of opinion, the whole buzz about Batu Caves -> climbing the 272 steps. That's about everything to it. Of course, I am not taking into account people who are there for religious purposes lah.
We were done with the 272 steps up, photo taking/ staring at other people/monkeys (making the effort worth) and another 272 steps down within an hour and a half.
What next? Banana leaf rice in Nirwana, Bangsar. RM 8+ each.
Next, it was Muzium Negara. For RM 2 per entry, what can I say.
Note: Comparing to the last time I had to visit the museum for my Anthropology class 2 years back, the museum's display has definitely improved, drastically if I may add.
After the museum, I was out of ideas as to what to do next again but I hadn't had to worry about that because I had a dinner to go to.
Suffice to say, it was the first time in a long long loooong while that I felt thankful to have to attend a dinner.
What a long, energy draining, mood ruining post this was. I hereby ask for forgiveness for putting you readers through such torture.
I'll end with a valuable tip:
The next time you have a visitor, tell them you'll buy them dinner and that they can have the rest of the day to explore the city on their own.
2 comments:
You really need to live in somewhere that is not KL before you appreciate what there is about KL.
For me it's being able to go out and eat at any time of the day.
But it's a people thing too. Most Malaysians are nice and friendly, and happy to chat given the right starting topic.
And stuff in Malaysia is ridiculously cheap, especially (as I understand it) womens' clothes, shoes and DVDs.
If you prefer to do the touristy stuff, then stick with:
- Twin Towers, because it's really frigging ginormous (unless if you come from New York, Chicago, Shanghai or Dubai).
- Islamic Art Museum (because some of the items on display are really beautiful/precious)
- KL Bird Park (especially the nursery)
But then, you live in KL, so you already know about it, right?
This post was really more of what do tourist do when they come. They don't really come here to just keep eating right? And my tourist friend wasn't into shopping and eating that much... Itu yang susah.
As per daily life, I am pretty much satisfied living in KL. It's not true that clothes / shoes are cheaper here though, I don't think so lah.
Most Malaysians (us!) are nice and friendly, but it beats me as to why the people handling our tourist spot suck so badly. :(
- Twin Towers checked, probably should try and get the sky bridge tickets next time.
- WHERE'S this? :/
- Not a fan of animals lah..
Like I said, aku seekor katak di bawah tempurung. So no, I didn't know about everything, but thanks to you, now I do! :D
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