Blog - SIN/KUL #4: KL Tower, Chinatown, Tune Hotel(s)

SIN/KUL #4: KL Tower, Chinatown, Tune Hotel(s)

Saturday, September 22
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We got up late morning (check out is at noon) and said goodbye to our dear Hotel Maya, leaving our luggage for there for the day. It was a very nice stay. In the morning there was something going on at the school (?) below our window.

We walked down Jalan P Ramlee, a street full of clubs, bars and restaurants, where we saw that cool bear stencil graffiti. Nearby near the end of the street, we took a free shuttle minibus to KL Tower (aka Menara Kuala Lumpur). This is the 5th tallest tower in the world at 421m, the tallest in southeast Asia. There we went up, took a few quick shots, and got back down. The pineapple trash cans were especially interesting. :)

Otherwise the tower was better appreciated when viewed from the bottom.

From the foot of the tower, you take an escalator down to get out. Before going down I had the good idea to ask the information guy where to take a taxi, he first just told us to go down, but then I asked if they'd use the meter, and he said that it's a ticket system (like at KL Sentral station)... and that the counter at the right of the escalator is more expensive than the one across the street! Ah-ha! So we went down the escalator, ignored the first taxi stand ("TAXI? TAXI?! TAXI!!!"), and went to the more quiet one that said "bargain taxi" (or something like that) and got a ticket to Chinatown for RM 16 (¥550 or $4.75 USD). Once again we had a rather nice taxi driver, who explained us where the market was.

The Chinatown Market is actually a big building with 2 floors full of shops, many selling local stuff of all kinds. We spend a while looking at everything and it was fun. We also went to have a foot massage to soothe our, well, not-so-sore feet. It was only RM 25 (¥850 or $7.40) for 30 minutes.

We were also a bit hungry and had kaya butter toast and Ipoh white coffee at Old Town Kopitiam (= coffee shop). Kaya is a type of jam made with coconut milk, and kaya butter toast is a popular snack in Malaysian coffee shops. As the name says, it's well toasted crispy bread sandwiching a generous amount of kaya and butter. Kaya and butter together is really just great! An instant favorite, this was our first of several kaya butter toasts.

Right: A shop had that funny mannequin that reminded of Oh! Mikey.
A Japanese couple passing next to us made the same remark.

While at the market I also did some electronics shopping. I was curious whether I could find a cheap SD card, as mine was threatening to be near full by the end of the trip. Indeed I could get a 2 GB card for only RM 75 (¥2500 or $22)! It's some Korean brand that I've never heard of before (called "Keep", ungoogleable), but who cares? SanDisk cards sold elsewhere were twice the price.

Pasar Seni station, closest to Chinatown, has hints of graffiti.

It was then about 16:00 when we headed out of Chinatown, back to Hotel Maya to pick up our bags, and we took a taxi (RM 7) to our next hotel. It was quite a leap from a 5-star hotel to the "no frills" budget Tune Hotels (they put a "s" everywhere but so far they only have one hotel). While far away from most of the other hotels in the city, at least it's close to MTR and Monorail stations (Sultan Ismail and Medan Tuanku), making it rather easy to get around.

While everything is quite cheap in Malaysia in general, Tune Hotels is really really cheap, with single rooms starting at RM 9.99 (¥340 or $3 USD), ridiculous! You only get the strict minimum though: private room with bed and shower, and toilet, and a ceiling fan (air conditioning is sold in 5-hour packs). It's not of bad quality though, they even pride themselves of providing only 5-star class beds and powerful hot showers. That's all. No towels, no soap, no TV, no phone, no-no-nothing. Bring your own or buy some at the convenience store downstairs. There is however free Internet in the lobby (something that the previous 5-star hotel didn't provide us for free). The rooms are small but nice looking.

The hotel is nice-looking... with walls sponsored by Nippon Paint. Oh yeah, sponsoring, because that's the key to make a cheap hotel cheaper. The paint is sponsored, the elevator is sponsored (by Mister Potato), there's a TV playing advertisements in the lobby, there are ads on the bedroom walls (some mayonnaise?),.. but isn't that a good idea? We enjoyed our stay there, and if there's anything to say, it's that towels just never ever dry, so a coin laundry would be a great addition.

We went for a short walk around the nearby Chow Kit area where there are street markets selling all kinds of stuff. Most of it was boring though, all shops selling the same T-shirts and a lot of smelly dorian stands. We did find a place that sold some kind of crêpe-like food with some sweet stuffing, the guy was friendly too. We bought one and ate it while heading back to the hotel.

Then we got out to go find dinner. Our guide book indicated Pudu Market on the map towards the south, so we figured we'd find something there, but we didn't expect a market as small and local as this one. There was only food and it was obviously mostly local people who didn't speak English. We managed to buy some noodles from a nice lady who did. At another stand someone didn't want to sell to us because the table where we sat wasn't in the right area!? Oh well. We then walked a few blocks and had some claypot chicken rice at a place called Pusat Kuliah Pemanduan Berhemat. Some people came there by car so it must be worth it. I wish I could say it was great, but unfortunately it wasn't exactly my thing... too many bones and, the taste, I don't know...

We then took the train to the Bandaraya station where there are several department stores and some large night markets. I found some black forest cake, I think inside Sogo, and couldn't resist. I ate it in a parking lot nearby, haha. :) At the market I got an ok deal on a Transformers T-shirt that I had been seeing everywhere, only RM 20.

We walked back to the hotel, about one station away, and called it a day.

There's more to come, so stay tuned. :)

Larger sizes and a few more photos at Flickr

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