So last week i went to KL for five days, My first trip abroad, fully sponsored by FKUI to compete on IMSPQ, an international physiology quiz. Well we didnt win the quiz, but still, we had awesome experiences on that five days :")
Kuala Lumpur, or simply called KL, is the capital of Malaysia. Here are some things you should know about KL:
1. the Airport
Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) was once the best airport in the world. Of course it feels so different when you come from Soekarno-Hatta airport, and first step on KLIA's magnificent alleys. My first impression: WHOA. Beautiful lamps, lightballs, and lanterns, hanging from the ceiling. The ceiling itself was elegantly arched, it looks like balloons. Walls are made of glass. Aerotrain, a driverless automatic train, as transportation mode to the other terminals. Clean, no random people offering taxi. Shopping arcade all along. There's even a mini-jungle (KLIA Jungle broadwalk) aaa you should see KLIA yourself ^_^
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| Aerotrain platform |
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| Magnificent Roof Design! |
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| the waiting hall |
People in KL are mainly Hindi/Chinese/Malay themselves. But you can also easily spot Caucasians here and there, strolling on KL's broad sidewalks and beautiful parks. It was my first time to be under the same roof with so many people from many races speaking many different languages. I even met a Javanese-speaking young man when dr. Roman (my lecturer who accompanying us on the quiz) randomly asking people about the direction, with english, and he just replied "Opo?" (means what in Javanese). And we figured out that he actually came from Bojonegoro haha. Most Malays do speak english, so just speak to everyone you meet, they mostly would respond with a smile :)
Tall buildings with >30storeys are common here in KL. One is KLCC Petronas Twin Tower, once was the tallest building on earth, 88 storeys high. This building is so high i get dizzy everytime i try to see the peak from the base. And there are also KL Tower; a observation tower built beneath a forest in the center of KL, the National Mosque; with its unique star-shaped dome and fountains, KL Lake Garden; where you can find cute squirrels hopping from branches (imagine, squirrel in the middle of metropolitan KL), KL Bird Park (one of the biggest walk-in bird park in the world), Dataran Merdeka; with its very tall flagpole, said to be one of the tallest flagpole ever. Aaaand many more. One thing you must notice, there are many building styles in KL; Turkish mosques, Asian arched doorframes, European stonewall and fountains, even a very old British building which is still functioned as train station. I was like "hey, no need to go to Europe to just take a pic with exotic fountains' :D
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| Tall buildings, view from KLCC Park |
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| the Petronas Twin Tower |
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| This is Petronas Twin Tower from the base. can you see the peak? :) |
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| The old British Train Station |
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| Nice design! |
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| The National Mosque, star-shaped dome |
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| Imagine, this is a mosque :"D |
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| View from the mosque's 2nd storey |
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| KLCC Park |
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| Feels Like Europe! (ignore the flag btw) |
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| Garden This quiet, in the middle of KL. here you can find Squirrels :) |
Altho on peak hours there's still traffic jam on KL's main roads, but most of the time they're relatively empty. The roads are wide, and clean, very different from Jakarta's crowded road. And although the traffic's on a jam, cars are neatly arranged in rows, with quite wide space between the rows. And not many motorcycles are seen, most are small cars with brightly transparent windowglass. Sometimes i wonder whether people inside the car doesnt feel hot with windowglass that transparent :D
And the sidewalks, well you cant compare it to Jakarta. Sidewalks are wide, amazingly clean, and no PKL (pedagang kaki lima, what'd we call them in english?-__-). I can hardly spot homeless people, as there are so many homeless people scattered on Jakarta's sidewalks. But sometimes it just feels too empty and creepy, especially in the night. One night dr. Roman went to minimarket to buy snacks, and when he got out from the minimarket, he found no one, NO ONE, along the way. Sidewalk and road are as empty and quiet as graveyard. So when he's lost (oyeah, he couldnt find his way back to the hotel) he couldnt ask anyone, since there's NO ONE -__-
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| Clean Sidewalks |
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| How empty -__-" |
Transportation in KL is awesome!! There are railways for LRT, KTM, and monorail train. LRTs are automatic (first moment i realized there's no driver, i am scared haha). KTM railways are level with the ground, while LRT's and monorail's are either elevated or under the ground. For me, who's never been in an underground train, this was awesome! To enter the stations, we purchase ticket (or token) from a machine, choose where to go, insert the money, and the token and changes come out. This token only can be used once to open the station gate from where we depart, and the station gate where we got off. So dont lose the token, or you may not get out from the station :D
Or if you are regular commuters, you can use RapidKL card (or "Kad" in Malay) instead of purchasing token everytime. This card is like Blitzcard in Indonesia, that you can load with an amount of money, and just tap it in station gates or RapidKL buses. See, it's all integrated for convenience! Wonder when will Jakarta have such decent transportation modes? >,<
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| LRT ticket machine |
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| This is the LRT, driverless loh :"D |
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| Interior of KTM Komuter, people also take pictures, like me :p |
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| Interior of RapidKL bus, the seating's a bit strange, but nice :D |
National language in Malaysia is Malay, which is not far different from Bahasa Indonesia. Still, as an Indonesian, i get confused when talking with Malaysians. Some words are just funny for me. Like
- Keliling-keliling = Pusing-pusing
- Diaduk = Dikacau
- Mobil = Kereta >> they said "tren" for train instead
And they have many words directly absorbed from english, but with Malay spelling, so it's very funny, like
- Stesyen = Station
- Seksyen = Section
- Fesyen = Fashion
- Bas = Bus
- Teksi = Taxi
- Kad = Card
7. the Cuisine
Malaysian cuisine are much the same with Indonesian, with some influence from Hindi and Chinese migrants. Still, i must admit, as a person born in Indonesia, my tongue are used to strong spice and taste. So for me Malaysian cuisine is too plain -__- I like Malaysian "teh Tarik" tho, basically a ordinary milk tea, but what's unique is the making. Teh Tarik makers pour hot water about from 1m distance above the cup. And the water didnt spill a bit!
8. the Timezone
Since KL is located somewhere in the west of Jakarta, the time would be behind, wouldnt it? But in fact, they use GMT+8, same as WITA, and that's confusing when it comes to prayer time. JSYK, Subuh time there is 6.00 AM, Dzuhur is around 1.30 PM, Ashar is 4.30 PM, maghrib is 7.30 (yes, even at 7PM in KL, its still bright outside -__-) and Isya is around 9.00 PM. So yeah, i was a bit on jetlag -__-
Thats' it. I recommend KL as your next tourism destination! :D
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