KL City Tour

JUNE 3rd, 2011. Met up with respective group members at college: Aqila , Erik, Eddie and Sharmin

In conjunction to the class project we decided to choose our destination to be around the heart of the city (Kuala Lumpur) to test the transportations based on what we had learned in class.

We began our journey at noon from the Taylors University College Lakeside Campus, Sunway. We decided to take a taxi to KL Sentral instead of the bus service due to its time consumption. Instead of using the metered taxi, we decided to try and negotiate for a fixed price for the journey to save cost. At last we settled on RM35. During the taxi ride there was an incident where we weren't sure whether were supposed to pay for the toll fee or not and he honestly said it was included in the RM35, where else he could of just told us the opposite to make extra money.

*Taxi*

We arrived at KL Sentral 10 minutes later via the NPE Highway into Bangsar. Considering it was lunch hour, the place was congested with people, thus producing long queues to buy food. After lunch, we searched for the KL Hop On Hop Off Ticket Counter, which is located near the KL CAT Arrival Hall. The bus transfers tourist or locals to different tourist destinations within the city area. The tickets cost us RM12 for Student MYKAD Holder and RM17 for the International Student. These tickets are later exchanged with a boarding pass while on the bus. This is done so that you can get off and on the bus as many times as you like within the 24-hour gap prior to your ticket purchase. The bus comes every 30 minutes. The bus stop is located at Level 2 in front of the Le Meridien and Hilton Hotel near the bus stop.

*Lunch, KFC!*

*KL Hop On Hop Off Malaysian and International Student Ticket*

*Sharminn*

*Aqila*

*Eddie*

*Erik*

*KL Hop On Hop Off Bus Stand*

*The Bus!*

The bus was equipped with maps and brochures of tourist destinations. You can press the commentary button to hear the information of certain places when driving by. However, the temperature inside was quite hot maybe due to the weather outside affecting the air conditioning. So we decided to sit outside at the open roof top at the end of the bus to get a better view and wind. Along the way the bus made stops to the National Museum and picked up and dropping off more passengers. We cruised along other places like the Lake Garden, Butterfly Park, Bird Park, The Islamic Arts Museum and the National Mosque before we arrived at Dataran Merdeka.

*Bus Interior*

*Bus Exterior, open roof top*

*Bus View*

On that day, the Merdeka Field was closed due to the setting up of props for the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong Birthday Celebration (June 4), so there wasn't much to do or see. Due to the hot weather, we all decided to just take a few photos within the area and continued a 10 minute walk to the Masjid Jamek LRT Station.

*Sultan Abdul Samad Building at Dataran Merdeka*

The Masjid Jamek Station is one of the few stations that intersects two trains. Masjid Jamek is the only station that intersect the Ampang Line and Kelana Jaya Line. These rails are much like intercity rails and connects the popular town around the city center. Moreover, we bought tickets on the Kelana Jaya Line to KLCC at RM1.60 one way. The train arrives every 5 minutes depending on the hour. The train moves along underground to a few other station before reaching KLCC. The KLCC station is situated in between two malls: Suria KLCC and Avenue K. Due to a 2-week school holiday at the time, KLCC was flooded with school kids and families. There are many retailed outlets. They however seem to favor more on exclusive shops and restaurants such as Coach, Louis Vuitton and fine dining restaurants like San Francisco Steakhouse. From the Concourse Level, you can walk through a connecting tunnel from the Park Mall Section of the mall which takes you a 10 minute walk to the KL Convention Center and KLCC Park. We explored the 50-acre landscape which features a children's playground, symphony fountain, jogging track and sculptures.

*Masjid Jamek Station*

*Kelana Jaya Line Route map*

*LCD Screen ,Train Arrival time*

*Petronas Twin Tower View from the park*

From the Convention Centre we walk for another 10 minutes to Bukit Bintang. You can either take a taxi (not worth paying for, they can charge you up to RM10 just to take you that short distance just because of the location), or you can take the pedestrian walk through the Wisma UOA on Jalan Pinang or another option is to take the air-conditioned pedestrian walk from KL Convention Center connecting to Crown Plaza Hotel. In this case, we decided to walk through the Wisma UOA until we reached Pavillion Mall. The area is a shopping haven for some. There are 8 malls located next to each other (Pavilion, Starhill Plaza, Fahrenheit 88, Lot 10, Sg Wang Plaza, BB Plaza, Low Yat and Times Square). The malls attract so many different types of people for their individual uniqueness. Not only that, there are a variety of hotels you can stay for your convenience, from budget hotel to 5-star ratings (JW Marriot, Grand Millennium Hotel, Park Royal Hotel, Seasons View).

Due to time constrained, we tried to avoid the rush hour at 5.30. The easiest way out was to take the train back to KL Sentral by KL Monorail. The Bukit Bintang Monorail Station is located in front of the Sg Wang Plaza on Jalan Sultan Ismail. The train is slightly shorter than the other train rail services and travels within the city center. It only has two car coaches and has a driver instead of being operated by a computer. The fare to KL Sentral cost at RM2.10 one way. We then arrived at KL Sentral, took another 15 minute walk around a current construction site for the extended part of KL Sentral and parted our own ways.

*Bukit Bintang Monoral Station*

*Monorail Train*

*The end of the day, tired faces*

The trip more or less was enjoyable throughout the hot sunny weather. Overall, the public transport system was moderate. In our opinion, due to the school holiday we didn't really enjoyed the transportation fully due to the amount of people rushing here and there. Some of us were standing throughout BOTH of the train rides due to insufficient seats. However the situation rarely affected us until the end of the trip when our legs felt sore from all the walking. Not only that, we had a difficult time trying to find the KL Hop On Hop Off Bus Stand at the Convention Center since we knew there was a stop made there, but there weren't anyone around to ask. Furthermore, the trip concludes that all the transportation system is well connected within the city area. It wasn't hard to locate the nearest station because it was only a 10 to 15 minutes walking distance from wherever you could be standing.