Friday February 21st
We managed to squeeze around each other and get
our bags packed up, then walked back over to the Low Cost Carrier Terminal to
get the connecting bus for the trip into the city – via a stop at Macca’s for
hotcakes for breakfast.
We travelled on the very comfortable bus to Salak
Tinggi railway station and caught the train in to Sentral Station (just to
clarify, being the spelling and grammar pedant that I am, this is the correct
spelling). We then transferred to the
monorail for the trip to the hotel. We’d
heard that the monorail trip is a good way to see the city and we agreed with
that suggestion. We enjoyed looking down
as we passed through the different areas of the city, seeing a lot more than we
would have if we’d gone by taxi or ordinary train.
The Grand Seasons Hotel looked a bit old and
weary from the outside, but was much smarter and elegant on the inside. On the downside, they are in the process of
having new lifts fitted (trying to jolly along the customers with a ‘turning
over a new lift’ sign [rolls eyes]).
Most of the old lifts are still running, but the button for floor 25
(our floor) doesn’t work in one of them.
The hotel staff took us in a different lift and delivered us to the 25th
floor. Our room is big and comfortable
and will hopefully give us a good night’s sleep for our last night before the
dreaded long overnight flight.
Once we’d settled in, we went out for lunch in a
little Indian café that we stumbled across.
The food was delicious and cost 23 Ringgit ($7-$8)for the two of us.
Next stop was Chinatown where we visited the
markets. Same again – clothing, fake
purses etc etc.
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| Ornate building in Chinatown |
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| Market stalls line the street |
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| Sand art in progress - Central Market |
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| The finished product |
Next stop was Merdeka Square where we visited the
City Library. Just can’t help
myself. The outside of the building
looks a little weary but it was nice and airy, spacious and well laid out
inside. We had a bit of a browse around
enjoying the quiet atmosphere after the clamour of the market.
We realised that there was a train station nearby
on a line which had a stop within easy walking distance of the hotel so we
negotiated our way through and ended up at just the right place. On the way back to the hotel we heard some
music coming from somewhere nearby so we went over to investigate. We found a food hall – with very few people
in it – with a karaoke machine. A man
was doing a great job of singing so we watched him for a while and decided to
go back there for dinner.
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| Now there's a theme for a museum! |
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| City Library |
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| Passers-by posing with Police bikes. The guy with the hat nearly knocked the bike over. Not a good move, mate! |
When we got to the hotel, the dodgy lift gave us
a bit of grief. One of the hotel staff
was operating the lift so we got in and told him that we wanted the 25th
floor. He pressed the button for Floor
24A. When we got out, we expected to find
stairs, so we asked him how to get to the 25th floor. He pointed to the right and then he was
gone. We walked all around Floor 24A
looking for stairs. After a while, I
wondered if it was like Platform 9 ¾ and we’d have to run full speed into the
wall. We asked a young staff member how
to get to Floor 25 and he suggested the lift.
Good grief! We pointed out that
the lift wouldn’t go there and we wanted the stairs. That was too much for his English so he went
to a nearby room which seemed to be full of other young staff members
(Off-duty? Partying while on-duty? Who
knows!) They all had a bit of a
conference and someone eventually decided to show us a staff door. Behind this door was another door. Behind this door was a staircase. Hooray!
We legged it up the stairs and will now hope that there is not a fire in
the hotel as nobody (except us, maybe) will be able to find the stairs. They don’t need to tell me not to use the
lift in case of emergency. You couldn’t
pay me to get in the lifts in an emergency.
As the Internet was still not working, John went
down to the reception desk to discuss it with the staff and got a very pleasant
surprise along the way. When the lift
opened, there were several men and a woman that John described as ‘like a
Princess’. She was immaculately dressed
in sequined flowing clothes with a gorgeous multi-layer tiara. John said ‘Wow’. One of the guys with her said he gives his
permission for John to take a photo. I’m
glad I don’t need my husband to give permission if someone wants to take a
photo of me. As John had only gone to
discuss Internet access, he didn’t have either his camera or his phone. As an added bonus, a couple of floors further
down, another of these stunning beauties got in the lift. Someone asked if they were going to a wedding,
but apparently they were just going to a formal dinner.
The Internet was still being worked on, so we
cleaned up for dinner and stepped outside the hotel – only to discover it was
pouring with rain. Not a bad moment for
the very first rainfall of our trip! We
were able to borrow an umbrella from the front desk and make our way back to the
Karaoke food hall. Not many of the
stalls were open and those that were seemed to be selling food that was a bit
too spicy for John’s liking so we changed our minds about this one.
We’d passed a few cafes on the way from the
hotel, so decided to try one of these.
Once again, we had Indian food, carefully choosing food that was not too
spicy. I found a chilli in mine and
thought about offering it to John but decided against it for my own wellbeing. Dinner here was 18.50 Ringgit (about $6 for
the two of us). Not blowing the budget
today!
Back at the hotel, where the Internet was still
not working, we decided to drop into the hotel restaurant for dessert. John had a banana split and I had fresh
fruit. The servings were huge and
probably twice as much as we needed, but very nice anyway.
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| Mmmmmm! |
We’re a bit frustrated about no Internet as we
have calls to make and web check in to take care of.
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| This way to Mecca. These arrows are on the ceilings of hotels to point out the correct direction of prayer |
Tomorrow we’re off to see the Museum of Islamic
Art.
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