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Malaysia Correspondent Rick M scales the highest buildings in Kuala Lumpur and lives to tell the tale.
A worthwhile excursion whilst in Kuala Lumpur is visiting the Petronas & KL towers. They are reasonably close to each other and can be both be visited in a morning or afternoon. Allow yourself around 3-4 hours to comfortably see both sights.
Petronas twin towers can be found by traveling on KL's LRT rail transit system alighting at KLCC station (KL City Centre), a short walk through the impressive shopping mall following the "Observation Deck" signs you will find the ticketing box for the Petronas Tour.
On the day of our visit there were around 100 people in the queue, which moves fairly quickly so don't be put off. This is a free tour, however you will need a ticket as only 1000 are distributed daily. The ticketing box opens at 8:30 AM, and you will find that a ticket given at 8:30 may be for the tour at 9:00, or 9:15. This is displayed at the ticket box, so you will be aware of what time your tour is likely to commence.
Once you have your ticket you can view the impressive display which shows among other things the height of Petronas in relation to other skyscrapers in addition to a simulated lightning strike on the towers. A video is also shown, however this is the same one you will see when you are waiting to be escorted into your tour.
If you have some time on your hands go to the shopping mall, which is the equal of anything you will see in Australia. We had a Dome coffee and headed back for our tour, which commenced at 10:45. You are requested to arrive 10 mins early and you will be given a coloured tag to wear around your neck, then you can view the video which gives a history of the building of the towers.
Shortly thereafter you will be escorted through the airport like X-ray bag scan and metal detector to a waiting high speed elevator in a group of around 20 people for a rapid despatch to the 41st floor (170M).
The towers stand at 452 metres, 88 floors in all however visitors can access the Sky Bridge that traverses both towers only. The view is impressive and you will have about 10 mins to take photo's from both sides of the Sky Bridge before you begin your journey back to earth.
Check out our photo feature on the Petronas Towers here or read about our 2007 visit here.
A short distance from the Petronas Towers is Menora KL, or KL Tower. This tower is KL's main communications tower and is open for tourist viewings from the observation deck at 276 metres above sea level at a cost of RM 20 .
Catch the LRT from KLCC to Dang Wangi station, then you walk 500 metres to the next intersection, turn right at the second corner, then up the hill to the tower. Alternatively, opposite Dang Wangi station is the botanical gardens and you can walk through here to the tower , however on the day of our visit it was not open.
When you arrive at the base of the tower there is a security guard in a booth. You can either walk up the remaining distance or wait for the shuttle bus (free). The walk takes 5 minutes, but is treacherously hilly and is basically all steps, so if you are hot and bothered from walking up the hill or want to conserve energy take the shuttle. Shuttles leave at 15 minute intervals.
The complex has a duty free store, restaurants and numerous souvenir stands and caters well for the tourist. We are ushered into our high speed lift with the attendant enquiring "Are you ready to fly?". Fly we did, 58 seconds later, (just as the attendant assured us) we were 276 metres higher taking in the breathtaking scenery.
For your RM 20 you will receive a brochure of the tower and an interactive headset for your clockwise tour of the observation deck. The narrative is informative and interesting and you will learn many facts about the tower. Taking the lift back down we took the shuttle back to bottom and headed back to our hotel room ending a major highlight of any visit to Kuala Lumpur.
Hotelzasia e-traveler.
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