September 20,

When we awoke we wanted to explore. So we had our Javas and we made a game plan. Then we ate breakfast of toasted coconut bread with PB &/or Nutella; hummus and crackers; and a great watermelon. Then I blogged and Jeff read. Finished and we were ready to eat and venture explore.

At 1300, we caught a Grab and went to Limapulo Restaurant, a restaurant mentioned in the Michelin guide for the last two years. We had Nyonya Laksa – a rich, spicy, coconut milk- based broth curry soup poured over rice and yellow noodles with shredded chicken, tofu, half a HB egg, half a lime, and crispy naan; Gerang Asam Fish – Pari fish(stingray) slow cooked with spices and tamarind juice, leaning toward sourness served with rice, some egg, okra, and sauteed cabbage; and dessert of Sago Gula Melaka – consisting of a sago pearl “pudding” drenched in coconut milk and drizzled with palm sugar (flavor of caramelized toffee). I had an iced Barley water, really good and very different! Jeff had bottled water. Super fine lunch! Total bill was 36.10MYR ($8.32).

Now we went on a walkabout. We passed by several buildings with historical significance. The first one being The Survey Office. Next one was The Sultan Abdul Samad Building, “originally housed the offices of the British colonial administration, and was known simply as Government Offices in its early years,” from Wikipedia. After Malaysia's independence, it “housed the superior courts of the country: the Federal Court of Malaysia, the Court of Appeals and the High Court of Malaya.” Now it it the Malaysian Tourism and Culture. Then we came to a very tall flagpole – tallest in Malaysia – 95 meters (312 feet). It is situated the Merdeka square, which is where the first Malaysian flag was raised in 1957 when the Malaysians gained independence from the British. From here we passed one more historical place that was the Old Central Railway Offices, in 2010 it was repurposed and is now The National Textile Museum. These were all prominent historical architectural buildings.

We now go to the base of the tallest building, Merdeka 118 (the number represents how many stories it has) in Malaysia, second tallest building in the world at 678.9m (2,227 feet). FYI… The Burj Khalifa – THE tallest building in the world – is 828m (2,717 feet). This building is still crazy tall – it hurts my neck to look up that far! Also this building is so new that it is not set up for tours yet and you can see this at the base. It is a maze of construction is still going on – for a parking garage, maybe??

Finished gawking and neck straining, we booked our second Grab of the day to take us back to our apartment. When the car arrived, it had someone getting out as we got in! This happened to us yesterday, and with this morning's ride also. That is a good use of the driver's time if Grab books this way. Anyway, back at our place we had a little time to relax.
At 1700 we readied, because we have tickets for a 1915 tour of The Petronas Twin Towers. We left at 1730 to build in some slack time for our elevators; traffic getting there; and finding where to go for the tour. We did not go up these towers 13 years ago(tour was sold out. So I'm excited. The Twin Towers were completed in 1999. Another FYI: The movie Entrapment with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones had a sequence for the movie taken in this building. The filming was in 1998 before the building opened to the public. Anyway, via our third Grab taxi, we arrived at the complex (KLCC) that is a mall, a park, and the Twin Towers (TTs). The TTs are still the tallest twin tower structure in the world. This year it is celebrating it's 25th year!! We found where to meet then explored the high end mall -Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Chanel, Rolex stores to only name a few. I think there was six levels! We found the two leveled food court, spying what we might eat after our tour. At 1845 we 'boogied' back to where the tour starts. Our tour group was the “green group” because our visitor passes were green neck lanyards. By 1915 we were all accounted for and ushered to a elevator that zoomed us up to the 41st floor. We were directed out into the Sky Bridge that is situated here between the towers! What a crazy view that was!! the towers themselves were lit up now as it is sunset. Stunning! Now our group is ushered to another elevator that took us up to the 83rd floor. Now we split into two groups to go into the next elevator (it's smaller). We went up to the 86th floor – the highest we go (there are supposed to be 88). Now we are allowed to explore the area on our own. Dizzying views over Kuala Lumpur as the night sets in and lights come on. After around 20 minutes the green group is summoned to exit – a reversal of coming up. Once down we went outside at the back of the buildings and caught the light and sound show for ten minutes. It was okay – we have seen better.

We went into the mall's food court and chose BBQ Nights. We had Lamb “Seekh Kebab” with a Mint-yogurt sauce(?) and Lahori Chicken Tikka with a Pumpkin(?) small soup. Good food for a mall shop. Finished we called for our fourth and final Grab taxi of the day. It was a fun exploring day in KL!