So Not Lost!

View of Petronas Towers from KL Tower - Click to View Hi-Res Image

The Petronas Towers are the world’s tallest twin towers, but you can’t view the city from the top; free tickets can only take you to the Skybridge on the 41st and 42nd floors. On the other hand, you can go all the way to the top of the KL Tower (the fifth tallest telecommunication tower in the world). This grants you a great view of the city, and as you can see in this photo, you can view the Petronas Towers from this vantage point. There are even guides in the tower that helpfully point out what exactly you’re looking at from above.

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I only had one full day to explore Kuala Lumpur, so I wanted to make the most of it. I borrowed a Malaysian guidebook from my CouchSurfing host Angelo, and I had some idea of what I wanted to do that day. Unfortunately, my day started out as a comedy of errors.

I meant to wake up early to have enough time to do laundry and head to the Petronas Towers, get a ticket, and go to the observation deck. Unfortunately, my exhaustion from the day before made me wake up later than I had hoped, so I had to scratch the Petronas Towers observation deck from my plans.

I was further delayed by my almost comically bad attempts to make it to the nearest train station. I made it as far as outside the apartment complex when I drew a blank on where I was supposed to go. (That’s what I get for not paying attention when my host picked me up from the station and brought me to his apartment.) I made a wrong turn and walked further away from the station. To make things worse, when I finally figured out what direction I needed to go, I totally forgot that people drove on the side of the road opposite from that in the Philippines. So, instead of looking to the right before crossing the street, I looked left. Needless to say, the driver of the car coming in from the right was not pleased to see me walking down the street, oblivious to her presence.

The Kuala Lumpur rail system was quite possibly more confusing than the one here in Manila, probably because there were more lines and stations in KL than in Manila. I knew I had to switch stations and train lines at some point, but of course I couldn’t figure out where the other line was when I got to that point.

Once I had figured everything out, I ended up at Suria KLCC, a mall so huge they actually offered maps of the mall for visitors. (Maybe that’s something the owners of SM Mall of Asia can take a cue from. I still get lost and confused in that place.)

After eating a quick breakfast, I began to look for Petronas Towers. I consulted my guidebook and my Suria KLCC map. I went outside, looking for signs and directions pointing me to Petronas Towers.

I should have just turned around and looked up.

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