Since my first visit to Singapore in 2004, I have had a number of opportunities to return and explore more of this cosmopolitan city state.  The Lion City has evolved over these years, both in subtle and obvious ways.   In a way Singapore has always been in a continuous transformation mode to achieve self-reliance as well as to be on the forefront of the world’s development.

A good place to get a perspective of today’s Singapore landscape is the City Gallery, which is located near Maxwell Food Center in Chinatown.  To someone who is interested in sociology and urban planning, this place is a treasure trove of information on Singapore’s current land development plans, history of the land usage, characteristic of each region of the island, and potential future plans. It even has a couple of room size model of the islands, complete with buildings and landmarks. Seeing this really gave me a better understanding of the geography and the relationship of different parts of the island. It’s unfortunate that I only discover this place recently and not earlier, because it would have given me a better idea of the places I can explore.

The public transit system in Singapore is fairly convenient and inexpensive to use to get around the island.  The EZ-Link card is an electronic payment card that provides a discount to the standard fares.   There is a S$5 deposit on the card, but if you plan to be here a few days (and possibly return), it may be worth it, even if it is just to avoid the hassle of going to the ticket machine on every trip.  The card is especially good if you end up making connections between buses or between bus and subway, as it will automatically takes care of all the through-fare discounts. While the subway (MRT) has stations in most of the major areas on the island, you may still need to make a connection on bus or other transport means for places outside of walking distance.  The city is adding new lines that will enable you to go to more locations directly.  Taxi is also widely available and easy to call (most of the time), and as long you avoid the ‘peak’ hour, taxi in Singapore isn’t too expensive. The new peak hour related surcharges put in place a couple of years ago sometimes can almost double the cost of a trip.

While I have been able to visit a number of places these past years, I still have only touched upon a portion of Singapore’s offerings; haven’t even been to all the prime spots, like the Singapore Zoo or the Night Safari.  There are also a number of new places of interest that have debuted in recent years.  My ‘To-Do’ list in Singapore may never close.

In terms of the museums and galleries, aside from the City Gallery, the ones that I found most interesting are the National Museum of Singapore, Asian Civilization Museum, Singapore Philatelic Museum and Singapore Mint Gallery.

• The National Museum of Singapore (located by the intersection of Orchard and Stamford Road) provides a glimpse into the history and development of the city and how this place has transformed itself from its founding in early 1800s to where it is today. It showcases a lot of artifacts and pictures as well as multimedia exhibits to provide visitors with background on the historical evolution of the island.

• The Asian Civilization Museum is more a traditional museum with items from Singapore as well as other areas in the region.  It is located on the edge of the Singapore River near the landing site of Sir Stamford Raffles, who is considered to be the founder of Singapore. (One thing you will note is that in Singapore, “Raffles Class” is used to signify privilege.)  There are 11 theme areas to the museum and to see all of it will take the better part of a whole day.  But even if only have a few hours, you can select to visit just a few of the galleries.  With admission at S$5, it is not too expensive to spend a few hours.  The museum also has special exhibitions periodically; the time I visited it had an exhibition on Mongolian Yurts.

• The Singapore Philatelic Museum and the Singapore Mint Gallery may be more of a special interest places for those who are interested in stamps and coins/currencies (Singapore is one of the first countries to use polymer currency instead of paper).   The former is located in the city center area not too far from Fort Channing Park and Clarke Quay, while the latter is located near Jurong, which is in the west part of the island.  (When I went to the Mint Gallery a few years ago, the taxi driver didn’t really know the location either.)  Both museums are not very big, and each can be viewed in about an hour.

There are two places that I just learned about recently and have not visited yet (but are on my to-do list if I get a chance): The Battle Box, a museum on the site of the military bunker 90 meters below ground in Fort Canning Park for WWII and the Land Transport Gallery, an exhibition of Singapore transport development.

As for amusement park like places (outside of Sentosa Island), of the ones I visited, the following ones stand out for me:

• The Singapore Science Center is built primarily for kids, but I think adult will find it fascinating as well.  The Center is composed of a number of exhibitions, such as climate, solar system, human body, transportation, etc.      There is also an IMAX theatre in the center as well.  For those who are curious of how things work, this is well worth the half day visit it takes to see the place. The Science Center is located in Jurong area, a bit of a long trip from the city center area, but worth it if you have the time.

• Jurong Bird Park is an amusement park like place that houses over 600 species of birds and supposed to have the world’s largest walk-in Aviary. It has several ponds that houses what seems like hundreds of pelicans, flamingos, swans and other aquatic birds that appears to just be hanging out without restrictions.  It even has a faux waterfall that provides interesting background scenery to the area.

• Singapore Botanic Garden is a 63 hectare garden park just on the edge of the city center. It provides a tropical garden area for people to relax as well as an area where they can play. There are places where performance and events can be hosted throughout the park. Symphony Lake near the center of the Garden has a stage that on a Sunday evening I took in a free performance by the Singapore Symphony.  Nonetheless, it is still a place where preservation, learning and teaching seem to have the top billing.

Another area worthy of a visit is Mount Faber.  This 105 meter tall hill is one of the highest hill on the island (yes, Singapore is very flat).  Located near the southern edge of island, it has a cable car link that connects the hill to Sentosa Island.  The peak area offers a panoramic view of the city and southern coast.  The area recently went through renovations, including an upgrade to the cable cars and restaurants.  Now, you can dine in the cable car as you ride around between the hill and Sentosa.  In addition, for the outdoorsman type, there are a few trails from the hills leading to other parts of the islands.

Maybe the most noticeable development in Singapore this past year has been the opening of the two integrated casino resorts, the Marina Bay Sands and the Resorts World Sentosa. This is Singapore’s attempt to attract more tourism dollars into the city.  These casino resorts brought on major redevelopment in the areas where the resorts are located.

The south Marina Bay area had a significant facelift, turning what was really just open grassland into a mini-city.   With the new Mariana Bay Sands Casino Resorts as the anchor, there is a shopping complex with all the high end shops (Hermes, LV, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tiffany, Cartier, Channel, Burberry, etc.), restaurants, a waterfront promenade, a convention center, a museum, a theatre and a 54 hectares garden park.  While the casino, shopping center, hotel and promenade are open (as of August 2010), most of the others are still under construction. Getting to the casinos and hotels took me through a construction zone right now, but it also provides me with a glimpse of what will be.

(View of SkyPark from Clarke Quay)

One of the more prominent parts of the Marina Bay Sands hotel is the Skypark, a sail-shaped park that stretches atop across three hotel towers.  It has a 150 meter long infinity pool that provides the hotel guests a spectacular view across the Marina Bay and the city while they lounge and swim.  There is also an observation deck area on one side that allows visitors to get a birds-eye view of the city at 200 meter above ground.  The S$20 entrance fee is a bit steep, but it does provide a unique view.  Because the hotel is located in an area that is unobstructed by other structures, you can get a good 360 degree view around that is hard to get elsewhere (for the hotel guests; visitors only have access to part of the SkyPark.) The hotel atrium connects across the three towers at the bottom, with shops and cafes on the lobby level.  The hotel tower itself is built in slight step manner, such that there is a pyramid effect when one looks upwards inside the atrium.

(Views from the SkyPark)

(Inside of Marina Sands Hotel)

Another great shot of Singapore was taken by my friend Kornel Mezo (Mezo.com).  This is a panoramic nightshot of the city from the SkyPark that is simply stunning.  Kornel’s Singapore Night Shot

The Marina Bay casino itself has two levels, the main floor at the bottom and a second level that opens to the lower level at the center.  The main table games are baccarat, blackjack, Sicbow (Chinese dice name) and Roulette.  The minimum for the games are fairly high (for me), the first two aforementioned games rarely have tables less than the S$50 minimum.  And consider that local have to pay an entrance fee to get in (S$100 for 24 hours or an annual S$2,000 fee), the place is fairly packed the couple of times I went (foreigners can get in free – thus supposedly to attract tourists).

There are also several new recent additions close to the Marina Bay south area, including the Singapore Flyer (a 164m observation wheel – slightly larger than the London Flyer), an iconic Helix pedestrian bridge that looks like the DNA helix strand, the largest floating stage in the world (located just across from the grandstand used for F1 Singapore Grand Prix and the Youth Olympic Games, among other events) and the Marina Barrage (located at the mouth of the Bay to the sea, it is used to desalinate the Singapore River and Marina Bay to make it a fresh water reservoir).

Similar to Marina Bay Sands, Resort Sentosa Casino anchors a good deal of the new development on Sentosa Island, a small island located at the southern tip of Singapore.  Sentosa always had amusement parks, golf courses and beaches, but the integrated Casino resort adds another dimension to the entertainment center.  In addition to the casino, new hotels (including a Hard Rock Hotel), a convention center, and high end shops/restaurants have been built.  There is also the new Universal Studio Theme Park opened this year next to the casino.  While the hotels and the Casino & Convention Center are fairly close to each other, not everything is connected from one end to the other and the outside path wasn’t the best (at least during the early days when I visited).  For example, if you are staying at the Hard Rock hotel, you have to wander outside to get to the Casino. But if one is staying at one of the resort hotels, it is easier to get to the other attractions on the island, like the Imbiah Lookout, Underwater World and the beaches.

But to see how people really live in Singapore, go to places that local people go every day and see the things that people do every day can be most illuminating.

First, food is a passion for the Singaporeans. After all, it is one of the few places in the world where the airport terminal food vendors can do a brisk lunch business with people from outside the airport area.  Singapore is a place where people make distinction at the subtle differences of the most common hawker menu items and give their voice by giving their business to the best food vendors and restaurants.  And competition is fierce in this city where there is a food court on just about every block.

The range in both price and type of food available in Singapore is broad.  While you can get any type of food here, Chinese and South Asian menus still dominate and is the food of choice for most local people.  Local specialties/favorites include Chili Crab, Hainanese Chicken Rice, Fish ball Noodles, Satays (grill meats), Laksa (rice noodles in a spicy coconut broth) and Prawn Mee (Egg Noodle in a shrimp broth with Prawns).  Singaporeans are born with a spice palate, and the general good choice reflects that.  Nonetheless, for people who are spice meter challenged (like me), there are a number of dishes that are not spicy, and you can also get non-spicy version of some of the food that local prefers fiery.

My preference when I ventured by myself has leaned toward finding a hawker center, a nice food court or small establishment, where a full meal with drink and desserts can be had for S$10-15 or less.   And it is also interesting to see how the ‘hawkers’ prepare the food (at least the first few times).  With so many vendors at a hawker center, it could be hard to determine which one is good.  One way is to do what my wife does, go with the vendor with the longest queue.  Generally, that works fine, but then taste is in the eye of the beholder after all.  No guarantee that everyone will find these places to their liking, but these are some of places that I think is worth a try:

• Chew Kee Eating House and Chew Kee Noodle House (8 and 32 Upper Cross streets) are reputed to have one of the best Soya Sauce Chicken. The shop here has been around for 30+ years.  At S$3-5 per plate of soya chicken with rice or noodles (depending on size/type), and S$1 for a bowl of dumpling soup, it is not a bad place for a quick bite for lunch or snack.

• Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice at Maxwell Food Center (Chinatown) is known to have one of the best Hainanese Chinese Rice on the island.  There is always a queue at the stall, while other Chicken Rice vendors would be quiet.  And at S$2.8 and $$3.60 for the standard small and large plate of chicken rice with soup, it fits the criteria for my kind of eating place.

• Food Republique at Wisma-Atria and at Harbourfront are two of the better shopping mall food court around.  It offers most of the local favorites and hosts some of the original street food vendors that make their dish famous.  One is the vendor who sells fried Hokkien Mee, which is ‘fried’ in a large wok in batches and then served on a banana leaf.

• Lau Pau Sat Food Center (a couple of blocks from Raffle Place MRT station) is one place to go to get Satays.  It’s not the cheapest place, but with something like 15+ vendors selling satays and other barbecue selections (chicken wings is another populate item) in an outdoor setting in the middle of the financial district, the place offer a unique ambience to have a meal. I have tried 3 or 4 vendors there, not sure if I can tell the difference, but they were all pretty good.  And you can pair the satays with just about anything given the number of other food vendors at Lau Pau Sat.

• My Humble House is tucked in a corner on the second level of theatre center Esplanade. This Chinese restaurant is slightly pricier than my typical haunts, but it has a nice ambience and good food.  The cuisine can be best described as blending of traditional Chinese with modern elements, with a bit of fusion.

(My friends in Singapore have taken me to some out of the way places.  Some are really great place for I would characterize as Singapore ‘comfort food’.  However, I am not able to pin-point where these places are located. In that sense, I am very much just a typical tourist.)

One of the best things I found in Singapore is the availability of all kinds of fresh juices (as well as a variety of packaged ones as well). You can find them in food courts or standalone shops.  I particularly enjoy fresh “squeezed” sugar cane juice.  All would use a similar press that a cane would be run through 2 or 3 times to get all the juice out of it.  It is something I would like to get everyday if I can. At S$1 to S$2 a glass in most places, it is a very inexpensive treat.

The traditional “coffee or tea” in Singapore is also a bit different than elsewhere.  While there are Starbucks around in every corner these days, many Singaporeans still go for the ‘kopi’ and ‘teh’ at the local coffee shop.  There is a complete set of local terms in ordering these coffee and tea drinks.  The simplest order is either coffee or tea with evaporated milk and sugar, because those are your base ‘kopi’ and ‘the’.  Everything else (no sugar, sugar only, milk only, ice, etc) is a variation and the terms used are the local dialect words.  You won’t find “Grande” or “Venti” size drinks here, but at S$1 per standard cup, it is a fairly good bargain.  And while you are there, as a complement with your kopi or the, try some kaya toast, a local snack of grilled toast with a sweet coconut butter filling.

Not much a ‘shopping guy’, so I cannot offer much personal pointers for shopping in Singapore.  If one is interested in name branded item, strolling through Orchard Road would cover just about everything anyone would want to look at. There are a number of shopping areas on Orchard Road:  Ngee Ann City (one of the biggest and most exclusive, anchored by Takashimaya), Paragon, Tangs Orchard, Wisma Atria, Ion Orchard and Summerset 313.  The latter two are the most recent additions in the area.   Even if you are not planning to buy anything, it is worth a walk down this boulevard, especially in the evening when the neon lights and people come out (and not as hot).

(View of Orchard Road and Scott Road Intersection with Youth Olympic Displays)

But if you have time, visiting one of the more mainstream shopping malls or shopping areas in one of the MRT centers or in an estate can give you a better perspective on what Singaporeans typically buy, use and live.  As much as the image of Singapore is reflected by the newest buildings and shops, it is at these places where you will find more of the “everyday” Singapore: places for groceries, household items, pet accessories, furniture and electronics or places where they get their haircuts or pick up their lottery tickets or make their football bets (a rather popular endeavor).  Visit the grocery chains on the island (such as Cold Storage, Giants, Fair Price, etc.) to see what kind of things are sold there.  And at the housing estate complexes, you can see the traditional wet markets that still flourish today.  The local shops in the estate shopping area seem to be from the days of a bygone era.  But many of these shops provide customers just want they need and in many cases, at a price often not much more than you would find in a big box discount store, if you can find it there. These establishments are still very much a part of everyday life of many Singaporeans.

With just about everything imported, packaged goods are generally not cheap.  Looking through the grocery store, I would say most branded package goods are more expensive in Singapore than in the US, from potato chips to peanut butter to spaghetti sauce to frozen food.  Weight Watcher frozen entrée cost S$13 each, which is double or triple the price one can find in the US.  (And why the hawker center can be a better deal for a meal.)

If you have the chance, take a walk through some of the older neighborhoods, like the area to the east of Chinatown center between Maxwell Road and Church Street. In this area, you can still see many of 19^th century buildings close to its original form.  The interior for many has been remodeled or modernized but the outside still has the original look.   These buildings are used by a mixture of restaurants, shops, businesses and residences today, with a few landmarks interspersed in between.  While it is not entirely off the beaten path, it is generally not overwhelmed by tourists.

But sometimes it is still worthwhile to visit crowded places with tourists.  Little India is that kind of place.  Even if you don’t plan to buy anything, it is still an interesting trip to walk through the streets and shops. I haven’t been there on Sundays, but it is said that the streets there would be so packed on Sunday people have trouble to turn around.  And while you are in the area, there are many mosque and temples that are around there.  According to local papers, a number of the newer boutique hotels have also opened around this neighborhood the past couple of years.

One note about walking in Singapore:  Try to avoid walking outside for too long during the middle of the day if the sun is out.  If you do, take a page from the locals and walk under shades or bring an umbrella or hat.  The equatorial sun is quite strong if you are not use to it.  And while generally Singapore does not get extremely hot temperature wise (hovering between 80 and 90 degree F all year round), it is very humid like all tropical places.  But during evenings along the Singapore River or along the coast, with a gentle breeze blowing, it can still feel comfortable.

Even though Singapore is not a big place, and while I have visit quite a bit of it, there are still plenty of places that I can continue to explore.

My plan was to spend two nights over a weekend in KL, to squeeze a side trip from Singapore.   The typical scenario would be more a 3 Days/2 Nights stay, trying to stretch out as much time as possible in the city.  In my case, the time I end up spending shrink a little by little as my planning went on, culminating in a total of about 42 hours I would spend from the time the plane landed in KL on Friday afternoon and took over again on Sunday afternoon.

(For Photos I took on this trip, click the link to my Picasa Album.)

With flight time of less than an hour (actually in air time of 40 minutes) from Singapore to KL, I want to leave around 4pm or 5pm on Friday and come back around 3pm or 4pm on Sunday.  I first look at the regional budget airlines, ie Air Asia, Tiger, Jetstart, etc.  Flights between Singapore and KL can be very cheap and the budget airlines have almost hourly flights daily.  For example, if I wanted to fly back at 6am on Sunday morning, one airline had a fare of S$5 plus taxes.  But around the times I was looking at, I could get round trip tickets between about S$130 and S$170 on these budget airlines.  [Note: Exchange rate is about S$1.4 per US$1]

One problem I had was that I wanted to take a bag and my computer as carry-on and all the budget airlines allow only one item of carry-on as their policy.  Checking the various online feedback, it appears that enforcements of this policy can vary depending on ground staff.  I didn’t want to check-in any bags and didn’t want to having to take a chance at the airport, I decided to go with Silk Air, Singapore Airline’s offshoot to support shorter routes with smaller planes, which allows a carry-on bag plus a ‘personal’ computer bag. At S$254 for the round trip, it was definitely a bit more expensive than the budget airlines fares I could have gotten.  It is arguable whether the extra cost is worth it for a few minutes of time and the advantage of keeping everything with me.  But I went with it.

On the outbound there was a flight at 4:15PM, which fit my plan reasonably well.  On the return, I had two options, a 12:15PM and a 2:15PM to choose from.  I thought I had chose the 2:15PM flight.  But when I checked my itinerary after I got to KL, I realized I had booked the 12:15PM flight.   And with the outbound flight delayed a bit and not landing until about 5:30PM, my ‘end to end’ stay in KL turned out to be about 42 hours.

With the hotel prices in KL being fairly reasonable, I decided to pay and earn additional points than use my points.  I decided on Renaissance Hotel as they offered a rate of RM323 per night for the weekend plus a credit of RM170 on dinning, broadband, etc. and it seems to locate near center of town.  The hotel turned out located to be strategically located close to both a monorail station and a subway stop, and my room had a perfect view of the Petronas Twin Towers.

One of the things I wanted to try on my trip to KL was to see if I can spend no more than US$100 (which turns out to RM320) on my two day stay (outside of the hotel), including food, transport, gifts, etc.  After hearing stories on KL taxis from everyone and posting on the web, I also want to see if I can try to use only public transport on my visit, which would also help keep my spending in check.

The plane landed in KL at about 5:30PM, which was only about 20 minutes behind the scheduled time, even though the plane didn’t take off until about 4:50PM, instead of 4:15PM. Sometimes it’s good to have a big buffer.  KL International Airport looks very designed and new.  As I walked through the airport, one thing I noticed that would kind of shown through out KL is that the signage is just underwhelming to lead you to where you want to go.  It was just after 6PM when I got through immigration and custom.

To get Malaysian currency to use for transport into the city, I made my exchange at the Airport.  The rate of RM320 turns out to be about RM10 less than where you can get at the money changers in town.  I took the KL Express train out of the airport (RM35). The train ride was pleasant; in the late afternoon hours, I was still able to get a good view of the countryside as the train move towards the city center.  I saw several groups of water buffalos during the ride.  For most of the way from the airport, the scene was rural and open.  What struck me was that there were a few housing complexes (with 4 o 5 buildings) that seem to be in the middle of nowhere along the way.  The advertise time of the journey is 28 minutes, and that was about right.

The train terminates at KL Sentral.  In a way it’s not much different than other city center transportation hub, with your cornucopia of food outlets and shops.  I bought a bottle of water and look for way to the monorail, which according to the hotel website is the closest public transport to the hotel.  From the KL’s public transit wesite, I knew that the monorail station is outside of the KL Sentral station (even if that is the last stop on this end of the route).  I was hoping that there were still signs leading me to it.  No such luck.  I have to ask a couple of people to find out which way to go.  The people were nice about it.  I had to walk past the taxi gauntlet on my way out, but I was determined to go the public transit route.  As I start walking out the complex, I hear thundering in the background and soon, the rain started.  In general, the road leading to the monorail station has a cover walkway, but I was still thinking how I was going to get to the hotel as the rain became harder and harder.

The monorail is an above ground transit system that is similar to the Disney World’s monorail link, just a bit faster and with wider trains.  There are only 2 coaches in each monorail, it’s not particular a mode that will carry lots of people.  And it was packed on my train ride all the way to the station (Bukit Nanas) next to the hotel (7 stops).

When I arrived at my destination, the rain has lightened.  The station literally was just across the street from the hotel.  Making a dash across the street, I got inside without getting too wet.   The Renaissance Hotel is in the mist of upgrade, which maybe a reason why they are offering the bonus dollar to those staying at the one tower being renovated right now.  But the ambience and the facility is fairly pleasant and well done.  My room is spacious, with a sofa and a decent size desk, along with a view of the Twin Petronas Towers.  The room styling is a bit aged and some of the controls wasn’t too obvious (like you have to turn on the TV power on the control panel next to the bed), but still overall wasn’t too bad.

Anyway, by the time I got settle in the room it was just before 8PM.  I had a conference call at 8PM, so I got connected up.  With a price of RM63 per day for broadband and RM29 for each hour, I know I won’t use two full days of the internet access. (Remember that I can use part of the RM170 credit on it.) So do I want to do the hour now and then the full 24 hours later, or vice versa.  I decide to go with the one-hour now (probably as much that I want a reason to be able to have a one hour limit as much as anything.)

After the call at 9PM, the rain has stopped, and I walked out to the monorail station to go somewhere to get some local food.  I went to the Times Square Mall (Imbi Station), but by the time (around 9:30PM), most shops were being closed.  I then set out to find Jalan Ahor, which is the hawker vendor street in KL).   Without a map on hand (probably not the most brilliant move on my part), I weave from street to street going in the direction that I thought would get me to Jalan Ahor.   All along the route, what encourage me was that there were still restaurants and shops open.  I finally found the Jalan Ahor around 10PM.  Then it was decide what I want.  Malaysia is famous for satay, so that is one must.  The other is some localized version of various dishes.  Also, take into consideration that I am a lite on the ‘spice meter’, couldn’t really get too local (more on that later).  And being 10PM, I also didn’t want to overstuff myself.  At the end, I went with a 3 pieces of chicken and beef satay each, a order of Fujian fry noodles and a glass of freshly made carrot juice.  The price for all those comes to RM13.50 (or US$4.2).

Jalan Ahor is in the area call Bintang.  It’s a fairly lively place – even when I got done around 10:45PM, the whole area was still humming.  I walked around some and then decide to head back to the hotel.  My total spend on my first night in KL came to RM56, so I was in good shape for tomorrow.

The next morning, I pay for a full 24 hours of access of broadband and check through all the overnight email from the western hemisphere. (The disadvantage of being in Asia is that you get a bunch of things on Saturday morning.  The Advantage? Very quiet on Monday morning.)  Then I went down to the gym for a quick workout.  Around 10AM, I was ready to set out of what essentially my only full day in KL.

Being so close to the Petronas Towers, I decide to swing by there first.  There are free tickets given to visitors to the bridge that connects the two towers, but alas, those tickets are given our very early in the day.   I took a few pictures of the towers with my blackberry camera. Even though it was only about a block from the hotel, by the time I got to the twin towers, I was starting to sweat on sunny day, despite my best efforts to walk in the shade as much as possible.   After getting pictures of the towers, I set off to KL City Center (KLCC).  This is a shopping mall and a subway station.   I grabbed a couple of buns and some water inside the mall and took a walk around (RM 3.50).  The mall inside doesn’t look much different than most malls, but it’s a mall with high-end stores like Channel, LV, Gucci, Ferragamo, Hermes, Burberry, etc.   It is definitely not a place to try to find something to fit my budget guidelines here.

After finishing up my food, I went down to the subway and head out to Pasir Seni station, which is close to the Central Market and Chinatown.  As I navigate the streets towards the Central Market, I confirmed that unlike Singapore, the traffic light is more or less a reference point for pedestrians in KL.  (Have to admit that with the varying flow of traffic, waiting for the “walk” sign in some intersection can be exacerbating, particularly when some for lights may not be working.)  Fairly soon, I adopted the street crossing mantra while I was at CAL, just move if there are no cars that you are likely to impede.

The Central Market was the old central Wet Market in KL, where the daily prices of all the food item were set.  Now, it is an Arts and Crafts center.   The shops inside were sells a mixture of locally made products and basic tourist type products.   I came across some organic sea cumber soap that I thought my wife would like.  I bought two bars (RM20).   Next, I walk through the area looking for Jalan Pateling Street in Chinatown.  This is supposedly the ‘shopping street’ in KL.  It took be a bit with my Google map to find the street. Jalan Pateling street is build up almost like an arcade, with a canopy covering over the street and a gate fronting the entrance.  There were stalls on both side of the streets, with shops behind the stalls as well.  This is the place if you are looking for not so genuine brand products, movies, etc.  There were also local tourist products as well, including a number of food stalls.  I heard about the distinct local ‘dry’ style of wonton soup, and decided to order one from one of the food vendors there.  Alas, the one I end up getting is the typical Hong Kong style.  And to top off the Wonton soup afterwards, I got a slice of papaya of another stall.  Total for lunch: RM 6.

After picking up a few DVDs at Jalan Pateling (RM30), I decide to look for a couple of places touted in several commentaries:  The Sri Mahamariaman temple and the Merdeka Square.  Both were supposed to be closed to the Chinatown area.  And in fact, they were close.  Even in the midday heat, they were walkable.  Of course, it would be much better if I was able to navigate the streets much more easily.  As I said before, signage is not a strong point in KL.

What made things worse was that the Sri Mahamariam temple more difficult to find is that it was under reconstruction with the outside wrapped in a blue canopy with no signs otherwise. (Imagine the locals wouldn’t need it.)  I think I walked by it twice before someone pointed out that the blue thing is the temple.  I think this is the first Indian temple I have been to.

My next destination was the Merdeka Square, which is supposed to be a few blocks away.  I kind of just wander toward the direction where I thought the place is.  But with few signs, it was a bit of a wing and a prayer.  During the walk along the way, I grabbed some pastry snacks and some more water; it’s hot even trying to walk under shades (RM 3).  But after a few more wrong turns and some more help from the locals, I did run into it.  I had to confirm that with the person in the tourist kiosk stand there as there were no signs.

Merdeka Square is a big open lawn space, also called Independence Square, as this is where local gathering take place. Next to the square is some Tudor-style buildings that now serves as the Royal Selangor Club, which was once built for the British civil servants to relax and play cricket in the lawn.  At the other end of the Square was a platform with some various flag poles.

Across the street is the Sultan Abdul Samad building, which is the Malaysian High Court.  It’s a beautiful Moorish style building that is immaculate white, and the whole complex runs almost the 100 yards plus long section of the street.  When I was there, it looked like they were some movie or TV shooting being done at the front of the building.

As I decide to head back to hotel to ‘cool down’ a bit, I ran into another site next to a subway station.  The Masjid Jamek is the oldest mosque in the city.  It stands along the river. The mosque was encased heavily by a gated fence, and it looks like everyone who goes in there has to follow the enscribed decorum.

When I returned to the hotel (2:30PM), I decided to grab a cake from the deli at the hotel, thinking primarily I could use it off my hotel credit (it didn’t turn out deli charge was eligible).  It was a mango layer cake costing RM8.  I spend about an hour in the room to cool down and read a bit.

Around 3:30PM, I decided to head back out.  This time I decided to go to the malls to see how the locals play (and to keep myself cool).  I went to Times Square Mall first.  This is a huge mall, not only was it 10 stories, but one section of it has an indoor amusement park (Cosmo World), which billed itself as the largest indoor amusement park in Asia.  I spend a hour or so walking around and looking at what the stores have.  I would say the stores in this mall are more the typical mainstream mall stores, such as Borders, Starbucks, GNC, Giordano, Esprit, and stores of that type.   No high-end stores as was in KLCC.   The prices there were not bad, a lot of t-shirts and shirts can be had for RM20-30.   Even the massage places has reasonable prices; a 30 minute foot massage was advertised for RM19.  I was tempted to give it try, but decide to pass and walk around some more.

I took went over to Cosmo World, which is housed on one side of the building separate from most stores, and took a look around the ‘outside’.  The most prominent piece is the rollercoaster that wraps around the building.  The sound of it reverberates quite a bit as it swish around.   The most interesting thing about it is that the amusement park is on multiple levels.

In that of the mall are where most of the restaurants and food court are located.  I spend a good 30 minutes walking and looking at the menus of all the restaurants there to see which one I want to try.  I wanted to try a local brand restaurant.  I know I only want to have a light bit, as I planned to go back to Jalan Alor for more food sampling.  I finally settled on a store called Secret Recipe.  I decided to order the Malaysia fried rice and satay set with a mango juice.  I tried to ask the waitress whether they could lighten the spice on the fried rice, even if it was only a one pepper spicy.  Her comment was very instructive…  “but Malaysian style is spicy or else it won’t be Malaysian”.   As it turn out, it was a bit more spicy than I would like, but was able to eat most of it with plenty of water and sweating it just a bit.  The Satay was good as well. But I was….. The bill came out to RM18.75.

It was just about 6:00PM when I got done with my meal.  I decide to walk towards Jalan Alor, but take my time to look at the shops along the way.  The area is vibrant and as I walk, some of the vendor was packing up their mobile stalls as the sun sets.  The shops are mixture of locals and tourist type.   The price generally isn’t too bad, but didn’t find anything that was appealing for me.  At Sungei Wang Plaza, which was next to the Bukit Bintang station, there was still a fairly good size throng of shoppers in the mall there.

By the time I reached Jalan Alor, it was about 7:30PM.  I first went for a local snack food, sandwich made of grill meat and pork floss with a dash of butter.  Probably not the best thing for me health wise, but it tasted pretty good.  Then I got a whole sliced mango and pastries to top off my meal.  Total cost: RM8.8.

Around 8PM I was debating whether I should stay around in the area until 8:30PM, when most of the lights is supposed to go out as part of the global “Lights Out” hour on that day, when all non-essential light was to be turned off.  But then I was interested to see if I could get a picture of the Petronas Towers with minimal lighting at night.  So I headed back to the hotel.  I returned to the hotel before the lights went out.  I looked out the window as the lights all around dimmed.  Where once the Tower and surrounding was bathed in bright light, now there is a light glow.  I went down to the street to see if I can get a picture.  But there was just enough light that make taking a picture with my Blackberry camera not ideal.

After walking around the surrounding area a bit more in the low light, which was quite quiet in contrast to the bintang district, the rest of the night, I caught up with reading and rested.

The next morning I slept until 8AM and then have breakfast in the hotel café.  It was there I finally figured out the Nesi Lemak is the Malaysian coconut rice.  I left the hotel around 9:30AM.  Arrived at KL Sentral at 10AM.   The only glitch came after I bought the ticket, I started looking the entrance sign and end up doing a 360 circle to find it;  the entrance was off to the side of the ticket booth on my approach.  Missed it completely.   Reached the airport just before 10:45AM and comfortably reached the gates around 11:30AM – even picking up a postcard and some souvenirs (total transport & misc RM47.50).  With the plane departing on time at 12:30PM, I completed my 42 hours in KL.

And I reached my goal of not spending more than RM320 in my stay.  In fact, I had plenty left over, overall I spend about RM200, with about RM120 left over.  In hindsight, I should have gotten that foot massage at Times Square mall.