Kuala Lumpur 2017 Day 3 – Sunway Pyramid and transfer to Kuala Lumpur downtown

Last day at Sunway lagoon and with nothing planned for the day, we all woke up late but ended up at the buffet breakfast slightly earlier than it was yesterday, after we were done with the K’s lunch preparations. Similar to what we did the day before, we ate to our fills in a bid to save on lunch, at the same time trying out the other cuisines that we didn’t have morning before. Other than fruits that were slightly different, the rest was the same, even the same long queue for the omelette that I didn’t bother queuing for.

The rest of the morning was spent in front of the TV as K got familiar with the locally produced Boboiboy on Nickelodean channel while his parents packed the luggage for the move to KL in the afternoon. The check out time was 12 noon and we took to the last minutes to pack the lunch.

As we left, we were lucky to have the bellboy just at the corridor and he helped to bring the luggage to the left luggage while we went to the lobby. While at the left luggage, the staff handed over the luggage tag even before our luggage arrived, efficient!

Shopping at Sunway Pyramid mall was the activity till lunch time, at least for mommy while I brought K around to see the ice rink, the arcade where he took a kiddy ride and played a water game and then back to the T&T Kidz park the day earlier. After spending some time at the playground where K was found annoying an older girl and frustrating her, we went over to the T&T Kidz park and took the drift cars of lightning McQueen, which I initially thought was too fast for K but it was ok after a single round of drift and K was not afraid (we sat together). But it costed RM15 for both of us. Then we paid RM6.50 to catch a fish where we won a small hand fan and followed by a last ride of the buggy car.

Carnival game of catching a fish
Machine shows 30, which is a small prize

Mommy met us there and we went up to the top level where there was a Snowflake dessert store and we ate desserts while K had his lunch of porridge. After that, we returned to the hotel to pick up the luggage and call a Grabcar to Westin KL. It costed about RM23 plus about RM6.5 of toll and he made a detour to pump gas but it was alright as K fell asleep.

Delicious Snowflake dessert

 

We got ourselves a 1bedroom apartment in Westin and there was a separate lift for us to get the 12 floor. The nice thing about this was that the entire apartment had the feel of a hotel but came with a kitchenette. Another plus was that there many bottles of complimentary mineral water supplied for our stay (no complimentary minibar supply though). However, we had an issue with the stove not warming up and a lack of detergent which was fixed quickly with a call away. The view was not good though.

Open concept kitchen with living room
Study room for work
Balcony with a not so good view
Bedroom
Balcony of the bedroom
Bathroom with tub
View from the balcony

After lazing for a while, we got K to continue his afternoon nap and only woke up at 630pm. Took a bath in the tub and then we first left for Pavilion Mercato supermarket to get some sweet corn that mommy forgot to buy before walking to Jalan Perak BBQ nights for dinner, some 15mins walk away.

Brightly lighted facade of Pavilion Mall

 

Mercato supermarket



The restaurant was crowded and I didn’t knew what was the big deal about this well regarded TripAdvisor restaurant until I tried the softest and tastiest BBQ fish and chicken in my life! Even as I was feeling a little sore in my throat, the food there was the smoothest, even though they were BBQ! Thoroughly amazed by the quality. The waiting and the costs were expected, almost 20mins of waiting, and about RM95 for 2 juices and 2 BBQ meals but it was all worth it. Even K loved the naan which he chomped down.

BBQ nights

 

Ice Teh Tarik and carrot juice
Fish Tikka and chicken kebab

 

We walked the 15mins back to Pavilion and found the almost extinct DVD shop called Speedy Video at the basement. It was a huge store and there we found Blaze and the Monster Machines dvds for just RM19.9, the cheapest available in the market! There were a massive selection of kids cartoons including Dora and Paw patrol and even the Boboiboy which K said he wanted. The Blurays were expensive though. We only left as the store almost lowered the shutters.

Returning back to the room, K immediately watched 3 episodes of Blaze in the bedroom (DVD players available) while the parents washed up and prepared for bed.

Kuala Lumpur 2017 Day 2 – Sunway Lagoon theme park and the Parenthood

The morning started late, and by the time we were ready to leave for the daily breakfast it was already 10am, 30 mins before buffet closing time.

The Resort Cafe was a huge area beautifully designed with quite a variety of food to choose from. Other than the usual western and local cuisines, there was also middle eastern choices, something I am unfamiliar with.

Inside The Resort Cafe
A variety to choose from
The Resort Cafe

After a huge brunch, we went back to the room to pick up K’s lunch that mommy cooked before we went for breakfast, and we were off to visit the Sunway lagoon theme park.

The tickets were prebooked back at home online at KKday, a webby that if booked through Krisflyerspree would earn additional Krisflyer miles and at the same time, it offered the cheapest tickets for the Sunway lagoon tickets that I could find. The bad thing was we had to wait some 10mins at the ticket counter as the staff had a hard time trying to find the booking as they claimed it was not in their system. I couldn’t get online to try and recover the “emergency contact” they emailed for us to call if we had issues but ultimately, after embarrassingly hogging the line for so long, they gave us out tags and we were on the way in.

Swimming pool of Sunway Resort
Directions to Sunway Lagoon Theme park
Wristband for entry into the park
Entrance of the park with multiple signs

 

We headed past the water park to go through the wildlife theme park where we saw displays of pythons, birds, white lion, black panther and white tiger. K wasn’t very fascinated and then we proceeded to the amusement park, where there was a playground, a carousel, a ferries wheel, some kiddy rides suitable for 1.2m and below and a fun fair where we spent 28RM playing darts, nerf gun and scoping ducks that won us a miserable small prize of a green pokeball that K had fun throwing around.

Entrance of Sunway Lagoon Wildlife park
Not sure what this is
Small monkeys
Free ranging peacocks
White Lion
Black panther strolling about
Small houses for birds
Sun bears
White tiger lazing in the distance
Ghostbusters theme scare park
Amusement park for small kids
Playground
View of the park from the ferris wheel
Voucher for the carnival games
Only one out of 5 ducks

After having lunch at the same location where it was so hot, we got ourselves some icecream and coke freeze before we headed back to the hotel, thinking that K was getting tired. We had to miss crossing a super long suspension bridge and the other 4parks that were dominated by water related activities including the Nickelodean theme park and an extreme park not suitable for K. Although we had prepared for water activities, K was looking tired and it was a little too sunny. Furthermore, re-entry was not allowed which sucked.

White eagle in enclosure
Sheltered area near a waterfall
One of the enclosures with a waterfall

 

Back at the room, K took some time to fall asleep and I took some time to explore the surroundings and the mall where mommy stayed in the room to catch up on her comics. There was a The Parenthood section that had a huge London theme indoor playground for under RM43 and a huge area that had stores selling kids stuff and preschools. I returned after a short walk through the mall which was really big, enough for a full day of shopping if you a shopaholic.

Hari Raya deco just outside the Resort entrance
Impressive entrance of the Sunway Pyramid mall
Toy section near within the Parenthood.
Store directory of the Parenthood
Multiple stores in a castle designed street.
The Parenthood entrance

K woke up at about 530pm and after we lazing around for a bit, we finally got out of the room to visit The Parenthood indoor playground while mommy stayed behind to cook. The same rules applied, the requirements of socks and so on. We spent a good amount of time there till mommy arrived at 830pm and I thought I broke a sweat too, following my little boy here and there.

Indoor playground of the Parenthood

We ended up at Papa Rich for dinner and spent about RM52.50 for noodles and chicken rice and 2 drinks. Walked the mall a bit before returning back to the room for bath and TV. Went to bed at 1130pm with some resistance from K who wanted a few “last” books before lights off.

Coffee with pudding and carrot juice
Instant noodle with luncheon meat and egg
Hainanese Chicken rice

Kuala Lumpur 2017 Day 1 – Arrival in Kuala Lumpur and Sunway Pyramid Mall

The alarm clock sounded at the same time that I was used to for work and I got out of bed to do the final packing before our short getaway trip to KL begin.

K was sleeping until the final hours and I managed to get him in his clothes without him waking up. Only when I tried to carry him did he finally stretch and wake up. Luckily the interest in getting onto a plane kept him in a good mood.

After scanning the options of Grab, Uber and Comfort Delgro apps, I chose Comfort as it was at a fixed rate of $30 excluding ERP charges but came with $3 off from some webby promo codes and also a $3 off again as a new sign up for the app. The rest were a whopping $40 for peak hour call on this normal weekday Wednesday.

730am and the taxi came and picked this family of 3 before we hit the road. Met the expected morning hours traffic for half the journey on PIE before it was smooth till the airport. We were prepared for any road sickness with a plastic bag on hand but K was alright.

820am and check in counter was not even indicated on the board of flights yet, which was filled with earlier flights. We went to the self help to print the luggage tag anyway and dropped off the luggage at the not too long queue of SilkAir before heading to the departure. The T2 fish pond and playground was a natural magnet attracting K’s interest and he spent some time looking at the fish and a lot of time running at the playground. Meanwhile we managed to get some drinks and I went to print a KKday ticket which I had forgotten to do so at Ambassador Transit lounge for $1.2 per piece.

Indoor playground at T2 terminal

Mommy bought herself some Khiel products and registered her receipt at the kiosk for the Changi Millionaire draw before we walked briskly to far end of F59 for boarding, being the last to board the full flight.

The journey of 40mins were uneventful and was even too short to notice or drink a beverage. It wasn’t so for another family who’s child was screaming the entire journey and only managed to fall asleep once the plane landed. We were thankful for K’s beautiful behavior.

KLIA hadn’t change since we last visit and we had to take a train ride to the baggage reclaim but at that time, it was pretty crowded with only one train with limited doors functioning. Immigration took a while to clear with at least a row of people queuing in front of us before we got our luggage from the belt. K spent some time exploring the MnM store wanting to test all the battery operated items until the staff warned about the excessive battery drain and we exit to the arrival hall.

With the free airport wifi, I used Grab to get us a ride to Sunway Resort and Spa for fixed rate of RM65 excluding tolls. Grab promo was available to shave off RM5. The driver was pretty prompt in keeping in contact with us and we were soon in the private car to the resort, a 40 mins drive where both K and I had a quick snooze.

After a short stretch of traffic at Sunway, we entered the entrance of a rather grand looking design entrance of the resort. The porter immediately helped with the luggage and we tried checking in at 1pm and luckily, our room was ready. 17th floor with a view of the park, it was a comfortable one though a little old. The best part in my opinion was the complimentary mini bar that came with 5 non alcoholic drinks and was refillable, I thought this was the only hotel fulfilling the main purpose of the minibar! Our luggage arrived shortly after we were about to leave and we proceeded to the Sunway Pyramid mall walking through a short connection.

Grand looking reception
Hari Raya deco
High ceiling and huge wall design
Bedroom
Bathtub
Excellent minibar
View from the room

 

We looked for Old Town White Coffee in this huge mall and had our lunch of macaroni tomato soup, curry noodles and Ban Mian before we took some time to shop around. The mall short of remained me of Dubai Mall (in terms of space and variety and design) although it was not as huge as that one but big enough. There was ample walking space and stores of brands that we were both familiar and not. Spent some time at the T&T Kidz park where we took some rides ( car ride for RM5.5, whale RM 7.5 and a animal train ride for RM5.5, refundable top up card for RM3) and some time at the playground while mommy shopped in Parkson and got K some tees. She also did a money exchange at the money changer near the T&T Kidz park which offers very good rates of $1:RM3.1.

Different designs of the Sunway Pyramid Mall
Ice rink available
Another design, like a souk
Curry noodles
Tomato macoroni
T&T Kidz park top up
A few kiddy rides
Card for utilizing for the rides
Drift cars
Free playground

We shopped for ingredients at the large Aeon supermarket before heading back to the hotel for the afternoon nap where K knocked out for almost 2.5hrs. The staff delivered a birthday cake during that time but it was 1 day too early. Mommy made K dinner and after having some fun at the bathtub, we finally got out of the room at 830pm and while back at the same mall, we went to another familiar name Secret Recipe that had a promo going for Maybank, where we ordered a chicken chop, a satay fried rice and hazelnut latte and getting a slice of marble cheese cake and an iced lemon tea for free as we hit the RM45 requirement. Expectedly it was a very filling dinner ( Mommy even got herself Hokkaido baked cheese tart to try).

Aeon supermarket
Variety of fish
Sunset view
Complimentary birthday cake
Chicken chop with rice
Satay with fried rice
Marble cheese cake
Hazelnut latte
Ice lemon tea
Hokkaido baked cheese tart
3 levels of the mall, Egyptian design

Unfortunately for us, by the time we left, it was almost 10pm and everywhere was closing. We managed to catch a glimpse of the ice hockey game that was going on at the ice rink before we brought the disappointed K (because the rides were closed) back to the hotel.
It was some TV time while I washed the dishes before story time, milk and bed, ending the day at 1130pm.

Escape to Kuala Lumpur July 2017

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to Kuala Lumpur 2017:

Total duration 5D4N
Kuala Lumpur is in the same timezone as Singapore. Flight time is 1hr on Silkair from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. Return is 1hr on Silkair from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore.

Flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur at 1015am, arriving at 1115am in Kuala Lumpur. Return flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore is at 510pm and touching down in Singapore at 610pm.

Day 1 – Arrival in Kuala Lumpur and Sunway Pyramid Mall
Day 2 – Sunway Lagoon theme park and the Parenthood
Day 3 – Sunway Pyramid and transfer to Kuala Lumpur downtown
Day 4 – Sungei Wang, Berjaya Times Square and Indoor Theme Park
Day 5 – Home Sweet Home

This trip was planned as a getaway birthday trip for mommy. We didn’t plan anything other than a visit to the Sunway Lagoon theme park. The rest of the trip was based on ad hoc shopping and just on impulse visits.

Budget – Quite affordable other than the accommodation.

Everything was quite affordable comparable to Singapore, especially with the currency of 1:3.1 now, effectively reducing the costs of living by a third. With free wifi at airports and hotels, Grab and its promos reduce the costs of transport as well. The accommodation was expensive but it was chosen for the purpose of comfort, and was worth it in my opinion.

Complexity – Easy with Grab

We didn’t go many places and for transfers, Grab was a good choice. For the visits around the area, walking was our choice and it was quite easy since everywhere was within 15mins walking distance.