Westin Kuala Lumpur Archives - Escapes From The Little Red Dot

Kuala Lumpur 2017 Day 5 – Home Sweet Home

Posted on July 22, 2017February 4, 2018 by ziyi

The last day in KL started late at 930am, where everyone slept well into the morning. I must admit the huge comfortable bed was difficult to get out of.

K managed to squeeze 2 episodes of his favorite cartoon while his parents prepared for check out, having failed the attempt for a late check out. We left the room at 11 and checked out which was done quickly but had to wait for a while for the bellboy to take our luggage for storage. We went to visit the Westin Kids Club and K and I checked in the small area that had a mini playground, some toys and books, a PS3 and mega bloks, while mommy went on for her last minute shopping. It was a little expensive, costing RM30 for the first hour and subsequent ones at RM20 but it’s fine as K amused himself going around the play stuff in this room that was occupied by only us and another staff manning the place (another much older kid joined later as his mom left him there to play PS3). She made a balloon machine gun for K who coyly took it from her but didn’t play with it much afterwards.

Mommy came back at around 1225pm, some 5mins after I paid for the subsequent hours, having checked with the free public wifi that there weren’t any other playgrounds closed by and no other options if mommy hadn’t return. The staff was kind enough to return the RM20 and we were on our way to Pavilion for lunch.

We visited a Thai restaurant Celadon that was artistically designed place and served delicious pineapple rice and iced Thai green tea. Mommy wasn’t impressed with her Phad Thai and lemongrass but I thought it was alright and it came in a huge portion. K was moving about in the huge high back cushion seat having fun and being troublesome to manage while having his meals. The costs was around RM90+, expensive for meals in KL but expected for restaurants like this.

We dropped by the Padini concept store to buy some clothes for myself, having known that this local brand was really having low prices. Ended up spending RM120+ for 2 polo tees, one pair of berms and 5socks, a great deal. We returned to the hotel to pick up our luggage, changed K’s diapers and got a Grab, using the free public Wifi. It was a fixed rate of RM65 with RM5 off using promo code excluding tolls.

The silver vehicle that picked us up didn’t have enough boot space and the luggage had to go on the front seat which the driver complained about the wheels that were going to puncture his seat cushion. The rest of the journey was pretty much smooth with K falling asleep and myself dozing off. The driver also started chatting to avoid dozing off himself.

We arrived at 3ish and proceeded to check in at the SilkAir counter all the way at the end. It felt a little long for our counter as people were just moving on beside us. After luggage drop, we went through immigrations and took the train to the satellite gate, the train we were initially waiting had some technical fault and couldn’t alight the passengers and we had to take another one.

The last hour was spent buying goodies from the stores (local goodies were much more expensive) and having a cheese cake and some drinks at Old Malaya kopitiam before rushing to the gate for boarding.

Fountain within the airport satellite gate

The flight back was supposed to be a quick 45mins, with a rushed drinks service but because there was a backlog of planes trying to land, we hovered in the air for 15mins and queued on the ground for another 10mins before arriving at the gate 30mins late. Mommy then sent us to the wrong belt which we made us think that our luggage was lost and we didn’t buy insurance but thankfully we rechecked and it was found at another belt.

This trip was meant to celebrate mommy’s birthday and catered mostly for her shopping interest and therefore my babysitting K for most of the trip. The rooms that we stayed were mostly comfortable and other than dealing with K’s fussiness, the main objectives of keeping both of them happy were met.

Kuala Lumpur 2017 Day 4 – Sungei Wang, Berjaya Times Square and Indoor Theme Park

Posted on July 21, 2017February 4, 2018 by ziyi

After a nice nights rest on the super comfy bed, we woke up to Blaze on TV for K, had some bread that we bought from a bakery (no complimentary breakfast) and a pot of roast coffee that which wasn’t fantastic. After mommy was done with the lunch preparations, we left for the mall, first visiting the Sungei Wang mall and then Berjaya Times Square.

Westin separate entrance for executive apartments.

Sungei Wang mall was a mere 10mins walk away and by the time we arrived, not many shops were opened. Mommy did her shopping while I had the job of keeping K entertained with whatever I could think of, like stepping on certain colored tiles or playing with the interactive shop directory. Obviously, after a while, that didn’t cut it as entertaining and he asked to be brought to a playground.

One of the early bird stores that was opened

With that, I brought K to Berjaya Times Square first as there was a huge Indoor theme and park, and left mommy to her shopping. Walking out of Sungei Walk was difficult as there were many levels and I took a long time to find the route to the main entrance. Then it was a short walk but uncomfortable one in the hot and humid weather.

Once there, I tried to withdraw some money from the ATM as I was low on cash. But the machine was unable to dispense cash for my account when I choose both savings or Visa options (for the OCBC 365 account) and I gave up. Went to the 5th level and paid RM51 for the adult tickets using credit card whereas K entered for free, being under 3 years old. (was told re-entry was possible!). Then we proceeded to the 7th floor where the entire floor was catered for younger kids.

Sign showing the Berjaya Times Square indoor theme park

Entrance of the Berjaya Times Square Theme Park

The rides include a safari car and train that that goes around, a ferries wheel in the shape of a bus and a carousel that he wasn’t interested in. There was one mini pirate ship that he wanted to take but didn’t meet the height requirements and I couldn’t take it with him as it was purely for kids under the height of 140cm. After just a ride each, he asked to be brought to a playground. Thankfully, there was one there and he spent the big deal of time running around, with so many kids there. There was a kids theatre playing a cartoon show but empty and cold and K was too scared to go into. We were there till mommy called us to meet up for lunch.

Playground huge enough for the kids to run around

K was getting fussy likely due to exhaustion as he insisted to press the lift buttons and making a big fuss. We met with mommy and went to the basement level and sat in a Nyonya color cafe to eat curry noodles and Assam laksa while K had his pasta. Then as we walked back to the hotel, K fell asleep.

The rest of the afternoon was spent snoozing (not before fussing in bed for an hour because he woke up from his nap on my shoulder as I tried to lay him down) in bed for me and K while mommy prepared dinner before going to Pavilion mall for her shopping.

By the time K woke, it was almost 7pm and mommy also just returned. We left the room for dinner at a certain TG’s Nasi Kandar restaurant which was also high on TripAdvisor. It was quite a distance to walk and by the time we arrived at the crowded non-aircon eatery, we already broke into a sweat. The staff found us a table which was just outside a hostel entrance and we placed our orders of double Maggi goreng, mee goreng and one prata with egg and drinks of ice teh Tarik and carrot juice. The food was nice but not exceptional.

We finished our meals at almost 930pm but the night was still young for Kuala Lumpur, obvious for the crowded street that we had to walked through, one that had massage parlours lining the street with their staff loitering on the pavement trying to get customers in for massage. With K seated on my shoulder (his main mode of transport for the trip), I was asked if I want a massage which I thought was a worthless attempt.

We got back to the hotel after the passing through the streets brightly lit with huge commercial screens and lights and a short visit to a shop store Shoopen selling shoes ( I was doubtful of shoes not known for their comfort and later causing pain) but didn’t get any. Then night routine of Blaze and clean up and sleep.

Bright lights of Lot 10 at Bukit Bintang

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

Posted on July 20, 2017February 4, 2018 by ziyi

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.