kembara (..as I Travel): Kuala Lumpur Tower

Friday 13 November 2009

Kuala Lumpur Tower - My Second Visit

Before I start this I want to tell prospective visitors BEING ON TOP THE VIEW OF KL IS BREATHTAKING.......PHEWWW......

KL Tower was built to cater the communication and broadcasting facilities of Kuala Lumpur and also as a tourist attraction. It stands at 421 meter on top of a hill, Bukit Nenas and is 94 metres above sea level, in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

Now, I picked this out from a website about the tower......... which actually appears to be taller than the Petronas Towers, because it is built on a hill. Amidst the city of Kuala Lumpur stands the Menara Kuala Lumpur at 515m above sea level.

It's a joke, and everybody knows, that the Petronas Towers are the highest buildings in Kuala Lumpur.

It also claims to house the highest McDonald's in the World. This tower has an observation deck, where you finally can manage to get a bird's eye view of the city.

Menara Kuala Lumpur ranks fourth amongst the tallest telecommunications towers in the world and was constructed over a period of four years and completed in May 1996. Menara Kuala Lumpur is designed to withstand wind pressures of up to 90mph. Reference HERE.

KL Tower rise above all other skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur City. The only other tower overlooking the city is the Petronas Twin Tower.

Being a KLite (err, can I call myself a KLite?-I am from Kedah), I first visited KL Tower in 2001 to accompany my late brother who visited Kuala Lumpur. Early this year I visited the tower again with my family. For those without your own transport, the Hop On Hop Off bus service made a stop here. You can disembark at bus stop 2.

I bought the ticket and being Malaysian I have to produce my MyKAD for the special rate. Going up the tower is a breeze riding on the high speed elevator located in the shaft of the tower. Its so smooth and you can't feel it speeding up. What attracted me in the elevator is this panel button. Public visitors can only go up to TH01 or Tower head 01where the viewing deck is located. The viewing deck surrounds the shaft giving visitors a full 360 bird eye view of Kuala Lumpur and on a clear day a further view. If you want to see the view try not to go on a rainy day or when the weather is cold because your view might be covered by clouds. Of course we do not go up there just to see the clouds.

At first I and my family just walk around all sides and trying to make up the landmark,some are recognisable and some seems to be quite alien. However there are signages to guide. After sometime being on the deck, only I realise that I can loan the electronic guide that come with a headset for FREE. I am not sure of the languages but definitely there is Bahasa Malaysia and English. I requested for the English guide. The electronic guide equipment has a screen where you can see the respective view while being narrated through the headphone. Just sit back and enjoy the scenery.

KRU Production provide electronic guided tour. Visitors can request for the headphone and equipment and be guided all around the observation deck.

Beside the electronic guided tour, visitors are provided with public telescope located around the deck. When I visited the tower previously, I have to pay to view for a specific duration. But it seems now they are giving it FREE. Ermmmm....I am not sure whether I was using the leftover of the previous viewer or it is actually FREE. You can bring your own binocular of course since the once provided FOC (together with the ticket) fo my son is just toy stuff. Not grousing la, since its Free. For kids they can take it home as souvenir. Show orang kampong.......Heyy!.... I've been on top KL Tower.

Bus park at the base of the tower as seen from above. Hey, my car is parked somewhere around there.

Maybank Tower and Raja Chulan Tower as seen from the viewing level on KL Tower.

Petronas Twin Tower in KLCC is among the main background for visitors to take photograph as remembrance of visiting the tower. For those who did not bring along a camera, can request for the service of the in house photographer and of course you have to buy the photo back.