February 4th, 2010
KL, we soon discovered, is extremely easy to navigate. Intersecting monorails, light rails and suburban trains cris cross the city like a capilliary system delivering workers and shoppers to their desired organs. Our first monorail experience was very much anticipated. We had been bursting into Simpson-esque song “Monorail” for days. We climbed the station steps at Times Square Shopping Complex (fresh out of the Vegas style book) and waited all of 3 minutes for the next northbound unit. Tickets were an easy purchase, assisted by a helpful diagram depicting the cost of travel to each station from the station we were at. How easy is that? The monorail trains are only 2 carriages long, very frequent and zip along with wonderful efficiency. 2 floors up, weaving between skyscrpaers (do we still call them that?) is a great, and impressive way to see a city.
The monorail at night
On this occasion we weren’t going far. The monorail was actually an unnecessary treat, for a journey we could have walked. But hey, life is for living. The destination was the KL aquarium. Now that we are practically professional Scuba Divers all aquatic attractions are oddly attractive to us. The aquarium is a big and clearly well funded and well supported establishment. Situated in the bowels of the KL Convention Centre, it is downtown central and easy to get to from all directions.
lionfish; my National Geo pic
It features many large tanks, imitating different aquatic environments, butterfly and bug displays as well as reptiles and snakes. One large tank holds some of the largest freshwater fish in existence. The highlight is an 80 metre “undersea” tunnel that cuts through a number of different sea environments.
10,000 leagues under the sea
The feeding tank
We watch 2 divers feeding large stingrays and turtles by hand in a very playful display. What we thought would be a 5 minute scavenge was a really well executed 30 minute display where the main actors clearly held some affection for the divers.
Stingray
The feeding frenzy happened in another tank when a few dead fish were dropped into a family of 200 piranhas. It lasted about 10 seconds and was all a blur.
Hungry red piranha
Later that night we treated ourselves to some steak and a nice bottle of red at the Outback Steakhouse. The occasion to break the budget was our 3rd anniversary and we figured it would be a nice touch to spend it at an Aussie grill shop headed as we were, to see the wizard.
The Outback; Meaty goodness
We both ordered with no nonsense flair and 2 rare steaks with mashed potato and veggies were not long in appearing at our table. The stunning doorsteps of meat were red and juicy and much more of a fillet than a sirloin (yum). Paired with my favourite wine (Argie Malbec) we toasted the past, the future and remembered to enjoy the present. We won’t be young and beautiful for ever you know!
The foyer at Times Square
Later in the week we decided to do a few days prep work for Oz. There were interview clothes to be bought lest I believed my charm would carry me through in a pair of raggy board shorts and flip-flops. I was also hoping to pick up a net book for writing this blog, and of course borrowing movies from the great movie database in the sky. I figured dress trousers and some nicely cut shirts might do the job. Elaine persuaded me into dress shoes also. Potential employers might frown upon my hiking shoes as i wooed them with an Irish jig.
Looking up in Times Square
Shopping in KL is big. It’s a national pastime. Shopping centres are like football stadiums, hold a similar number of designer duds obsessed people and thousands of shops apiece. The neo classical foyer of Times Square, the casino-esque beast mentioned earlier, houses 3 restaurants. Thats just the foyer. When I say big I mean BIG! The centre also features an indoor themepark, complete with rollercoaster somewhere in its mezzanine attic floors. I managed to pick up shoes, 2 pairs of trousers (tailored), 3 dress shirts and a leather belt for under 90 Euro. This made me happy enough to splash 300 on a nice little netbook (250GbHD, 2GbRAM). This made me happier still. Who ever said that you can’t buy a little happiness now and again?
Elaine for her part purchased a little also, in the form of a very swish handbag at a knockdown price. What else.
You talking to me?
Before leaving we made sure to visit the Zoo. A monorail ride to the outer reaches and a taxi to the gates, easily organised and pretty cheap. The Zoo was triple the price that the tourist guide noted which annoyed us but we paid our money and cooed at the animals.