Kuala Lumpur

My first order of business in Kuala Lumpur was to take in a screening of Harry Potter. So, bright and early on the second day of my stay in Kuala Lumpur, I got up and headed off to the city center. I decided to stop at the Malaysia Tourism Centre on the way, since it wasn't too far away from the Petronas Towers.

Malaysia has been undergoing a massive effort to modernize. They also have been trying very hard to minimize impact on the environment. One of the projects that has been in the works is the public transportation network in Kuala Lumpur. There is a huge amount of work being done in the capital to not just improve the transportation network, but really to make a public transport network. There are two LRT lines, two commuter train lines, and a monorail line. These are all fairly new. And they are all separate at this time. If a person is going on a journey that will, for some reason, require two changes, it will require three fares. At the transfer points it is necessary to exit the system, go to the next line, buy a ticket and then enter the system again. At one station, there are two entrances, two ticket booths and two separate ways up to catch the train, depending on which direction you are going. (Luckily I picked the correct direction.) I presume this will change at some point in the near future. They seem to be building interchange corridors to get from one line to another, thus allowing a passenger to stay in the system. I would have thought it would be easier to build it all that way in the first place.

I got off at the appropriate spot and headed to the Malaysia Tourism Centre. This is one nice looking tourist information center. I was very impressed. Until I got inside. On Wikitravel, they say that it is a good place to get information, but the staff are surly. Normally, I have found that Wikitravel articles are way too hard on places. But in this one case, they were right on target. I walked up to the information desk and barely tore the woman's attention from her phone. She really didn't seem like she could be bothered to give me anything really helpful. She just handed me a brochure for a travel agent and told me to talk to them about my plans. I got a far more enthusiastic response just outside the building from the girls who were getting people set up for the Hop On Hop Off tourist bus for the city. It was a bit odd.

After getting a bit of information, from the information racks in the center, I headed off to see Harry Potter. It was good. I enjoyed it.

After the movie, I walked back to the spot where I was staying. I passed by the Kuala Lumpur Tower, where I learned that in order to preserve an old tree, during the building phase the city moved the location of the tower a few feet away, then set up barriers to protect the tree while the tower was being built. This was at a cost of about 150 thousand dollars. This was the tree.

Then it was back to the hotel to plan the next day.