Hi,

It has been a while since I last update the blog. As usual, I was required to attend some matters at the client site at Lumut a few times. If anything goes as planned, I’ll be going to Labuan for the future visits to the client. A new experience for me, perhaps.

Anyway, today I just want to provide some information about car rental services that tourist can find if they need to tour around Kuala Lumpur by themselves.

EuropCar
Ecm Leisure Sdn. Bhd, Office Suite 19-22-2, Level 12,
UOA Centre 1, Jalan Pinang, Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2380 0023

Insas Pacific Rent-A-Car
47, Ground Floor, The Boulevard, Mid Valley City, Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2287 4118/9
KLIA/Sepang Branch, Tel: 03-8787 4393/3922

Mayflower Car Rental
Mayflower Building, 18, Jalan Segambut Pusat, Kuala Lumpur
Email: carhire@mayflower.com.my

Park Lane Cars
Suite#208, MBE Desa Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 016-347 1500
Fax: 03-2300 2625
Email: parklane@care2.com

Sunset Rent-A-Car
Tel: 03-2615 7207
Website: http://www.sunsetrentacar.com.au

Suria Car Rental Management
12B, Jalan SS 15/8, Subang Jaya, Petaling Jaya
Tel: 03-5637 1308, 012-307 2273, 019-384 9290, 016-208 2220

(credit goes to ExpatKL at www.expatkl.com)

I’m sure there are more to be found in Kuala Lumpur. By the way, I want to inform that the sound files for the Malay words that we’ve discussed before are ready to be deployed here (it supposed to be yesterday but the storage server was down). I hope I can get it done ASAP.

Hi,

How do we recognize whether the sign we are looking at is describing the place we are going in Malaysia? Obviously, not all signboards here are written in English (unless in KL,minimally). Well, here we go:

Mountain    -  Gunung   (pronounced 'gu-nung'   ,  'nung' as 'noong')
                      eg. Mount Kinabalu - Gunung Kinabalu

Hill              -  Bukit   (pronounced 'bu-kit')
                      eg.  Fraser Hill - Bukit Fraser

Lake           -  Tasik   (pronounced 'ta-sik')
                      eg. Titiwangsa Lake - Tasik Titiwangsa

River          -  Sungai (pronounced 'su-ngai')
                      eg. Rajang River - Sungai Rajang (longest river in Malaysia)

Sea            -  Laut (pronounced 'la-ut',  manipulatively 'la-wode')
                     eg. South China Sea - Laut China Selatan

Island         -  Pulau (pronounced 'pu-lau'), you've met this before!
                      eg. Langkawi Island - Pulau Langkawi

Beach        -  Pantai (pronounced 'pan-tai',  manipulatively  'punt-tie')
                     eg. Port Dickson Beach - Pantai Port Dickson

Waterfall    -  Air Terjun (pronounced 'a-ir ter-jun')
                     eg. Lata Kinjang Waterfall - Air Terjun Lata Kinjang

Cave          -  Gua (pronounced 'gu-a',   sounds almost similar to Goa in India)
                     eg. Niah Cave - Gua Niah

Hope it helps :)!
Cheers....

I don't know what star rating they have, but I think they are definitely worth a look if you're staying in KL.

1. Dynasty Hotel Kuala Lumpur
2. Vistana Hotel Kuala Lumpur
   
3. Kuala Lumpur International Hotel
4. Malaya Hotel
5. Prince Hotel & Residence Kuala Lumpur
6. Melia Hotel Kuala Lumpur
7. Grand Seasons Hotel
   
8. Mandarin Oriental Hotel
9. Nikko Hotel Kuala Lumpur
10. Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur
11. Heritage Station Kuala Lumpur

Obviously, there are plenty more but I'll add later. Here are some descriptions for the location of the hotels above:

Dynasty Hotel - located at Jalan Ipoh, near Pusrawi Hospital.

Vistana Hotel - located close to Jln Pekeliling Bus station, so it's easy to get express bus to your destination. Also close to MonoRail station.

KL International Hotel - Near Kampung Baru and Hospital Kuala Lumpur.

Malaya Hotel - in the middle of Chinatown, also close to Central Market.

Prince Hotel & Residence - near Karyaneka and Craft Cultural Complex.

Melia Hotel - located at Jalan Imbi, close to Berjaya Times Square and Low Yat Plaza, KL's main IT centre.

Grand Seasons Hotel - Across Hospital Kuala Lumpur, close to Chow Kit Road, Kampung Baru.

Mandarin Oriental Hotel - next to KLCC, KL Convention Centre, Aquaria.

Nikko Hotel - close to KLCC, Ampang Park, embassies along Jalan Ampang.

Le Meridien - close to KL Sentral, KL centre of metro public transportation.

Heritage Station - close to KL Railway Station, National Mosque (Masjid Negara),  National Planetarium.

Orait (Malaysian typical way of pronouncing 'allright'!) fellas, today let's learn how days of the week are pronounced in Malay. If you're not gonna use it, at least you can guess what a Malaysian is saying when he/she says that a night market (pasar malam) is held every Rabu (???) in such and such spot...hehehe.

Monday  -  Isnin (pronounced 'is-nin')

Tuesday  -  Selasa (pronounced 'se-la-sa' or 'Sir-la-sa')

Wednesday  -  Rabu (pronounced 'ra-bu')

Thursday  -   Khamis (pronounced 'kha-mis', or 'ka-mis' for simplification)

Friday   -   Jumaat (pronounced 'ju-ma-at, or ju-ma-art)

Saturday   -  Sabtu (pronounced 'sab-tu', or 'sub-too' using English word)

Sunday   -   Ahad (pronounced 'a-had' or 'are-had')

Typically, a Malaysian will pair the day with the word 'hari', such as 'hari Ahad, hari Rabu etc etc'. For example, a tourist would ask," What is the day when Muslims here in KL have one big prayer at Masjid Negara, usually done during lunchtime?? The answer is, "Hari Jumaat!".

Cheers!

This is a testing entry for grabbing a sample audio files here. If this test is successful, I'll provide my own audio files containing the guide to speak Malay for every important words I've explained before. Wish me luck!

It's been a few days since I last update my blog. Starting last Saturday, Malaysian citizen especially Chinese has been in the CHinese New Year (CNY) mood. Highways are flooded with vehicles, bad traffic are EVERYWHERE.

Usually, most business activities are considerably inactive during CNY as Chinese are mostly businessmen, wholesalers, retailers. I reckon I might have to wait for two weeks before I can find my favourite comic book being sold at shops again. Another thing is that Chinese will continue celebrating CNY until a festival called Chap Goh Meh.

Anyway, for KL citizen, basically we could almost have a full week of public holidays. Besides CNY, we also celebrated Ma'al Hijrah and Federal Day. Ma'al Hijrah is actually a celebration of New Year according to Muslim calendar. Ma'al Hijrah is also called Awal Muharram. Federal Day is celebrated in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan as they are the federal territories of Malaysia.


I'll be back...

This is Part 2 of the article regarding PUTRA LRT services. For those who are lost in this article, please refer to the entry below this, you'll need to look at the diagram describing Putra LRT service route.

We continue our journey which halted at Pasar Seni station. Next stop is Masjid Jamek Putra LRT station. The diagram shows that Putra LRT and Star LRT service intersects at Masjid Jamek area. So, if you wish to transfer to Star LRT services, you can stop here. As you can see, Star LRT service route will take you to other areas in Kuala Lumpur.

Next station is Dang Wangi, where this is the stop you have to take if you are planning to visit Kuala Lumpur Tower at Bukit Nanas.

After Dang Wangi station is Kampung Baru station. Have a look at my entry here if you are looking for some great stalls to enjoy Malay cuisines. Kampung Baru is just filled with loads of them.

Next stop I suppose is the most popular one, KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre). The name says it all; you want to go to KLCCand shop at Suria KLCC, just get off at this station. It is also for tourist who need to stay at Mandarin Oriental Hotel, which is next to KLCC. Another place of attractions in this vicinity is Jalan P. Ramlee and Jalan Pinang, which houses several attractive nightspots for those who wants to spend partying and clubbing at Saturday night! hehehe...Oh yeah, you can also reach Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre if you have some conference or exhibition to attend to. And not to forget, Aquaria which will captivate your eyes with exotic deep fishes and creatures. Aquaria is basically located underneath Suria KLCC and the Convention Centre.

The next stop is Ampang Park. Nikko Hotel is located here. Nice hotel though!

The following stations are mostly targeted to people who are living in the residential areas like Kampung Dato Keramat, Jelatek, Setiawangsa and Wangsa Maju. The service ends at Terminal Putra station in the district of Gombak. Here's a tip: if you're planning to visit Genting Highland, you can take a tour bus from here. I think the ticket will consist of bus fare and also the SkyWay (gondola). My friend recommends visiting Genting Highland using this way, unless you want to drive all the way there.

Well, that's all for Putra LRT that I can add right now. I'll put some more in the future if I have more info.

Cheers!

Allright, here's a pic that represents an overall view of the coverage of metro system in KL. Well, to be honest, I myself got some trouble figuring out the details in this photo. Anyway, we'll slowly go to each service described here.

I'm still under Putra LRT topic, therefore we'll concentrate on the pink line that connects KELANA JAYA and TERMINAL PUTRA; This is Putra LRT service line. (You can download this pic here.

Obviously, there are 24 stations along this line. Let's start our journey from Kelana Jaya as we make our way to Terminal Putra, okay?

From Kelana Jaya, you'll passTaman Bahagia and Taman Paramount. These are residential areas mainly. At Asia Jaya station, you'll find yourself very close to Hotel Armada and Hotel Hilton (about 5 minutes walking distance), so for those who are looking for hotels in Petaling Jaya area, these hotels are among them.

Universiti station is named that way because of its location near Universiti Malaya. The next one is Kerinchi station. This station is unique as it is inside a building named Plaza Pantai. I don't know what Plaza Pantai functions for but I guess it's a commercial building as I can see lots of exotic restaurants from the road such as Thai Cuisines, Korean, Japanese etc..I think it hosts a good spot for wine and dine in that area.

For those who are looking for some good Saturday night-out spots at Bangsar, you should stop at Bangsar, obviously. But you have to take a cab or feeder bus from there (I'm not sure about their exact route!). Most of the spots are located in Jalan Telawi which is about 5 minutes from the station by car.

KL Sentral is probably the most important stop in this line as it is also an intersection point for various other services such as Monorail, ERL, KTM Komuter and national train service, KTM. This can be seen for the pic above where many lines intersect at KL Sentral. For those who tak ERL shuttle service from KLIA will also stop here. There are 2 hotels here, Hilton and Le Meridien. Could be 4-star or 5-star hotels, I'm not sure but it's more than enough to accomodate most travellers.

Next after KL Sentral is supposed to be Pasar Seni, but it's somehow not indicated in the pic. It's in between KL Sentral and Masjid Jamek station and it shares the same point with Kuala Lumpur KTM Komuter station. Well, I must say it is not like that in the actual  life.  Pasar Seni LRT station is  separated from the KTM Komuter station.  Pasar  Seni station has its name because of its location near Central Market (pasar Seni in Malay), one of the main tourist attractions in Kuala Lumpur. This is a place you must go if you're looking for souvenirs, batik, Malaysian Arts etc. Never miss Central Market if you come to Kuala Lumpur! Get off at Pasar Seni station if you also plan to visit Masjid Negara (National Mosque), National Planetarium, National Art Gallery and National Museum (well, this one is a bit far, but take a cab, it's about 5-10 minutes from here).

Uhh, I almost forgot to mention, if you stop here, you are very close to Chinatown at Petaling Street. I see many tourist come here looking for interesting stuff like branded clothes, watches, belts (accessories!) and many more. Another must-visit spot in the middle of Kuala Lumpur.

I think I'll stop here, I'll continue in the next entry..before that, a pic of Putra LRT for you.