Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

The four of us (and Wilson’s parents) went to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last week for a 3-day-2-night stay at Swiss Garden Hotel.

We didn’t stay long at all as we’re there mainly because Wilson and his Dad had tickets to catch the ATP World Tour, Proton Malaysian Open, on Thursday, October 1st.

[And I mean, both father and son were really there for a good 10 -12 hours that day! They left the hotel just before 11am and came back at 11pm! Goodness. You’ve got to be a real tennis fan to enjoy THAT many hours of tennis in a day!]

Anyway.

I sure wouldn’t want to just stay at the hotel for one whole day … and so I told the kids, ‘Let’s go out and have a little ADVENTURE of our own around KL!’ (Wilson’s Mom stayed and rested at the hotel)

And.

‘Let’s try the TRAINS!’ (instead of getting here and there by taxis)

So the three of us went to the hotel’s concierge to get some info, got ourselves a simple little map from them and walked to the nearest train station (some 10-15 mins walk from the hotel).

And here are the photos!
(all photos are taken with my Canon Ixus)

*Get ready for a long post*

[Oh btw before I start sharing how it all went, it was my third ever trip to KL and my first time going out and about KL without Wilson. I’ve never taken the KL trains or known anything about its public transports until that day. So yep, everything was TOTALLY new for the three of us, which made it all the more exciting!]

Now. Back to our train trips.

One thing we immediately learned about KL’s trains is that, there are THREE different ones!

The KL Monorail, STAR, and Putra.

In Singapore, everything is ‘connected’. Even when you need to change ‘trains’ because you’re changing routes, you’d only need to walk across the platform OR walk a bit WITHIN the train station.

It’s totally different in KL.

The trains are apparently not connected, and changing trains means you need to ‘get out’ of one’s station and go to ‘another’ station.

And so if you look at the picture above, well … that’s Anya holding onto my monorail ticket.

My wrong ticket, because apparently we’re supposed to take the STAR line which is across the street from the KL Monorail’s station (thanks to a bystander who nicely pointed it out as the three of us waited for the ‘wrong’ train to come).

Anyway, since I thought we should go and check out Suria KLCC together (which is next to the Petronas Twin Towers), we went to buy the STAR line ticket (RM 1.20) and went from Hang Tuah station to Masjid Jamek Interchange.

[The kids were excited, asked lots of questions, AND occasionally sang ‘Indonesia Raya’ and ‘Majulah Singapura’  together!!]

Upon reaching Masjid Jamek interchange, we exited the station, crossed the busy street (read: almost everyone jaywalked there) and went ‘underground’ to take the PUTRA line which goes straight to KLCC station.

[This was AFTER I asked around a LOT for directions]

And in the end, we reached Suria KLCC *YAY* and immediately went for (our late) lunch at Nando’s!

Yummm …

Then, we went to check out the Petronas Twin Towers‘ gallery!

[watching the ‘lightning demo’]

Btw, all tickets to visit the Skybridge were sold out by the time we’re there (ie. 3pm). The staff told me that about 1000 – 1500 tickets are sold real fast each day and if you’d like to get them (even for an evening session), you should come at about 8.30am!

After checking out the place, we stayed at Suria KLCC, got ourselves some snacks before heading back to the hotel by trains.

You know, I must say I was pleasantly surprised to see how Anya and Vai didn’t whine despite the long walks. I carried Vai on and off (each time lasted for only a minute or two), but that’s about it *well done kids*

And btw, to keep them ‘engaged’ while walking a lot by the roadside, I told them to look out for big trees and how the pedestrian walkway is often ‘damaged’ by their growing roots. AND hey, they’re VERY excited about it and kept on looking out for ‘evidences’ of ‘chopped tree trunks’ or ‘cracked walkways’!

Anyway.

The kids napped upon reaching the hotel, and the three of us had a good water-play at the hotel’s pool just before dinner.

A ‘fully utilised’ and adventurous day for the three of us, I reckon.

Something that we’ll remember and treasure together.

PS: You know what, when we’re back in Singapore, someone told me that we actually took the LONG way around to reach Suria KLCC! We should’ve walked towards ‘Pasar Seni’ (turn left upon leaving the hotel). The train there will take us straight to Suria KLCC! Oh well …