Say the word Malaysia and the first thing that springs to mind is their most prominent landmark, the world-famous twin skyscrapers which are currently the tallest buildings in the country and holds its record for being the world's tallest twin towers. Petronas Twin Towers is the headquarters of Petroliam Nasional Berhad, a government-linked oil and gas power company, and is supplying a considerable source of income for the government. Construction of the two towers commenced in 1993 as designed by Cesar Pelli, with a postmodern Islamic architecture of a 452 meters tube-structure, these 88-floor towers were completed six years after and was officially opened on the country's 42nd National Day.
Petronas Twin Towers served as the country's international beacon and became the country's most significant emblem to date. Foreign visitors who come to the country regarded this as the most important spectacle to see, a not-to-be-missed tourist spot in the heart of the country's capital city. Consequently, various points of interest have emerged within its area making this commercial and entertainment hub a one-stop-shop for breathtaking tourist attractions. Thus, Kuala Lumpur became one of the most sought-after travel destinations not only for shopping but most especially for social media posts and photography.
I first came to Kuala Lumpur in October 2019 in the midst of the country's Northeast Monsoon with the primary reason to see Petronas Twin Towers up close and to take several pictures of her. Booking a Grab taxi in Malaysia is plain sailing and fast as lightning compared to my home country although it takes a 60-km drive from the airport to the city center. It's a grueling 1-hour and a half travel especially if the cab driver is an advocate of holding his tongue to chatty passengers like me. He was rather focused on getting me to my destination before 5:00 pm so we won't be stuck on the streets in the imminent rush hour traffic jam. Grab fare was RM65.00 to reach Pacific Regency Hotel Suites where I will be staying for the next 3 days.
(You may also read My Hotel Experience: Pacific Regency Hotel Suites).
Pacific Regency Hotel Suites is just 900 meters away from the Petronas Twin Towers and its close proximity is one of the primary reasons why I chose to stay in this hotel. I am a wayfarer that's why I always choose to stay in hotels near the tourist attractions that I go to as I enjoy walking for hours taking pictures of the place of interest. It only takes a 15-minute walk from the hotel by taking a straight path at Jalan P. Ramlee towards the northeast until you reach Suria KLCC, a high-street retail center known for its upscale shopping labels and foreign high-end products which serves as the base of the twin towers.
I was feeling extremely ecstatic that I am finally in Kuala Lumpur and I'm just a hop, skip and jump away from Petronas Twin Towers. I planned my first day dedicated to seeing the twin skyscrapers so I was already hell-bent on going out for my first adventure. Adding up to my thrill is that Tower B is very visible from my window peeking out against other tall buildings in the area as if screaming out loud calling me to see her without delay. It was only 5:08 pm but the sky started to turn gloomy as dark gray clouds started to pile up above the towers threatening to pour relentless rain. I immediately freshened up and dressed to a tee so I can finally get to see her within sniffing distance.
It took me an hour unpacking and dressing up and it was almost 6:00 pm when I felt it's time to go and see Petronas Twin Towers but I was horrified as I peeked in the window to see a deluge of heavy rain pouring all over the city. I reckoned that I had to wait until the rain stops, or maybe when at least it had already slackened off before I go out of the room. I was already in famish but I was holding myself back from ordering room service because I planned to enjoy my first authentic Malaysian cuisine in Suria KLCC (or anywhere near Petronas Twin Tower) to make my dinner more memorable.
At 8:42 pm, I noticed that it's almost only just drizzling so I figured that must already be my cue. I picked up my DSLR and my tripod and hurriedly went to the lift. The rear side of the hotel that leads to Lorong P Ramlee seems to be a shorter distance to get to the twin towers so I chose that route. But as soon as I got to the exit door, the rain started pouring again. I wasn't in my rain clothes, I didn't have a brolly, and I think it's a stupid idea to walk in the rain so I couldn't help but wait again a little longer. Hoping that the rain will stop before midnight and I still can take photos of the twin towers in the dark sky. I sat on one of the benches and stared despairingly at the peak of the Petronas' Tower B peeking from the tree. It seems so close, but yet so far!
Finally, I noticed that the rain has begun to ease off at 9:10 pm so I took my chance to start walking to get to my destination. I dashed into Jalan P. Ramlee and headed northeast towards the direction of the twin towers avoiding puddles on the way. Just after I crossed Jalan Sultan Ismail however, I felt like it's starting to drizzle again. When I reached the third block past Jalan P Ramlee, which is a secondary street, I noticed from a distance that there is a roofed footbridge halfway the street.
I turned right at Jalan Perak to the covered walkway and consulted Google Maps on my phone if I can use it as an alternate route. Fortunately, it is indeed an official route going to Petronas Twin Towers, albeit taking more or less 20 minutes to walk, a little longer than the original straight path. The enclosed footbridge, however, is such an advantage to get cover from the copious amount of rainfall. I found the exit leading to the KLCC Park where a lot of bystanders are also taking shelter from the torrential rain that has now started to pour again. I stared above and there it is, one of the towers gleaming amidst the rain clouds, and I can't help but admire its beauty yet feel awful because I'm so near. And, I still can't seem to get within reach.
The heavy rain wasn't showing any sign of slowing down so I decided to call it off and just come back the next day.
I woke up early the next day and reorganized my itinerary since my first day got screwed up because of the hard rain. I decided to ditch some of the places listed in my timetable so I can see Petronas Twin Towers a little earlier than the previous day and I may be able to see the skyscrapers in broad daylight.
The sun shone brightly that day that it seemed like the whole day will be filled with overflowing awesomeness. The sky was very promising and I didn't feel any sign of havoc along the way. At 10:32 am, I walked again through Jalan P Ramlee following the same route that I did the previous night. The beauty of the city is different in the daytime, as everything the rays of the sun touches in the streets of Kuala Lumpur is a spectacle, it's a sight to behold!
From the corner streets of Jalan P Ramlee and Jalan Perak, it's very satisfying to see the tip of one of the towers again, reminding me how close I am finally. Yet I had to turn right in the direction of the covered walkway so I could follow the same route that I had the night before. There was an Indian couple who were taking selfies on the street with the tip of the skyscraper as their backdrop, and I decided to approach them so I can take the picture instead. But before I could even come closer, they fled in an instant so I was left there on my own and took a picture of the scenic view instead.
I walked through the covered walkway from its entry point at the Menara Perak which terminates at the link bridge to Kuala Lumpur Convention Center. The convention center is the home for musical plays like My Fair Lady and Chicago the Musical, which were both shown in 2007, and Beauty and the Beast the Musical a year after. It also hosted entertainment events and concerts like Ed Sheeran's X Tour in 2015 and Mariah Carey's Number 1's Tour concert just a year ago. It's also the most common venue for business conferences, seminars, meetings, and tons of local and international exhibits.
The Jalan Pinang exit leads to Aquaria KLCC, an oceanarium located at the concourse level inside the convention center that features more than 5,000 land and aquatic animals from all over the country and other species that were from other countries.
From the Aquaria KLCC at the concourse level, I went straight ahead until I found a food court at the center of the hallway, where there are countless choices of authentic Malaysian food that can be enjoyed. I noticed, however, that all the tables are always occupied regardless of time as there is always an influx of sea of people from either side of the building. Thankfully, there are restaurants and famous fast food centers at the outer edge of the rotunda.
The food court of Kuala Lumpur Convention Center is connected to a walkway that leads to a pedestrian tunnel to Suria KLCC Mall. The walkway is such an amazing spectacle by itself because of the huge posters of Petronas Twin Towers promoting the Sky Bridge at the 41st and 42nd floors, as well as views from the Observation Deck on the 86th floor where the entire city of Kuala Lumpur can be seen. Digital advertising billboards from various famous brands and business names also add gleaming lights to the well-lit tunnel reducing anxiety for people like me who are uncomfortable walking in enclosed spaces.
I followed the horde of people walking towards the entrance to the annex of a building that seems to be a gigantic shopping mall at the heart of the city. Unexpectedly, I didn't realize at first that Suria KLCC is a shopping mall since I thought that it's the namesake of Kuala Lumpur Convention Center because of its same acronym. I only found out later that it actually meant Kuala Lumpur City Centre since it is a part of the "KLCC project" in building the mall as the base of Petronas Twin Towers.
Suria KLCC is a six-story upscale mall known to be home to high-end brands and luxury goods with more than 380 shops combined with high-street labels and mid-tier retailers which were perfectly organized to accommodate the diversity of local shoppers and foreign visitors. The mall is crescent-shaped joining three malls together - Ampang Mall from the left section, Ramlee Mall from the right section, joined to the Park Mall in the center. It isn't challenging to find the way in and out of the mall where in fact, it was easy for me to get to the rendezvous where I will be meeting my Malaysian friend Mohd Amin, who will keep me company for the next two days.
I didn't expect how big Suria KLCC mall is, that it isn't even in the world's Top 50 biggest malls. Back in my home country, malls are HUMONGOUS that it would take a day to walk around an entire mall. The three biggest malls in the Philippines are even bigger than the biggest mall in Malaysia. In fact, Wikipedia said, "the Philippines has the most number of shopping malls in the top 100 largest shopping malls in the world" that's why Filipinos are accustomed to walking for hours and online shopping is an unprofitable business venture in the country.
I can't help but be honest that I totally enjoyed window-shopping in Suria KLCC that (1) I've almost forgotten my real intention why I was in the mall in the first place and (2) that watching the time has slipped my mind. My friend Mohd Amin brought me to the 2nd level of the mall so we can sit and take a break to eat lunch. Their food court is so large, yet it still seems it's totally jampacked and it looked difficult to find unoccupied tables and chairs. I wanted to eat something Malaysian but all the stalls with their local cuisine have the longest queues so I opted to try Thai food instead. What's good about Suria KLCC's food court is its diversity in food where choices of the best-tasting meals seemed endless.
Lunchtime in Malaysia is 1 pm to 2 pm which is my usual preferred time to eat out when I'm back home in my country. Noontime in the Philippines is usually 12 pm to 1 pm which I always avoid since all restaurants and fast food hubs are jam-packed. I didn't research about this prior to coming to Kuala Lumpur and the one thing that I always avoided is what I have just experienced. Ergo, I didn't get to enjoy my meal and we had to leave right after we finish our plate as a courtesy to other diners waiting for their turn.
It was almost 2 pm so we thought it's now the perfect time to take snapshots of Petronas Twin Towers. We headed to the mall exit just below Dewan Filharmonik Petronas so we could get to the entrance of the skyscrapers and we noticed that there is a huge crowd building up at the door. We found out that it is because it's raining outside (oh yeah... again!) and people are taking shelter from the rain. I find it more amusing than shocked to see how an all-sunny-weather morning can suddenly switch to hard-rain-without-warning afternoons in Malaysia. What's more shocking is that the locals don't seem to be bothered by this and it shows that they're so accustomed to such a phenomenon that it just becomes a norm. Since there's literally nothing that we can do, we just killed time by doing some more window-shopping and some photoshoot sessions at the mall's center stage with its Deepavali decorations.
We came back after an hour and a half and it seemed like the heavy rainfall has started to let up. There was no more large, densely-packed crowd at the entrance door yet the skies are still dark with thick, gray clouds waiting to burst anytime. The water fountains at the entrance gate of the mall's rear area have been turned off and it was really an awful scene for photoshoots. I'm not a fan of overexposing shots but I thought that it was the only cheat that I could think of that time to make the skies look clear, albeit it still looks gloomy and unusual because there were only a few people walking around in the background.
An interesting thing to take note of is that the back of Suria KLCC is where the twin tower's facade is. In contrast, the mall's front is where the Lake Symphony is, located at the KLCC Park which is at the back of the twin towers. To make directions more confusing, both the mall and the towers have entrance gates in all four directions. Ergo, if you are meeting someone in this area, make sure to specify which building and the direction you are referring to prior to finalizing the rendezvous.
We finally got the chance to go out of the streets between the two long water fountains when we saw that the rain has started to show signs of slackening off. I took several shots of the two towers but the blue sky doesn't seem to want to come out to be used as background for a better mood in my pictures. More and more rainclouds came forth and they started to envelop the peaks of both the towers looking like thick, gray cotton candy on sticks.
Other foreign visitors like me in the area have finally given up their hopes of taking their perfect shot of one of the most iconic skyscrapers in the world that they all started to disappear from sight when raindrops began to fall again. I checked all my snapshots and nothing was even satisfying or even worth posting on social media. So far, they were all good for nothing.
I gave myself another chance, one final chance for that matter, to capture the twin towers with my best shot so I went back to Suria KLCC at 7:02 pm while on occasional rain. Since I am on my own this time, I brought with me my tripod but when I was almost at the mall, there it went again... the hard rain! It was just like déjà vu. As I stood at the entrance gate of Suria KLCC, I couldn't even see Public Bank Berhad, the building right in front of the towers, because it's raining like crazy! It was almost like the same thing that had just happened earlier that day.
It's already been half an hour but the rain's not stopping and it doesn't give a sign that it will stop in the next half hour. I decided to chill for a bit so I went back to the mall, started walking again trying to find a place where I can sit. And maybe eat dinner. I found myself walking back to the convention center where the food court is but I couldn't find an empty table. Luckily, I saw Kenny Rogers Roasters from a distance where only one table was occupied. I tried to forget that I was upset about what was happening so I indulged myself with the Ayam Goreng which I really enjoyed with every bite. `Tis the most extraordinary chicken that I've tried in this restaurant so far and I freakin' loved it.
I stood up and decided to go back to Suria KLCC a few minutes before 8 pm to try my luck for the last time and I was taken aback when I saw people at the water fountains pointing their cameras above. At last! This is the moment that I have been waiting for, or so I thought. I ran outside wildly like a zoomie dog who just had a sudden release of energy and I almost even tripped into the puddles. And then I felt the rain dripping on my shoulders. I figured that the rain hasn't really stopped. It only slowed a bit.
Time is of the essence, I reckon. I hurriedly set up my tripod and adjusted the settings in my camera to capture one of my most coveted subjects ever. I did several shots, and I made sure not to stop until I've gotten all the angles that I wanted. And after a few minutes, the rain started to pour again. I ran back to the mall entrance along with other foreign visitors who were also taking pictures and after much delay, I finally felt happy. Excitedly, I turned on the screen display of my camera and switched the playback mode on so I can review the pictures. To my horror, all the pictures that I've taken have water-droplets that reflected from the surface of the lens. All the pictures are screwed up. Such a horrible, horrible night!
I went back home to the Philippines with a heavy heart for not achieving one of my main reasons for visiting Malaysia. But my low spirit motivated me to come back soon instead and plan more carefully. I booked another flight back to Kuala Lumpur two months after and stayed in a different hotel, with almost just the same distance as the previous one (you may also read: My Hotel Experience: Somerset Hotel Ampang). December to February is the best season, most people say, to visit Kuala Lumpur. And I didn't go wrong this time.
Back with a vengeance! I revisited Petronas Twin Towers on the 5th of December and I was more certain that I will get positive results. The weather at 8:30 pm was at its best, with a 26°C temperature and clear skies, everything was destined to be a perfect day. I joined the throng of people gathered at the KLCC Outdoor Park at the towers' front lawn and immediately set up my camera at the farthest section of the walkway. It was difficult taking a selfie in this area as there are a lot of people walking around all wanting to have their best photograph with the skyscrapers. I managed to take several shots, however, which may not be perfect but I am happier than my first few attempts two months ago.
I climbed up the stairs towards the water fountains and I saw a better view where I could tilt my camera even higher and positioned it much lower than I am. It's a little challenging, however, to wait for photobombers to disappear from the background. There were several instances where there are no movements in the background during the timer's countdown but they suddenly appear within the frame as soon the shutter releases. It's kind of a funny experience but also tiring.
Some locals can also be seen around selling gadgets, selling souvenir pictures, providing photography services, or offering an extended lens for taking better photos of the two towers using your own mobile phones. These focal lenses are being sold at RM35 but I heard many foreign visitors who are good at haggling and they get the deal for RM20 which includes taking the pictures for you.
I spent an hour enjoying taking pictures until I felt I've taken enough and I was already at my full satisfaction. This will do for now but I would love to come back to take more photos from other locations. My bucket list includes taking pictures from (1) the towers' Observation Deck, (2) at the Skybridge, and at the (3) Sky Deck of Menara Kuala Lumpur. For now, I'm thrilled with my pictures and that's what's most important!
This unforgettable experience made me learn one of the greatest lessons in visiting Kuala Lumpur: never ever come during the Moonsoon Seasons.
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