Wicked Weekend: Family Sundays

Mid semester break is hereeeee! Yahooooo! Stuck in Kuala Lumpur with nothing to do? Consider being tourists for a day :P

With half the Crazy Concert gang back in their home countries, the exchange of voice notes make us miss each other even more. While at it, might as well relive the moments shared in Kuala Lumpur through my blog!

The weekends of last semester were definitely the best ever! From enjoying jazz music at the MPO to cycling in Putrajaya, birthday surprise at Merdeka Square and not to mention, spontaneous food trips to Melaka!

It's an entirely different experience when visiting historical sites and iconic touristy landmarks with these new friends! Definitely brought out the patriotism in me...and it doesn't hurt to take beautiful Instagram-worthy photos while indirectly promote Malaysian tourism! :P

1) Istana Negara (National Palace)

Jalan Tunku Abdul Halim, formerly known as Jalan Duta

For those unaware (like I was), the national palace moved from Jalan Istana to Jalan Duta. So don't get skeptical when Waze leads you to Jalan Tunku Abdul Halim (guilty as charged!) :P

Entry is not possible, so it functions as a photo-taking touristy spot only. For photo-taking purposes, it is best to visit in the evening around 4pm cz that's when the Sun isn't hot and the lighting is on point.

staring competition with the guard

a very Malaysian-product photo: Petronas Twin Towers, KL Tower and Proton Waja

2) Istana Budaya

Jalan Tun Razak

Istana Budaya is the spot for artsy fartsies. All sorts of theatrical performances from plays to opera to musicals are held there. From time to time, they'd host some pretty interesting shows to catch! International 'Saturday Night Fever', 'Cats', 'Mamma Mia!', children's favourite 'Hi-5' and locally produced 'Puteri Gunung Ledang'...they have it all and more!

I almost went for 'Tenggelamnya Kapal Van der Wijck' with my friends, but they decided to cancel on it :( That's okay, there's always another chance.

3) Taman Tasik Titiwangsa (Titiwangsa Lake Gardens)

Next to Istana Budaya

The Titiwangsa Lake Gardens with its spacious area provides a large perimeter for those who wants to maximize their jogs (like Mich!) haha

Tim, Char and I didn't go there to sweat it out, just dropped by to chillax for a bit and do some people-watching since it was just next to Istana Budaya. I was fairly surprised to witness so many people doing recreations like jogging, cycling, roller skating and more! Not bad, Malaysians are healthy too :P

4) Muzium Negara (National Museum)

Jalan Damansara

That morning started out with breakfast in Bangsar! Devi's Corner, to be exact. Because Mich lend me her car, we could have breakfast ANYWHERE!..not necessarily near the train station *inserts muscle arm emoji*

Bangsar is a nice place to walk around too, but Tim and Jonas have been there and were more excited about the museum than boutiques.

The national museum is open daily from 9am-6pm. Although we drove our way there, it seems rather convenient to get there via public transport too (check its website). Quite sakai that I had to pay RM3 for parking though (cheapo Chinese alert! :P) pfft hahaha

A ticket is needed for entrance. Thanks to our MyKad, Char and I got a discount! hahaha Not expensive also la anyway.. RM5 (normal adult) and RM2 (MyKad adult). Check out their website for the full list!

The museum is divided into four sections: Pre-History, Malay Kingdoms, Colonial Era and Malaysia Today.

Being ex-History students, Char and I were regurgitating all four History textbooks we digested in Form6 hahaha It was quite fun trying to recall names and events...like Alfonso de Albuquerque lolol

Outside the museum were traditional Malay houses for visitors to step into and take pictures. Fake houses like these are not my favourite cz the mannequins in Mini Malaysia gave me a bad experience when I was a kid. Short story shorter, there was an actual human in one of the houses when I thought they were all fake, so when she moved, I freaked.

German pak ciks(uncles) reflecting on life in their kampung house

5) Muzium Diraja (Royal Museum)

Jalan Istana

This was formerly the national palace, before it moved to the newer and bigger location on Jalan Tunku Abdul Halim.

The ticket cost RM10 per person (normal adult) and RM5 (MyKad adult), but being students we didn't wanna spend the money on another similar museum...so we resorted to taking photos outside, as far as the guard allowed us LOL

palace at the back

6) The Front Door

Grocer's Inn, Jalan Sultan (corner of Petaling Street)

Great company and too much time on hand calls for checking out new cafe (back then) time! Char suggested The Front Door as it was a very new rustic hipster cafe nestled in a corner of Petaling Street. The signboard isn't very obvious, so look out for "Grocer's Inn" instead, as the cafe is just below that backpackers' inn.

Update (5/11/2015): The Front Door is closed until further noticed due to major changes. 

Known for its open sandwiches concept, we decided to have some while waiting for Tom to be back on KL grounds. The toasts come in 12 variations, but only 8 were available. We took a set of 10 cz we were huuuuungry!

To my surprise, they ALL tasted really delicious! Surprised cz usually when there's so many variation of something, they wouldn't get them all right, but The Front Door did!

My two favourites were Toast #2 (cream cheese, asparagus, sauteed mushroom, hard-boiled egg) and Toast #4 (cream cheese, cucumber ribbon, smoked salmon, capers).

7) Tugu Negara (National Monument)

Jalan Parlimen

Getting to the National Monument is a tricky one. I've always thought it was located in a rather secluded area, till I drove there and realized it's in the heart of KL itself! I still don't really know how one can get there without a car, but I read that it's a 15-minute walk from the Bank Negara KTM station.

Built to commemorate those who sacrificed their lives in cause for peace and freedom of Malaysia, it was inspired by the United States' Marine Corps War Memorial when our first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman first visited the US. Also designed by the same Austrian sculptor, Felix de Weldon.

I remember seeing it in real life for the first time when I was 16 years old or so and was surprised by how huge it was! It looked small in my text books...

8) KL Tower

Jalan P. Ramlee

Last minute pit stop before Tom left Malaysia was KL Tower! Last minute as in 3-hours-before-flight last minute O.o

Open 365 days a year from 9am to 10pm, KL Tower is a telecommunication tower which has a revolving restaurant, an observation deck, F1 Simulator, a mini zoo, an aquarium and occasional BASE jumping events. There's actually two decks where you can see the KL city from- observation deck and open deck.

I was more interested in the open deck cz I've been to the observation deck, but the price differs by A LOT!

Observation Deck RM52 (normal adult), RM31 (normal child) | RM32 (MyKad adult), RM21 (MyKad child)

Open Deck, only for age 13 & above RM105 (normal adult) | RM75 (MyKad adult)

*The full price list of all the attractions of KL Tower is very clearly stated on their website here.

And that's how Family Sundays were spent :)

The 'Family Sundays' term originate from Tim's reference to our outings as they mainly fell on Sundays. It's also quite touching how he considers us as family. Awww :')

*Photographs by Tim
*KL Tower GoPro photographs by Jonas

What's a must-visit spot you'd recommend to tourists?