Up The Skybridge
1st December, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Two days ago we'd been unsuccessful in our attempt at getting up to the Skybridge at Petronas Towers, but today we managed to secure tickets. Just. As I recalled from the people there the other day, they start issuing tickets at 8:30 am, and tickets are strictly limited; we got there at 10:30 am, a whole two hours' worth of ticket allocations later. In the high tourist season (whatever that is for KL), this would almost certainly have meant that we would have missed our chance, but we managed to get a 2:45pm time slot. We weren't going to wait around until that time to go up the bridge, though.
We decided to head over to Times Square, another shopping emporium about 10 minutes away by cab (a cheaper and easier option than jumping on the monorail). There were a couple of reasons we wanted to check this place out. Firstly, the building was owned by the Berjaya group, the very same company that Kenneth and Peter, Manda's uni friends whom we met yesterday, are directors in. The other reason to check it out was the fact that there was a roller coaster inside the centre. I didn't know quite what to expect on that front, as it's not something I'm used to seeing in the same building. Would people be having a rummage through the sale items out the front of shops while ducking to avoid the occasional cart-load of screaming kids, arms outstretched as is the fashion when riding rollercoasters? We'd soon find out.
The shopping centre looked very plush indeed. At just after 11am, though, very few shops were open. This seems to be the way in Malaysia, as I'd first discovered in Penang; they're late risers but late finishers too. With few shops to keep us occupied, we headed for the fifth floor where Cosmo's theme park was indicated on the store's floor plans. This had to be the place, right? It sure was. Stepping through one part of the centre, the more restrained, more conservative part, we entered the section taken up by the them park in all its purple, orange and green glory. There, above our heads, was the track for the roller coaster, winding all the way around the park and over several floors. There wasn't going to be any danger of shoppers having to avoid speeding roller coaster carts, but I noticed that the track did go near to some of the fast food restaurants; near enough for the people eating there to hear the screams, watch the riders' expressions and wonder whether they could, after eating, manage to hold down their lunch if they tried the ride out for themselves. I gave it a go. I hadn't eaten yet, I knew I was safe on that front.
The entrance fee to the theme park is 25 Ringgit, which is about £3.50. For that you get a wrist band with a bar code that lets you get on the various different rides. I had just the one ride in mind, though - the roller coaster. The last time I had been on something like this must have been over 15 years ago, and it was a lot tamer than this one. Somehow I've managed to get through life without going on any scary roller coaster rides, so it was about time I changed that.
Cosmo's theme Park inside Berjaya Times Square.
I must have looked a little odd to any casual observers. I was walking up to the ride reading the latest issue of Time magazine, an article covering Chinese/Japanese relations. All very serious stuff. Then, when it was time to go, I carefully folded up the magazine, and gripped on to the restraining bar before being launched at some speed around the shoppping centre. I was whooping it up as the thing looped the loop, corkscrewed and did all manner of turns that threatened to leave my stomach behind; while this was happening, I kept one hand firmly on my right pocket that contained my camcorder. I had thought that I might be able to film the ride, but the warning signs suggested hiding everything that you value, such as keys, cameras, money etc. As I turned upside-down for the first time and felt gravity do its thing, I realised just how laughable the idea of filming now seemed. Thankfully, the camera remained in its hiding place; I had only lost one biro throughout the ride. Then, with the fun over, I stepped off the cart on somewhat wobblier legs than before and carried on reading Time as I made my way down to meet Manda.
Over the road (and down an alley) from Times Square is another shopping centre called Low Yat Plaza. This one specializes in electronics and computing bits and pieces. Like Pantip Plaza in Bangkok, it's the kind of place where, with a pocket full of cash, I could have an absolute field day buying gadgets galore, some of them actually needed or useful. But, alas, I didn't have the wad of cash I so desired, so we spent little time here, just picking up a couple of CDs, before making our way back over to Times Square to have some lunch, accompanied by the sounds of more people losing biros from their top pockets on the roller coaster.
Our time slot for visiting the Skybridge was creeping up on us, so we got a cab back to the Petronus Towers with just moments to spare (the traffic was painfully slow going the opposite way). We were issued coloured passes to hang around our neck, asked to go through a security check just like at an airport and then herded into a super-fast lift that took us up to the 41st floor. As I mentioned before, it's not that high up the two towers, but high enough to get a good view of the immediate area, as the pictures show:
Afterwards, we spent a little bit of time in the shopping centre, stopping at Starbucks for a spot of coffee and surfing the net (many coffee places in Malaysia offer wireless net access, sometimes for free). Manda took a photo of me looking puzzled as, once again, I failed to get a half decent signal in Airport (the wireless card that is installed in my Mac Powerbook) while all around me people were quite happily getting connected. I was reminded of a similar photo that she took in another Starbucks, but that was back in Los Angeles, on Hollywood Boulevard, on December 13th. Yes, that was almost a year ago. So, while I sat there hoping that the coffee would inject some vigour back into my near lifeless form, I pondered the fact that we'd been on the road for so long. As if that wasn't enough to remind me that our year-long trip was at an end, as I began typing up a diary entry later in the evening I got the following alarm notification:
So, this really is our last week of travels, to the minute.