After a quick walking tour of Melaka, we continued our journey to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

We waited for bus #17 at the Dutch Square (in front of Tang Beng Swee Clock Tower). The bus route looped between Melaka City Center and Melaka Bus Terminal.

Travel Time took around 30 minutes (RM1.50 fare). On our way to Melaka Sentral, the bus passed by a few interesting spots outside the city center such as the Eye on Malaysia Giant Ferris Wheel and Chinese district with narrow streets lined with old shop houses.

Melaka City Center to Melaka Sentral

View inside the city loop bus in Melaka

Mahokta Parade (Mall)

Holiday Inn Melaka

Eye on Malaysia located at the mouth of the Melaka River

Entering a Chinese district

Looks like colonial shophouses

Chinese temple

Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka Kampus Bandar

AEON / JUSCO (Japan United Stores Company) Melaka Shopping Center

Melaka Sentral (Bus Terminal)

The Melaka Sentral bus terminal was large but also well organized. It didn’t take us too much effort to find the ticket counters for buses going to Kuala Lumpur. The counters had their bus schedule posted at the window. We just looked for the earliest bus trip, scheduled at 1:30pm, and waited. The bus came on time and left the terminal 15 minutes later. Travel time from Melaka to KL took 2 hours and 30 minutes (RM10).

Melaka to Kuala Lumpur bus ticket counters at Melaka Sentral Terminal

Lunch at the terminal.

Melaka Sentral Bus Terminal

Transnasional bus in Melaka. All of the interstate buses at the terminal looked similar to this.

Melaka to Kuala Lumpur

We expected to be dropped off at Puduraya terminal in Kuala Lumpur city center. I panicked a bit when the driver dropped us off at a parking lot. It was already the last stop and the place did not look anything like the dense city center I expected.

The vendors nearby were friendly enough to give directions for the city buses headed to the  city center. We learned later on that the Puduraya bus station was being renovated (at the time). The provincial buses were temporarily using the parking lot of the (Malaysia) National Sports Stadium located in Bukit Jalil (at the outskirts of KL).

Years of lurking at the Asian forums of Skyscrapercity paid off :) I didn’t feel totally lost because I recognized the stadium structure, which was posted many times in the stadium threads. It’s one of the biggest stadiums in Asia and was one of the venues of the 1991 SEA Games.

Bus Terminal in Bukit Jalil

Comfortable “Rapid KL bus” between Bukit Jalil and Kuala Lumpur city center

Welcome sight of the Petronas Twin Towers dominating the KL skyline

Puduraya / Plaza Raykat to Bukit Bintang

Arrived in Kuala Lumpur city center at around 4:30PM. Dropped off at a busy highway intersection near the PlazaRakyat RapidKL (Elevated rail) station. Got on the RapidKL elevated train from Plaza Rakyat to Hang Tuah RapidKL Station. The MRT system in KL was very nice. Not as nice as the ones in Singapore or Hong Kong but, definitely, way better than the old mass transit rail lines of Metro Manila.

Changed to the KL Monorail “Orange” Line at Hang Tuah Station and dropped off at Bukit Bintang Monorail Station.

Plaza Rakyat Rapid KL Station

KL Monorail Station

Bukit Bintang Monorail Station

Bukit Bintang, on our way to Agora Hotel

Agora Hotel in Bukit Bintang

We stayed at Agora Hotel in Bukit Bintang for our one night in KL. The quad deluxe room at Agora Hotel was priced at RM168 (approx. Php2,400). The location was ideal since it was very near the KL monorail station. We even walked our way to the Petronas Towers. It was a very long walk but still doable.

There are also a lot of guest houses catering to backpackers / budget travelers in Bukit Bintang, which is known as KL’s version of Khao San Road. If I were traveling to KL on my own I’d most probably stay in one of the cheap guest houses in Bukit Bintang. We decided to spend the night in a budget hotel instead since there are four of us in our traveling group.

Agora Hotel in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur