Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur

Petronas Twin Towers.

The Petronas Twin Towers (or "Menara Berkembar Petronas" in Malay) are twin skyscrapers located in the Kuala Lumpur City Centre ("KLCC"). Soaring to the height of 451.9 metres, the Twin Towers were certified by the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat as the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004. They are presently still the tallest twin towers in the world.

Designed by renowned Argentine-born American Architect Cesar Pelli, construction of the post-modern styled buildings began in April 1994. The 88-storey buildings were completed in June 1996, first occupied by Malaysian petroleum company Petronas in January 1997 and officially declared open by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on 1st August 1999.

The twin towers are constructed of reinforced concrete with steel and glass facade referencing motifs found in Islamic art. A sky-bridge connects the two towers together at midpoint.

Besides the national petroleum company, the towers also hosts other multi-national companies. At the base of the towers are the Philharmonic Theatre and a shopping mall called Suria KLCC.

For those interested in visiting the towers, Visitor Operations are conducted from the concourse at the lower ground floor.

Ornamental water features in front of the Petronas Twin Towers.

Main entrance into the Twin Towers.

Ground Floor Lobby.

Look for the escalator going down to the lower ground concourse.

Go down the escalator.

Tickets cost RM84.80 (foreigner) & RM26.50 (Malaysian)

Look at the electronic screen to see available slots.

Go towards the ticketing counter.

Queue and buy your tickets.

With your tickets in hand, you may leave and return back before the appointed time.

Queue here at the appointed time.

You will be given a visitor pass.

You bags will then be screened in a baggage scanner and you will go through a metal detector and patted down for security purposes. You will be asked to keep your bags in a baggage storage room and given a tag with which to redeem your bags later. Then the staff will take photographs of you for purposes which will become apparent later.

A short safety and security briefing will be given to members of the group via a projector. The group is usually kept small so that the whole party can fit into the lift.

Safety briefing.

After the safety briefing, you will be taken up by lift to Level 41 of Tower 2. Level 41 is where the lower floor of the double-decker skybridge is.

Level 41.

Welcome to the Skybridge.

The skybrdge actually connects the two towers together and is a double-decker structure with Level 41 being for visit operations and Level 42 being for private use by office tenants. The sky-bridge is designed to not be physically attached to the two towers allowing for swaying of the buildings during high winds.

You will be allowed to stay here for 10 minutes to take photographs or just admire the views. There is also an electronic touch screen at the centre of the sky-bridge.

The lower deck of the Sky-bridge.

View of landscape architect Roberto Burle-Marx's KLCC Park from the sky-bridge.

View of the Suria KLCC mall down below.

View of the ornamental water features below.

After 10 minutes you will be asked to queue to take the lift up to Level 83.

Level 83.

From Level 83 you will ushered to another pair of smaller lifts which will take you up to the actual observatory on Level 86 of Tower 2.

At Level 86, you will be given another 10 minutes to wander around.

Architectural models.

Model of KL city.

KLCC area.

Petronas Twin Towers scale model.

Model of Tower Pinnacle.

Phenomenal view of the city skyline.

Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

Kampung Baru.

Tower 1 and KL Tower in the background.

Tower 1.

Pinnacle.

After 10 minutes, you will be brought down back to Level 83. There is a small souvenir shop here as well as a panels depicting most of the tallest buildings in the world.

Level 83 shop.

Petronas Twin Towers & the Burj Khalifa, present holder of the tallest building in the world.

Your tags will be taken back here before you are brought back down from Level 83 to the concourse at the lower ground floor. You will be given the opportunity to buy your photographs taken earlier by the staff which have been superimposed over the Petronas Twin Towers. You can also buy other merchandise at the gift store before finally exiting.

The Petronas Twin Towers are icons of Kuala Lumpur, and a must visit for those who want to say they have "been there and done that!"

Petronas Twin Towers

Address: Lower Ground (Concourse) Level, Petronas Twin Towers,Kuala Lumpur City Centre,50088 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Telephone : +60 (3) 2331 8080     

Email :   pettvo@gmail.com

Operation Hours: 9:00am to 9:00pm, Tuesdays to Sundays. Closed on Monday; and between 1:00pm-2:30pm on Friday. 

How to go to Sunway Lagoon, KL to Selangor

Sunway Lagoon is among one of the first successful theme parks in Malaysia. Officially opened in April 1993 by then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, it is located in the Bandar Sunway suburb of the municipality of Subang Jaya in the state of Selangor. 

The developers of the theme park, Sunway Group subsequently opened the Sunway Pyramid shopping mall in 1997. The mall was designed in the shape of an Egyptian pyramid with a majestic lion marking the main entrance into the mall.

Sunway Pyramid shopping mall.

For those interested in going to the theme park and mall, you may be wondering how to get there by public transportation from Kuala Lumpur? Well, here's how:

From Kuala Lumpur, you would first have to make your way to KL Sentral; which is the main train terminal for the city. At the main concourse area of KL Sentral, look for the KTM Komuter station entrance.

KTM Komuter station at KL Sentral.

Buy your tickets either at the ticketing counter or the ticket vending machines. At the time of writing, the ticket vending machines only accepted coins, so make sure you have enough small change!

Buy your tickets for the Setia Jaya station on the Batu Cavesl-Pelabuhan Kelang KTM Komuter line. Tickets will cost RM1.30 per person. After purchasing the tickets, just walk through into the station. KTM Komuter seems to operate on the honour system and no one seems to check whether you have bought tickets or not. However keep your tickets handy for random checks or inspection by KTM officials just in case.

KTM Route Map.

Update 15 Dec'15:

KTM has switched the Batu Caves-Pelabuhan Kelang line to the Tanjung Malim-Pelabuhan Kelang line. The updated route map is below:

 

Alternatively if you have a "Touch N'Go" card, use that to enter the KTM Komuter station by tapping the card on the reader at the turnstile entrance. The card reader will beep twice after which you may pass through into the station.

Escalator down to the platform.

After entry, look for the sign indicating Platform 5 and go down the escalator to the platform below to wait for the KTM Komuter train. Make sure you board the right train heading to Pelabuhan Kelang, and NOT the train on Platform 6 which goes to Sungai Gadut.

The train will take you to the Setia Jaya KTM station, which is 7 stations away from KL Sentral. Get off the train when the station name is announced.

Setia Jaya KTM Komuter station.

The Setia Jaya KTM Komuter station is a utilitarian open-air shed structure. You will arrive on Platform 2, which is the platform on the right in the photograph above. Walk to the exit staircase at the beginning of the platform.

Take the staircase up.

At the top of the staircase, remember to tap out at the card reader if you are using your Touch N'Go card. Then turn right into the elevated link-way to go to the Bus Rapid Transit ("BRT") station.

The link-way to the BRT station.

Cross the link-way.

The first exit on your left on the link-way leads to the Setia Jaya BRT station. Take this exit to go to the BRT station.

View of the BRT Station from the link-way.

Take the lift or escalator up to the Setia Jaya BRT station.

Ticket vending machine.

The Bus Rapid Transit system actually consists of buses that run on dedicated lanes that are not open to other vehicular traffic. The Sunway BRT is the first BRT line in Malaysia and was first opened to the public on 2 June 2015. During the trial period of 2 months, the use of the BRT system is free. Ticket prices after the trial period is over has yet to be announced.

(UPDATE Oct'15: Tickets from Setia Jaya to Sunway Lagoon costs RM2.30.)

The BRT Sunway route map.

Get your token, tap it on the reader and go through the turnstiles to wait for the bus to arrive. You will need to go from Setia Jaya BRT Station to Sunway Lagoon BRT Station, 2 stops away.

Once the bus arrives, hop on the bus. The buses are wheelchair friendly and can be used by the disabled.

Inside the bus.

You can monitor the progress of the journey via the electronic screen above the door.

Arrival of the bus at the Sunway Lagoon station.

The bus will stop at every station, just like a train, so there is no need to ring a bell to signal the driver to stop. The entire length of the BRT line is elevated, hence you get good views to the surrounding area. As the bus lanes have no other vehicular traffic, there is no traffic and the journey is fast and smooth.Get off at the Sunway Lagoon station and exit by depositing your token in the slot at the turnstile.

View of the dedicated and elevated bus lane from the Sunway Lagoon station.

After exiting the turnstile, go down one storey either by lift, escalator or staircase. On the first floor of the station look for the exit to the elevated walkway to Sunway Pyramid.

Elevated walkway to Sunway Pyramid.

The total length of the walkway to Sunway Pyramid is about 300 metres, and you will walk pass the Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa and Pyramid Tower Hotel on your left along the way. There are exits from the elevated walkway if those hotels are your destination.

Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa.

The elevated walkway eventually turns at right angles into the side entrance of Sunway Pyramid.

Enter into the side entrance of Sunway Pyramid.

Once through the glass doors, you will find yourself in the Oasis Zone on the first floor of the Sunway Pyramid mall. You will see an escalator going down in front of you - take it down to the ground floor.

Welcome to Sunway Pyramid.

Escalator down to the Ground Floor.

Go down the escalator.

At the ground floor, turn left as the sign directs.

You will see the back entrance into the Parkson departmental store.

Walk pass the money-changer outlet into the Parkson departmental store. Walk straight through the store to the other side where you will come to its front entrance.

Front entrance of the Parkson departmental store.

Exit Parkson through its front entrance and enter Sunway Pyramid mall proper.

Ground floor map of Sunway Pyramid.

If you wish to go to Sunway Lagoon from here, you will need to traverse the mall to get to the other corner of the building. From the Parkson main entrance, walk straight along the main thoroughfare, passing by the Pyramid Atrium and the Sunway Pyramid Main Entrance until you reach the Orange Atrium.

Walking to the Pyramid Atrium.

The Pyramid Atrium on the left and the Main Entrance of the Mall on the right.

From the Pyramid Atrium, walk to the Orange Atrium.

Orange Atrium.

Once you get to the Orange Atrium, turn left and walk straight to the Blue Atrium.

Walking to the Blue Atrium.

The Blue Atrium.

Once you get to the Blue Atrium, take the escalators two floors down to the LG2 level.

Down to LG2.

Once you get to the LG2 level, exit from the Blue Atrium to the Sunway Lagoon canopy walkway.

LG2 level map.

Exit the Blue Atrium entrance.

Turn left into the Canopy walkway to Sunway Lagoon.

Turn right at the lockers.

Walk pass the lockers and toilets.

You will come to the Sunway Lagoon entrance.

Buy your tickets and have fun at the Lagoon!