Kuala Lumpur - getting in and first night

Here I am!

The journey was long and almost sleepless.

30 minutes in the plane to Istanbul (3 hours total) and twice an hour en route to Malaysia (on a 10 hours flight). As usual I could watch a few movies: the last Bourne, the Intern, Angry Bird, Point Break, Joy.

Arriving in Kuala Lumpur international airport, there are many ways to reach the center of the city. The quickest (and the one that cost more) is the express train that reach the central station in 30 min for 55 MYR (around 12 euros). This is the option I went for. I couldn't be bothered to look for the right bus and spend hours in traffic before eventually getting somewhere in the center where I would have had to find my way to the hostel.

From KL Sentral arriving with the express train, I knew I had to take the Green MonoRail until AsiaAir - Bukit Bintang stop. Easy but it still took me 1h30 to reach the final destination for the day. After a quick check in, a well deserved shower, I went in the surrounding streets to grab water and food. It is quite amazing how the main street (with their McDonalds, KFC, Starbucks and Irish Pubs) can differ from the side street (with a lot of nice local restaurants and their "terrasses" virtually tourist free).

My diner - Pad Thai and a cold Tiger

Soon enough, it was time to go to bed.

The night turned out to be very short. Someone in my dorm got back from partying at 4am. Impossible for me to go back to sleep.  I took the opportunity to make some researches and plan the day, watch the last 30 minutes of PSG against Nice, check out on Saint Etienne results and sports in general (nothing different from my daily routine :D). Outside it is pouring rain, one of these nice and warm tropical rain. I have identify what I want to do/visit during the day... It is naturally time for a run :D.

It felt amazing. There were no one in the city, the skyscrapers for company and the park right below the Petronas Twin Towers for playground. Arriving in the city yesterday I was doubtful it would be a runners friendly city. I was so wrong. The park I went to had a 1 km athletic track making it a perfect place for a little workout. After a few loops I went back towards the hotel trying to run under the Menara Kuala Lumpur - another tower looking like a mix between Vancouver's Lookout and Berlin's TV Tower. I eventually got lost... When I found my way back and got to the hotel, I had ran for 14km approximatively with 410m of ascent Kuala Lumpur is NOT flat at all but the 5.09min/km suggest I am in a decent shape (not sure if it is public data - try to click here to check the workout otherwise see below).

1st morning run including 8 loops around KLCC park

I can't wait for coming races I registered myself into:
- a mini marathon on Xmas in Bangkok (10.5km)
- a half marathon on the 8th of January in Cebu - Philippines.

No more blabla for now.
Time to actually visit the city and try to take some pictures.
The visiting tour should take me to the National Mosque, the Islamic Arts Museum of Malaysia, Chinatown and couple of temples (Sin Sze Si Ya and Sri Mahamariamman Temples).