This happened just before my trip to Sydney, so I’m obligated to uploaded these photos first before I start on my Sydney trip (lest these memories disappear forever).

Had a great Saturday (16.9.2007) out with Airin & Lai Kuan, showing Marcus (a Singaporean) around KL. We had two main destinations in mind – The Petronas Twin Towers SkyBridge, and Aquaria KLCC. In order to get the SkyBridge tickets, we had to leave early – but as fate would have it (due to a certain beach rendezvous the night before ), I overslept, AND my backup plan Airin who was supposed to give me a wakeup call, overslept too AND Marcus didn’t wake Airin up either.. We kept Lai Kuan waiting for about 45 minutes – sorry!

Luckily tickets were still available when we got there (they only hand out around 1700 tickets daily).

But the queue was badddd.. we got the 1130 slot..

As we had time to kill, we drove to Jalan Alor for breakfast & criticized Singaporean food in front of Marcus . We then drove back to the Twin Towers. The waiting lounge was filled with interactive stuff to do, and when our time came, they ushered us into an auditorium hall to show us a 3D audio visual presentation about Petronas..

Us in our 3D glasses.. L-R : Lai Kuan, Marcus, Airin & FoOie!

Then we were directed through a security checkpoint, before being allowed up a lift to the 41st floor..

The amazing views from the bridge…

I personally think that the view from KL Tower is muchhh more breathtaking. But at least I can say I’ve been to both now.. We were only allowed to spend about 10 minutes up there. After our short walk, we headed back down to the KLCC park, and experimented with a few jumping shots..

vs

Inspired by SmashPop

Aquaria KLCC was next on the list. I thought the whole Aquaria setup was pretty impressive (especially after reading up more on it)..

The first thing that caught our eyes, were these shallow pools where you are allowed to touch and carry various sea life.. I spent a lot of time cuddling 3 month old baby sand sharks here, I just couldn’t get enough hehe.

Here’s me with a starfish..

OK, these aren’t aquatic, but they’re still adorable and aren’t exactly very common either. These particular species can only be found in Brazil..

One of the largest freshwater fishes in the world, Giant Arapaimas are only found in the Amazon. They can grow up to a whopping 3 meters in length, and are known to leap out of the water to snatch unsuspecting birds for their meals…

Right up ahead was the highlight – the special underwater tunnel..

(Here are some facts plucked off the web..) The pool here is filled with more than 3.2 million liters of water. As the aquarium was not located near a sea bay, the water was manually mixed with 90,000 kgs worth of salt imported from The Dead Sea! The tempered glass used in order to withstand the pressure was made in Germany and sent all the way to New Zealand for shaping before being brought here.

lol..

Slow and menacing – simply captivating

There were signs stating that the sea creatures we saw through the glass were actually 30% smaller than their actual size! I shudder to think how large some of the marine life actually were (you can even pay to dive with some of them..)

Here’s a close up view of the sharks on video..

That’s a baby shark swimming around its mother!

These sand sharks have been trained not to attack the smaller marine life by being fed with headless mackerel, until they were ‘tame’ enough to be introduced to other sea life.

Super Cute Sea Jellies! Exactly like the ones in Spongebob Squarepants

A Chambered Nautilus

As living fossils, they have been largely unevolved for the last 500 million years. They thrive at depths of around 300m and are kept in a special pressurized tank to simulate their natural habitat.

Of course there were a LOT more other sea (and land) creatures on display – but I’ll let you discover them for yourself when you are there..

Went shopping at Berjaya Times Square, then had to meet up with Ryan and Emily for dinner.. But we almost followed some strangers home instead..

FoOie (driving) : So which is their car?
Lai Kuan (on phone with Emily) : He’s parked next to the bank
FoOie : Is the car number plate xxxx?
Lai Kuan (on phone with Emily) : Umm.. Yah.
FoOie : Is it a white Camry?
Lai Kuan (on phone with Emily) : Umm.. Yah.
FoOie : Is it reversing now??
Lai Kuan (on phone with Emily) : Umm.. Yah.
FoOie : OK – (follows the car down 2 streets.. Just before hitting the main road..)
Lai Kuan (on phone with Emily) : Wait wait! we’ve been following the wrong car!

Well, we eventually found them, and had dinner at this fantabulous claypot steamboat in Taman Len Seng. It was so deep in, I don’t think I remember the way there. If anyone knows, tell me please!

They used a thick tasty pork knuckle broth as the soup base, which I’ve never seen used anywhere else (the restaurant was packed!)

Went Midvalley for bowling after that.. Man I suck at this hehe

For the closing, we headed over to SkyBar for a drink.. Jacq decided to join us for this final round..

It was an incrediblyyyy tiring day for me, but satisfying.. I was out for a total of 17 hours straight. The whole of Sunday was spent recuperating.. (I couldn’t even wake up for breakfast to send Marcus off)

Now who says you can’t have fun in KL?