13/11/2009 – footsteps……..by atok vlog

National Sports Complex FREE Facilities

Who says there is no free lunch these days?

Do you know that you can have access to International Sports facilities for FREE? Yes! I repeat F-R-E-E. And I repeat it, International standard sports facilities.

Not many KLites know that they can play for FREE at National Sports Complex (KSN) on every Friday beginning at 8.00 a.m to 7.00 p.m.

This FREE use of facilities is in conjunction with Kompleks Sukan Negara’s Open Day on every Fridays. This offer was mooted and extended during the days when Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said was the Youth and Sports Minister.

I knew that the training swimming pool is free on every Friday since I take my son to swim there after his evening religious class and today I saw the poster at the National Aquatic Complex about other facilities within KSN’s administration that are also free to use too on Fridays.

Following are the venues:

National Stadium – Jogging

National Aquatic Centre – Swimming

National Squash Centre – Squash

Putra Stadium – Badminton & Sepak Takraw

National Hockey Stadium – Hockey

Family Park – Football, Beach Volleyball, Basketball,Sepak Takraw, Netball, Jogging Track and other suitable activities

Commonwealth Hill – Jogging

Juara Stadium (Bkt Kiara) – Netball

National Lawn Bowl Centre (Bkt Kiara) – Lawn Bowls

For further details you can contact KSN at 03-89944660/1/2.

How To Go? See Map below or HERE

Kuala Lumpur Tower – My Second Visit

Before I start this I want to tell prospective visitors BEING ON TOP THE VIEW OF KL IS BREATHTAKING…….PHEWWW……

KL Tower was built to cater the communication and broadcasting facilities of Kuala Lumpur and also as a tourist attraction. It stands at 421 meter on top of a hill, Bukit Nenas and is 94 metres above sea level, in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

Now, I picked this out from a website about the tower……… which actually appears to be taller than the Petronas Towers, because it is built on a hill. Amidst the city of Kuala Lumpur stands the Menara Kuala Lumpur at 515m above sea level.

It’s a joke, and everybody knows, that the Petronas Towers are the highest buildings in Kuala Lumpur.

It also claims to house the highest McDonald’s in the World. This tower has an observation deck, where you finally can manage to get a bird’s eye view of the city.

Menara Kuala Lumpur ranks fourth amongst the tallest telecommunications towers in the world and was constructed over a period of four years and completed in May 1996. Menara Kuala Lumpur is designed to withstand wind pressures of up to 90mph. Reference HERE.

KL Tower rise above all other skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur City. The only other tower overlooking the city is the Petronas Twin Tower.

Being a KLite (err, can I call myself a KLite?-I am from Kedah), I first visited KL Tower in 2001 to accompany my late brother who visited Kuala Lumpur. Early this year I visited the tower again with my family. For those without your own transport, the Hop On Hop Off bus service made a stop here. You can disembark at bus stop 2.

I bought the ticket and being Malaysian I have to produce my MyKAD for the special rate. Going up the tower is a breeze riding on the high speed elevator located in the shaft of the tower. Its so smooth and you can’t feel it speeding up. What attracted me in the elevator is this panel button. Public visitors can only go up to TH01 or Tower head 01where the viewing deck is located. The viewing deck surrounds the shaft giving visitors a full 360 bird eye view of Kuala Lumpur and on a clear day a further view. If you want to see the view try not to go on a rainy day or when the weather is cold because your view might be covered by clouds. Of course we do not go up there just to see the clouds.

At first I and my family just walk around all sides and trying to make up the landmark,some are recognisable and some seems to be quite alien. However there are signages to guide. After sometime being on the deck, only I realise that I can loan the electronic guide that come with a headset for FREE. I am not sure of the languages but definitely there is Bahasa Malaysia and English. I requested for the English guide. The electronic guide equipment has a screen where you can see the respective view while being narrated through the headphone. Just sit back and enjoy the scenery.

KRU Production provide electronic guided tour. Visitors can request for the headphone and equipment and be guided all around the observation deck.

Beside the electronic guided tour, visitors are provided with public telescope located around the deck. When I visited the tower previously, I have to pay to view for a specific duration. But it seems now they are giving it FREE. Ermmmm….I am not sure whether I was using the leftover of the previous viewer or it is actually FREE. You can bring your own binocular of course since the once provided FOC (together with the ticket) fo my son is just toy stuff. Not grousing la, since its Free. For kids they can take it home as souvenir. Show orang kampong…….Heyy!…. I’ve been on top KL Tower.

Bus park at the base of the tower as seen from above. Hey, my car is parked somewhere around there.

Maybank Tower and Raja Chulan Tower as seen from the viewing level on KL Tower.

Petronas Twin Tower in KLCC is among the main background for visitors to take photograph as remembrance of visiting the tower. For those who did not bring along a camera, can request for the service of the in house photographer and of course you have to buy the photo back.

KL Tower head shrouded in cloud

Above: Inside the observation deck

REFERENCES ON KL TOWER.

Wikipedia

KL Tower International Jump

Malaysia Vacation Guide

Visit To KL

Tower International Forest Towerthon

Labuan’s Memory Lane – Memorial On Labuan

The history of Labuan was dated back in the 1800’s when it was part of the Brunei Sultanate and a port of refuge for ships plying the Borneo waters from strom and pirate attacks. In 1845, Sir James Brook was appointed as the governor of Labuan and on 18 December 1846, Labuan was ceded to the British by Raja Muda Hashim. To read further the chronological events in the history of Labuan please go HERE.

I visited this memorial on one my trips to Labuan. In this entry I am not going to write much since a picture says a thousand words and it will be a repetition of what can be read from the accompanying pictures.

In 1922, Prince of Wales landed on the island.

In 1942, the Japanese Imperial Army invaded the island of Labuan and renamed as Maida Island. This picture below is the Maida Island Memorial as memory to this event and situated in front of the Labuan Mesuem, Federal Territory of Labuan. This Memorial was erected as remembrance of General Maida who died on 5th December 1942. He is the Commander of the Japanese Army in Borneo.

Above: General Maida memorial.

The Allied Forces landed in Labuan in 1945 and this memorial in the picture below is to commemorate their landing.

Within the memorial area the concept of 1Malaysia has long been practiced. There are four trees planted by different communities to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The trees were planted by the European Community, The Indian Community, The Malay Community and the Chinese Community. However I missed the plaque of the Chinese Community and one of the trees died.

In 1963 Labuan became independent from the British when Sabah Sarawak became part of Malaysia. Labuan was a one of the districts of Sabah. Then in 1984, Labuan was proclaimed the Federal Territory (16 April 84) and declared an International Offshore Financial Centre on 1st October 1990.

You can see the timeline HERE.

Walking Walking Kuala Lumpur – Going To Dataran Merdeka

You must have read about my first posting under this same heading. It has been a few days that I did not update this blog since I was concentrating on writing entries for another blog writing contest Project Alpha by Kyanite Production and Nuffnang and fully sponsored by Adidas Action 3. Well,it was quite fruitful since I had won three prizes so far and with another two weeks before the reality program ends.

In the above mentioned posting I stopped at Tuanku Abdul Rahman Square near one of the heritage building The Coliseum Cinema and there is the Kuala Lumpur Information centre available. However it was closed on Sunday.

My jalan-jalan continue towards Jalan Raja Laut. I was on my was to bank in some money to pay my Bank Islam credit card at their 24 hours Cash Depositing Machine (CDM) located at the Menara Tun Razak. The journey I plan seems to look like being in a circle and you will be able to see if you follow this blog until the last of the series.

Jalan Raja Laut was not as busy and congested as during the weekdays. This Jalan Raja Laut is one of the main roads within the Kuala Lumpur city centre running parallel to Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. Both road are one way streets planned by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall to smoothen the traffic flow between Dataran Merdeka and Chow Kit area.

My intended destination is the Merdeka Square, a very nostalgic open field that host many historical events and on every 31 August, city dwellers especially will gather until midnight for the countdown to remember Merdeka. City dwellers congregate at Dataran Merdeka too on the last day of the year to woo in the new year.

At the junction of Jalan Raja Laut and Jalan Tun Perak there is a small garden that house a fountain. On this small square once there was the tourist information centre and now being replaced with two fountains. One is a normal looking fountain while another taller one decorated with the pitcher plant or monkey cup.

What can be seen from here?

Here are the views from this small square. The Kuala Lumpur Tower loom in the background. Petronas Twin Tower can also be seen in the distance.

Below: Old High Court Building

Below: Panggung Bandaraya

Below: Sultan Abdul Samad Building facing the Dataran Square.

To be continued…………

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