First on our ‘to do’ list after breakfast was a visit to the Perdana Botanical Gardens, also known as Tun Abdul Razak Heritage Park.  It’s  a large area of parkland with several museums and the National Mosque within its grounds.  The first building we came across was the Royal Police Museum, we hadn’t planned on visiting there, but it’s located in such a beautiful colonial building with a traditional verandah that we were drawn indoors to take a look.

We were so pleased to have made that decision as the galleries turned out to be really interesting, and the exhibits displayed in a very attractive way.

Sections covered weapons, costumes, vehicles etc. and outdoors was a collection of larger vehicles and a plane.   Admission is free and definitely worth a short detour.

Quite some distance from there, but still within the gardens we arrived at the National Orchid Gardens,  Admission free except at weekends when a small entry fee of RM1 is charged.  Much smaller than the Orchid Gardens in neighbouring Singapore, but a reasonably large collection of species displayed in well cared for flowerbeds.  There was a colonial cafe there where we had hoped to have our mid morning coffee, but sadly it’s only open at weekends in September so we had to manage without a drink.

We left the Gardens at a different exit and walked to Kuala Lumpur Railway Station.

This old colonial station is in complete contrast to its modern counterpart KL Sentral.  Its architecture is sublime and I fell in love with the building straightaway.

Moving on, we made our way to KL’s second tower, the Menara, this is a communications tower but is also a popular tourist attraction with lift access to the summit.   As our hotel room was on the 41st floor we felt we didn’t need to ride to the top of this tower, especially as the low lying haze was still hanging low over the city.  The main reason for our visit was to walk through the mini rainforest Bukit Nanas at the base and traverse the canopy walkway, but it wasn’t to be as we found the walkway to be cordoned off with a sign attached informing visitors that it was closed for maintenance.

Instead, we just walked along the paths on the forest floor. After all this uphill walking in the tropical heat we needed to return to our hotel room to rest and freshen up before heading out again on the monorail to KLCC Park at the Petronas Towers.  Overlooking the entrance we spotted a Harrods cafe which looked very genteel with its staff in straw boaters and black pinafores.  The menu seemed good value compared to the equivalent in the UK so we were tempted indoors for afternoon tea.  We were each served small scones with clotted cream and two flavours of jam and pots of tea served in fine china cups and saucers (RM35 each) delicious!  Photographs on the walls were of Harrods, London in days gone by.

It was then back to the hotel for an evening swim.  Despite it being dark it was lovely and warm relaxing on the sunbeds surrounding the pool which was illuminated by subtle lighting.  We hadn’t noticed before but from the pool terrace there were lovely nighttime views of both the Petronas and Menara Towers.

After all the delicious evening meals we’d enjoyed during the week,  our last one of the holiday really had to be back at Jalan Alor.  Malay Butter Prawns and Sweet and Sour Pork our final choices accompanied with glasses of Tiger beer.

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