Even though we had this holiday last October, I thought I would write a review on the Petronas Towers which we visited while we were in Kuala Lumpur. It was certainly worth the visit to say the least, so I hope the review does it justice.
The History of the Petronas Towers. This was once classified as the worlds tallest structure but due to changes in measuring these things it falls a little short today to the Sears Tower in Chicago. These were designed by a Norwegian Dawid Muano and the construction got underway in 1995 and was completed in 1998. The 88 floors are mostly constructed of re-enforced concrete with a Stainless steel and Glass front. When we arrived through the ticket collection point we were shown a short video of the construction. In the video it stated that the design resembled that of a Islamic motif and was a reflection of Malaysia’s Muslim religion. Because of the bedrock below the site of the Towers the foundations are the biggest in the world at 120 metres!
What I found fascinating was that they used two separate companies to build a tower each and therefore created a sort of rush or race to complete each one in turn. The builders of Tower 2 won the race to complete even though they started a month later than Tower 1!
Obtaining Tickets. Now I obtained the tickets on a Sunday morning and had to leave the hotel we stayed in in Kulua Lumpur’s Golden Triangle at about 7am to
follow the well signposted directions to the Towers. This took about 20 minutes on foot from our hotel. Upon arrival I walked to the basement of the towers and was probably about 15th in the queue which I was rather impressed with!. The ticket booths opened at 8:30am and by the time I would say 200 plus people were queuing to obtain tickets. When you get to the member of staff handing out the tickets you are requested to state at which time you would like to visit the towers and this is booked in half hourly increments. We decided to visit the towers at 1pm so we had the morning to wander around the City and make the journey back towards the Towers. There is actually no cost to visit the Towers that is why it is very important that you get there early on the day you visit as they only allow 1400 ticket sales in any one day, so to avoid disappointment get there early.
Visiting The Tower The purpose of visiting the tower is to learn a little bit about the history of it and also to visit the Sky Bridge which is on the 42nd floor. Unfortunately this is the highest point of which tourists can visit.
Our Visit. We arrived at the Petronas Towers approx 30 mins before our official ticket time as I was directed to do this by the member of staff handing out the tickets in the morning. Upon arrival and checking in we were given a pass on a neck chain in ‘Blue’ (this was our allocated colour for our time slot) and this was a swipe card to go through the security check point. Here you are requested, similar to any airport, to scan your bags and to pass through a scanner so they check no one has anything that could be deemed harmful to the welfare of the Towers and the visiting public. After passing through the security area you are advised to go into a small cinema type room to watch the history of the Towers and the construction. This is very informative and not too long as to bore you in the eagerness of wanting to go up the towers!. The seating is very comfortable and there was plenty of spare seating considering that the visitors going up before you were still watching the tail end of the video when me and my partner Dayle went in. You wait in this room until you are called on over a tannoy to make your way right towards the elevator to take you up the towers to the ‘Sky Bridge’.
Our Journey To The Sky Bridge. We went into the elevator with about twenty other people which I must say was rather crowded and Dayle ended up stuck in the corner at the back and I was next to the space ship style control panel with the equivalent of Blackpool illuminations on it. At this point I noticed that there was 88 floors to this monster of a structure and really put into perspective the enormity of the Towers. Our guide at this point entered the lift and kindly asked me to move over so he could operate the control panel. As we started to proceed up the floors we both noticed our ears popping as they would on an aeroplane but it only took a few minutes to get to the destination of the 42nd floor and the Sky Bridge. This bridge is probably well known as the escape route for Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones in the film ‘Entrapment”.
The Sky Bridge. On leaving the lift you walk down a narrow corridor about 10 metres until you get to the Sky Bridge. From here it is linked to both towers and you get some amazing views of the water fountains in the gardens below and the hustle and bustle of Kulua Lumpur. You can view for miles around and you are giving your own free time up here to take photographs at your leisure. The guide even took a picture for us as we stood against the stainless steel handrails running down the length of the bridge. The view from above is awe inspiring and also makes you realise the heights the constructors worked at to build such a structure!. The Sky bridge also acts as a safety route from each tower should an emergency occur The bridge is closed on Mondays and on Halloween and Religious holidays.
Our Descent After about 20 minutes we were told to make our way to the lift and again we all huddled in to go down to ground level. This was very quick and I honestly believe gravity played a great part in this! We made our way out of the lift and like a miracle not intended we found that the only way to the exit was via the gift shop This had the usual merchandise of paperweights ,fridge magnets, pen holders, snow storms (which I found funny in Borneo, as I don’t expect they have a great deal of snow!) and small ornamental statues of the Towers. We browsed around in here for a little while pretending to be interested in what was on sale but in all honestly I was a little disappointed in what was in the gift shop for purchasing. We did buy a fridge magnet though, but this was all. The prices in the gift shop I found rather expensive as we paid 70 ringits for the fridge magnet which equates to about £4.50
The Gardens All around the site of the towers is the Suria gardens which has small outlets on the perimeter of the gardens such as ’Starbucks’ and many little food outlets selling hot pastries to ice cream. There is a small lake in the gardens and the huge water fountains tower above the gardens spraying a ploom of water almost 100ft in the air. These gardens are nicely laid out with lovely flowers borders and well established tress and shrubs. In the far corner of the gardens there is an outdoor pool for use by the public, but the facilities leave a lot to be desired as these are rather basic and the toilets are basically a toilet seat on the floor about 12 inches from the floor and I didn’t notice any disabled facilities either?
Shopping At The Towers Inside the Petronas Towers on the ground level is the start of 5 floors of shopping outlets such as Armani and Gucci to name a few. Many of the shops sell designer goods as a matter of course but there was a few selling gifts and clothing at reasonable prices. It is really worth the stroll around to view the many shops and food outlets in the Mall.
Summary This was really a great day out and I thought it was certainly worth sacfricing a lay in to get the tickets.. The view from the Sky bridge is awesome. The fact it costs absolutely nothing is a great bonus as I’m sure if it was in this country a small charge would be expected. I would definitely recommend a visit to this tourist attraction. If you go all the way to Malaysia you cannot miss going here!
Pictures of Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur
On the Sky Bridge
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The towers are amazing and are a symbol of hope for the Malaysian people. Built to signify Malaysia's plan to become a major economy by 2020 they show the country means business. A great review!
dvdsprks2 07.07.2007 23:41
Worth an E gives plenty of information and makes you feel like booking up and going. David
chocdropjunkie 07.07.2007 07:17
Wow - amazing! Would love to go here, just the small matter of not being able to afford it at present. xxx
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Jun 24th, 2007
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