Getting to Malaysia was interesting. Got to the airport in Berlin 2 hours before the flight, and proceeded to stand in line for 1.5 hours waiting for Air France to check us in. There were only 2 people handling the entire flight. Patience wins out. We thought we would need to run to the gate, but it turned out that the gate (and security) was (literally) right behind the check in desk.
After lunch, we went in search of the Hard Rock Cafe to buy boss' boys some shirts, then to a Hindu temple that he though looked like it held promise. The Hard Rock was - well, the Hard Rock. Same as everywhere else. The Hindu temple was draped in scaffolding and netting, so you couldn't see anything. Oh well.
Walking back to a taxi stand, we went down Petaling street in Chinatown. (Does every major city have a Chinatown? I wonder about Shanghai...) Interesting place - lots of vendors with inexpensive watches ("Rolex"), handbags ("Coach"), etc. Didn't buy a thing, though I could have bought a "real" Coach bag for 7 dollars.
Lacking anything else that boss wanted to do, we went back to the Petronas towers. After 10 minutes in the gift shop (typical junk), I decided to check if any tickets had been turned in. Nope. So then I decided to be the ignorant American, and get in line anyway. The ticket taker told us that it wasn't our time, but we could wait to see if there was room. I guess she liked me, because she turned others away, then let us go early.
The Petronas towers were pretty cool. They are the tallest twin towers in the world. The observation deck is 42 stories up, though the towers are > 90 stories tall. Petronas is not from Harry Potter, but is the Malaysian oil company. The towers are their main offices. The view of KL was good, but it was a bit hazy.
The Petronas towers are built as a Faraday Cage, which allows lighting to travel along the outside of the towers. This protects everything inside.
Charles DeGaulle airport in Paris is the least traveler-friendly airport I have seen. When we got there, our flight was not yet on the departure lists. We figured out that we needed to go to terminal A. Following the signs for terminal A would have landed us in the baggage claim area. Hmm... we decided not to go that way, so we stood in line for a transfer agent to find out where we needed to go and perhaps get our boarding passes.
The transfer agent was helpful, but couldn't print out boarding passes. She told us to go down the hallway (which did not say terminal A), through passport control, and follow the signs. So we did. In the middle of the airport, we went through passport control - which gave us our exit visa from the EU. Seemed a bit odd - here we were in Paris, and we were officially out of the EU. Whatever!
Finally found some signs for terminal A, which led us to the end of the hall, downstairs, to a waiting room for a bus. Finally got on the bus (after the group going to terminal B was told that they had missed their flight), and ended up at terminal A - a LONG way from the main terminal.
Terminal A was built in the early '70s, and was opened to great fanfare and publicity, according to the photos in the terminal. Lots of Pan Am 707's in the pictures. Unfortunately, it looked like they had not done many upgrades since then. It was laid with a central hub connected to satellite terminals by underground walkways. The effect was a concrete spider laying on its back. Not a good way for a spider to be.
When we finally found our gate, we found the Malaysian airlines transfer desk. We suspected problems when we met the agent, who hand-fed our boarding passes into the printer (using another airline's passes). She also had a job application on her desk. Interesting.
Well the flight was OK, but the meals were interesting. Sitting next to the boss for 12 hours was not optimal. Arrived at Kuala Lumpur (KL) at 6 am and caught a taxi to our hotel.
The hotel didn't have our rooms ready (it was only 9 am), so we went to eat breakfast. By the time we finished, one of the rooms was ready, so we moved all of our stuff into the room and proceeded to figure out what sights we wanted to see.
You know, traveling with the boss is not a good thing. There was one and only one thing he wanted to see in KL - the Petronas towers. So off we went to see the towers in the hotel shuttle.
When we got there, we went straight to the ticket booth (tickets are free), and got tickets for 5:30 pm. Since it was now 12:30, we had lots of time to kill. Ate lunch in the mall under the towers, where they had many western favorites alongside local flavors.
After lunch, we went in search of the Hard Rock Cafe to buy boss' boys some shirts, then to a Hindu temple that he though looked like it held promise. The Hard Rock was - well, the Hard Rock. Same as everywhere else. The Hindu temple was draped in scaffolding and netting, so you couldn't see anything. Oh well.Walking back to a taxi stand, we went down Petaling street in Chinatown. (Does every major city have a Chinatown? I wonder about Shanghai...) Interesting place - lots of vendors with inexpensive watches ("Rolex"), handbags ("Coach"), etc. Didn't buy a thing, though I could have bought a "real" Coach bag for 7 dollars.
Lacking anything else that boss wanted to do, we went back to the Petronas towers. After 10 minutes in the gift shop (typical junk), I decided to check if any tickets had been turned in. Nope. So then I decided to be the ignorant American, and get in line anyway. The ticket taker told us that it wasn't our time, but we could wait to see if there was room. I guess she liked me, because she turned others away, then let us go early.
The Petronas towers were pretty cool. They are the tallest twin towers in the world. The observation deck is 42 stories up, though the towers are > 90 stories tall. Petronas is not from Harry Potter, but is the Malaysian oil company. The towers are their main offices. The view of KL was good, but it was a bit hazy.
With the tour ended, we decided to go back early. The hotel shuttle didn't pick up until late in the evening, so we took the trains. There is a regular train that goes to the main station, then you can pick up the train to Cyberjaya (where the hotel is). Boss wasn't too keen on the trains, but I had no problem with them.
Got back to the hotel, and my room was ready (yay!).
