New Mass Rapid Transit System from Kajang to Sungai Buloh was opened on 17 July 2017. We took a ride on the new transit system middle of August. We would like to highlight 6 interesting places along the MRT line for both local and international visitors- Medan Sate Kajang at Stadium Kajang Station, Central Market and Petaling Street at Pasar Seni Station, National Museum at Museum Negara Station, Bukit Bintang Shopping hub and Alor Road Food street at Bukit Bintang Station. We can visit all these places in one or two days.
1. Medan Sate Haji Samuri, Stadium Kajang Station
Kajang Satay, or Sate Kajang is famous, and deems to be the best in Malaysia. Want to take a bite on the original Kajang Satay? Then Medan Sate Kajang Haji Samuri is the place for you! The location- second last station before Kajang Terminal, if you are travelling from Kuala Lumpur.
Medan Sate Kajang Haji Samuri is located around 100 meters away from the station (on the right side of the stadium, with a big yellow signage). The surrounding area used to be the busiest area in Kajang and finding a parking space was a big headache. Now, not anymore. With MRT, we can eat Kajang Satay hassle free.
Medan Sate Kajang Haji Samuri offers several types of satay, such as chicken, beef, fish, mutton, and chicken liver. Chicken, beef, and fish are our favorite (upper left). The satay eatery is big (upper right). Air conditioned hall is provided without extra charge. There are some antiques displayed in the air conditioned room, including old irons, utensils, pottery, music instruments, and historical photo replicas.
2. Bukit Bintang Shopping Hub, Bukit Bintang Station
Bukit Bintang is a shopping heaven. It is the largest and busiest shopping hub in Kuala Lumpur area. Bukit Bintang Station has several exits, linking it to Pavilion KL, Fahrenheit 88, Sungei Wang Plaza, Starhill Gallery, Lot 10, Berjaya Time Square and several other shopping malls. Shopping is not our favorite, but we do visit Bukit Bintang once in a while.
If you are fancy about luxury products, Starhill Gallery and Pavilion KL are the places for you. If you are a strong supporter of "the cheaper the better", then you can go to Sungei Wang, Fahrenheit 88, and Berjaya Time Square. You can find many nice eateries in Lot 10 and Pavilion KL.
The big cube-shaped digital screen in front of Lot 10 is an icon of Bukit Bintang (upper left). Fahrenheit 88 (upper right), Starhill Gallery (lower right), and Pavilion KL are located a few steps away from each other.
Mall hooping can easily take a whole day, or even two.
3. Jalan Alor (Alor Road), Bukit Bintang Station
Jalan Alor is quiet during daytime and turns into a busy food street in the evening. Restaurants and hawkers start their business around 5 - 6 pm till midnight, serving mostly local Chinese food. Limited Vietnamese, Thai, and Cambodian food are available as well.
Some special Malaysian food can be found there, such as bat kut teh (pork rib with Chinese herbal soup), satay, Hainan chicken rice, fried oyster omelette, char siew pork, Hokkien fried noodle, and, a lot of durian (a bit expensive though, according to season). The overall taste of the food, above average.
If you don't really like the hot and sweaty weather in Malaysia, then you can opt for the air-conditioned restaurants. MRT Bukit Bintang Station Exit A is right beside Jalan Alor.
5:30 pm, people start gathering at Jalan Alor. The street is closed to traffic. Somehow, there might be one or two cars coming in occasionally.
Customers can choose to sit outside of the restaurants, right on the road. However, for us, we always opt to sit inside air-conditioned room.
Fried chicken drumette or more popularly referred as boxing chicken in Malaysia (upper left), fried oyster omelette (upper right), grilled fish (lower right), and fried durian are some food that we like in Jalan Alor.
4. Central Market, Pasar Seni Station
Pasar Seni Station is located at the convergent point of two rivers- Klang River and Gombak River. Attractions nearby- Central Market and Petaling Street. Central Market was built by Chinese Capitan (leader) Yap Ah Loy in 1883. It served as wet market for the locals until it was transformed into local handicraft and art center in 1986. This award winning market is one of the most visited place in Kuala Lumpur. We strolled in Central Market for almost one hour before proceeding to Petaling Street.
The outlook of the market is well-conserved. Take a look at these old photos of Central Market.
Fully air conditioned building makes Central Market a cozy shopping mall for visitors. The shops were nicely decorated, selling various types of local and international products.
Chinese-themed walkway in Central Market.
We could find some exquisite local products, including Luwak Coffee (upper left), Chinese artworks (upper right), wood crafts (lower right), and Malaysian batik. Other souvenirs such as fridge magnets, key chains, simple wood and bronze sculptures, t-shirt, rings, wrist bands, and snacks were available as well.
5. Petaling Street, Pasar Seni Station
Petaling Street is no doubt another big tourist attraction in Kuala Lumpur. It is located around 150 meters from Central Market. Many tourism websites referred Petaling Street as China Town. Well, we don't really agree with that, as most of the shops there are neither owned nor currently operated by Chinese. Nevertheless, it is still a big tourist magnet, selling cheap items like souvenirs, watches, clothes, electronic gadgets, bags, and spectacles. Many of these items carries famous brands. Are these genuine products? That is the question that we need to answer with our wisdom.
We can find some nice food at Petaling Street. Kim Lian Kee Restaurant provides special char-cook food. The restaurant was painted with catchy red colour, located at the junction in the middle of Petaling Street (upper left). The restaurant is nicely decorated (upper right). We took Hokkien fried noodle and roasted pork at the restaurant. The taste was not excellent, but good enough for us to come back again in future.
We would like to recommend some of the very old stalls at Petaling Street. First one is Kim Soya Bean (upper left), selling soy milk and douhua (soybean pudding) (upper left). The soy milk tasted nice and concentrated. The douhua was not fine and smooth enough, but tasty (upper right). Next, Air Mata Kucing (lower right). The drink was made by the mixture of long ngan fruit, winter melon, monk fruit, and sugar- a good thirst quencher at the middle of warm sunny day. The stall has been in operation since our first visit to Petaling Street more than 15 years ago. Last but not least, dried meat. Oloiya and Loong Kee are two old shops selling nice dried meat. We like Oloiya more, personally.
There are an Indian Temple- Sri Maha Mariamman and a Chinese Temple- Guan Di Temple nearby Pasar Seni Station. These temples are not very attractive for us. Nevertheless, you may consider visit them if you have never being to any of Chinese or Indian temple before.
6. National Museum, Muzium Negara Station
Another station for tourists- Muzium Negara or National Museum. Muzium Negara Station is connected to KL Central as well. National Museum is a good place for us the learn about the history of Malaysia through artifacts. We could walk to the museum from KL Central, but with the new MRT station, the museum is just steps away from the exit.
Our personal opinion- although National Museum is not the best museum in Malaysia, it is still a good one around greater Kuala Lumpur, which worth to spend one hour or two.
Travelling with MRT is convenient, cheap, faster, and safer. With all together 31 stations along the line, the MRT connects towns around Kuala Lumpur to the cosmopolitan. As the MRT is designed mainly for the usage of the locals, many of the stations are built at the residential or local shopping areas with low tourist interest (especially for international visitors).
Nevertheless, with effective ticketing system, clean environment, high frequency of train (7 - 8 minutes interval), ample parking car park, feeder bus and taxi connections, and strategically designed walkways, the new MRT system will definitely increase the mobility of the people around greater Kuala Lumpur.
We started our trip from Kajang Terminal. We can buy the ticket from the counter (upper left) or via ticketing machines (upper right), or we can use "Touch & Go" card to pay at the auto gate (lower right). The platform was clean and the arrival of the train was clearly stated.
We found useful map in the station (upper left). These maps show the exits and the direction to the places of interest nearby. Some places of interest are connected to the stations by sky-bridge or covered walkway (upper right). Taxi station (lower right) and feeder bus stations are available for some stations.
A train can accommodate up to 1200 passengers.
We can see the town and residential areas from the MRT.
Several MRT stations are connected to shopping malls by covered pedestrian walkway, including Taman Connought Station to Cheras Central Mall, Taman Mutiara Station to Leisure Mall, and Maluri Station to Velocity Mall. Bandar Utama Station is connected to One Utama Mall via feeder bus. These shopping malls are good places for locals to spend our boring afternoon. But if you have traveled thousand miles to Malaysia, we don't really recommend these shopping malls to you.
With new MRT line, we don't have to worry about traffic jam or parking problem anymore when we go for shopping.
1-Utama Shopping Mall from the feeder bus station.
More information on stations, fare, ticketing, and travel information, please visit the official website of KL MRT. Ready to take a ride? Don't forget to wear comfortable shoes and bring along your umbrella.
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