Kuala Lumpur Mobility: Not

Spent a few days in Kuala Lumpur last week. Was giving a Plenary presentation at the Annual Highways Conference run there by Marcus Evans in the Hilton Hotel. Seen here, in the left of this photo. I was in a nice room on the 13th floor...

This Google Earth image shows the hotel (ringed in yellow). What I wanted to show you was what it is actually like trying to get anywhere in the vicinity. And also what it was like trying to walk to the museum of Malaysian Culture (in the yellow square), and to the botanical gardens (in the yellow diamond). But first. Transport anywhere. How is it all planned and provided for...

It's easy if you've got a car, assuming you can afford to park it outside the hotel door at reception which is on level 4 or so above ground.... you can see the nice cars outside... It's also easy if you pay for a corporate taxi. They also get access up here...

Some guests have flash cars like this Lamborghini...

This is the sort of environment provided for cars and corporate taxis outside reception at the Hilton. Pretty fancy you'll agree...

And here's how it is for cars approaching or leaving that car reception area. Also pretty fancy. Nice brickwork. Clean and clear...

But if you're not the guest with a car, or with a corporate taxi budget, then you need to head for this out of the way end of Hilton reception...

Then round the corner to this pair of lifts, down 3 levels, to the ground level carpark...

Then you can walk out onto the street with the locals. (No shops here mind you, just a very wide and very busy roadway....)....

And there are cars coming at you from every direction. Barely stop for pedestrians. And here is where you can get the basic Kuala Lumpur taxi. Fixed fare. Don't attempt to haggle. But these can take an hour to go a kilometre. The streets are incredibly congested. That's why I mostly choose to walk - but see later...

TIf you cross over the road, you can enter the building marked "X" above in the google map, which is a sort of transport interchange, where you can get trains and a special train to the airport. The trains are quite good and relatively inexpensive. The interesting thing is that there is very little in the way of local markets or shopping. Some criticise the location of a completely new centre, away from old heritage, markets etc...

Then there aer those who take the buses. I took one of these in from the airport. Cost 10 Ringat compared with 35 Ringat for the train. These people are walking from the bus station entryway which is just behind that pillar on the right on the pavement....

If you want to take a bus, you go the bus entryway, and take an escalator further down, a couple of levels I guess...

Then you're really into the bowels of Kuala Lumpur. This is where most locals come and go. Interestingly, so do a lot of tourists. Tight assed lot - like me I guess. But it's very unattractive. Talk about upstairs downstairs....

The next bit of this blog looks at walking. This is my view from the hotel. You can see those brown roofs that are visible in the Google image. I had some time. I wanted to explore the Museum of Malaysian Culture, and the Botanical Gardens - actually it was bloody hot and the fountains in the gardens looked cool.

So it was back down to ground level. This time, rather than walk into the transport centre, I was advised I needed to walk up this road, against the traffic flow (mainly taxis). There was no footpath....

This is what that road turns into (looking back). You can see there are pedestrian signs on both these motorway exits. The challenge was what to do when the motorway exits merged! Anyway. I just waited for a gap between cars. Turning around now....

This is the view that you see. The greenery to the right, over the motorway, is the park around the Malaysian Museum of Culture. I just needed to follow the footpath beside the motorway flyover to get there....

This is me part way across. A bit hot and bothered. believe me. There was no other way to talk there. That's an overhead motorway sign behind me...

The other side. There were steps down to this bus stop. Interesting to have a bus stop on a 100kph motorway. But anyway. Consistent I guess. Then it was through the trees to the motorway onramp you can see in the background. Cross that, over the fence, and you're in the Museum grounds....

This is a walkway in the Botanical Gardens. It was beautiful in there. In the background - through the trees - that's a view of the Hilton. But I suggest you remind yourself what motorways can do. Just look at that Google pic again, and you'll see the amounts of motorway that rings central Kuala Lumpur. And makes it incredibly unfriendly for walking.