First MRT Ride

It had to start somewhere.

Even though half of the MRT line connecting Kajang and Sungai Buloh had been opened for the last 6 months, this was the first time I tried the ride. After parking my car at NU Sentral, I walked along KL Sentral towards the connecting station at Muzium Negara. A nice walk - across at least 6 escalators which were moving faster that I used to.

This way ...Then up this escalatorWalk straight on towards the entrance to Le Meridien and HiltonAnd further on ...After about 10 minutes, I reached the station proper, tapped my Touch & Go card, down another escalator to the platform. Very frequent train - every 8 minutes on that Saturday afternoon - which each train stretching along the whole station. It must have been 8 coaches per train at least which definitely made the journey both pleasant and efficient.

The coaches were also more spacious that the notoriously cramped Monorel - which not only had less frequent services, only served a couple of coaches per trip. It was night and day.

Everything was well postedAnd then we go deep undergroundAnd we go deeper ....Finally we reached the terminal. And time to get the tickets ...On the whole, I was very pleasantly surprised. It was more in keeping with KL heading towards a World Class city. The shame was the project was delayed a few times. Such public transport should have been in place 10, if not 15 years back. The fear moving forward would be the investments put in for maintenance. Generally speaking, we are good at building but slow to act and service what is crumbling ...

Now we are at the platform ...To the left, or to the right?Make sure you catch the right ride ...Finally reaching Bukit Bintang. Another escalator up ...Definitely worth a try and I personally would be using it more as the trip from NU Sentral to Bukit Bintang was nothing but pleasant. Best to take advantage of the 50% discounts before Merdeka.

The Monorel

As part of Anita's KL discovery program - after the LRT journey the other day - we went for a monorail - or the Monorel as we called it here in KL - ride today. We started just like the other day at Nu Sentral, although this time the monorail station was located on the opposite side of the mall to the LRT and KL Sentral main terminal.

It was still convenient. From the car park, we went up one floor from inside the Nu Sentral Mall and walked across straight into the monorail stop. Equipped with our Touch'n'Go cards, we were well on our way in no time.

Up the escalator at KL SentralNice artful detailing ...This time, it was four stops from Sentral to Berjaya Times Square. Took a bit longer than expected as we realised that the monorail actually travelled a lot slower than the LRT. Maybe for safety reasons. Not only that, it was only a couple of train cars long, half the length of the LRT. However, the chassis were wider with more room to stand.

You get to see a different view of KL from this vantage point ....Seems to be a city in perpetual developmentDon't jump across the platform ....The "non-security" ...Definitely convenient, helped by the smaller number of crowd on Sundays. Not sure it would be much fun when it was crowded!

The LRT

The last I used the LRT was some time last year. I really didn't mind it. But for Anita, last Friday was the first time that she actually used the service in town. She rode once from Gombak to KLCC with the boys during quiet hours when the coaches were empty. This time around, we decided to take a ride on a Friday afternoon.

Getting onto the top of the platformI finished work early, and with the weather being gorgeous, we decided to head into town while trying to avoid the mad Friday afternoon traffic. The solution, we parked at Nu Sentral and hopped next door at KL Sentral to take the LRT. Two stops later, we were already at Masjid Jamek, taking the exit and walking towards the bazaar at Masjid India.

Coming back was rather more challenging as the brunt of the rush hour crowd had ascended towards KL Sentral. Again, we took the LRT train from Masjid Jamek for a couple of stops back to our car.

At Masjid Jamek stop where the ceiling was flooding during one of those heavy KL rainfallUnfortunately when I arrived at Nu Sentral, I received a call from the hospital. I had to sort out a couple of patients there, one at the Casualty. My plan to join the Nurse's Night Dinner were blown again this year ...