Budget Tour to Kuala Lumpur Part 1

Many of my friends have been to Kuala Lumpur and their experiences were generally bland. For them, it was just like being in the Philipines with the Twin Towers. That didn't stop me from exploring Malaysia's capital. Their stories gave me lowered expectations from the city and that just made me appreciate everything more about Malaysia which they say is Truly Asia.

I was with my girlfriend and her friend tagged along. It was her first trip outside the Philippines and my girlfriend and I were more than willing to give her a great time. We booked a promo fare from Cebupacific which only amounted to Php2,675.05 per person round trip. Booking was made October 2010 for travel on March 2011. (Again, this was a time before fuel surcharges were reintroduced).

Running Total: Airfare + Travel Tax (Php1,620) + Terminal Fee (Php750) = Php5,045.05

After booking the flights, I already started checking out hotels that were easy on the pocket but not sacrificing comfort. I used agoda.com previously on our Thailand Trip and was happy with the price and ease of booking plus it was great reading reviews from their previous customers. After a lot of browsing and reading reviews, we chose My Hotel @ Sentral as our hotel during our stay. It's a decent hotel and best part of it was its proximity to KL Sentral, the transit hub of KL. Since we arrived in KL just past midnight, it's also convenient that the Skybus from LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal) shuttles to and from KL Sentral every 30 minutes. The KLIA Ekspres Train service (via LCCT Bus Shuttle) was already closed by that time.

Skybus fare is around Php135 one way and our 3 night stay at My Hotel cost us a total of Php6,858 or Php2,286.28 contribution for each one of us. Running Total: Php7,466.33

After a good night sleep, our first destination early in the morning was Batu Caves. We walked just about 5 minutes from our hotel to KL Sentral to board the KTM Komuter Train but not after a Nasi Lemak brunch at KL Sentral's Food Court. We had Nasi Lemak for about Php120.00 which already includes drinks. The fare to Batu Caves station is around Php30.00. (For first time KL travellers, please take note that the middle coach of the KTM Komuter is only for ladies. Don't make the same mistake as I did ad some other foreigners as well.) 

We conquered the steps going to the caves and after a few photo ops, we were headed to Central Market riding the train to Kuala Lumpur station (Php30.00). After some souvenir shopping at Central Market, we were off to the Twin Towers. We took the LRT to KLCC station for around Php24.00. 

Next in the itinerary was the KL Tower that offered a great view of Kuala Lumpur but for a price of around Php570.00 as entrance fee. For dinner we headed to Bukit Bintang using the Monorail (Php33.00). We dined at a local KFC just to feel the difference. And boy was it different. There was no gravy! A stark contrast to the gravy-all-you-can at our KFC but the chili was delicious nonetheless. No complaints here.

Dinner was around Php150, plus the monorail back to the hotel was Php33 which gives a total of Php8,611.33 for Day 1.

Next: Budget Tour to Kuala Lumpur Part 2

P.S. I didn't spend more than Php11,000 on the entire trip so stay tuned to find out how.


***exchange rate assumption  1 RM = 15 PHP