I had a wonderful sleep and woke to the alarm at 09:00. We had a buffet breakfast, the cold parts were warm and the warm items were cold, but it was better than airline food and was included in the room charge.
After spending a couple of hours reading in our room we ventured outside and took a train to KLCC. As we reached street level Ian said 'well, where are the towers? Surely you can't miss the tallest buildings in the world?' And as we looked about us, stood on the spot, I suggested that they were behind the skyscraper we were stood directly next to. Then, together, we looked up to the sky and then it dawned on us, we were stood directly beneath the twin Petronas Towers. We laughed to ourselves then dutifully photographed what little we could with our existing lenses.
As we turned and made off in the direction of the shopping mall inside the towers, I heard a screeching of tyres then a loud, clear clap, like the noise you would hear when bursting an air filled crisp packet, and Ian and I turned immediately to where the sound had come from and witnessed a female body bounce from the bonnet of a car and travel 5 metres across the main road. It was very busy and we couldn't ascertain whether or not a bicycle was involved but we could see from a distance that the bonnet of the car had been concertinaed in towards the engine and the windscreen completely smashed. The victim showed signs of movement and straight away tried to sit up. A few people made to her aid as the driver stepped out of the car. All I could think of was how grazed her legs, torso and arms must be, she may or may not have bashed her head on the road, it looked to me that she hadn't. I could also think of how badly the driver of the car must feel. Ian and I left the area and went into the mall. It was then that I realised the reality of what I had just seen and actually felt quite shaken up.
A little while later we had acquired some tickets to ascend to the Petronas Towers' skybridge and went outside to take a better photograph of the towers from across the road. I noticed that the police had arrived on scene but there was still no sign of an ambulance. Extremely carefully we made our way across the roads to our chosen photograph site. The traffic lights didn't seem to respond to pedestrian requests of pressing buttons and in many cases the buttons were completely missing. When the lights did allow pedestrians to cross the road you still risk your life and limb as motorcycles certainly don't pay any attention to the crossings, neither do some of the cars. Is it any wonder, therefore, that the number of road accidents in Malaysia is so high? Perhaps the incident we just witnessed was one of many that will occur today and that is accepted as the norm?
As we composed our photographs of the towers an ambulance transferred the patient to hospital.
We passed our waiting time of just over an hour eating cake and drinking hot chocolate.
At 14:15 we proceeded to the entrance to the skybridge and stood in a short queue as we waited to pass through security checks. As we waited for the lift an assistant spoke to me about the construction of the towers. He told me that they were completed in just 2.5 years and I relayed the story of the road in Tanzania that has taken over 3 years to construct so far and it's still incomplete, despite European funding, to which he laughed.
The lift to the forty first floor took all of 41 seconds and it was fantastically smooth. I had to equalise two or three times. As we stepped on to the enclosed bridge another assistant explained that the bridge is an important evacuation means and can assist five hundred people at once from one tower to the other. The bridge was designed to withstand winds of up to 160 kph although the strongest wind recorded has only been 40 kph! It is also designed to move by up to 10 inches to accommodate such wind pressures and the panel on which we were standing at the time was covering just three ball bearings, the other side of the bridge covering another three. I didn't feel the bridge move at all mind you. And the view was quite spectacular.
Back down to earth we cooled down wandering around the shops in the mall and then heated up again as soon as we stepped outside and walked to the Golden Triangle. I'm beginning to think that our map in the Lonely Planet guide is a bit inaccurate. Golden Triangle, certainly the main street as indicated on the map, was rather run down and the pavements in disrepair, the buildings derelict. So we moved on to Jalan Bukit Bintang to indulge in more eating and drinking in an air conditioned shopping mall.
When we emerged it was raining, so we hailed a taxi back to Chinatown. In the hotel we spent many hours playing bao, reading and I playing card patience. Not a single game did I win. We skipped dinner too although I think that that had more to do with us not feeling hungry as well as Ian's nose being well and truly stuck in my book!
Copyright 2003 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.