Kaeru's Online Journal

KLCC is now very easy to get to now via NPE (Pantai Highway) and SMART Tunnel from Subang Jaya. There is also Kinokuniya and Isetan, which provides some unique reasons to visit the shopping mall. Another good reason is that as part of the park there is a large public wading pool and playground for kids.

The wading pool is usually quite crowded, but only with small kids. It's large enough that you can always find a quite place for younger kids to splash around without being disturbed by the other running and screaming kids. There are toilets and change rooms nearby, but it's easy enough to change kids with a towel outside. There are security guards posted, so the area is kept clean (no shoes near the pool) and generally keeping it for small kids only and their parents or minders. There is also enough shade and sitting places for parents to keep watch from further away. It's great for toddlers, though my daughter at 3 doesn't find shallow wading pools fun anymore.

Right next to the wading pool is a large interconnected playground suitable for older kids (3 years old and above). Makes a great place for games like tag, cops and robbers etc.

The great thing about the park being part of KLCC is that it's easy to grab food and there are clean toilets and nursery rooms. One of the parents can be on kid duty, while the other shops. It's also free, whereas play areas for kids in other shopping malls charge a bomb for weekend rates.

So if you're wondering about places to entertain kids in KL, give KLCC park a try.

Continuing along with enjoying weekends with kids theme, is Zoo Negara.

Zoo Negara is Malaysia's national zoo and has been around ever since I can remember. At least all of us has been there at least once way back when.

Zoo Negara is quite easy to get to via the Middle Ring Road with clear signs as you get near to it. It can be quite jammed, but generally the traffic was moving. The website is quite informative, and you'll get an idea of what's there and ticket prices. The place itself is not too big, yet large enough that it's quite tiring for the kids. Strollers are strongly advised. There are shuttle buses going around.

On the animal side, there was more variety than I could remember, with tigers, lions, bears, hippos, giraffes and local animals and birds. There is a lot less concrete now, and like most modern zoos, the enclosures are via trenches or moats, and not bars. The reptile area and aquariums are the same as they have always been, and quite small and not varied. For a lot of the fish and reptile displays, they were empty.

For activities, unlike most other zoos, you're allowed to feed quite a few of the animals (extra cost for the food at RM3 per portion). You're allowed to feed the deer, elephants and a few other animals. Good for photos and for the kids to get very close experience with the animals. There is a kids area also with some volunteers to pet goats, rabbits and miniature horses. Twice a day at 11am and 3pm there are free shows. Too much talk, only a few animals and very simple tricks. If you've gone to Sea World or the circus you're going to be disappointed.

For food and drinks, I would strongly suggest bringing your own in, especially drinks. As is usual in parks, prices are marked up considerably and you don't have much choice.

Even on weekends it is not crowded. It's mostly outdoors so it gets very hot in the afternoon, despite the shade. I would suggest going in the morning, when it is coolest. You should be able to cover all the attractions before noon, and then find a nice place outside of the zoo for lunch.

There is not enough there to keep you going back often, but if you have kids who have never been to the zoo, it's worth taking them here at least once, just like our parents did for the experience of seeing animals close up that they've only seen on TV and in picture books.

Bagan Lalang, is a small public beach about an hours drive from Kuala Lumpur. It's very easy to get there as it's on the same highway to get to KLIA and LCCT. You basically take the turnoff to the Sepang F1 and LCCT from the KLIA highway and then take the road to Kuarters KLIA. From the roundabout, keep going straight. After that just follow the signs to get to Hotel Sri Malaysia, Sepang and Sungei Pelek. You'll end up at the beach.

The beach is rather clean with white sands, though the water is muddy as a lot of the west coast of Malaysia consists of mudflats, and there are mangroves and a river nearby. So expect to dig up little crabs and clams when building your sand castles. At high tide, it doesn't get deep and is relatively calm so kids can play close to the shore.

There are shady trees all along the beach, so you can lay picnic mats and such and stay in the cool of the shade.

Along the narrow beach road, there are stalls that sell the usual snacks, toys and floats and t-shirts. If you're not into swimming, you may want try kite flying and all sorts of kites are available at reasonable prices.

Unfortunately there are no good public facilities, especially toilets, showers and changing facilities. There is only one small shack where you have to pay about 0.80sen for a shower with very low water pressure and only two shower stalls. It's not very clean. Simple public showers by the beach with changing rooms would have been much better.

Food, there are a few seafood restaurants. Unfortunately these seem to be poorly managed. There didn't seem to be enough places for the amount of people on the weekend, and the restaurants seem ill equipped to handle the weekend crowd. Since there are no table numbers, menus and apparently staff, you're going to have to chase people around and check whether what you've ordered is really coming and figure out the system. We had to wait over an hour for our food and drinks.

Overall this place has much promise, since it's very accessible now due to the KLIA airport. It's a shame though that there isn't better support from the local government. If the restaurant owners got some assistance in basic F&B management they could be doing much better. Similarly improving the public facilities, including the water-front shops would do wonders in getting more people to come back and improving business opportunities for the local folk. This is where the BN government has really failed in terms of "development". While a few folks probably got millions, from the highway development, the lives of the local folk could do so much better with a little bit of assistance and guidance.

For now unfortunately it's not worth a return trip. Without good facilities, it's hard to come with kids, and if it's faster to drive home to eat, might as well eat at a good restaurant in the city. Hopefully things could be improved to warrant a return trip in future. Lumut Jetty is a very good example of how things can be improved with a little bit of government support.