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Wonderful Malaysia

GOKL free city bus service

Now you can travel for free between Suria KLCC and Bukit Bintang, and between Bukit Bintang and Chinatown! There’s even free on board Wi-Fi.

GOKL free city bus service is meant to serve the Kuala Lumpur Central Business District (CBD). It was launched to help improve public mobility in the areas KLCC, Bukit Bintang and Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur. Tourists will love the new bus service, as it provides an alternative to the high taxi prices in and around KLCC. Often taxi drivers in this area of KL are reluctant to drive on the meter. Tourists pay fixed prices which sometimes are ten times higher than what it should have been when driving on the meter.

The free city bus service has been in operation since August 31, 2012 and it serves two main routes called the Green and Purple Line. Travelers can hop on and off at numerous official GOKL City Bus stops, many of these located conveniently near attractions, shopping malls, fb areas or connecting modes of transport (like the monorail and LRT).

The Green Line commutes between KLCC and Bukit Bintang. Besides the newly opened pedestrian sky tunnel, travelers now have a second option to travel from one section of the center of KL to the other. This bus route has a stop in front of Suria KLCC (where you also have the iconic Petronas Twin Towers) and Starhill/Pavilion KL (along Bukit Bintang) and numerous other interesting stops along the way. For example, stop nr.5 is in front of the entry road towards the KL Tower, a popular attraction in KL. There is also a stop near Lot10 and Sungei Wang, right smack in the middle of Bukit Bintang.

Map Green Line Free GOKL Bus

The Purple Line takes travelers from the Bukit Bintang area to Chinatown and back. You can get on the bus in front of Pavilion KL, and you can get out at the Central Market, or directly in Chinatown. Travelers that arrive (or depart) by bus at Pudu Sentral can use the Purple Line to travel free of charge to the Bukit Bintang and KLCC area. There currently are a total of 15 buses on the GO-KL service and each can accommodate up to 60 people per bus. Outside of rush hours there should be a bus every five to fifteen minutes. Each bus will provide easy accessibility for the disabled, such as wheelchair ramps. Free Wi-Fi is provided for the convenience of tech savvy travelers. The GOKL bus service operates between 6am and 11pm daily.

Map Purple Line Free GOKL Bus

All in all this new service is a great development for KL citizens, but also for foreign tourists. The bus routes are located within areas where there normally weren’t that many alternative ways to travel besides the – often expensive – taxi. The stop at Bukit Bintang (Ain Arabia near Lot10 shopping mall) functions as a hub where you can switch lines seamlessly. There are plans to launch even more free GOKL bus routes in the near future.

You can download the .pdf with the current routes here.

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Tourism Malaysia

Where Kids Rule

Where Kids Rule

DARYL YEP CHECKS OUT KIDZANIA, THE NATION FOR KIDS, AND IS FASCINATED BY THIS AWARD-WINNING THEME PARK

Kai! That’s probably the first word you’ll hear as you step into KidZania, Kuala Lumpur’s latest indoor family edutainment centre. Here’s how greetings are exchanged instead of hello. It’s personal; giving kids an instant sense of belonging and a feeling of being connected and accepted within a place meant only for them.
KidZania even has its own dance and song, not to mention currency, the kidZos.
Hailed from Mexico City, this award-winning theme park was first opened in 1999. It has since been established in eight cities worldwide including Monterrey, Tokyo, Dubai and Seoul.
Think it’s another children’s theme park with rides and arcade games? Well, think again. KidZania has none of those. Instead, it’s a place where children can lead independent lives and understand the world of grown-ups better, by being grown-ups themselves.
Put simply, KidZania is where kids experience the world of adults in a replica of a real city.


They now have a place where they can freely and openly do things that would otherwise send mummy into a screaming frenzy.
Here, if you’ve reached the age of 4 and fulfil the minimum height requirement, you can even climb a building – how about that?
Putting on lipstick and nail polish are not forbidden either. Kids can even get a beauty makeover. Yeah, your five-year old daughter must be gleaming with joy knowing this. In fact, she can even earn ‘money’ if she applied them on others.
Most parents would agree that kids simply enjoy imitating adults. KidZania is the answer to satisfy their curiosity of the adult’s world and their desire to be an adult through fun role-playing activities. Targeted at those aged 4 to 14, it is truly a nation for kids.
Let’s face the fact that those days where a game of Snake Ladder or reruns of Tom Jerry is enough to keep kids occupied for hours have long gone.


In this day and age where Apple products are placed on top of most kids’ wish list and Internet-access has become a necessity, traditional games can no longer satisfy the amazing development of their brainpower.
They are hungry for information and tasks that challenge their intelligence. Hence, they require experiences that are stimulating, hands-on, engaging and educational, yet fun. They are still kids, after all.
At KidZania, children are empowered to take charge and make their own decisions. They are encouraged to choose or try out whatever that strikes their fancy. It is to remind them that life is about options. In a way, it’ll foster confidence and independence.
There are 60 “establishments” in KidZania offering 90 authentic role-playing activities. Kids can play and experience the jobs that their parents are doing – from surgeon and pilot to fashion model and hair stylist.


These outlets are sponsored by well-known local and international brands such as AirAsia, Celcom, Honda, Marrybrown, and the New Straits Times.
To enter the city, kids need to go through an airline check-in counter by AirAsia.  They’ll get a boarding pass, a map to the city and a cheque for 50 kidZos to begin their exciting journey of discovery.
They need to head straight to the bank to cash the cheque first.
In the city, kids can spend their kidZos and earn it when it runs out. All the establishments have tasks for the young workers to carry out for a specific duration.
They can be a surgeon and perform surgery on a mock patient on the operating table; pilot an airplane; dispatch parcels as postmen; go on a fire engine as firefighters to put out a fire; or be a journalist.
Staff members, known as Zupervisor, will be on hand to guide and assist the kids in each of the establishments.
By completing the prescribed tasks, kids earn kidZos which can be saved in the bank, or spent purchasing other goods and services.
If at the end of the session they have kidZos left, they can open an account at the bank and deposit the kidZos, to be used for their next visit. They’ll get an ATM card that can be used at the ATM machines within KidZania.


According to KidZania, the role-play activities are specifically designed to aid physical and intellectual growth. They also contribute to the development of skills and attitudes.
With so many roles that kids can assume here, it reflects the importance every person has in the development of a community, thus teaching them the value of equality and respect for others.
Kids also learn about financial literacy and money management at KidZania. As they have the freedom to decide on what to do with their kidZos, they can choose to spend or save them, as well as what and where to spend them on.
Parents must try not to interfere with the choices of their children. It is, after all, their hard-earned cash.
The diverse learning experience of KidZania Kuala Lumpur will benefit children in their life at school, home and when they are out with friends. It’ll give them much to talk about.
Safety is always a prime concern when bringing kids to a theme park especially one where you can just drop them off like KidZania.
Here, all visitors will be given a security bracelet that doesn’t allow children to exit the premise without the accompanying adult. There’s a tracking system on each child where the ID bracelet will be scanned each time they enter or leave an establishment.
Children aged eight and above can be left at KidZania without parents’ supervision. Parents have the option of dropping off their kids for a fun-filled time at KidZania, or they can pay a fee and enter the city as well.
While their kids are ‘working’, parents can relax at the Parents’ lounge, which is equipped with Wi-fi and TVs.
Toddlers too are not left out. There’s an exclusive section to cater to them called ‘Urbano’s House’. Here, those aged 3 and below can take part in story-telling and puppet shows, make their favourite meals, jump around on an inflatable bed, enjoy games, colouring books, puzzles and many more.
Understandably, KidZania can be really packed during holidays.
“Brace yourself for hours of queuing up at certain establishments,” related a friend who had brought her son there during the school holiday.
Whether children would eventually find KidZania interesting or enriching, I’ll leave it to them to judge. After all, the city is created for them.

FAST FACTS:
Location                   :    The Curve NX in Mutiara Damansara.
It is connected to the Curve shopping mall via a link bridge.
Size                         :    80,000 sq ft spread across 2 levels.
Capacity                   :    1,700 people at any one time.
Operating hours        :    10am – 5pm (Mondays to Fridays)
10am to 3pm 4pm to 9pm (Weekends, Public and School Holidays)
Website                   :    www.KidZania.com.my
Facebook                 :    www.facebook.com/KidZaniaKualaLumpur
Careline                   :     1 300 88 KIDZ (5439) – 9am to 8pm (Mondays to Sundays)

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Wonderful Malaysia

Artisan Roast TTDI

I am a bit of a coffee freak. I have my own Saeco coffee machine at home, and this machine plays a huge part in my morning rituals. There are many coffee chains in Malaysia. Some I like, for example Esspressamente illy, San Francisco and Pacific Coffee Company. Others I don’t like that much. Besides the popular chains there are also quite a few cozy coffee places, most of them are located around Kuala Lumpur, often at the not-so-popular-places.

Source + Store + Roast + Vacuum pack + Grind + Tamp + Extract + Steam + Pour + Serve = Awesome coffee at Artisan Roast!

There are a few great baristas that do their magic at Artisan Roast. They used to be located at Jalan Richie near Jalan Ampang, but moved a while ago to TTDI (see contact details below).

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Artisan Roast at TTDI is a delightful little place. We usually go there on Sunday mornings, and see the crowds pour in around noon. There are a few seats outside, and also some seats along a long bench inside. In the back area there are a few cozy lounge seats. We especially love the great ambiance, even when the place is packed; there still is a relaxed (and often quiet) atmosphere.

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One of the great things about Artisan Roast is that their prices are really affordable.

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So far we’ve only been there a couple of times, so I haven’t had a chance to try out all their coffees. The types we did try were all great, and prepared with the right amount of love and dedication. I usually go for the standard long black (RM5), which is already a very nice cup of coffee.

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Another great thing of Artisan Roast are the freshly prepared little snacks. It is almost impossible to drop by Artisan Roast without trying at least a few of their sweets.

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Everything is baked on the spot, and when they bring in a new batch of Caramel Slices (RM2), people usually get up to order some. Their cakes (apple, carrot or cheese) are all RM10 for a thick slice. Our favorites are the Lemon Slice (RM5), Caramel Slice and the Jaffa Slice (dark chocolate, RM2), but actually all of the snacks they sell are delicious.

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Artisan Roast is definitely a place to have a nice conversation while enjoying a great cup of coffee. People that want to work there should probably check up front whether they offer free Wi-Fi. We checked but couldn’t find any there, which isn’t a big thing, as we have use mobile internet anyway, but others may think different.

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Location and contact details of Artisan Roast

Artisan Roast is located along Lorong Rahim Kajai 14 in TTDI (Taman Tun Dr. Ismail), right next to the Maybank branch. Below are the contact details:

4 Lorong Rahim Kajai 14, TTDI
Phone: +60 377 336 379
Website: http://www.artisanroast.com.my

Opening hours:
Mon-Fri: 8am – midnight
Sat, Sun Public holidays: 9am – midnight

You can also contact them through Facebook or Twitter.

Map of Artisan Roast

Suggestions?

Got any good tips to share with us? Do you know of great coffee places in Kuala Lumpur (or the rest of Malaysia) we should definitely try out? Let us know by leaving a comment below!

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