May 17th, 2013 - Berjaya Times Square Mall

We woke up early and hungry on this, the first official day of our trip/visa-run to Malaysia! Nothing much was open, so we wandered across to the massive Berjaya Times Square located directly north of the Furama. A more complicated endeavor than you might imagine—first, it was pouring cats and dogs outside, so we had to ask the concierge if we could borrow an umbrella. A 30 ringgit deposit (about ten bucks CAD), and we were off to the races!

Crossing the street is easier in Kuala Lumpur than it is in Thailand because 90% of the streets seem to be one-way, separated by dividers. You only have to check in one direction before crossing! Do make sure it is the right direction, though. The drivers are very much not expecting pedestrians. They park on both sides of the one-way street, leaving it all rather choked up—traffic is pretty terrible.


We crossed the street across from our hotel and stood there for a bit to calm our nerves, looking up at the very big mall across from us. There was a line of buildings between us and it, blocking our way.

After a brief argument between LuckyStar and I (she wanted to walk to it directly, which involved following someone through the creepy four-foot wide alley, and I wanted to make an epic trek around the buildings), we stalked some poor girl down a series of back-alleys, the last of which was a mere two feet wide—too narrow for our umbrella by far. It also was the centre-point of two overhanging roof eaves. In case you are wondering, yes, we did get soaked.

We snuck into the mall through the entrance of the Berjaya Times Square Hotel, even after security told us that the entrance in question was for guests only. Again, LuckyStar’s fault. She was grumpy and starving, and no ‘guests only’ policy was going to stop her. I hurried along behind her, not meeting anyone’s eyes and wishing very much that I could disappear into the earth. Or the polished marble tiles, as it were.

Fortunate that I didn’t though, because the crepes place we found inside was amazing. We had a root beer float and crepes, and they were so good. Crepes 2 U on the first floor--second floor for the North American readers--of Berjaya Times Square, if you’re looking for it. Really, really good crepes.

There was cheese! I…I love cheese. So much.

Big mall. Very shiny. No idea who those people are.

Thus fortified, we went exploring the massive mall we found ourselves in. It was huge beyond all reason and expectation, more than nine floors of cute clothes, sweet shoes, and fabulous food.

Oh. And there was a rollercoaster. Yeah. In the mall. We were looking at purses and then we heard someone screaming in delight. Looked up and then boom! They came flying by upside-down in a rollercoaster. So cool! We were unable to reach the rollercoaster, having taken six hours to make it to only the fifth/fourth floors, but hopefully we’ll be able to return soon.

Mall rollercoaster.

We went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner, eating a truly superior (and massive) bowl of miso ramen and a plate of black-pepper fried noodles (kindly made vegetarian by our waitress). It was called the Shabu Shabu, and there were gas stoves to cook your food on the tables. We didn’t get to use them (my disappointment is pretty deep, not going to lie), but they were there. And super cool.

A gas stove on the table. It looks dangerous. I want to play with it.

Then we found The Shop. What shop? THE shop. It was beautiful. Fabulous. So casually and perfectly Bohemian that it hurt to look at the outfits directly lest you want them too much to continue breathing. Meet the Ethnic Shop.

New favorite store!

Unlike its fellow shops, which were quite astonishingly inexpensive, most everything here was hitting at least the $50 dollar mark, (170 ringgit), with change to spare, but they are very, very nice clothes. So simple, yet so…

Bohemian!

Mmm. Yeah. I want everything in this store.



Apparently, it’s all locally made and inspired, by a Malay designer—which accounts for the glorious tropical-casual feel of it all, I guess. The fabrics were mostly cotton, sturdy, thick enough for structure, thin enough that you aren’t about to sweat through them. And trust me, heat-suitability is a serious concern both here and in Thailand.



This probably sounds like an endless advertisement, and I guess it is, but we had a wonderful time there, poking through the clothes and wanting them with every fiber of our being. The sales staff was great, too. (There are three locations for this shop in Berjaya Times Square, and one each in Fahrenheit 88 and the Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall, all located in Malaysia).

Then we continued exploring. There’s a musical staircase. It plays notes as you ascend or descend, and it’s lots of fun. Possibly too much fun. We may have played with it. For a while. Just long enough to determine its nature, then continue sedately like the adults we so totally are.

The stair-piano!

We were pretty tired after six hours of hard-core shopping, and decided to head to home sweet home, the Furama. Heck of a lot easier once the rain had stopped.

Hungry, we decided to drop by a place across the street going by the name "The Flash Cafe and Bistro". Directly across the street from the Furama, this place has its logo in oscillating light-up rainbow colours and is not, in fact, a bistro or a cafe but instead a bar. Oops.

They didn't have the ingredients for the meal I asked for, so I simply shared LuckyStar's french fries while we sat very awkwardly in a air-conditioned-to-sub-arctic section, watching the live band give their all to an empty room. The iced-chocolate drinks were awfully tasty, as were the fries, but it was a bit of an unpleasant experience.

- GeoGirl