Eco-Lite: Kuala Lumpur Bird Park

OVERVIEW

Located in the serene and scenic famous Lake Gardens, the KL Bird park is also well known as “World’s Largest Free-flight Walk-in Aviary”, offers a 20.9 acres of verdant valley terrain to be explored.

HOW DO YOU GET THERE?

The park is located about a 20 Ringgit taxi ride from the central Kuala Lumpur area.  Beware of taxis trying to overcharge on departure, walk down the road and hail a taxi passing by as the private ones operated just outside are very expensive.  Use miles and points to get to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

HOW MUCH IS IT?

Adults 50 MYR, Children 41 MYR.

Credit cards accepted.

HOW LONG SHOULD YOU SPEND THERE AND WHAT SHOULD YOU SEE?

It’s a fairly large park and has several shows so try to give it at least half a day.

VALUE TO CONSERVATION

There aren’t any particular projects mentioned on their website.  The park does give an opportunity to see some rare Malaysian species, especially hornbills up close which can later help you identify them in the wild.  It’s a great place to bring kids and exhibits are well-signed.

WHERE TO STAY NEARBY ON POINTS

Hilton, IHG, Hyatt, Wyndham and Marriott all have hotels in Kuala Lumpur, however unless you really need a posh hotel, I recommend paying for a hotel as prices are so low here.

PHOTOS

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Killing Time In Kuala Lumpur

We arrived in the afternoon and hadn’t had time to eat lunch since we got a quick connection between Kuala Tahan and Jerantut to KL so we were starving!  We dropped our backpacks at the Hotel Geo and hopped on the free Go KL bus (every major city should have one of these!)

GoKL BusI highlighted in yellow where we boarded (Pasar Seni) and got off (Pavilion).

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Inside the huge Pavilion shopping centre, first stop was the food court where we ended up at Johnny Rockets.  Don’t shoot me, remember I am American born, living in Australia so it was nice to have some comfort food, and the fantastic peanut butter milkshake!

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After our late lunch/early dinner we wandered around the shopping centre.  It has a lot of designer boutiques and is not for the budget shopper but it was fun to have a look around.

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I loved these crystal birds!

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The best thing for any bird lover who has time to spare in KL is to visit the KL Bird Park so of course we went there.  I will do a separate post about that.  After we left the Bird Park, we had to get a taxi as no bus goes near the place to get back to the Pavilion Shopping Centre where I just HAD to have more American comfort food, this time at Tony Roma’s!

I grabbed a few shots out the taxi window of some mosques and scenes around town.  It was really hot so we weren’t up to walking around much.

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Hotel Review: Hotel Geo, Kuala Lumpur

Location, location, location!  There are many reasons to choose one hotel over another and in a city, I like to be well located within walking distance of restaurants and have public transportation readily available.  Kuala Lumpur is one place where our Aussie dollar still gets a good value so since it was just an overnight, we went for a budget place near the Central Market – Hotel Geo.  To maximize mileage earning, I used Pointshound to book it.

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I had to laugh when I looked out the window at the Geo Hotel and saw a Birdnest Guesthouse across the street!

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Reception was friendly and they showed us where to get the free bus outside.

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They have very strict rules about bringing durians, mangosteens and pets into the rooms!

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The room was on the small side but the wifi was good so that was really all I wanted after being unplugged for 3 days in Taman Negara.

IMG_1868 IMG_1869The best thing was the free bus right outside that makes a loop around central KL stopping at several key locations, one of which was a major shopping centre with a huge food court.

IMG_1882All things considered, Hotel Geo is a nice budget choice if you don’t want to spend hotel points.  I think that in less expensive destinations like KL, it’s worth it to just book a budget place and save points for pricier destinations.

Transport Between Taman Negara (Kuala Tahan) & Kuala Lumpur

As I mentioned in my other post, you can get private shuttles to get to and from Kuala Tahan from which you take the small shuttle boat across the river.  You can also use public transport from Kuala Lumpur via Jerantut.  This is how we got back to Kuala Lumpur.

1 ringgit each to cross the river.

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Then walk up the road and turn left.  Locals will point out the bus station.

 

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The public bus leaves at 10am, 12 noon & 3pm and costs 7 ringgits and takes almost 2 hours to get to Jerantut due to frequent stops along the way.  You could also get a shuttle (pictured above) or taxi if you miss the bus or are in a hurry.

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Heading out of town, we saw a sign advertising the Taman Negara Bird Count starting the day after we left.  Bad timing for us, although on retrospect we may have had trouble getting accommodation if we had been there on those days.

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Souvenir shop in Kuala Tahan

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Another river a short ways out of town.

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Interior of local bus between Kuala Tahan and Jerantut

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Arriving in Jerantut.  There are some small hotels here if you get stuck for the night.

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Bus schedules out of Jerantut.

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We were first off the bus and ran to the window and asked for the next bus to Kuala Lumpur.  It was leaving around 12:30pm so we didn’t have time to get lunch.  There are toilets in the bus station but they are a little far from where you board.  The bus to KL is nicer than the local bus and is non stop to KL.

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A few shots out the window as we left Jerantut.

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And a nice view of the Petronas Towers as we approach KL.

IMG_1859 IMG_1860 IMG_1861The bus left us outside a bus terminal and most of the passengers got in taxis.  We were quoted a high price from the taxi and I was trying to bargain with him when I saw a bus pull up that said “Sentral” on the front which I knew to be close to our hotel so we hopped on.  Much to my very pleasant surprise, it was a free bus!