C&L Malaysian Grand Prix and KL adventure - pre-trippie

**LN89** · 6 Sep 16, 09:55 PM

Hi,

Welcome to my pre-trippie for our upcoming trip to Kuala Lumpur

.

I'm Laura and my DH is Chris, we are both 27 and live south of London. Here is a photo of us from our honeymoon to WDW

This trip came about in a slightly random way, we agreed we wanted to try to get to an F1 race this year. We were thinking maybe one of the European ones and I jokingly said how about the Malaysian as it has always been one of my favourite races and they had moved it to end of Sept (used to be in March/ April time and we had our trip to New York planned so wouldn't have been able to go in March).

I then priced up a couple of European grand prix and then did Malaysia out of interest. We were thinking about going away in September time to Europe anyway so actually the price of a European break plus a grand prix would have probably been similar to what we would pay to go to Malaysia. Once I get an idea in my head I don’t tend to drop it... so I started planning our trip

.

I straight away got booking hotels through booking.com with free cancellation, initially the grand prix was planned for the weekend of 24/25 September but it did say subject to change. Luckily we hadn't got too far other than booking hotel with free cancellation as they moved it back a week, this was announced in October 2015 so with plenty of time. We are planning a two week holiday in March 2017 and because of when our leave year runs we worked out we could probably only have a 9 night break so we decided to spend 3 nights near Sepang circuit and then 5 nights in Kuala Lumpur. Chris visited KL when he was about 12 for a stop over but doesn’t have much memory of it. I have never visited Malaysia and heard amazing things about KL so really wanted to go

.

We fly on 29 September with BA, leaving Heathrow at 8.15pm and arrive in KL at 4.05pm on Friday 30 September. I spent quite a while looking at flights and BA had a sale on in January, we were very happy to be able to get direct flights for £505 each.

We have booked to stay in the Sri Enstek Hotel near Sepang Circuit for three nights, this is about £120 for the three nights. The hotel also has a pick up service from the airport, which we have booked. This is MYR10 each which is about £1.80 each. I think it is only about 15 minutes from Sepang circuit and they run a shuttle, I couldn’t believe you could get a hotel on the race weekend for this price!

Photo borrowed from google.

We have booked race tickets, we booked these direct with Sepang circuit, we have booked seats in the topaz part of the track. We took ages deciding which tickets we wanted but we decided on this part of the track. It is in the grandstand facing the south part of the track, it says it offers views of 70% of the track. I also spent quite some time researching the best seats (in true Disney style hehe) and found where they usually put the TV screens, so we decided on block 2.05 and in row A. This is the view (taken from the Sepang circuit website)

very excited!

The tickets are amazing value, we booked them during the early offer shortly after they were released and we got them for MYR606 for both of us, that is about £110 for a three day weekend ticket! Included in the ticket on the Sunday is an after race concert which they have announced is going to be Usher which should be good fun!

We will get the KILA express from KILA airport to centre of KL on the Monday morning. I think this is about £10 each.

We are staying the Royale Chulan for 5 nights, we researched hotels for quite some time, you can get some really reasonable hotels but then I stumbled upon the Royale Chulan. We are paying just under £400 for the 5 nights. It looks absolutely amazing and couldn't believe we could stay somewhere so nice for that price. We are very excited to stay there!

(borrowed from google)

We've got a rough plan while we are in KL. We have booked to visit the elephant sanctuary, but we've not booked with a tour/ package, we've booked directly with one of the volunteers that were recommended on the trip advisor page. It sounds a bit like a keeper for the day experience, I love elephants so much so am very excited about this

!

(rest of the photos also borrowed from google

)

We would to do the FRIM canopy walk and Batu caves, I've read it's good to do these on the same day as they're both north of KL.

I discovered there is a theme/ water park - Sunray Lagoon, I'm not sure we will have time to visit

but if we do have a spare day we may squeeze it in! We've not been to a theme park since our honeymoon WDW trip in May 2015 so feel like it may need to be done haha.

Obviously we want to do all the things in KL centre, like the Petronas towers etc. I also want to go for a visit at the Heli Lounge, it looks very cool but I certainly won't be getting too close to the edge, it does look so amazing though so think we will go up for a drink at night.

We are obviously expecting rain and storms, I definitely won't mind if it rains during the F1 race, the Malaysian grand prix is always exciting when it rains! So we will be taking umbrellas and waterproofs but it sounds like it is mostly in the afternoon and for a short period of time. It looks like it will be pretty hot, in the low 30s.

If anyone has any tips or things that shouldn't be missed in KL, I would love to hear them

. Thanks for reading.

Melbatb · 7 Sep 16, 06:11 AM

Wow - sounds like it will be a fabulous trip! No help as I have never been but do keep eyeing it up as a possibility!

Melbatb · 28 Sep 16, 10:08 PM

I have just booked to go

- in 4 weeks' time :eek

Would love to hear how you get on! Bon voyage!

**LN89** · 12 Oct 16, 09:36 PM

Originally Posted by Melbatb

I have just booked to go

- in 4 weeks' time :eek

Would love to hear how you get on! Bon voyage!

Hi, thank you for reading! We absolutely loved it and I am just doing a trippie now

. What date do you go hopefully will have it up in time but if you have any questions feel free to ask!

Melbatb · 13 Oct 16, 05:06 AM

I go on 28th October!

I would like to do FRIM but I don't know how - in the sense of getting there and back. I understand you need to book a tour on the canopy walk beforehand - any help appreciated on the practicalities and what you did there!

Off to read your first day!

**LN89** · 16 Oct 16, 10:01 PM

Originally Posted by Melbatb

I go on 28th October!

I would like to do FRIM but I don't know how - in the sense of getting there and back. I understand you need to book a tour on the canopy walk beforehand - any help appreciated on the practicalities and what you did there!

Off to read your first day!

We did FRIM and loved it (it was Chris' favourite thing we did the whole trip). We did it on day 4 - I should get day 3 up tomorrow so hopefully day 4 on Tuesday! We got a monorail, train and then taxi, we could have got a taxi all the way there but weren't sure of cost etc but it all worked well. We stopped at Batu caves on the way back as well as it is nearby. We did book the FRIM direct before we went, I saw online this was recommended so emailed the email address on their website and was quite easy to arrange (except they wanted payment in advance but we managed to sort this). I think I read most people just try to book it the day before though so don't know if I needed to be quite so organised. I will put more detail and photos in the report for that day but feel free to send me any questions.

Melbatb · 17 Oct 16, 06:08 AM

Thank you. I'll wait until day 4 is up before I bombard you with questions

6 Sep 16, 09:55 PM	#1
	6 Sep 16, 09:55 PM LN89 VIP Dibber ✓Premium Member
LN89 VIP Dibber Join Date: Jan 12	C&L Malaysian Grand Prix and KL adventure - pre-trippie Hi, Welcome to my pre-trippie for our upcoming trip to Kuala Lumpur . I'm Laura and my DH is Chris, we are both 27 and live south of London. Here is a photo of us from our honeymoon to WDW This trip came about in a slightly random way, we agreed we wanted to try to get to an F1 race this year. We were thinking maybe one of the European ones and I jokingly said how about the Malaysian as it has always been one of my favourite races and they had moved it to end of Sept (used to be in March/ April time and we had our trip to New York planned so wouldn't have been able to go in March). I then priced up a couple of European grand prix and then did Malaysia out of interest. We were thinking about going away in September time to Europe anyway so actually the price of a European break plus a grand prix would have probably been similar to what we would pay to go to Malaysia. Once I get an idea in my head I don’t tend to drop it... so I started planning our trip . I straight away got booking hotels through booking.com with free cancellation, initially the grand prix was planned for the weekend of 24/25 September but it did say subject to change. Luckily we hadn't got too far other than booking hotel with free cancellation as they moved it back a week, this was announced in October 2015 so with plenty of time. We are planning a two week holiday in March 2017 and because of when our leave year runs we worked out we could probably only have a 9 night break so we decided to spend 3 nights near Sepang circuit and then 5 nights in Kuala Lumpur. Chris visited KL when he was about 12 for a stop over but doesn’t have much memory of it. I have never visited Malaysia and heard amazing things about KL so really wanted to go . We fly on 29 September with BA, leaving Heathrow at 8.15pm and arrive in KL at 4.05pm on Friday 30 September. I spent quite a while looking at flights and BA had a sale on in January, we were very happy to be able to get direct flights for £505 each. We have booked to stay in the Sri Enstek Hotel near Sepang Circuit for three nights, this is about £120 for the three nights. The hotel also has a pick up service from the airport, which we have booked. This is MYR10 each which is about £1.80 each. I think it is only about 15 minutes from Sepang circuit and they run a shuttle, I couldn’t believe you could get a hotel on the race weekend for this price! Photo borrowed from google. We have booked race tickets, we booked these direct with Sepang circuit, we have booked seats in the topaz part of the track. We took ages deciding which tickets we wanted but we decided on this part of the track. It is in the grandstand facing the south part of the track, it says it offers views of 70% of the track. I also spent quite some time researching the best seats (in true Disney style hehe) and found where they usually put the TV screens, so we decided on block 2.05 and in row A. This is the view (taken from the Sepang circuit website) very excited! The tickets are amazing value, we booked them during the early offer shortly after they were released and we got them for MYR606 for both of us, that is about £110 for a three day weekend ticket! Included in the ticket on the Sunday is an after race concert which they have announced is going to be Usher which should be good fun! We will get the KILA express from KILA airport to centre of KL on the Monday morning. I think this is about £10 each. We are staying the Royale Chulan for 5 nights, we researched hotels for quite some time, you can get some really reasonable hotels but then I stumbled upon the Royale Chulan. We are paying just under £400 for the 5 nights. It looks absolutely amazing and couldn't believe we could stay somewhere so nice for that price. We are very excited to stay there! (borrowed from google) We've got a rough plan while we are in KL. We have booked to visit the elephant sanctuary, but we've not booked with a tour/ package, we've booked directly with one of the volunteers that were recommended on the trip advisor page. It sounds a bit like a keeper for the day experience, I love elephants so much so am very excited about this ! (rest of the photos also borrowed from google ) We would to do the FRIM canopy walk and Batu caves, I've read it's good to do these on the same day as they're both north of KL. I discovered there is a theme/ water park - Sunray Lagoon, I'm not sure we will have time to visit but if we do have a spare day we may squeeze it in! We've not been to a theme park since our honeymoon WDW trip in May 2015 so feel like it may need to be done haha. Obviously we want to do all the things in KL centre, like the Petronas towers etc. I also want to go for a visit at the Heli Lounge, it looks very cool but I certainly won't be getting too close to the edge, it does look so amazing though so think we will go up for a drink at night. We are obviously expecting rain and storms, I definitely won't mind if it rains during the F1 race, the Malaysian grand prix is always exciting when it rains! So we will be taking umbrellas and waterproofs but it sounds like it is mostly in the afternoon and for a short period of time. It looks like it will be pretty hot, in the low 30s. If anyone has any tips or things that shouldn't be missed in KL, I would love to hear them . Thanks for reading. __________________ Laura Disney Trippies WDW 2022 (first time with a toddler) WDW and Disney Cruise 2019 HK Disney 2017 Disneymoon 2015 Edited at 07:53 PM.