Lanson Place, Kuala Lumpur – part 1

This is where the three of us (including IT) stayed in Kuala Lumpur (KL). Rather than going to a hotel, like we have done in the past, we looked for an apartment. Apparently, there are quite a few choices. There is a property boom in KL and there are expats to fill serviced apartments.

Lanson Place Bukit Ceylon Serviced Residences is located in one of a cluster of high-rise apartment buildings situated a small hill above Bukit Bintang (aka Golden Triangle, a busy shopping area in KL).

The entrance of the building has a shallow water feature on either side of the walkway. They were no railings.

We arrived very late and were helped by a concierge. It looks very modern but can be a bit dangerous at night.

Our unit was a 2-bedroom apartment on the 46th floor. It was spacious and modern.

Natural wood, muted pastel color furniture.

One of the bedrooms has twin beds.

Apart from the 2 bedrooms, there’s also a small study.

The master bath room has a glass-enclosed shower-bathtub unit. There is no separate shower cubicle.

All the kitchen appliances were very well hidden. There are no handles for any of the drawers, fridge doors, and dishwasher. Very minimum and clean looking (easy to clean too) but a bit too sterile, and one need strong fingertips (think rock climbers) to open/close all the doors.

 

Since we had a rather long trip in Malaysia, a washer and a dryer were very handy.

 

From our living room window, we have a view of the Petronas towers.

The KL tower is also nearby. As you can tell, the weather was not cooperating.

This place was just what we needed to overcome the 7-hour jetlag. More about Lanson Place to come in our next post.

 

Petronas Towers & Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur

Some of you who knew me from New York probably think, judging from the posts here, that since we left for Switzerland, we travel a lot and do not spent much time on work. While it is true that I (Chris) get more vacation days per year now, workload is certainly heavier than before. So these vacations are really important counterbalances.  As 2014 was a busy year, I was really looking forward to the season’s holidays. Alright, … enough year-end reflection.

This time we went to Malaysia. As usual, my sis joined us for a few days.

This is our first time in Malaysia. So we hit the touristy spots of Kuala Lumpur (for readers who had been to KL, please bear with us here) – the best known of which is the Petronas Twin Towers. They were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004 and remain the tallest twin towers in the world replacing the World Trade Center in New York.

The 88-floor towers are constructed largely of reinforced concrete, with a steel and glass facade designed to resemble motifs found in Islamic art. The towers were designed by Argentine American architect César Pelli. We did not bother to go up to the sky bridge located on the 41st floor for a view of the city center because our apartment is nearby and located on the 46th floor – see later post.

Underneath the towers is the country’s largest shopping mall, Suria KLCC. It has all the predictable international and regional brand names, and organized just like every other malls in North America.

Behind the mall is the KLCC park which had a 4-story high, cone-shaped Christmas tree. Next door is the Four Seasons Hotel.

Food courts and anchoring department stores and restaurants. We were interested to see Kinokuniya – the Japanese bookstore – occupies one end of the sprawling mall (see later post).

We were treated to a water jet show synchronized to music.

The water jet show with lights.

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A major draw of our trip to Malaysia is the food, which combines elements of the cuisines of Chinese, Malay and Indian. We started with the supposedly authentic but touristy Madam Kwan’s at Suria KLCC, which had us waiting 15 minutes for a table even after 2 pm. The place was crowded and a bit tired looking.

Madam Kwan’s, the franchise’s claim to fame is the Nasi Lemak, rice with coconut milk, which has been recognized as the best in the country by the Ministry of Tourism. We tried the Nasi Bojari instead …

Satay, which we had plenty of throughout …

This is the best dish of the day – stir-fried Ong Choy (蕹菜 or 通菜 in Cantonese, ผักบุ้ง Phak Boong in Thai, Kalmua in India, rau muống in Vietnam and Kangkong in Tagalog or Malay; or water spinach and Ipomoea aqatica in Latin) with Belacan (Malaysian shrimp paste). We suspected that animal fat was used to do the frying which made it super tasty.

This is the beginning of a great adventure, with lots of food, so watch this space !

 

Bookcafé in Alexandra and the Vigadó, Budapest

Inside the branch of Alexandra bookstore located inside the now-defunct Paris Department Store (Párizsi Nagy Áruház, Andrássy út 39) is one of the more beautiful café in Europe. Click here for our post on the bookstore.

After entering the Alexandra Bookstore on the ground floor you’ll find a pair of escalators which bring you up to the first floor, and usher you directly in front of the Lotz Hall (Lotz-Terem).

The Lotz Hall (Lotz-Terem) was named after Karl Lotz who painted the murals inside the Alexandra Bookcafe, as well as those of the Budapest Opera, Hungarian Parliament, Hungarian National Museum, St. Stephens Basilica, the ceiling fresco in the Buda Castle and many many more.

International newspaper, live piano.

This man was a master of his craft, and the Hungarians loved him for it. While the rest of the building has been more or less whitewashed, the Lotz Hall has been faithfully restored and brought back to its former glory. It was the former Teresa City Casino ballroom.

The cafe hosts live music performance, as well as occasional demonstrations and book signings.

We did not stop for a coffee as it was already dinner time.

The national tricolor and Budapest red-yellow-blue flag made up of the various elements of the composition.

We have seen this neo-Renaissance (?) decorative style in the Parliament as well. Wonderfully ornate, but almost too shiny for us.

Many of these “restorations” look like new copies of the old style – rather than restoring actual old interior pieces.

Like the place we had our event dinner, the Vigadó concert hall – all the interior details were sparkling new. Here are a few pictures of the Vigadó which is the second largest concert hall in Budapest and was built in 1865. It hosted numerous performances by Lizst in the past.

We were at a private banquet in this place which seemed empty – presumably there was no public performance or ballroom dancing that evening. A folk band and a small trope of dancers entertained us during dinner.

The building suffered serious damage during World War II and it apparently took 30+ years to restore.

We have more photos of this type of interiors taken from the Parliament and the Opera House. May be we will put them up later.

Alexandra Bookstore, Budapest

Back in fall 2014, we spent a long weekend in Budapest, Hungary.  We have a couple more posts on this city before we put up photos from our Malaysian trip.

While strolling along Andrássy út (Budapest’s Fifth Avenue), we came across this building with a rather impressive facade. The combination of art nouveau motifs and dramatic lighting gave the facade a steampunk vibe and later reminded me (Chris) the set design in the movies Dune (1984) and Tyrell Corporation in Blade Runner.

Inside it, we found a branch of the Alexandra bookstore chain. It is one of Hungary’s biggest bookstore.

The Alexandra bookstore started off as a casino in 1884, and then become the Párizsi Nagy Áruház (Paris Department Store) in 1911. It was Budapest’s first building which was built specifically for retail purposes.

Planned and designed by Gustav Petschacher and Sigismund Sziklai, the Neo-Renaissance building – had a billiard and ballrooms on the first floor, playing and reading rooms on the second floor, while the third floor was constructed as luxury apartments.

It has a very modern-looking atrium but the atrium was in the original design.

The interior design – including the spectacular art deco fresco’s which have survived to this day. They were done by the “Prince of Hungarian Arts” Karl Lotz.

It has a high glass-vaulted ceiling, and had a glass-mirrored elevator (which we did not see).

The building somehow survived World War II and the communist period.

The Orco Property Group bought the building in 2005 and spent the next 4 years renovating the building.

When the building reopened on the 10th of November 2009, the first tenant was the Alexandra Bookstore, which took over the ground and first floor.

Click here to see their online bookshop in Hungarian.

 

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Our trips 2014 – part 2

H a p p y  2015 !

Now that we are back from our year-end vacation, we are taking a look back at some of the places we visited last year. This is the second of two posts; Part 1 is here.

The photos are organized in reverse chronological order. Some of the trips are business trips and some are vacations. Click the links where provided to see the actual posts. There are usually a series of related posts per location, they are uploaded around the same time – you can discover them easily in the calendar at the bottom of the post.

June 2014 – Val de Loire, France – It was a road trip with our “new” car and we saw V and her families.

Chambord

 

Orleans

 

Chez Liz, Orleans – thanks, we had a great time seeing every one.

 

May 2014 – Cologne, Germany

 

April 2014 – Milan, Italy – I (Chris) went to see the Salone Internazionale del Mobile.

April 2014 – Korea – Sue went with her family for a tour.

Seoul

Busan (부산, 釜山)

Jeju Island (제주도, 濟州島)

 

April 2014 – Morges, Switzerland – Annual Tulip festival

 

February 2014, Chateau d’Oex, Switzerland with IT who came to see ballet, eat fondue and buy accordion.

 

January 2014, Times Square, New York. I (Chris) took this from the building where I worked many years ago on the corner of Sixth Avenue and 44th street.

We are wondering where we will go in 2015.

 

Our trips 2014 – part 1

Dear Readers, Happy New Year !

This is our first post of 2015. It is time to take a look back at some of the places we visited last year.

Some of you who knew me from New York probably think, judging from the posts here, that since we left for Switzerland, we travel a lot and do not spent much time on work. While it is true that I (Chris) get more vacation days per year now, workload is certainly heavier than before. So these vacations are really important counterbalances.

The photos are organized in reverse chronological order and there is a part 2 to come. Some of the trips are business trips and some are vacations.

There are usually a series of related posts per location, they are uploaded around the same time – you can discover them easily in the calendar at the bottom of the post.

December 2014 – Kuala Lumpur and Penang

We left on Christmas eve for Malaysia. The photos are being selected and touched up as we type.

Georgetown, Penang

 

Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur

 

December 2014 – Munich, Germany

 

October 2014 – Budapest, Hungary

 

September 2014 – Piedmont, Italy

 

September 2014 – Lac de Joue, Switzerland

 

August 2014 – Aosta, Italy

Near Aosta

 

July 2014 – London, England

Photos from first half of 2014 to come.