As a born and
bred KLite, I discovered there’s a lot I don’t know about my birth city. Thanks
to an invitation to participate in Cosmo Hotel Kuala Lumpur’s City Discovery programme, I had an enriching and
educational experience whilst getting re-acquianted with Kuala Lumpur.
Priced at RM288 nett per person per night, The City Discovery Package includes:
§ A night’s stay in a Deluxe room at Cosmo Hotel KL
§ breakfast for two persons at Café Mint
§ one 2-course lunch for two persons at Café Mint
§ one set dinner for two persons at Café Mint
§ access to the Hotel’s new gymnasium and in-room WiFi for endless streaming
and seamless connectivity
Cosmo Hotel
Kuala Lumpur
Located
steps away from the Masjid Jamek LRT Interchange Station, Cosmo Hotel Kuala
Lumpur boasts 347 spaciously designed and furnished guestrooms and suites. Ideal
for business and leisure travellers, the Hotel is also within walking distance
to some major banking institutions and popular tourist attractions such as the
historical Sultan Abdul Samad Building, Merdeka Square, Chinatown and Central
Market among others.
The hotel's modern interior is sleek and rather
stylish, befitting a boutique hotel of its stature. For drinks and refreshments in comfort and
privacy, the club-like Cosmo Lounge furnished with plush armchairs and settees in various cosy nooks and corners is a serene haven to revel in.
Breakfast
is a boisterous affair at the spacious Café Mint.
Sparkly twine-ball pendant lights at the buffet island counters add a
touch of
elegance, in sync with the overall contemporary decor scheme. Bright
swathes of colour pop up strategically throughout the main dining area,
imbuing cheerful vibes to the predominantly neutral palette space.
Our
accommodation is on-point too. From the mood lighting to the in-room safe, all
the necessary mod-cons business and leisure travellers ever need are firmly in
place. Another plus point is the super-comfy bed that ensured our blissful forty
winks.
City Discovery
Highlights
Hankering for
lush greenery and natural surroundings? Just a short walk away from Cosmo Hotel
KL is the KL Eco Forest or Taman Eko Rimba KL — a refuge brimming with towering
trees, canopy walks, chirping birds and mysterious calls of the forest right in the heart
of our city’s sprawling concrete jungle.
The trek to the
canopy walk is doable enough for ordinary folks who hardly exercise. You’d be
amazed how peaceful it is to saunter amidst lush foliage and shrubbery along
the trek. Aside from beautiful glimpses of the Kuala Lumpur Tower and the tops of
some skyscrapers, there is an enclosure where unexpected sighting of
raccoons is possible.
For now, there’s
no entry fees to the green lung. If you like to engage a personal guide, this
can be arranged for a nominal fee. Just check with the hotel’s concierge for
further information and arrangements.
The walk to and
from the Hotel is equally fascinating as the route covers Lebuh Ampang, a busy
bus stop and Little India enclave. Here, mom-and-pop stores selling prayer
paraphernalia and sundry goods, moneylenders, Indian textiles and saree
merchants, and bustling eateries stand cheek by jowl.
For an optional
RM250 nett per person, you can go for a personal 3-hour guided Cultural Walking Tour.
Our
knowledgeable guide Jane Rai, took us to the landing site of tin miners and traders
located directly opposite of the Hotel, right on the river bank near Masjid
Jamek. She related how early pioneers played significant roles in establishing
Kuala Lumpur. The city's name is derived from this muddy river estuary — the
convergence point of the Klang and Gombak rivers.
This significant
site is directly opposite Cosmo Hotel Kuala Lumpur, behind the HSBC building. Cosmo
Hotel Kuala Lumpur actually sits at the old market square; formerly a main trading area in the city. Jane also explained about the numerous trade
and development activities that took place between the 1800s to the mid-1900s.
Now, the entire
area was beautified under the government’s River of Life project, a visual
transformation of the rivers into a stunning sensory experience complete with a
Blue Pool, a Dancing Symphony Fountain, mist (thanks to approximately 1,551
nozzles fitted to create the atmospheric/aesthetic misty effects) and lighting
effects. It’s incredibly picturesque here; a haven for selfie and wefie lovers!
The leisurely
walk wound through streets and lanes where century-old colonial buildings,
places of worships, and rows of pre-war shop-houses are sited. A cornucopia of
Insta-worthy montage emerges along the very paths we strolled: from food
stalls hawking traditional snacks and meals, and old-school tailors and barbers
plying their trade to endless rows of shops occupied by Indian-Muslim textile
and carpet traders, Indian jewellers, and Punjabi sweetmeat makers.
An old cinema
stands resolutely against the tide of rapid development, in alliance with the Coliseum
Café, a retro colonial bar and restaurant popular among British planters. Join the tour on a good, balmy Saturday night and you'd be assailed by the wonderful
sights, sounds and smells of KL’s pasar malam or night markets.
Stroll around and browse through countless
stalls selling everything under the sun, from kitschy T-shirts to local street food. Top draws include a 12 year-old cook deftly dishing up char kway teow (stir-fried flat rice noodles
with chilli and cockles), a makcik touting her packets of piping hot
Nasi Lemak for merely RM1.50 each!
We stopped to sample South Indian snacks followed by some Punjabi Northern Indian food. The nostalgic walk down memory lane also saw us soaking in the retro atmosphere of Coliseum Cafe whilst sipping on a Gunner — a refreshing tipple of ginger beer and ginger ale before we headed back to the Cosmo Hotel KL.
