Kuala Lumpur - A Supersonic Odyssey
Today was a bit different than normal, in that we didn’t have to board a bus for our tour, but instead we were picked up by Canadian friends who now live in Malaysia. They are great fun and offered to show us Kuala Lumpur while we had a visit.
Of course, the iconic sight in KL (as the locals call it) is the architectural marvel known as the Petronus Towers.
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The building itself is gorgeous, clad in stainless steel with a sky bridge connecting the two towers at the 41st floor. We took a trip up to the bridge for a quick look-see, then headed up to the 86th floor for the grand view of the city.
Going to the observation level of one tower and looking at the other one is really the best way to admire the design of the buildings, as much of the design is too high up to appreciate from ground level.
After our trip up the Petronas, we headed over to another set of twin towers, Berjaya Times Square. It’s the copper-coloured towers right there in the middle.
Inside the tower complex is a giant mall. And inside the mall is Supersonic Odyssey.
And if you’re wondering what on earth a “Supersonic Odyssey” is, this pic might explain it a bit better:
It’s a large, triple-inversion Intamin brand coaster and it’s hella fun. It’s also weird. The loading station is on the 8th floor of the mall (the park entrance is on the 5th floor, so you have to go up three sets of escalators to get to the coaster). It was the first coaster to feature a jojo roll maneuver, which is a very slow barrel roll that happens almost immediately after leaving the loading station. The lift hill is in the middle of the ride, and at one point you go through the middle of a flower with lips. Um… whatever.
But regardless of the WTF theming, the ride itself is really fun. I’ll admit that after riding more than 900 rollercoasters, many of which are standard production models, it’s refreshing to find a coaster that’s completely unlike anything else. This fits that bill nicely.
After the coaster, we headed to a nice Chinese restaurant for a good lunch. The crispy pork belly was a highlight.
Then, sadly, we were out of time and had to return to port. Many thanks to good friends Barb and Roger for showing us their city!