Settling down in KL

We arrived in KL at about 7:30 am in the morning. I thought it was a rather comfortable ride, with the rocking of the train and all, but some folks woke up with sore backs and others with bad hair. :P

At the train station in Kuala Lumpur.

After alighting from the train, we hopped into cabs in groups of four and paid RM 12 per cab for the journey from the railway station to our hotel, Ancasa Hotel. We met Kops21 and his wife, and Freddy and his wife, Josephine, at the Hotel. As check-in was only available in the afternoon, we decided to dump our bags in the hotel storage area, and go walk around the hotel in search of breakfast.

We found a rather nice dimsum place in Jalan Petaling, and we ate to our hearts' content. The porridge which I ordered was excellent! After breakfast, we roamed the neighbourhood a little more, then went to the Race Expo at a building nearby.

At the Expo

The Expo was rather disappointing. There were a few miserable-looking booths, and registration counters manned by staff who looked extremely bored. We collected our race bibs, champion chips and even T-shirts there. (The design of the T-shirt was terrible. The base colour was a dull, pale blue while the main design was a muddy yellow. Yucks.) Freddy downgraded his race from a full marathon to a half-marathon (he had not clocked enough mileage), while Kellylim22 also registered on the spot for Choonwei's behalf -- apparently, Choonwei made a last minute decision to come to KL for the race. By the time we returned to the hotel, we could check-in to our rooms :)

Still feeling rather full from breakfast, we decided to go do some shopping first at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC).

In the KL subway on our way to the KLCC

The shops at KLCC which caught our interest the most were the Adidas shop and the Nike shop. There was also a "premium toilet" on the ground floor, which Run3 paid money to enter and use. She came out smelling of Bodyshop products all over. :) Talk about a high-class toilet.

For our late lunch, we ate at the foodcourt on the top floor. After lunch, we went into a trigger-happy mode again. We started taking lots and lots of photos around the KLCC. :D

Outside the KLCC

Outside the other side of KLCC

Kellylim22 also met Choonwei at the steps to the KLCC to pass him his race bib, champion chip and event tee. By this time, it was already late afternoon. I was too tired to walk, and thankfully, DreamRunner suggested going to Dome to sit down for some coffee. I gladly agreed. Meanwhile, Run3, Astrogirl and Wei Shan went shopping for shoes and other sports items. These girls really can shop! I almost fell asleep in Dome, waiting for them to return with their purchases.

In the evening, we had dinner at Nando's, a Portuguese fast food chain near our hotel.

Outside Nando's

After dinner, some of the other SgRunnners, including my two roommates, Cokiee and Seal, decided to explore the neighbour some more. I declined to join them, and chose to return to the hotel room instead to pack up and prepare for the big day tomorrow.

I slept at around 11:30 pm.