Welcome to the future: KLIA, Kuala Lumpur airport

I decided to write, even though I was in transit (4:30+4:00 hours), because it absolutely deserves more attention.

Kuala Lumpur airport was opened in 1998 but was designed as a little jewel of the future. Simple, with very clear signage, and easy to navigate thanks to logical, well-organised links, it is a structure of steel and glass surrounded by immense tropical plants. The halls are enriched with stunning (REAL) orchids!

The only flaw is the distance from the city: 55 km = 1 hour by taxi which, despite the good number of hours available, didn't allow us (due to unforeseen circumstances) to take a little tour of the city. Actually I'd recommend it; we had the guide and the technical time to cross the "border" is truly limited.

Below is the TRAVEL DIARY of the outward journey. Later I'll also add the one for the return, when we discovered a whole floor of amazing restaurants!!!

02/02/2007 - 03/02/2007 During the flight we filled in the form to enter Malaysia. In fact our government has a special agreement whereby a visa isn't needed, just a simple form filled in with all the necessary details. You arrive in this stupendous, futuristic airport of steel and glass with slender, fluid shapes, immersed in the greenery of the rainforest that reaches right into the heart of this paradise. With a metro shuttle we're immediately connected to the other side of the structure where, passing through gardens of orchids, you reach the arrivals area where an orderly, flowing queue leads to the customs desks for documents only. Beyond, we immediately go to find our suitcases and re-check them. A very simple operation, also because you get an answer when you ask. Once past the overbooking scare we have two hours before boarding.

We go straight out of the building to breathe the Malaysian air… ah what a scent of flowers.. and what a lovely temperature. Everything is extremely well kept, flowering and fragrant. It's beautiful… we scan the horizon in search of the towers… but nothing, they're too far away (about 1 hour by taxi in fact). We change money because Lore forgot the photos for the Cambodian visa and we wander through all the little shops, relax in the internal gardens, then, exhausted from lack of sleep, we decide to head to the boarding area. We go back through the document check (more stamps) and, we discover that in the boarding area there aren't just the usual corridors but also armchairs and beds!!! Yes, those geniuses have also put in a whole quiet zone where you only hear birds chirping and the scent of tropical flowers, with padded "benches" set close together to form a very comfortable bed zone.

Here is a little paradise.