THERE are many ways to enjoy Kuala Lumpur and the best thing is, there are lots of things you can do for free. Here are our top three free things to do in the capital city.

1. Visit Petronas Twin Towers and Suria KLCC

A visit to KL is not complete without a stopover at the iconic Petronas Twin Towers and Suria KLCC. You needn’t spend a ringgit there at all if you don’t want to, although that may be often prove difficult in the shopping and entertainment haven of Suria KLCC.

But still, there are three things that won’t cost you a sen.

THE SKY BRIDGE: With its unique arch support, the 58.4m double-deck sky bridge is probably the “hottest-selling” place in the city. Visitors start queuing for free tickets from as early as 5.30am and in less than four hours, all the 1,600 ticket holders have all gone up to the bridge. Tours are done every 15 minutes with only 20 persons allowed in at any one time. Standing at 170m above street level at level 41 and 42, the sky bridge offers a magnificent view of the city centre. Details, call 03-2331 4444.

KLCC PARK: Suria KLCC is set within a 50-acre tropical landscape. The park is unique in both theme and concept. Though it has 1,900 indigenous trees and palms representing 74 species, the most interesting parts are the water features, especially the Lake Symphony and the Water Park.

Made of two water fountains, the Lake Symphony is programmed to provide 150 magical dramatic animations. For young visitors, the Water Park is the place to go as there are interesting play structures and a wading pool. It sits next to a two-acre children’s playground.

GALERI PETRONAS: Petronas set up the gallery to promote the development and preservation of art in Malaysia. It provides an avenue for artists, both Malaysian and foreign. The gallery holds regular showcases. Details, call 03-2051 7770.

2. KL Craft Complex

As a centre for local crafts, the complex houses a comprehensive collection of crafts from all over the country. There are galleries that showcase crafts based on materials and make. There’s also a Crafts Museum that displays the history and craft heritage. An art colony there allows you to mingle with resident artists who are more than willing to share their ideas with you. For guided tours, call 03-2161 1470/80.

3. KL Lake Gardens

There’s no entrance fee or guide needed to explore KL’s best green lung – the KL Lake Gardens. Located right in the city and surrounded by iconic landmarks like the National Mosque and Islamic Art Museum, the gardens are made of a string of other nice places to visit or stroll through.

The city’s oldest lake garden incorporates the National Monument, Deer Park, Butterfly Park, Bird Park, Orchid Garden and Hibiscus Garden. Some of these impose an entrance fee but if you don’t want to fork out any money, you can stroll elsewhere. There’s a tram service but it’s only available on weekends at RM1 a ride.

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Dread travelling with young children? Here’s what you can do to ensure a relaxing family holiday.

TRAVELLING with little kids can be a pain and parents almost always end up running around after the little ones to keep them out of harm’s way.

Here are some of the precautions parents can take before and after a trip and even right in a hotel room itself. Some of these measures may make you look paranoid, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Before The Trip

Check if the hotel you’re staying at provides baby-proofing equipment. If they don’t, include these in your luggage — electrical outlet covers, protective screens for hotel balconies, toilet lid latch, portable crib, etc.
Oh, and don’t forget wire mesh and packing tape. Read on to find out why.

Try to book a room with wall-to-wall carpeting but it should not be thick enough to hide pins, coins or other substances that toddlers can put in their mouths and choke on. Find out too if the room has tiled floors with rugs. Avoid these as toddlers can slip and hit their head on the hard surface.

On The Trip

If you can’t get a ground floor room and the hotel windows don’t have steel bars within its frame, whip out the wire mesh. Make sure you have enough to fit all the windows.

Check the floor for pins and other possible sharp items that may harm your child. The packing tape comes in handy as plug points can be taped shut to avoid pudgy fingers exploring electrical sockets. Check for glass items and keep breakable furniture out of reach or ask for them to be removed. Make sure kids cannot get to the things you’ve set aside by moving tables and chairs so that they have no means of climbing on the countertop. You can also hide things in closets or in suitably high places.

Make sure furniture is stable. Look at things through the eyes of a child and you may just find something you’d have missed otherwise. Check if screws will hold up with the vigorous pulling that a toddler may inflict on an item and act accordingly.

Check to see if tables, chairs and beds have sharp corners. If they do, use washcloths that you have brought to pad the sharp edges.

Unplug all unused electrical devices in the bathroom or near water. Never leave your child in the bathroom alone, even if it’s just for a second to run and answer the phone.

Once you have done all these, you can relax and enjoy your holiday!

Put Malaysia as your top holiday destination, especially during the economic downturn, says Tourism Minister YB Dato’ Sri Azalina Othman Said. She also believes that more Malaysians will do so because the country has much to offer and caters to the needs of different folks.

The ministry has even came up with a cat­chy jingle to remind Malaysians of how fa­sci­­­nating their own backyard can be. The 60-second jingle is being aired over 13 RTM and AMP radio stations nationwide.

“With the jingle and encouragement from the deejays, we hope the people will really put Malaysia as their priority holiday destination,” Azalina said after launching the Zoom! Malay­sia jingle on AMP radio networks at Me­­na­­ra KL here yesterday.

The jingle will be aired on five radio stations of the company - Era, MyFM, MixFM, Suria and THR Raaga - four times daily.

Zoom! Malaysia, a campaign to encourage Malaysians to holiday locally instead of overseas, was launched by the Prime Minister Da­­tuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in May last year.

He urged Malaysians to work hard to make the country the first-choice destination of tourists, adding more efforts must be done to keep cities, beaches and kampung clean, because this would make tourists feel more comfortable.

The Tourism Ministry hopes to stimulate tourism through the “Zoom Malaysia” campaign by taking to the skies.

Its Minister YB. Dato’Sri Azalina Othman Said said by introducing pamphlets and brochures inside flights, can further boost the promoting of tourism.

“Promoting tourism destinations inside flights is a strategic way of encouraging tourist to spend extra days in the country after settling their official businesses,” she told reporters after launching the “Zoom Malaysia Take To The Skies” campaign at the LCCT Terminal here Thursday.

Through the campaign, Air Asia Air Bus A320 flight would display the “Zoom Malaysia” logo on carriers plying the domestic and ASEAN countries’ routes for 18 months.

Meanwhile, Air Asia Chief Executive Officer Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes said the “Zoom Malaysia” was an effective way to promote “stop over” packages for transit passengers and those on business trips.

“For example people from China who use our flights to Sydney or Melbourne can be offered stop over packages in Kota Kinabalu, Penang or Langkawi before continuing their journey,” said Tony.

The Tourism Ministry expects around 20 million domestic and foreign tourists this year, down from 22.05 million last year, due to the worldwide economic slowdown.

Minister YB Dato’ Sri Azalina Othman Said said that with the current scenario, the ministry would focus more on domestic tourism.

The government foresaw 40 million hotel night stays from the domestic market alone for 2009, she told reporters after launching the “Jingle Dan Kuiz” programme Zoom Malaysia” programme here.

Azalina’s strategy to stimulate the local market includes tie-ins with the various RTM radio stations, Astro and TV3 to generate more interest from locals tourists.

She said she would visit the Finance Ministry later today to propose a RM400 million stimulus package to maintain tourism products throughout the country.

“We want to focus on better maintenance of our current tourism products. Plus, this stimulus package will also focus on our three niche markets which are meetings, incentives, conventions and events (Mice), Malaysia My Second Home and medical tourism.”

THE Tourism Ministry will capitalise on its affordable homestay programmes to lure more tourists during the current global economic slowdown.

Tourism Minister YB Dato’ Sri Azalina Othman Said said the ministry aimed to increase homestay operators by providing additional incentives to villagers.

“We want more villagers involved in the programme which provides immediate economic returns,” she said last Saturday.

Azalina said homestays nationwide received 45,786 domestic tourists and 20,597 foreign tourists last year, which generated a revenue of RM5.9mil.

She said Malaysia’s target homestay market was students from Japan, South Korea and Singapore.

Under the homestay programme, tourists enjoy a night’s stay in a village home with three meals and activities for about RM30.

“We will review their needs and provide the necessary help to the operators to improve their homes and develop local crafts and products.

“We have allocated RM5,000 to each of the registered operators to upgrade their washrooms and toilets based on our guidelines. It’s vital that the toilets are clean, dry and equipped with a modern flushing system,” she said.

The Tourism Ministry has set up a special committee to have discussions with airline companies to increase flights and boost tourism, said its minister YB Dato’ Sri Azalina Othman Said.

She said the committee would be chaired by her deputy YB Datuk Seri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib and be made up of chairmen of state tourism committees and state tourism action councils.

“The committee will meet Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and low-cost carrier AirAsia to increase flights into the country to increase tourist numbers,” Azalina told reporters after chairing a meeting of the national tourism development committee here today.

MAS had direct flights on the London-Langkawi, London-Penang route and Bangkok-Langkawi routes but they were discontinued a few years ago.

Azalina said the committee would assist airlines’ efforts to resume such services.

She said requests for direct London-Langkawi and London-Penang flights had been made by several state tourism committees.

She said Malaysia targeted drawing 20 million foreign tourists this year.

“Foreign tourist arrivals to the country recorded a positive increase of 22 million last year which was a 5.1 per cent jump from 20.9 million in 2007,” Azalina said.

9 February 2009 Until 15 February 2009

Known as the greatest cycling event out of Europe, Le Tour de Langkawi features world’s top cyclists to compete against each other. Starting from the island, the race will encompass challenging routes along Peninsular Malaysia’s west coast, before it ends at Dataran Merdeka in the capital city.

Tourism industry players from all over the world gathered at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles on 15 January for a night that honoured those who were truly the best in the business.

Mr. Mazlan Araju, Tourism Malaysia’s Los Angeles Director, was on hand to receive the award for Malaysia, voted by Global Traveler magazine readers, as the best international tourism destination award of 2008. It was Malaysia’s third straight win, having won the title in the previous two years.

Global Traveler’s annual survey received responses from more than 31,000 readers of the magazine this year, most of whom were frequent premium travelers who averaged 33 round-trip flights per year. Through the survey, they determined the best of business and leisure holiday products in 55 categories.

Winners of the 2008 survey were featured in the December issue of Global Traveler magazine.

Global Traveler is a US-based business travel publication that caters mainly to executive travelers in North America who appreciate business and luxury travel. This is the 5^th year that they are conducting the survey.