KL Trip : Bookstore-hopping Day

by afaninula - May 15, 2017

I promised myself that in every trip I take I would be happy, even it is only for a day. And this bookstore hopping day is one of my way to make myself happy when in KL. Actually I've been putting bookstore-hopping in my agenda on my first visit Kuala Lumpur. I've told my friends too that I will spend a day on my own visiting bookstores. So, the last day in KL when they decided to go to Genting Highlands, I wandered around visiting bookstores.

Sun@mag KL Sentral

I felt like I found a hidden paradise the moment I stepped my two feet in the store. I came to know this bookstore from a bookstagrammer that post about this store when he visited KL. I decided to ask him where exactly this book located and he kindly explained it to me, So this book store has been on my place-to-go-list when in KL. This bookstore located in L2 KL Sentral Station. This place was surprisingly quiet even when it was located in the busiest station in KL. I guess not too many people realize that this place was also a bookstore because the front part of the store was a convenience store, so we have to go in further to know that there was a hidden gem inside it.

I spent about an hour strolling around, going back and forth from one shelf to another, found something interesting yet not interesting enough to convince me to take them home. The books there were mostly old books. You need to be really patient in scanning every book in every of the shelf because they don't do cataloging for the books so it's kind of chaotic haha. However, when you finally found something that really interesting and unexpected, it is going to feels like that you found a treasure.

Bookalicious, Subang Jaya

After lunch, I set off to Subang Jaya using LRT to find an indie bookstore called Bookalicious. I stumbled upon this bookstore when I was doing my research before the trip. Have been following their instagram account for awhile, and highly recommended by many bookstagrammers, I obviously wouldn't miss a chance to pay it a visit. When I said I want to go here my friends-slash-KL tour guides Lidya and Jien said that the location was very far, even passing the border of KL. But I decided to go anyway since the train route wasn't that complex I only need to hop on one train.

And here's when the drama started. When I was in front of a vending machine to buy LRT ticket, I mistakenly pressed the wrong destination station. I should be gotten off at USJ7 Station yet I pressed Subang Jaya Station which was two station away from USJ7. In the end I got off at Subang Jaya and buy another ticket to get to USJ 7 which was the right station.

After all the drama, I finally managed to find and set my feet in the bookstore. It was located inside a mall called The Summit Subang USJ which only 5 minutes walking distance from USJ 7 station. The moment I stepped inside the bookstore, I felt like all the drama was totally worth it since I fell in love right away. This bookstore gave me a soothing and calming feeling. Their collection was quite vary, from Literature to Fantasy and they also have almost all popular books. Their Harry Potter collection made me want to cry because I wanted to bring them home with me (which I totally can't) and their collectible classics collection was beyond awesome. The lady behind the counter was also super nice. Too bad I forgot to ask her name. This place is really worth to visit and I can't help but fall in love with this place.

Kinokuniya, Suria KLCC

This one is on the top of my list of places I want to go when in KL. I've been told by some of my bookworm friends that this is truly a heaven on earth. The moment I entered the store, I felt like I don't want to go out... like forever :)) I've been to Kinokuniya Plaza Senayan in Jakarta, but this one's even bigger. What makes it far better is that there are some bench provided in the store to read, with a view facing KLCC Park & Fountain. How could you resist this combination? I swear if I could I would set up a tent and camp here for days. I came here twice yet I feel like I can come back here thousand times more because I can just sit there, read, and ignore the world.

The view of people reading books in every corner is a common view we can see in Kinokuniya KLCC. We can sit on the exact same place for hours, even we can finish the whole book, yet we won't get scolded by the storekeeper. There will be no pakcik-pakcik sekuriti who will stare at us with paapaan-ni-orang-baca-doang-tapi-ga-beli look. To be honest, I got to read some chapter of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child here too hahaha. Too bad I can't finish the whole book since it's getting late and I have to go back to the apartment. People can read books so easily here because most, or maybe all of the books here are not sealed. They don't have plastic covers for the books like bookstores in Indonesia so we can freely read them or check the pages before we buy it. Already missed the place a little too much and hope to be back asap with loads of money so I can buy all the books I want :))

Times Bookstore, Pavilion Mall Bukit Bintang

This one was actually unexpected. From KLCC I hopped on a GoKL free shuttle bus to Bukit Bintang because I want to go to Daiso that was located in Pavilion Mall Bukit Bintang. I was busy looking for signage and pakcik-pakcik sekuriti to help me find Daiso because the mall was ridiculously super duper extra big when my eyes caught this beautiful place. Their collection is similar to Bookalicious with slightly higher price. I couldn't spend much time here because I still need to look for Daiso and it was also getting darker. So I only briefly scanned the shelves, took some pictures, and continued to look for Daiso which was my main reason for being there. I will definitely going back there when I come back to KL.

So that was how I spent my last day in KL, which was the happiest day among all the five-days trip. I am only lucky because the public transportation in KL is well-organized I'm not even lost my way too much when I am totally bad at reading maps and following directions. Wandering around in a totally new place, with only a guide from friend's Line chat, depending on Pakcik security, Cleaning Service guy and even strangers so much to find the right way, endless walking that end up making me putting koyo all over my legs, were such a great experience I want to do it again someday.

Adios!