Malaysia Truly Asia Trip
Malaysia Trip
We’ve been planning this trip with Lia, our friend from Korea, since March I think. I asked Mitzi, my friend who works here as well, to join us. It’s so timely coz her sister is here for vacation at that time.
From Singapore we rode a bus to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We chose Aeroline simply for convenience. Drop off point and pick up point of the bus in Malaysia is at Corus Hotel where we stayed. Aeroline is a bit pricey compared to other bus lines but considering the previous point, Aeroline is the choice for us. We rode a double decked bus. There’s a wi-fi lounge and toilet at the first level and the seats were at the second level. The seats with foot rest were comfy. There are pillows and blankets available for each passenger. You can recline it for a more comfortable sleep. I fit comfortably but for a taller guy like my habibi, it won’t hurt to have more space between rows of seats. There’s a stewardess to attend to your needs. Since it’s our first time to ride a coach bus, we thought highly of Aeroline. But when we got to the immigration at the border of Singapore and Malaysia, I got envious of the other busses. Most busses provided individual LCD screens per passenger!
We arrived at Corus Hotel a little past 5am in the morning. Good thing we are allowed an early check-in. Since we got only little sleep we snoozed for a while. Since our free breakfast is applicable on the next day, we looked for nearby hawkers to eat. We found one just across the Hotel. I’m a bit excited to taste their local food. Since it’s still early, their menu is limited. We settled for a “mee goreng”, a noodle dish that looked like our own “Palabok”. Only their Palabok is too spicy! Hahahaha! That dish woke us up! But the coffee we had was delish!
Our itinerary for our first day is Genting Highlands. We took a cab to KL Sentral Station. We were 2 hours behind our schedule. We did not book a bus to Genting prior our trip thinking there are a lot of busses going there. Unfortunately there weren’t. The next available trip is at 12noon. We had no choice but to take a cab to Genting Skyway. From Genting Skyway, we rode a cable car going up the Genting Highlands. This is the longest cable car I’ve ridden. And its direction is almost vertical, literally climbing a mountain. Next thing we knew, we’re surrounded by clouds! I’ve read that it’s cold in Genting. I thought it would be just like the temperature in Baguio. But it’s beyond comparison. In Genting, you can literally touch the sky! It’s like a theme park in heaven! The park is huge. There are a lot of rides but we weren’t able to ride all since we need to catch our bus back to KL at 5PM. There are a lot of people so we sometimes queued for almost an hour to a less than 2 minute ride. We’ll definitely come back to Genting!
Back to KL, since we are all tired, we just walked our way to Petronas Tower for some night shooting which is just around 100 meters away from our hotel.
The next day, we took an Elephant Tour + Batu Cave that Lia and I booked weeks before the trip. I’ve always wanted to ride an elephant and this tour was more than I imagined. First we headed to Batu Cave. It’s a Hindu temple that has 272 steps going up the cave. One highlight to this cave is the huge gold statue of a Hindu God. I was amused with the different images that they have in their temple. It’s definitely a mirror of their culture. I could tell that elephants and peacocks played a significant role to their spiritual beliefs. Another highlight is the monkeys that freely roam the area. I’ve never been fond of monkeys. I can’t remember one monkey cartoon character or even a monkey stuff toy that I found cute. I even thought “Kiko Matsing” of “Batibot” is a villain when I was a kid! Hahahaha!
Then we headed to the Elephant Sanctuary. It’s a one and a half hour drive from Batu Caves. When we got there, we first watched a short documentary film about elephants in Malaysia. The film showed how they transfer the elephants to other forests in Malaysia to keep them away from people. It’s nice to know that Malaysia still have untouched forests for those elephants. The film is also the sanctuary’s way to reach out to people who can help them fund the transportation of elephants. Due to limited funds, the elephants have no choice but to endure the long trip of forced migration.
The guests of the sanctuary are given three activities to enjoy with the elephants. First is the feeding of the elephants. Watermelons and bananas were prepared by the sanctuary. There are some elephants that are choosy. They would throw the watermelons you hand them and eat only the bananas. Very clever!
Next activity is the riding the elephants. This was what I was waiting for the whole trip. I’ve always wanted to ride an elephant and I won’t let this pass! Unfortunately the ride is very short! The elephant just walked in a small circle and that’s it! I put on so much anticipation for such a short ride. Hehe.
The last activity was bathing with the elephants in a nearby river! I came prepared for this. I brought change clothes for me and jayr. The guests will ride an elephant then the elephant will drop the guests by lying down in the water. We did not mind if the water was brown. I just enjoyed the moment! There were also two baby elephants nearby that you could bathe and play with. It’s such an experience. I’m definitely an “Elefriend” now!
We’re back at the hotel at 6PM. Then we headed to Petalling Street, their Chinatown, for some shopping. I was disappointed with their Chinatown. Most items they are selling were fake apparels, shoes, and bags. I was expecting to find more of their local products but did not find any. Their Chinatown made us feel like we were in Quiapo. The surrounding is very similar. Hehe. I also felt that I am in Manila when I saw huge billboards along the street. That’s one thing you can’t find here in Singapore.
The next day and our last day in KL, we had a city tour just to make the most of our trip. Since Petronas Tower is closed on Mondays, we took a cab and headed to KL Tower. KL Tower is known for its observation deck. We were able to see the bird’s eye view of the city. They also have a sky glide which I thought would start at the top of the tower but apparently it’s just a short trip from their lobby to the car park. I bought ticket for JayR for I don’t want him to miss this kind of adventure. The fee for the ride is fair enough for he gets to ride it twice! I waited at the car park and took some pictures.
It’s such a blessing we went to KL Tower first. There’s a budget taxi that you could hire for RM35 per hour per taxi. Good thing we listed the places we wanted to see so with little time we were able to check them all out. Aside from the places in the list, our driver brought us to two other spot that is not written in any tour guide book or leaflets. Our driver first drove us to a nearby chocolate factory! Who wouldn’t want to go there anyway? We bought durian chocolates and coffee chocolates. There is also a chili chocolate but we’re not brave enough to try it. Then he brought us to a sarong store where we were shown how it is done by hand. Those two trips already consumed our 1 hour. Since we booked the cab for two hours only just enough to catch our bus at 2:30pm, we didn’t get to see one place from our list. Nevertheless, the additional side trips were worth that one stop I’m sure. It had started to rain so we need to move fast. It was raining hard when we get to the King’s Palace. Since we’re not allowed to go beyond the palace’s gate, we squeezed ourselves inside the guard’s post. Hahaha! Then we headed to National Mosque. The rain had stopped but their prayer time has started, how lucky can we get? Hehe. We just took some pictures outside. Then we headed to our last stop which is the Sultan Abdul Building. It’s one of the oldest buildings in KL and just right in front of it is the Freedom Park where the tallest flag pole is. We’ve exceeded our contracted hours with the cab, but the driver is friendly enough to ignore it.
That wraps it all! With the rich culture of the country, indeed, Malaysia is truly Asia.
