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.

Sizzling Puerto Galera

It’s been a year since I’ve been to Galera! I never thought I’d be back here. I’m not a beach fanatic. But when our department decided to have our company outing here, I got excited na rin. Lalo na when we planned to include the Banana boat ride in our itinerary. Plus I got JayR to tag along with us for a minimal cost.



This time it was hotter in Galera. Probably due to the heat wave that’s been hitting Pinas lately. It’s still crowded but not as crowded as last year though we went not on holy week as we did last year. We took a 7:30am (which left at 8am) boat ride from Batangas Pier to White Beach. It’s really the only agonizing part of going to and fro Galera. As anticipated, the boat was fully loaded. I survived the boat ride without throwing up. :D Hooray for Bonamine! Perhaps sleeping through it helped me as well. We had little sleep the night before for we are supposed to be on board the bus by 4am. So we took every chance we got to snooze a bit.

We ate the lunch we brought once we’ve settled to a house we rented. The house has a two bedroom inside and 1 bedroom with its own T&B outside. It’s complete with kitchen and all its amenities and a Cable TV. It’s really like a house that the owner left for a while. After some rest and swimming, we went snorkeling!
The boat man took us to 3 snorkeling spot. But to my disappointment, none of them seem to have a live corals. I was amazed before with those corals but after we have seen the beauty of underwater in Bohol, all the corals in Galera seems dead to me. I just tried to look for some fish and enjoyed the sea. On the third snorkeling spot we went to is in just shallow water. JayR and I did not bother to go see it. We went ashore for some walking and picture taking.
On that shore was a floating resto bar which was just a floating raft which sells Halo-Halo last year. It expanded to more than twice its size. I was even surprised to see it on the bay of White Beach later that night. We had a hearty feast at Fernando’s Restaurant. We ordered Sinugba meals to satisfy all our cravings and hunger. Chicken Kebab is my favorite! After dinner, we strolled along the beach to check out what’s going on at night. There’s not much activity that night except for the dance show that 3 gays did to the music of PussyCat Dolls! I’m not sure if it’s at Tipzynakku Bar but a small crowd gathered to watch them dance. Great way to attract customers! Since we can’t do much that night, we decided to get Henna Tattoo! We found Black Inx at the far end of the beach. That’s where I had my glitter tattoo last year. I was happy with my glittered Tarantula then so I thought they’d do better again this time. I had a butterfly glitter tattoo done at my upper left back. The outline was done with Henna while the insides of its wings were red and blue glitters while its body was filled with gold glitters. JayR had a lion face facing sideways done at his left arm. He was so happy with the output that he liked to have another tattoo done at his right arm. If I gave in to his charm he would have done so but I thought one is enough. Had I approved, we might have gone home having his whole body tattooed with Henna. :D We strolled further until we decided to just sit along the beach. Tired myself, I fell asleep in an instant on his lap. I woke up when I felt chill already. We looked for our other companions along the beach but to our dismay all were asleep already. As we headed back to the house, we passed by a hotdog stand. Do we have to surpass this?? Naahh!! We enjoyed the hotdogs on stick as we head back to the house.

The next morning was the day I was anticipating for the whole trip! Banana Boat Ride!!! This is my first time to ride it. I was 2% nervous and 98% excited! I’ve always wanted to do this ride but never got the chance. We were instructed to release our hold of the reins during the drop. I tried to remove the stories I heard of those who broke their arms riding the banana boat off my head. I just thought I have JayR to rescue me if ever.
The ride had surpassed all my expectations. It was all fun to the 100th level! I don’t mind if my ears were filled with water when we were first dropped. I don’t mind if I have to climb the banana with more than one attempt. I tell you this is exhausting. I don’t mind if I was thrown out of the banana boat alone while all the others are still on it! Hahaha! Advise lang, if you’ll ride the banana boat, don’t lather up yourself with lotion. It’s harder to climb when you’re slippery! Hahaha! The most fun here was that we had a photographer ride with the speed boat capturing all the wonderful moments alive! Thanks Sir Malvin for taking the courage to take our photos! We salute you!

After the banana boat ride, we went to shop for souvenirs and prepared to set home. Of course, we can’t pass another chance to grab a hotdog and some fruit shakes! Yummy! Our boat ride to Batangas Pier was scheduled at 12pm. We have little time to shop. We were still shopping when everyone was already boarding the boat. To sum it all up, we had a great time and tan! I never thought that I would enjoy another day at the beach!

Antonio's @ Tagaytay to the Rescue!

You've waited 1 year for this very special day just to find out it will fall on a Good Friday. Yeah right! The thought of having our anniversary on a Good Friday keeps on bothering me a week before our special day and its very self explanatory why. Almost all establishments will be closed and I'm afraid I couldn't even give her a single decent flower on that day.

Until I found a paradise named Antonio's Garden in the vicinity of Tagaytay. Special thanks to Mr. Google, I really owe this one to you. I search for contact numbers and without any futher delay, I made a reservation for two. When the receptionist asked me for the date, I replied quickly without any hesitations but loaded with tons of prayers, "April 6, Good Friday at 5:30 pm.." Prayers answered! They will be open on that date. Actually I made a reservation because I want to surpise my date with some planned gimmicks with the help of course of the waiters/coordinators there since I'm planning to launch the million dollar question to her on that day. But immediate change of plans. I realized, not for any religious reasons, that it will better if I will do my proposal on some other day so I can further enhance it with other spectacular stuffs. (See previous blog entry). But good thing I made the reservations because they don't accept walk-in customers. That day, even though how dark to others, was fully-booked. And Im glad were in! God is really good..

I can simply describe this splendid place in one word -- perfect! I've seen some pictures of this place in the internet and from there, I can clearly see that this place is very remarkable, but being there and seeing it personally further amplified the awesomeness of the place. Though it is quite expensive, around P2000+ per head, this can be compensated by very cozy ambiance, excellent service from the staffs, the delectable foods (from the salad, the soup, the main course all the way to desserts), not to mentioned that all of the foods they serve are freshly cooked when you order it. After our hefty dinner, we took some more strolling around the place to burn the calories we gained, taking some pictures of antique stuffs. By the looks of it, Antonio’s seems like an ancestral house. We also enjoyed the sight of the coy fishes in their mini lagoon which truly adds to the serenity of the place.

Surely at the end of the day, we got all our money's worth! There were no fancy gifts and stuffs nor colorful flowers that night but Antonio's made that night worth remembering. And with this experience at Antonio's, I can say that this is truly one of the best dinner we ever had.

Collide @ Manila Pen

Taal Volcano : Up close

It was saturday morning, the sun is up and were wondering what place to conquer this time. We just drive and drive, dont care where the road will lead us until a bright idea came up from nowhere.. "Punta tayo Crater ng Taal!". That was indeed a spontaneous one. We really had no idea of going there until that very moment. And since both of us havent gone to the place yet, we decided to go and headed to south. But the funny thing is, both of us have no idea on how to get there. We thought at first that we just have to go to the people's park and from there, there will be a boat waiting to bring us to the volcano crater.

But as we approach Picnic Grove, we saw some bystanders holding some signboards with taal Crater written on it. So we decided to ask these folks for some informations. We found out that we still need to drive around 15-20 more minutes from the park and go to the resort where the boats are stationed. "Magkano ang boat ride?" I asked them and the man told me it's P1500. I told them, "Wala na bang bawas? Dalawa lang naman kami na pasahero, hindi masyado mabibigatan ang banka nyo.." But according to them, the price of the boat ride is fixed, no matter how many passengers are taking the ride. So we thought that's its better to go there in group, but since were already there, we made some few negotiations and finally settled for P1200 pesos. And after we close the deal, the guy boarded our vehicle to accompany us to their port area. I thought we were given a high price, but as we saw other competitors rate, its a bit higher compared to ours plus the fact that those others with higher price were not registered/licensed resorts to operate the business. So I told myself, "not bad.."

As we stand in the shore getting ready for the boat ride, we can clearly see the Volcano Island and it really commands a forceful presence and that what makes us more excited to reach the island in the middle of the lake. As we reached the island shore, we need to do some more haggling for the horse ride. On the way to the island, the boatmen gave us a hint that the folks in the island they would normally charge P500 for the horse ride to the crater but we have to do the negotiations ourselves. But since they thought that were from a wealthy society because of our appearances (ahem!), we couldnt do better than P600/person. Walking is an option, but you need to endure the heat as well as the dust every time the wind blows, not mentioning that the way to the top is indeed a steep one. It is a 20-minute journey to the top, and after that horse-ride, man!! sakit ng pwet ko.. hehehehe..

Finally we reached the top and the view from there was really awesome! Its a refreshing sight for both the mind and body. Good thing there are huts where you can rest your tired body so we sat there, take a rest and relax for a while enjoying the view. There are some vendors selling refreshments like softdrinks and buko juice, and badtrip!!, there is a vendor there offering us buko juice but since we havent taken our lunch yet, we refused to buy some. We continued to enjoy the scenery and by just merely looking at the crater and the view makes our thoughts fly until the vendor (who is selling buko juice to us) approached us telling us to go somewhere else since there are I think Korean people coming. "Lipat na lang kayo ng pwesto, d naman kayo bibili eh.. Ung mga Koreano bibili yan." mentioned the vendor. This really made my blood rise and I replied, "Bakit kelangan ba bumili para makaupo dito?!" I really dont want to leave the place where we were sitting just to annoy the vendor but the vendor would not stop talking and whispering to co-vendors. So just not to spoil the day and our taal get away, we left our resting haven and start exploring the place, taking some pictures and stuffs. The sights were indeed breath-taking. We saw some tiny holes in the ground releasing some sulphuric gas (I guess) which lead us to the idea that this one is still an active one. The place was clean and was properly maintained by the Tanods there.

Around 2:30 pm, we decided to go back down to the shore while the sky are still a bit cloudy and also were already starving. On the way down, the horse guides who were with us are cousins (if I remembered correctly). And on the way down, we were really in a hurry. I would tell the boy, "hey dont be on a rush", because it was really painful in the butt (hehehe) because the road is not smooth. He would slow down for a while, and afterwards start to gain speed once again, overtaking other horses that came our way. I later found out that this boy was trying to run after his crush which was couple of meters ahead of us. Because of that, I didnt gave him that much of a tip.

As we reach the port area, we took pleasure eating baked macaroni as our lunch, which is just one of HER many specialties, and one of the best I ever tasted. =) And at the end of the day, all we have are tired bodies but it's all worth it!


Here is the AVP of our Taal Journey, which is included in our first AVP, Episode 1.