goriolakwatsero

Our last day in KL was all about shopping. And no better venue for us to do it than Petaling Street. Located at the heart of Kuala Lumpur, Chinatown, is a colorful and bustling shopping area that features all sorts of stuff from Chinese herbs, clothes, accessories, pirated DVDs, and whole lotta knick-knacks. Known to be a hunter’s paradise, Chinatown is filled with hundreds of stalls offering all kinds of goods at really low prices, that can be brought lower still if you just know how to haggle. Deeply immersed in Oriental culture, heritage and history, Chinatown is undoubtedly one of the most popular tourist spots in Malaysia.

After breakfast, we immediately took a taxi to bring us to Chinatown. Despite the taxi drivers outside the hotel being so pushy in bringing us again to the chocolate factory, or offering to bring us at a factory outlet that they claim is selling cheaper goods than in Chinatown, we still argued our way for them to bring us there. I was actually pissed with the way that they were being pushy to bring us to that stupid place. It came to a point that I actually raised my voice and said “I don’t care! Bring us to Chinatown”. I warn you, those guys were an absolute pest.

We separated in two groups and our taxis dropped us off at the Kasturi Walk near the Central Market, which was just a few steps away from the main area of Petaling Street. I was really happy to see that they were selling those sling bags that I thought can only be seen and bought in Bangkok. So happy that I bought 3 of them and the rest of the guys bought some too, lowering the price some more since we are ordering in bulk.

Chinatown is all about the rows and rows of stalls selling all types of merchandise from food to clothing at bargainable prices. It’s not as big as the Chatuchak Market in Bangkok, but the place is still a shopping paradise and probably the cheapest of all the markets I’ve been to in Asia. So cheap that Mona ended spending P5K all in all despite the fact that she vowed never to do that much shopping in Malaysia. I lost count of all the plastic bags we were carrying with all the stuff that we’ve bought and we were actually not done yet.

What I also loved about Chinatown was the street foods available. From fruits to chestnuts to waffles to bacon. Imagine how happy I was when I saw this stall selling huge strips of bacon, which as you can see with the way I talk about it, is my most favorite food in the whole wide world. There are hawker stalls, refreshment stands and restaurants scattered here as well, also selling at reasonably low prices. We stayed here until around 2PM and went back to our hotel to pack all of the stuff we’ve bought and spent the rest of the day strolling and walking around the Bukit Bintang area and inside the Pavilion Mall.

We spent our last dinner at Jalan Alor around 7PM and checked out around 9PM, took a taxi to KL Sentral to catch the Skybus to bring us back to LCCT. We actually took the Aerobus instead, which was the competitor of the Skybus. We were having that Amazing Race moment that we didn’t care what bus it was as long as we’re gonna make it to KL Sentral before midnight since buses don’t operate after those hours anymore until 3AM. I didn’t want to risk coming in late for our check-in, and since we probably won’t be able to sleep at the hotel anymore, it’s better we stay at the LCCT and spend the rest of the night there before we check-in for our flight.

And for the first time ever, we are literally going to sleep in the airport. It wasn’t really uncomfortable as some people might think. We are not that high maintenance. Especially me, FYI, contrary to what some of my friends and other people might think. Some of the guys actually slept on the cold floor, using the newspapers we took from the hotel as floor covers, while the rest of us slept on the benches. It was a pretty cool experience that made me feel like a nomad. Though I didn’t get to sleep much during that time, I ended up roaming around LCCT, just “sightseeing”, checking out the other passengers sleeping around the airport benches and floors. Good thing there’s a number of 24-hour restaurants and coffee shops available and a nearby bookstore that’s open as well, that I ended up shopping for some more travel books and magazines.

The counters opened at around 4AM, woke the rest of the guys up and checked all of our luggages. We left KL around 6AM and arrived in Clark around 10AM, took the Philtranco bus back to Manila and spent the rest of the afternoon roaming around Makati before our flight for Iloilo left at 8PM.

All in all, it was a solid vacation. Pretty tiring, yeah, but all worth it. What made it more enjoyable were the people I went with. It was never a dull moment and we will surely be back here again in no time. We never expected to love the place that much. The food, the people, the sights, and the very fact that it’s seriously cheap, makes me wanna book another flight to come and visit this place again.

Since our pickup at our hotel was scheduled at 9AM, we all had enough time to rest from yesterday’s tiring schedule at the Petronas to the Batu Caves. Our driver, Mr. Tan, arrived at exactly 9AM to bring us to the Genting Highlands. A hill resort nestled on a mountain peak within the Titiwangsa Mountains, Resorts World Genting, is probably the coldest place in Malaysia. Featuring a variety of five-star hotels, shops, establishments, casinos and theme parks, it’s definitely a must-see and must-visit site for travellers within the country. It took us about an hour from KL to arrive at Genting, amidst the crazy fog that surrounded us, providing absolutely zero visibiity at one point on that drive to the top of the mountains.

The popular Genting Skyway and the alternative Awana Skyway were all closed due to maintenance that time, so our driver dropped us off the car park, which was a few minutes walk to the entrance of the theme parks. It was the first time we experienced that much fog and stupid me forgot to bring my jacket. I actually didn’t expect it to be THAT cold during that time but I got used to it somehow. We lined up to buy our tickets and bought the one day unlimited access to the rides for all the theme parks there. Since it was fogging way too much outside, we decided to go to the First World Indoor Theme Park first.

Almost all the rides in the First World Indoor Theme Park were pretty much child-friendly and we rode all of them I think. Some of the 4D movies that were showing were pretty lame. We should’ve tried the Haunted Mansion instead of the boring Little Prince movie. We saw this stall on the 2nd Floor that was creating wax figures and since I have always wanted a wax figure of myself, Kimchi and I decided to buy one. We sent our preferred picture to the designer’s iPad via bluetooth. He then took a picture of each of us there and told us to return after 3 hours. There were various sizes available and I bought the large size and paid P3,600 for it.

It was raining a little when we arrived so when the rain stopped, we all decided to go out to the Outdoor Theme Park. Since it was really fogging so bad, most of the rides, including the much anticipated Flying Coaster, were closed down. I am not sure if I should be bummed about it or be relieved that it’s not operational that day. Good thing the Space Shot was open and I had to force Mona, Kimchi and Andre to take that crazy ride. It was actually similar to the Abyss in Hong Kong Disneyland, though I think the Abyss was actually higher. I didn’t dare ride the Space Shot anymore. Personally, you need to try this type of ride once in your life and for me, once was enough.

We roamed around the place using the Outdoor Theme Park map as a guide, crossed the canopy bridge, rode the bumper boats, the dizzying Pirate Ship, the Spinner, and a mix of other rides in the park. We went back inside the First World Indoor Theme Park around 4:30PM to claim our wax figures and then had our late lunch before we went down back to the car park to wait for Mr. Tan to drive us back to our hotel. We spent the rest of the day buying some souvenirs and shopping at the nearby Pavilion Mall and had dinner again at Jalan Alor.

Second day of our KL trip was all about the Petronas and making sure we get to go up the Skybridge and experience the view from there. It was a Sunday and since we were to leave on Wednesday morning and the Petronas is closed on Mondays, we had to book those tickets and reserve our slots either for that day or Tuesday, our other free day, in case there were too many people lining up that time. Good thing it was Ramadan, and good thing I was such an OC packmaster, we arrived at KLCC around 5 in the morning. There were about 6 people already waiting in line when we arrived and while the rest of the guys were lining up, I decided to go out with Althea to find the stop for the HoHo tour bus (this is another story, the amazingly disappointing HoHo experience). After more than 30 minutes of asking and walking around KLCC, one security guard pointed us to the bus stop, which was just located in the bus stop in front of the Petronas. There were no signs so we got confused as to where it really was.

We went back inside the Petronas and around 8AM, we all went down to the concourse level to fall in line for the tickets. Since only 2 people per group are needed to buy those tickets, the rest of the guys waited on a nearby mini-cafe, just a few steps from the ticket counters, while me and Mona lined up for our tickets. One of the lady guards asked us from what country we were and how many tickets we’re going to buy. The monitor showed the available schedule and since we wanted to take advantage of the complimentary breakfast in our hotel, which ends at 10AM, we decided to go for the 11AM schedule instead of the 9AM one. We were all craving for the tasty and delicious nasi lemak from our hotel and we were so hungry that time as well, so choosing that 11AM slot was the right thing to do. We paid RM80 each for the tickets. Looks like they’re really taking advantage of the “glamour” that is the Petronas since a few months back, it was only for RM50 and a year ago it was for free! Still, it was all worth it. I was just shocked as to how much the difference of pricing would be and how fast it would skyrocket.

After buying our tickets, we went back to our hotel to have breakfast and to rest a bit. While me, Mona and Kimchi tried to take a quick powernap before returning to the Petronas, the rest of the guys went to visit the Chocolate Factory, which was being promoted by the taxi drivers outside the hotel in a hardcore manner. Methinks they’re getting a cut every time they refer and bring some tourists to that place. At around 10:50AM, we were all back at the Petronas to lineup for our schedule.

The people there are very strict about being on time. While we were lining up, one lady was being very pushy about getting in line with us even when her schedule was for 11:15AM, not 11AM. But the guy manning the entrance was really very strict and told the lady to wait for their turn. At the same time, one Indian lady, who was dragging her 2 sons and her husband right behind, was late. They were supposed to be on the 10:15AM schedule, but arrived in line at 10:50 already. We were all trying to control our smirks when we saw and heard Mr. Poker-Faced Petronas Guy say these lines in a slow, firm and expressionless manner: “You’re ticket has been (slight pause) forfeited”. I can still remember the look on that Indian woman and the way her jaw opened in shock, realizing that she just threw away RM320 for being tardy for the party.

At exactly, 11AM, we all went up to the 82nd floor (I’m actually not sure if it’s really the 82nd floor), and enjoyed the view from there. The feel inside the Petronas was very much futuristic, with holograms welcoming us to those barcodes that can be scanned to reflect some designs onscreen, showing some info about the Twin Towers. We weren’t really paying attention to the info on the screen, we just loved playing with the barcodes and taking silly pictures of each other there. After a few minutes, we all went down to the Skybridge, which connects the two towers on the 41st and 42nd floors. We all had a blast doing some photo ops and crazy stuff on the bridge with everyone else watching us like we lost our minds or something. Just take a look at our pics and see for yourselves. Haha!

We went down at around 12PM and decided to line-up for the HoHo tour just outside the Petronas. As I’ve mentioned earlier, it was definitely the most disappointing part of this trip. HoHo, which means Hop Off Hop On, is a special tour that would allow its passengers to drop on and off a tour bus at various designated tourist spots around KL and ride back again at the next available bus within 24 hours. I really don’t want to talk about it that much because I hated the HoHo thing. It was sooooo boring, I actually slept inside the bus! And I’m not really the type who would endure listening to the guide, sounding in a sleepy monotone manner, telling us about the history of such and such. I’m seriously not into that. Honestly, not only was it a waste of money for me, it was a waste of our precious time there. We could’ve easily done that tour ourselves. Seriously, it was such a disappointment. When the bus stopped at KL Sentral, we all decided to get out of that limbo bus and go next to our planned destination, which was the Batu Caves.

Located in the Gombak district and approximately about 18 miles north of KL, the Batu Caves if one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside of India and is the focal point of the Hindu festival of Thaipusam in Malaysia. After having lunch at KFC in KL Sentral, we all took the KTM Komuter, bought a one-way ticket for RM1, which was around P13, and arrived at the Batu Caves 30 minutes later. There were a number of food stalls, souvenir shops, and a whole lotta pigeons everywhere, once we stepped into the area. And oh yeah, don’t forget about the monkeys as well.

The Batu Caves temple complex actually consisted of three main caves and the biggest, known as the Cathedral Cave, has a very high ceiling and features ornate Hindu shrines. We all had to climb the steep flight of 272 steps to get there. But not after we took some photo-ops with the statue of Murugan. The other main caves, the Art Gallery and Museum Cave, are all filled with Hindu statues and paintings, and a number of devotees praying and gathering in groups. It was such a unique sight for me to see those people go with their usual routines of worship, and probably the nearest I could experience a little of India’s Hinduism.

I’ve heard a lot of people complain about the garbage and the stench inside the caves, but I actually did not mind it at all. I was more engrossed with the beauty of the caves and was pretty much busy clicking shots here and there to even be bothered by the trash and monkey poop. As if we don’t have that here in the Philippines. It was all about respecting and admiring these people and their way of life. A lot of the tourists there were actually Indians. I guess it’s very important for them and for their religion to come and visit this place at one point in their lives.

After reaching the end at the top of the caves, we decided to go back down and along the way we saw a bunch of monkeys on the stairs. One of them actually grabbed the ice cream of one of the Chinese tourists while she wasn’t looking. Kimchi and Althea decided to try the henna art being offered by some Indian girls on their hands, which lasted for a few minutes before we took the KTM Kounter train back to KL Sentral. Once we were back in KL Sentral, we then decided to buy some tickets for Genting. Right beside the ticketing counter for the Genting bus tickets, was a taxi service offering rides to Genting. They gave us a really good deal for a van to fit all seven of us and included roundtrip transfers from our hotel to Genting for a total of RM350 all in all. We had scheduled for the driver, Mr. Tan, to pick us up at Bintang Warisan the next day at 9AM. Once we’ve settled everything, we then took a taxi back to our hotel and had dinner again in our favorite street in KL, which was the Jalan Alor.

That tagline may have been overused all these years, but yes, Malaysia truly is Asia. A beautiful melting pot of culture, people and traditions, Malaysia truly embodies what the Asian experience is all about.

Our trip to Malaysia was definitely one of the most stressful and tiring vacations I’ve had so far. And definitely one of the most memorable and fun-filled. This would be the first time that I will be flying out of the county from Clark via AirAsia, and that alone was a whole new experience and stress-filled already. There were seven of us all in all, and of course I was head of preparations and organization (as always). Since we had to ride a bus from Manila to Clark for almost 2 hours, we have decided it would be best for us to stay overnight in Manila to catch the first bus from Philtranco to Clark which is scheduled at 6:30AM, since our flight to Kuala Lumpur was scheduled at 11AM.

The night before we were to leave for Clark, it rained a little and the area where our hotel was located was flooded almost knee-deep. It was around 10PM and we were supposed to leave around 4:30AM the next day to catch the Philtranco Bus bound for Clark at 6:30. I was so stressed that time that every hour I was checking out the hotel window to see if the flood had subsided already. Thankfully, it did not rain anymore and the flood was gone by the time we left the hotel. Just imagine what would happen if the rain did not stop. I seriously did not want our Malaysia trip to be ruined because of that. Lucky us we were already at the Philtranco terminal when it rained again, which means, the area outside our hotel is pretty much flooded by that time.

We bought our tickets the day before since we were worried we’d run out of seats in the bus. The Philtanco bus arrived at exactly 6:30AM. We paid P450 for the fare and arrived at the Diosdado Macapal Airport around 9AM. It was actually one of the most comfortable bus rides I’ve had so far. Immigration was a breeze, contrary to the reports I’ve heard about the immigration officers in Clark from other people.

We arrived at Kuala Lumpur Airport’s LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal) around 3PM, bought some sim cards, took our luggages (which ended up in the Lost And Found area), and then bought our tickets for the Skybus, which would bring us to KL Sentral. It was another hour and a half ride to KL Sentral, where we then took a taxi to bring us to our hotel in Bukit Bintang, which was the Bintang Warisan Hotel. The Bintang Warisan Hotel’s location is absolutely perfect. It’s surrounded by just about everything you need. There’s a money changer outside the hotel, foot spas, a bunch of restaurants, and just about a minute’s walk from Bukit Bintang and the shopping complexes, and also a few minutes away from Jalan Alor, known as KL’s gastronomic food heaven.

The first thing we did after leaving all our stuff in our rooms was to go to the popular Petronas Twin Towers, known to be one of the tallest buildings in the world. The Petronas Towers were the tallest buildings in the world for six years, until Taipei 101 was completed in 2004. And yeah, the climax of the movie Entrapment was also filmed here. From the time we arrived at KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre), we were all hitting our cameras like crazy. It was definitely one photo-op after another, from non-stop jump shots to trying on the right angle to get the near-perfect shots we can of the Petronas. Since we also wanted to take some nightshots of the towers, we decided to roam around the Suria KLCC mall, located at the base of the Petronas until it got dark and we saw that the towers are all lighted up.

The Petronas at night is definitely a sight to see. Truly one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen and absolutely postcard moment for me. I kept on adjusting the flash level of my camera, trying to capture the best shot I can get out of those beautiful buildings. We left the area around 10PM, took a taxi van back to our hotel and decided to have dinner in Jalan Alor.

Jalan Alor is an entire street dedicated to cheap and seriously delicious hawker food. Located within walking proximity of Bintang Walk, it is popular among the locals for offering food served in a traditional open-air atmosphere, with chairs and tables dotting the curbs and roadsides. This is a place burgeoning with activity both during night and day, but definitely best visited at night when the hawkers are all in full force. Every night onwards, this was our favorite eating spot in KL, particularly the Fat Brother Satay stall, which serves a variety of bite-size dishes of marinated, skewered and grilled meat, chicken, goat, lamb, beef, pork, fish, mushrooms and tofu. And since I was experiencing a mild flu and had some allergy attacks that time, hot milk tea was my favorite drink every night in KL. It was so good that I had to buy myself a pack of powdered milk tea afterwards.

After that wonderful, cheap and delicious meal we had at Jalan Alor, we decided to retreat back to our hotel, so that we can rest since we had to wake up really early the next day to line up at the Petronas so that we can get up to the Skybridge and secure ourselves the tickets since the number of people that can go up the Skybridge are usually limited to around 500 people per day and since it’s closed during Monday, we had to secure that slot the very next day.