Kuala Lumpur in a Flash

Baggages galore. The first-time jet-setter couple
with Mama

This trip is a lot of first's for Aunty Artem and Uncle Lolong. It was their first time travelling outside the country. A bit sad but true that at their age -- early 60s -- it's also the first time they've ever been on a plane.  The good thing is, for this trip, they've taken 5 flights in all (including the Singapore leg), so it's like making up for all those lost opportunities. And to top it all, they were also celebrating their 40 years of marriage at that time! Imagine that!

First flight we took was for the Davao-Manila leg.  We took a mid-morning flight as we had to catch the Manila-KL later that day.  We also had to meet Ate Mariza in Manila as she is again joining us this year. These annual out-of-the-country jaunts are fast becoming a family tradition.

We arrived in KL in the late afternoon.  From the air, KL looked a bit like a big garden. It's like looking down on a very vast, meticulously manicured lawn.  As we got closer, it turned out they were oil palms.  I knew it is Malaysia's major industry but I did not know it was that "major."

After getting off the plane, we got a bit disoriented at the airport.  There was a uniformed man who called out in a loud voice, "Filipinos, come this way!"  So we followed a long queue.  Noting however that all of them are holding a long brown envelope and are looking as disoriented as us, I knew they must be some contract workers.

Eventually we got past the immigration. Since Ate and the kids arrived ahead of us and were already at the hotel, she was helpful in giving us instructions as to what to tell the taxi and how much it should cost. Thanks to free airport wifi and fb, we were able to get in touch easily.  

The drive from the airport to the city was a pleasant one.  It was a surprise to find out that we were staying within close proximity to KL's most famous landmark -- Petronas Towers.   So close, that the towers are nicely framed by the window in the living room area of our suite.  It's been a while since the Lola's and the kids have seen each other so there a lot of hugs and kisses exchanged. 

Suara KLCC Park. Photo credit: Zyn

In spite of having traveled the entire day, we wasted no time in starting our exploration of the city that night. After all, we only have then and the whole day the next day.  From our hotel, we crossed the beautiful park of Suara KLCC to get to main mall itself.  It is a beautiful park and I longingly looked at the park’s rubberized running tracks.  I fancied myself taking a dawn run the next day.  It looked that inviting. We've encountered a few runners along the way and I envied them and their access to such a facility.  If we’d have the same back home, I knew it could get pretty crowded.  As it is, the People’s Park attracts a lot of runners even if there isn’t an inch of a rubberized track.  There are only concrete and brick-covered tracks that the local runners had to make do with.  Anyway, the walk – even though we were tired from the whole day travel – was made pleasant because of the many sights. 

Clockwise: Petronas in the background; Fountain at KLCC Entrance;

Lola Fely and Lola Linda at the Pavilion; 2 bottom photos: Everyone

at the Pavilion. Credits: Myself and Zyn.

As expected, there were several stops for picture-taking in between, especially when Petronas looked splendid, lit against the dark night sky. There was also a beautiful fountain near the entrance of the main mall that had the olds eagerly taking turns posing for pictures.   

At KLCC, we found the whole place dressed in red and gold since we came right in the  middle of Chinese New Year month.  There were a lot of red lanterns everywhere.  At the atrium, there was a whole place dedicated to displaying lucky charms and what-not's.  We made it quickly right out though since we intended to have our dinner at the Pavilion, another major mall in KL. As in KLCC, the whole mall was dressed up for Chinese New Year.  

Chinese Food.  Whether it's to be in keeping with the occasion or simply because it's the safest
choice (not too expensive and not the usual fast food either), we trooped to a Chinese restaurant for our dinner.  It's the usual spinach dish for me with a lot of garlic thrown in.  They had the usual soup, a dimsum and a few meat dishes.  It was the buko juice that literally "bowled" us over though :)

We had a quick look-around after dinner but we are not exactly mall rats so we just breezed through the mall and proceeded to he taxi hailing booth to grab a ride.  It was a long day and we we were quite ready to call it a night.  Photo at the left showed us queuing up for our taxi ride. Yup, an entire clan hehehe We needed 3 taxis in all.

Batu Caves. Credit: Zyn

City Tour. Day 2 was a whirlwind of tours. It started with a sumptuous breakfast buffet at the hotel.  First stop that morning was Batu Caves.  We chanced upon a wedding in one of the temples there.  It was another thing off my bucket list as I've always wanted to go there.  It's quite a climb, taking the steps leading to the main cave.  The Lola's took one look and opted to just stay at the plaza below.  They whiled the time away by exploring the many shops there. 

Clockwise: At Batu Caves; View from the top, looking down; Only 2 of the

monkeys that greets visitors at the caves steps; Ate, Lian and the olds at the 
turning point where they decided there are far too many steps to climb :P

Tunga, Bodok, Lian and I took to the stairs until we reached the main cave and saw several mini-temples there.  I guess we had grand expectations and so we were a bit disappointed to see nothing spectacular up there. But yeah, of course we were respectful of the fact that the shrines at the top were very significant to the Hindus who climbed the stairs with us, some even are barefoot. The monkeys who roamed freely and greets guests at the stairs made the climb exciting and fun. Tunga got scared at one point but Bodok was able to get really great photographs of them.

At Beryl's Chocolate Heaven

Willy Wonka's.  Next stop was the chocolate factory.  Nope, it wan't anywhere near Willy Wonka's but the free samples more than made up for it.  We bought a few packs, especially the durian covered ones.  History of the chocolate business and how to's covered the walls of the display rooms.  Aunty Artem, who had always wanted to know how to make one (owing to the several cacao trees she owns), took some notes and urged the kids to take photos of the same.

Bags overload.  Next to the chocolate shops was a bag display center of sorts.  Needless to say, the olds and Ate did not leave there literally, empty-handed :P

Then we were ushered in to a green tea shop.  It was actually not part of the planned itinerary.  Thanks to the driver of the van we hired, we found our way there.  We just found ourselves ushered in a room where one man lectured us on the benefits of green tea and ginseng.  I could tell the olds were hanging on to his every word while Ate, the kids and I were like wanting to move on already.  Not wanting to hurt the olds' feelings though, we endured a bit of it before we finally ushered them out of the door. 

Ista Negara's very expansive grounds. Credit: Zyn

Istana Negara was the last stop in the morning.  The term translates to, “National Palace” in Malay.  It is the official residence of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King) of Malaysia. The whole area is around 11 has., surrounded by a beautiful garden befitting any palace or residence of any country’s Head of State.  It was all fenced in though, but the tourists found amusement in posing and taking pictures by the massive entrance gates that bear the Royal Insignia of the King.  

Clockwise: Uncle Lolong and Aunty Artem;
Mama and Ate Mariza; Bodok; Zyn.

The guards were points of interest as well. There was one, straddled on a horse and a lot of the tourists queue up to have their pictures taken there.  The olds were one of them.  I was quick with the shutter, fearful that the attention might upset the horse and get on a kicking frenzy.  The animal appeared unperturbed, however.  It must be used to all the attention already.   It’s worth mentioning that the guards look regal in their uniforms very similar to the British guards shown in postcards of the Buckingham Palace in London and those found in Bangkok’s Grand Palace. 

Uncle Lolong at the Petronas

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to check out.  We had a 10 PM flight bound for Singapore later that night.  Meanwhile, we still had a few hours to spare and we intended to get the most of it. We stopped by Petronas to do a more thorough tour this time and were we glad we did!  

At Starhill Gallery and the famous Sephora

Shop Hopping. The rest of the afternoon was spent on shopping. We again went to Pavilion Mall for lunch. While waiting for our food, we queued up in J.Co's next door for some donuts.  We spent a bit more time at Starhill Gallery.  Zyn had to have a newly bought sandals replaced.  And there were a lot to choose from.  Ate Tata treated me to a pair of bejeweled ones :) Then we went back to the hotel to get our bags.  We have arranged for the van we engaged earlier to take us to the airport for another fee.  We also haggled that before taking us there, we would pass by Little India for some last-minute bargain shopping. And shop we did. 

Little India is KL’s Chatuchak.  While the latter is a lot bigger, Little India does not necessarily lack in terms of the variety of stuff to choose from.  We bought a lot of souvenir knick knacks.  Ate Tata bought a bootleg Louis Vuitton bag.  Bodok, after spending so much time only managed to buy a pair of bootleg Rayban sunglasses.  He got a ribbing for it.  His Lolo Lolong teased him no end for only managing to buy that, after spending so much time going around.  I was holding on to my cash and wasn't buying anything because there was the Singapore leg that I had to think of.  But while at Little India, I eventually had to have a few dollars exchanged so I could buy a few souvenir stuff.  Being a Mom, I couldn’t resist buying Janin and Rod a sharpener shaped in a small replica of the Petronas Towers.  I hope they are still holding on to these till now.  I bought Mama some KL mini-plates that she’d been collecting during her travels.  I bought her one when I went to Sri Lanka.  Anyway, before long, we were already on our way to the airport.

A little “chicken snag” at the airport.  Arriving at the airport wasn’t much of a hassle.  It was checking in that was nerve-wracking.  The queues were long and while there were a lot of X-ray machines, there was very limited personnel manning them.  Our mini adventure (if one could call it that) though wasn’t about that. 

After spending the entire day squeezing in as much as we can into our schedule, we were naturally famished when we got to the airport.  While we had included in-flight food in our bookings, we thought it best to grab a quick bite as our flight is not until later.  We first queued up at McDonald’s.  We were told they ran out of chicken and were asked if we’re willing to wait for 20 minutes.  So we transferred to another chicken place just across.  The line was long but we endured it, figuring it wouldn’t take us 20 minutes.  Or so we thought. We were already next in line when the person in front of us, obviously irritated, raised his voice and said, “You don’t let your customers wait 30 minutes! Where’s your manager? You should take stock of your chicken and make a decision when to cook another batch! It’s not okay to make your customers wait for 30 minutes! Do you get that?”  And so we took our cue from there and eased out of line.  We’d rather have the 20 minutes than wait for another 30.  By now, that should be down to just 10 minutes.  So we crossed back to Mc’s, only to find out that we have to wait another 30 minutes.  We’re like, okay, we’re settling here. I was nearing the head of the line when Ate came marching in bringing food from the other chicken store.  She said there were no seats left there so we’d better stay where we were.  I was like, “Is it allowed at all?!” To make up for it, we ordered our rice there and some juice.  Then ate away we did. 

That wasn't all.  Ate bought some drinks from Starbucks but since we went ahead to the passenger terminal area, she and Lian were forced to gobble up a couple of the drinks and gave some to the guards because they were not allowed to bring any drinks in.  What a waste hehehe

We had to wait for a while for our flight. I remember whiling the time away finishing up a blog on our previous trip.  I thought it funny at that time. So it's the third flight for Aunty Artem and Uncle Lolong. And counting...  :)