• Day 6 (Saturday, 27 February 2010)

Freedom finally! It’s the last day and everybody’s going home earlier except me! But finally after a whole week of babysitting, the freedom time comes last and it’s also the day I had to take the flight back home. Darn…

So we started together for breakfast again at Cafe Swiss. Oh for your information, Swissôtel The Stamford is enormous in size therefore expect to have a full house in either Cafe Swiss or Kopi Tiam for your breakfast. You can choose in-between, however I recommend you to come early. The difference? There’s no significant difference actually except for a change of view and interior, one or two different dishes, and that’s probably it. Though I would recommend more for Cafe Swiss since it’s more spacious and somehow, more food. Try the genuine Swiss dishes, rösti and müesli while you’re in Swissôtel.

We exchanged goodbyes after breakfast and I headed back to my room for packing. After ensuring that everything’s okay, I checked out at 11 AM and drop my luggage at the concierge for now because I’ll be traveling around the city, light!

Okay, so I got a few hours for my last walk around this city. Where first then? I was suddenly remembered that two years earlier, I could only saw Sentosa Island from VivoCity Mall. I suppose this would be the right time to go there plus the fact that the casino was opened already.

So first of all, I gotta change the line into purple at Dhoby Ghaut MRT and go straight ahead to the southernmost purple line at Harbour Front MRT. I arrived underneath VivoCity Mall and was wondering what’s the best way to go to the island. I was thinking about the monorail but one of my friends said that it’s a bit costly so then I figured out that I should be using bus but which way?

Turns out that it’s not that hard and by the time you ascend upstairs to the surface, easily you’ll find the Resorts World Sentosa’s RWS8 bus heading for Sentosa Island. Alternatively while writing this article, I found out another route from City Hall using RWS88 in which I shouldn’t have bothered coming all the way here! Jeez..

Anyway, I thought there are gonna be a long queue since it’s Saturday but not really. Several attendants wearing safari shirts who happened also to be the RWS guides for those who gonna use the bus to go there.

Without hesitate, I ask for the details and they said that the bus will take everyone straight for SGD 2. The payment can be done in hard cash or by my MRT card. So I queued a bit and the red bus came to take everyone to the island. Why bus you might ask? It’s because I had always wanted to try Singaporean buses which without doubt clean, safe, and air-conditioned.

It was a short and nice trip for me but the bus turned out to be a full house. Lucky I got there earlier so I can pick the seat way in the back at the corner for clear view of everything, including the passengers. We rode through the streets of Singapore suburbs which actually neat and nice then we crossed through the bridge to the island. Upon arrival, we descended to the RWS basement and alight.

From the basement of the parking lot I was presented with the majestic appearance of Resorts World Sentosa. The Casino was on my left side, ready to receive tourists like me for free but not for the Singaporeans though. Singaporeans charged with SGD 100 for one time entry. I remember one of my Singaporean colleagues back at the office said that, ‘The government wants us to work, not gamble’. Well, that’s a prudent move by the government to keep its citizens from being broke and making trouble, apart from imposing heavy-duty for cigarettes and not to mention, harsh penalties for any crime. I feel pity for those suppressed souls but they certainly enjoy the benefit of having a fine city like that. A bit boring though in the end. ^^

As for foreigners, it’s free for the entry. Judging that the last time I went to Genting Highlands and got kicked out because I wore sandals, I assume that this time it won’t make any differences besides I was a bit afraid that I might get tempted to play and waste my money. Hahahaha..

I explored around the vicinity to find the location of the new Universal Studios only to find out that it’s not yet finished and even if it had been finished, I won’t have the time to play and it’s gonna be costly. So instead, I preferred just chill out a bit inside this chocolate haven of Hershey’s! Yup, it’s really Hershey’s and the first one in South East Asia! I always recall Hershey’s dated from World War II era when I watched the movie ‘Empire of The Sun’ when the Americans were dropping supply boxes filled with rations and Hershey’s chocolates for the refugees!

Since there’s no Hershey’s shop in Indonesia yet up until now, I decided without consideration to buy some chocolates there. Turns out that this place was quite a treat for everyone since it’s a bit rare to find it even at Singapore proper. Some people even buy replicas of Hershey’s huge syrup bottle and taking photographs with it. Jeez… It was very comfortable inside even if you’re not sitting and walking here and there looking at the chocolate since I felt a bit reluctant to go out again. It’s very hot that day so best to chill out a bit inside first before heading out again for the battle.

The RWS is actually a quite interesting place to visit with all the attractions and its massively prepared infrastructures for any entertainment. Not to mention the solid decorations and architecture as well. Since I got nothing else to do, I took a walk around and taking photographs around the place before heading back to VivoCity Mall and this time using the monorail.

It’s my first monorail ride and I was a bit nervous since it’s a free ride. Why’s that? Turns out that later on the terminus at VivoCity, you gotta pay SGD 3 for a return ride. So that means if you wanna save a dollar then you should use the bus like I did! You might think that it’s only a buck so what’s the big deal, but you gotta see the queue at VivoCity at weekend and you’re gonna want to return to the bus stop. About the monorail also, the line serve several stops at Sentosa Island so you can pick anywhere you wanted for the ride.

It’s lunchtime and there’s plenty of time left before heading to Changi so I just drop by at Food Republic just beside the terminus. Of course, since my last visit at Food Republic Wisma Atria, Thye Hong had been closed for the whole day that day and now it’s my turn to taste it again! It was a great feast after a tiring walk under the noon sun at the island, I tucked in greedily and savor all the squids and the big prawns. It was one of the best lunch I had ever had in Singapore (which was lacking most of the time). To finish it up, I also enjoyed the Mango Pudding from Ice Shop which unfortunately not as good as I remember.

I still got time left before my flight at 7 PM and it’s already 3 PM now so I gotta rush back to the hotel for my luggage. I had the intention to take a short tour around VivoCity but since it was Saturday, it was packed with everybody. I did stop at National Geographic shop for a minute and it was fascinating to see the collections but the merchandises were indeed overpriced.

I rushed back to the hotel without much ado, I got my luggage back and now I’m off to Changi Airport to leave Singapore. I was planning to leave early since I wanna take a good look around Changi a bit. I guess the most interesting part about the airport is the aviation museum in Singapore at one corner of the airport. It’s nicely designed with paper planes tutorial all over the walls there. Plus there’s also records held by Changi airport up until today and many other ‘amenities’ you can found there. They sure took pride at their luxurious airport indeed.

My time at the airport was intimate and joyful. I really took my time sightseeing the cafes, restaurants, shops, and took a leisure seat in front of the big screen inside and also chatting a bit with my girlfriend at one of the internet stands. Turns out that in each departure lounge, they also provide internet. It was fun spending some time inside the airport until finally it’s time for me to board plane and say goodbye to the city. Until next time perhaps for another docile, not that adventurous trip the Singapore.

The 5th day in Singapore was my last day of training and all the members of it were invited by our Singaporean colleagues for dinner. Not a treat from them though, but considering that four of us came from Indonesia, they found a Turkish restaurant named Cappadocia near Robertson Quay because of the halal food. Which unfortunately in the end, we must apologize for turning down their sincerity and goodwill because we had submitted ourselves earlier for shopping. Exclusively here, I wish to apologize to Singapore Branch team for not coming and perhaps in near future, we shall meet again and this time I will make sure that I can make it for that. ^^

As for us, four Indonesians, were also separated by individual needs also but two of us again returned to Orchard for Kinokuniya at Ngee Ann City for books. I, of course, had been planning to find several books which cannot be found in Indonesia. Therefore this day would definitely be my last chance because tomorrow I’m leaving though on night flight.

By chance again, I met a Singaporean colleague who was in my class. After exchanging gestures and the fact that she’s actually friendly in nature, she offered me her Kinokuniya discount card! Seeing that she’s already bought her books and actually on her way home, I asked her just to wait another couple of minutes and then I dashed off instantly to find my books. I returned with several books that cost around SGD 80 if I’m not mistaken and thanks to her, I paid less 10%! Yihaa! All of a sudden, I felt that I may have disappoint my other Singaporean colleagues for not coming to the dinner.

The rest of the day ended with a dinner at Ngee An City food court just downstairs nearby Takashimaya foodstuffs market. Finding a certain Singaporean selling specialized Indonesian foodstuffs which made me happy just to see Indonesian products sold within Takashimaya but then again, no luck with Bengawan Solo. My friend bought several boxes of chocolate though.

We went back to the hotel early that night, getting ready to pack all the stuffs because tomorrow would be the last day but fortunate enough for me, I still have time until 7 PM and finally done with my babysitting because my colleagues will leave early and Singapore’s gonna be mine the whole day tomorrow!! After breakfast of course. ^^

Raffles Place office buildings

Lucky for us, the seminar finished early that day. So we still got enough time to stroll around and probably buy some Bengawan Solo cookies as a gift back home. To my colleagues especially, since they have an extreme fondness toward Bengawan Solo. Also, my wristwatch seemed to need battery replacement.

Both of the stores, Bengawan Solo and the watch store are available in Clifford Centre. You’ll find it easy enough. It’s the oldest looking building around the plaza, just across the two entrances of MRT station. It’s not a tall building but you ain’t gonna missed it since the signboard is pretty obvious. So, it’s a good option if you happen to be around Raffles Place and wanting this certain Bengawan Solo cookies so badly.

Though I’m native Indonesian, I found that the cookies in Bengawan Solo somehow between familiar and not familiar. Of course that’s because most cookies and delicacies originated from Indonesia, some dated back from Dutch colonial era, and most of all, the owner is an Indonesian.

Plenty of cookie varieties which I wasn’t familiar with, mostly rediscovered, redesigned, and renamed for commercial purposes but I felt a bit hesitated to buy it. Perhaps because I thought that I’d better spend on something else since one tin of cookies costs around SGD 15. In average it costs around SGD 4 to SGD 5 for a meal with a drink in Singapore. So I was thinking that SGD 15 can really cover my meals for a day!

But the very reason why I didn’t buy it was also because I couldn’t find the Macadamia Cashew Sugee cookies! It was a good variant, really, but I just couldn’t find anywhere during the whole week (also in other stores!). Probably also, I wasn’t trying that hard. ;p

Next we headed back to the hotel first for a quick shower and heading out again as soon as possible.

Chijmes under the gloomy sky

Chijmes from the front side

Where to now?

I was suggesting Chinatown since some of us seemed desperately in need to buy souvenirs, but it’s still 5 PM and instead I rerouted us all first to see Chijmes. It’s nearby and I wanted to see this old church which has been converted into cafes and restaurants all around it. So we got out from the hotel and by just only taking a quick glance on an MRT map, I led the way to the promised destination.

We took a short walk from the hotel entrance just beside through SMRT HQ all the way Stamford Rd. to the intersection and then turned right to Victoria St.. There we saw our destination, a whitewashed or cream church under the dimming light of sunset. Clean and well-maintained with a parking lot on front of it. You will never guess that inside you’ll see cafes and restaurants unless you read the signboard or get further inside the premises to see the real face of Chijmes.

Entering Chijmes

Restaurants upstairs and downstairs at Chijmes

Watchout! It's the Hog's Breath! Gonna be 'nasty'. ^^

We never had the intention to dine there or lounging around because the place gonna rip our asses off and besides, we still have plans to go somewhere else since there’s plenty of time left. No time to lounge now but there’s no sin in taking photographs there right? So we walked around the church seeing many genres of cafes and restaurants from Chinese to Brazilian. Pubs are also available there which never interest me because I’m a teetotaler! It’s a pretty interesting sightseeing, I bet the place would look even better at night with all the lights and the cheerful atmosphere.

Chijmes from the side angle

And now from the rear view..

Finally, everything's covered.

After the photographic sessions satiated our appetite there, we head back to the hotel for the City Hall MRT station.

We got out from the way we had gotten in earlier just take another round back to the hotel but now with different direction. After we found the intersection, we turned right to Bras Basah Rd. and stroll all the way a road with more trees. There I found another splurge choice for hotel, Carlton Hotel is the name, and I think I can recommend this hotel to somebody else since it’s nearby the MRT aside from Swissotel The Stamford or Fairmont Hotel. We reached another intersection and all we gotta do is to cross the street and enter the Raffles City Mall for the City Hall MRT Station, but then I noticed something that Chijmes actually has an entrance from that side of intersection!! So instead of walking all along the SMRT HQ and bust ourselves in from Victoria St., we can actually get to Chijmes from this side of the road! Arrggghhhh!

Well, a street smart learned the harsh way first because that nickname won’t come for free right? Alright! It’s shopping time now and I haven’t been to Chinatown so I guess it’s a good way to learn a new thing about Singapore. I was thinking about cheaper key chains or fridge magnets and who knows perhaps I’m gonna find it there? So as usual, we went to the super interchange station, Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station and get ourselves dive deeper further to the purple line. There we went straight to Chinatown MRT Station.

Welcome to Chinatown!

Chinatown turns out to be wonderfully decorated old city which designed mostly for pedestrians. Shops are everywhere in your left and right. Lanterns and lamps all above you. People hustle and bustle all over the place. It’s warm, not too crowded, and that made the place pleasant. Items and merchandises sold from apparel, souvenirs, and music CDs. Not for long, we already found places that sold cheaper souvenirs than Bugis Street! Knowing that, we decided to separate and to meet again in half an hour for dinner because everybody seemed to have their own mission there.

The market in Chinatown didn’t seem so big because once you got out from the station, it’s already the market and walk through a bit then turn right. You’ll see more of the market in a long strip ahead just a few hundred meters until it got less and less crowded and there, you know the boundaries of the market. It’s not too big but certainly the amount of people coming appears to be diminishing each and every day because if you compare it with Bugis, you’ll see the difference although for some merchandises, you’ll get cheaper price.

Chinatown market walk

Chinatown market walk, other angle

At last we regrouped again and head to this hawker’s road where people dine in Chinatown. I found it a bit disappointing because of no vibrance at all there. Many hawkers were closed and people didn’t seem to fond having dinner there. It’s comfortable and clean nonetheless. Not only on that particular road, the hawkers also stretched all around it but it’s not that many though. For Muslim travelers like me or those who don’t eat pork, you’ll be having a hard time looking for halal food there. I found a potential German sausages hawker attended by this real German fellow but turns out that it’s pork also and he said, ‘Sorry I can’t help you with that!’ a bit rudely. Yeah whatever..

Until after my friends finished their dishes, I finally pick a choice in a certain Chinese & seafood hawker way into the far side end of the road. They’re a bit nice and the hawker was filled with pictures of the dishes and fresh sea creatures. Seems promising what I seen but I’d rather pick something safe and fulfilling. Fried rice was the answer but no matter how pretty it may seem, I just can’t get along with most Singaporean food.

The fried rice was a disaster. It has no taste at all no matter how much eggs they put in and there’s no Indonesian chili sauce there. Don’t mention Malaysian chili sauce, it’s not chili at all! Even worse! But at the very least, it was fulfilling rather than my friends’ dishes. They’re less inviting and not good at all. Seems that my friends already on the verge of giving up should they must live in Singapore for a long time. No place like home I guess but I trust that somewhere, God knows, Singapore must have something good.

We separate again not long after that to find something more that we can buy but clearly, not for me and one of my friends there. So we decided to be on our way and see the rest of the gang tomorrow for breakfast. Next we headed for Orchard to find something better. I was looking for a certain book by the way so I suggested that we head for Borders at Wheelock Place first and there goes another babysitting.

Not much interesting that night apart from visiting Borders, looking at the lights of ION Orchard mall at night, and then we walked all the way to The Heeren just to find that HMV had already moved to http://www.313somerset.com.sg/ and opened one branch at CityLink Mall just below our hotel (where we had seen before). So there’s no more HMV in The Heeren for good where I thought would be the best and the biggest HMV in Singapore and we had to walk all the way to Orchard just to know the fact! Grrrr..

Also we visited again 313@Somerset for a bookstore just beside HMV, taking another look at HMV but nothing good for now, Cotton On time again, and finally we decided to visit an eclectic mall beside 313@Somerset named Orchard Central. This mall is a bit unique because it’s has many storeys up but they appreciate how people may find it time-consuming just to go way up. So they provided this escalators outside of the mall for several storey straight! Also they got indoor wall climbing, the biggest so far in Singapore. The top floor of the mall filled with restaurants with good view to the city and they also provide express elevators in the mall. Unfortunately, there was still many empty lots since it’s newly opened.

So what’s next? After further deliberation, my friend and I decided to separate because he still has something he wants to see and then I headed home feeling weary because today, no matter how many new things I had been experiencing, was a lame day. I decided to call it a day and recover my spirit with a good breakfast. The most decent one so far in Singapore….

The day lasted shorter as we bailed out of the office around 4.30 PM. So we still have plenty of times to spend under daylight. Not really though since Singapore seemed so cloudy this late afternoon. Ah by the way, we tried something new for lunch. Just nearby the office, right beside Equity Plaza, there’s this one food court also which I forgot the name of it. Quite nice since we can eat right outside under the trees beside the streets, not too busy and certainly not polluted. Apart from one hawker that offers Italian food at the cost for more than SGD 8, the rest of the hawkers only sell Chinese foods which most likely contain pork or lard. So I picked the safest one, which Singaporeans fond of beside chicken and rice, it’s noodle with fish. Of course priced for around SGD 4. Though a safe pick, it’s not the wisest one. It tasted so bland and it comes with a big portion so that I could manage to finish half of it and only the fishes that disappeared. Hihi.. Sorry, if it wasn’t for the crappy broth, I’d finished it already.

We finished again somewhere between 4.30 or 5 PM and headed back to hotel first as usual. Back and then off we go again. This time, for another shopping. Of course, I suggested earlier that we should go to Bugis. There’s a big market there that sells everything in case anybody wants to buy trinkets or souvenirs. I could use good apparels actually so going back again to Bugis sounds good to me personally. Again, they agreed unanimously. So let’s go then, folks!

Welcome to Bugis! Time to shop.. If you found something good though.. ^^

We went straight to Bugis MRT right beneath Bugis Junction Mall. They were worried about dinner and since from the first day, they seemed unhappy with local food and I said, ‘Hey, there’s KFC in the mall so need no worries, friends!’.

KFC for tonight then and even so, it tastes better back home. Although KFC outside Indonesia still features signature or original menus from USA but still, as for the chickens, they’re lacking in everything. I guess fast food chains like them adjust themselves with local culture, that’s why you won’t get the real original taste since the original taste  is originated from your origin country but it’s different from the ‘original recipe’ that KFC always says for its original chicken (other that the crispy). That’s mad!

Interior of Bugis

We ascend upstairs to find the market. It’s actually located across the street, but which street right? So by the time you ascend upstairs, you gonna be inside this department store, look for a way out to the outdoor plaza in the middle of the mall, then seek for a street with a separator in between. People cross twice there and there are gonna be plenty of people crossing so it’s a bit easy to look for it. Just cross the street and you gonna see it coming, big, a market named Bugis Street.

Plenty of shopping to do once inside. Generally I don’t really like the style of the apparel so I bought myself a good leather sling bag for a bargain price of SGD 35, discounted from SGD 42. Not bad. If you’re thirsty or hungry, need no worry, you can find hawkers inside the market. The best thing though are the hawkers that sell juices, milkshakes and other drinks for a bargain price of SGD 1! I bought myself a banana milkshake for that price and it was quite good.

US$1 Juice! Huzzah!

Bugis turned out to be a time-wasting experience. First of all, I concluded my business early and there’s nothing left to be seen there. My colleagues who happened to experience their first visit there went crazy and nowhere to be seen. Bugis can be a haven for small souvenirs but later I found out that there’s other place with better bargain. Fixed price though. So I spent like almost an hour waiting for them while if I travel by myself perhaps I can spend that hour somewhere else!! At last, we were once again gathered and ready to go. Alas, all the waiting had made my strength diminished. Earlier, when we returned back from the office by taxi, we went through a new route and with my eagle eyes, finally I caught a glimpse of Clarke Quay with a mall nearby it. Seemed nice and I suggested (yet again) that we should go there. Needless to say actually, they agreed! ^^

Oh.. So this is Clarke Quay..

It’s a bit detour and a long walk if you’re using MRT. We were at the Bugis MRT which is on the green line and now we need to switch to purple line and that’s only in Dhoby Ghaut MRT. So we gotta fall back to City Hall MRT first, exchange the line into red, then off for Dhoby Ghaut MRT. There, we exchange it again to purple line. This particular purple line somewhat amazes me. They sure dig down below so deep that we need a quite long walk to do this interchange. Two years earlier, this line was still quite new and only small amount of people were using it, but now it’s becoming a busy line too. Of course the busiest are the red line and the green line. They also add the circle line recently which still under construction on most parts but indeed Singapore is growing rapidly and MRT has become the part of their lives and the comfort as well. Not to mention also the affordable price.

So after we went down below deep, we head for Clarke Quay MRT. It’s not that far actually if you’re willing to walk from the hotel. I prefer walking actually but since I’m the babysitter, there’s no way I can slip through this plus it’s more convenient by train by the way. Hehe.. Though Singapore in those days were quite hot and humid but still, it’s a good walk anyway.

We arrived underneath a mall, The Central. We head upstairs to see what’s Clarke Quay really like. A friend of mine who had visited the place on earlier visits to Singapore said that it’s not a good idea to dine there because most of the restaurants and cafes put quite expensive price for the food. So I decided just to take a stroll since it’s always a good idea to visit new places rather than the usual routines.

Apart from the expensive restaurants and riverside dining and of course, the reverse bungee, Clarke Quay doesn’t really suit my style. It feels unfriendly and cold, even with many lamps lit the place or people hanging around with beers and stuffs. I even didn’t bother to scour it deeper to see what the cafes look like.

Even so we took photographs as usual and imagining what it’s like riding the bungee. It’s gotta be expensive I bet. The ‘slingshot’ we got in Bali was even expensive and it goes way back when I was in high school. In the end, we decided to go back to the hotel it’s not that late yet but after Clarke Quay, our adventuring spirit seemed to be diminished. Perhaps tomorrow would be better. Perhaps..

 

Merlion and The Skyscrapers

• Day 2 (Tuesday, 23 February 2010)

From Tuesday until Friday most of our noon time will be spent in the office. The office hours here generally starts from 9 AM to 6 PM. Due to the time difference with Indonesia where we’re one hour earlier so we gotta adjust our lifestyles a bit here. Actually the facts make it easier. Since I usually wake up around 5 AM, here I can wake up a bit later. All of us originally agreed to meet for breakfast at 7 AM in Cafe Swiss. By the way, if you happen to stay at Swissotel The Stamford, you can pick either Cafe Swiss or Kopitiam for breakfast but mind you, one for a day okay. The difference? Not much really, it’s just a change of view. But do have your breakfast early since Swissotel is indeed a really big hotel. Not as massive as First World Hotel in Genting Highlands on my last trip to Malaysia, but still it’s big with 70 levels and let’s say they got like 25 rooms per level. That’s still gonna be like more than a thousand guests staying and Swissotel is a very busy hotel in a prime location, with airlines staffs coming in and out daily, foreigners, businessmen, and tourists. So you’d better come soon to breakfast or you gotta queue. It’s not that long though.

So anyway, I came in late around 7.30 AM and haven’t yet taken shower while all my friends already lock and loaded. It seemed to me that time that they’re either to worry about being late or it’s just customary for them to get ready early everyday because of Jakarta working culture. Perhaps they live in the suburbs and have to leave early so they won’t caught in the traffic? As for me, I’m very relaxed I assure you. I know that the distance between the hotel and the office is not too far and there’s plenty of time left. Though it’s wiser next time at least to take a shower first so that after breakfast you only need to prep yourself a bit and then ready to go. The essence is actually to utilize the breakfast facility optimally! Not because that we gotta go to the office early! Jeez..

The breakfast was good. The best thing about staying in a Swiss hotel is probably because of the Rösti, a Swiss ingenious dish. It’s actually only made from grated potato and fried or baked but it tastes good! As for the rest, since it’s Singapore you can find Western, Indian, Japanese, and Chinese cuisine. Long story short, we took a cab around 8.45 AM for the office. It’s actually not that far but there’s plenty of traffic lights though the traffic itself was light. See what I mean? ^^

We arrived around 15 minutes later in the vicinity of Raffles Place, and to be exact, it’s the Republic Plaza. One of the tallest building in Singapore, strategically located just nearby the Raffles Place MRT, and few steps away from Singapore’s pride which I will tell you later here. Let’s skip the needless-to-tell about work and head for lunch. We were given several selections and we need to pick a place with a probable selections for halal foods. From what I remember, there’s someplace nearby the office that offers plenty of it. Of course, I guided my colleagues there, from a scratch because I forgot the place and we found it after a short detour, a long building called the Golden Shoe. Located upstairs and it’s really packed with office workers. Plenty of choices of course and it took almost like 15 minutes for me to pick the food. After an extensive survey, I decided to have a Padangnese cuisine with a soybean milk which you can find like anywhere in Singapore. It cost around SGD 4 for the food and SGD 0.80 for the milk and it’s nice actually. You might gonna have to adjust you senses with the local food but with Padangnese which was originated from Indonesia, it’s pretty easy though the rendang was a bit different but still, it’s good.

The forever busy Swissotel lobby

Skipping again the time-consuming seminar though it was good actually, we returned to the hotel first by taxi around 6 PM. You ought to know that Singapore is one of severe law enforced countries in the world. You can count Indonesia out by the way. The thing about taxi is that they got this taxi stop all over the city and you cannot just ride them anywhere you want. They won’t stop the car for you even though they know you gonna pay them the money. They’re just so comply to the rules. Singaporeans do and there’s no excuse even for foreigners.

All of us agreed to meet up again at the lobby at 7 PM for dinner. We took a quick shower and gather up again, this time accidentally with our foreign colleague back at the seminar, a young fashionable Taiwanese. I remembered that an old campus friend of mine who’s currently still having her master class here told me about a good dining place, hawkers style, called Lau Pa Sat. Earlier I took a bit research and found out that it’s actually near our office. So I proposed it all to my colleagues and they, of course, agree to it right away. Of course, needless to say, that I have somehow become their guide here. Another ‘babysitting’ of course.

Looking at the office. Frustrating isn't it? It's way over the working hours!

We took the subway just for one stop to Raffles Place MRT then walked the tunnel straight pass Republic Plaza, One Raffles Place, and just straight to the last entry. Be careful not to miss it because if you enter One Raffles Place, Lau Pa Sat is gonna be across the vast, busy street especially in the afternoon and you can’t cross it. So after we got out on the other side, it should be easy because there’s this direction that really helps. Turn right at the end of the street, then straight across Telegraph St. then there she is, Lau Pa Sat Festival Market.

Hungry? Lau Pa Sat is the answer!

The unique thing about the place that it was designed almost like star shape but the empty spaces were also filled. The roof also designed specifically and the ground, needless to say, filled with many hawkers. Seats are everywhere and though not air-conditioned, the fans are everywhere. You may sweat a bit but that’s okay. I really took my time searching for the best food that could rise my appetite, though I was pretty hungry that time and it’s dinner time already. I suddenly remembered my cousin whom I met 2 years prior, we had dinner with his wife in Wisma Atria’s Food Republic and his wife ate a Singaporean Chinese national dish called carrot cake. I took a sip and wasn’t particularly satisfied since it was a bit strange, but this time, I wanted to prove it again. So I finally found myself the right choice, a hawker named Lai Heng that offers stir fried Chinese dishes from kway teow to carrot cake. Without hesitation, I bought the big portion of it that cost SGD 4 and it was very delicious! I didn’t realize it that it can be this good and that made me happy. I ended it with a glass of iced Milo with milk from the kopitiam in the center of Lau Pa Sat that cost around SGD 1.60. It was a fine dinner for me but didn’t appear so for my colleagues though.

Before we go, I suggested again that we should visit Merlion at night. Of course they had to agree and willingly because the Taiwanese guy and one of my colleagues haven’t been to Singapore, had no idea about Singapore, and worst of all, had no intention whatsoever to do anything productive! So then again, I’ll just be the guide as usual. We returned back to the tunnels and entered Republic Plaza, back on the surface, and head for UOB Plaza. We crossed the street from our office to the plaza in the middle of Raffles Place MRT other entrances with many couples sitting there as if the world belongs to them, then straight to the massive UOB Plaza ended up by the riverside. It’s very beautiful here and my first time seeing it at night.

Views from Boat Quay. A bit blurry but that's okay. ^^

Plenty of seats there so you can relax and feel the breeze. On the left side you can see the cafe and eateries on Boat Quay, probably a bit expensive though. Across the river, the art gallery next to the old Parliament with gardens. On the far right, the bridge and the bright Fullerton Hotel. I used to cross the bridge and walk around the Esplanade Park as far as the Esplanade itself and Merlion, but this time I was taking my ‘babies’ here to access it through Fullerton Hotel because it’s the other way around.

The imposing, luxurious appearance of Fullerton Hotel

We passed through the legendary Fullerton Hotel and cross the Fullerton Road down to One Fullerton and head for Merlion. It was a very beautiful sight at night. Lots of people around there and I really took my time taking pictures of the statue with the surrounding landscapes and skyscrapers. It was nice there. I enjoyed my time a lot and we gotta move soon though and where to? Of course, the Esplanade! It’s a short walk by across the Esplanade Drive Bridge. There’s the pedestrian walk with seats overlooking the sea and it’s nice too at night.

Fullerton Hotel as seen from Merlion

The Flyer as seen from Merlion

We did a lot of walking that night and since it was quite hot and I took refuge inside Esplanade while the rest of the gang spectacle this traditional marching band show from China in front of it. I didn’t look much inside but the place seemed interesting. Certainly if one lives in Singapore, he will visit this place for any musical or cultural exhibitions and that would be a nice change rather than just spending and shopping right? The question that appeared as we finished looking around the place was that by what means should we go back to the hotel then? It’s not that far from the hotel and you can see the imposing look of the 70 story building like Swissotel The Stamford from anywhere around the vicinity, so I suggested that we should walk then. I thought though that we should walk through the street under this damp hot night but no, we didn’t have to. Accidentally, I found a tunnel at the end of Esplanade just before the intersection of the street that can lead us to CityLink Mall! That’s very convenient! So, it was a good call and we bear it all up just for another minute to walk back home.

Let's go to Esplanade!

It was just like 500 m walk but we did like kilometers before that and I thought the girls might already fainted by now but thanks to CityLink Mall, they got shops that can still make people rejuvenated even after such long walk. I found also a branch of HMV in here. I must return here later when I’m off-duty from my babysitting and also a bookstore. Nice. Anyway, since me and my colleague still linger to browse here and there, the Taiwanese and then not long after that, the girls off their way early back to the hotel. Meanwhile we, starved again from the walk, decided to buy something to eat and of course, with my recommendation, we bought a good, thick, tasty foot long submarine sandwich from Subway. It was unfortunate for us Indonesian for not having them here because as far as I know, Subway is the healthiest fast food in the world.

Inside the vicinity of Esplanade

After having the late dinner, we headed back to the hotel and call it a day.. a good day indeed and then call it a night. ^^

The view from 55th floor of Swissotel straight to Esplanade

I was ill for the whole week before leaving for this business trip and made me so worry whether I’ll last for the trip… wait.. I was even in doubt whether I can even make it for the trip! It took several days for the recovery with extra fever that made me even worrier. But well.. somehow I departed at last with a bit uneasy feeling but my confidence seize my heart and off I go with the jet plane then!

• Day 1 (Monday, 22 February 2010)

It’s a business trip with several of my colleagues which I didn’t get acquainted a lot back in the office but they have proven themselves being nice chaps during my trip there but certainly not the adventurous type.  I actually was planning to go to several unfamiliar landmarks for this trip but while traveling in a group like this looks like I ain’t gonna make it, separating by myself only just to visit these places. Even worse, later, it turns out that I’m gonna be babysitting them which I’m gonna tell you the stories in details of course.

Without further due, we departed around 9 AM and landed ‘roughly’ in Singapore around 11.30 AM of the local time. I was a bit disappointed with the rough landing but then again, it was probably because of the wind or something else I cannot fathom. After we landed, we went through a successful immigration process and straight for the taxi.

On our way to the city, I conversed a bit with the driver about what’s new in Singapore and he mentioned about the finished first part of the new Casino where the foreigners can enter for free while the Singaporeans have to pay like SGD 100. Jeez.. That costs a fortune. One of my Singaporean colleagues later said this, ‘Our government doesn’t want us to gamble, they want us to work!’. That actually makes sense since people may lose everything because of gambling and may shake the welfare of the people. Let’s pick the example where in Singapore, they sell a pack of cigarettes around SGD 10!! Jeez! That’s like six times more expensive than in Indonesia. So in those cases, I suppose the government does care about the well-being of its citizens.

We arrived at the hotel after around 20-25 minutes ride from airport. The hotel looks decent but certainly a very busy one. Here, I found out for the first time that we can guarantee our stay with US Dollar. Later this will be converted into SG Dollar. If you’re traveling at the cost of your pocket, I’d recommend you to exchange it first into SGD because if you’re doing my way the hotel will exchange it with their own rates and it’s gonna kill you in an instant zap! Luckily, I’m using my office money and this method, of course without doubt, is the most comfortable one.

But unlucky for me that I gotta wait for my room to get ready within an hour and while doing that I stayed awhile in my friend’s room in level 55 with one of the most astonishing view you can get in Singapore. It’s right into the Esplanade but still, we can’t see Merlion. Perhaps a few rooms to the right side will solve the problem. It’s astonishing anyway and I was wondering what it would look like at night.

The War Memorial Monument just across the hotel

An hour passed and I checked in right away. My room was not particularly offered the best landscape but still the skyscrapers of Singapore show themselves in front of me. I was still unpacking and suddenly my friends called me to join them right away for a walk. I surely can’t reject that because these are the guys I’m going to spend my time with for the next week to come. So with a bit heavy heart, I joined them for a good walk in Singapore while also looking for a place to have a late lunch.

I gotta abandon the idea of traveling by myself because of them. Earlier, I even researched for more Singapore places of interest from Singapore MRT website. Singapore can be pretty boring after only one or couple of weeks exploration. Well, perhaps this time I just need to go to someplace new but still the popular thing. A colleague of mine who owns the better spirit in adventuring (at least she wants something), suggested us to go to Mustafa early so that we won’t worry about buying souvenirs or any other things for everybody back home. Really! That’s the thing about Indonesians. I don’t know since when this kind of ‘atrocity’ started. Everybody will ask you whether you got something for them by the time you got back home from somewhere either it’s the traditional local food or the souvenirs. But the most outrageous one would be on birthdays. The birthday boy gotta treat everybody!! They could avoid it somehow at the cost of at least treating the closest friends only but the most annoying thing is that everybody will keep on asking you for it! Jeez! It would’ve been everybody who’s treating the birthday boy! It’s his day and it’s the friends that should make him happier.

Okay, that’s the small thing about us, people. Anyway, our first concern before that was to fill our tummy with a late lunch. So we went downstairs to exchange some money in Raffles City Mall which was integrated with Swissotel. Though that one friend of mine told us to exchange it in Mustafa because they got better rates there but I thought that it was safer just to do it now for operational purposes. Raffles City Mall was not a snazzy looking mall, it’s a bit old but you can find almost everything here. On the top of that, it’s located very strategically in City Hall MRT and when I found out later, got this City Link Mall just underneath it which supposedly a tunnel leading to Esplanade but filled with shops and cafes. Hmm.. That’s cool.

Afternoon walk at Orchard

We decided to head for Orchard for the late lunch and we gotta buy ourselves the MRT card first. It cost SGD 15 and I regretted it a bit since I had gotten sick for the whole previous week and I forgot to borrow my friend’s. The good thing about it though, I got more chance to use it because Singapore is a city which Indonesian frequently travel to. It’s not like other Western foreigners who feel that Singapore is at the end of the world and this kind of card would be most likely useless for them after they leave the city.

Watch out! No pigeon feeding in Singapore!

The consideration of why we should go to Orchard was mainly because it’s the safest place you can be for the first time with a newbie groupie like this. Well, actually one of my colleagues been here before and more than once, but she seems not the type that likes adventure that much so ladies and gentlemen, the few days to come in Singapore, it’ll based on solely 90% of my decisions to decide where to go. Jeez… Where’s the spirit of your youth? No offense, dear colleagues. It’s just that I didn’t see it in you all.

They planted many species of plants alongside the pedestrian walk in Orchard. Cool!

The one thing I really fond about Singapore is the tunnels that incorporate almost everything especially the malls with MRT stations but not just that, the tunnels also serve as a convenience for you to ‘cross the street’ from underground so that you won’t have to worry about waiting for the red light and cross it. Also, at some intersections, pedestrians are not allowed to cross at all so these tunnels come in handy. So when we arrived at Orchard MRT, we don’t have to go upstairs just to get ourselves to Wisma Atria, we just accessed it through the tunnels, passing the newly built ION Orchard then there she is. Some shops also here in the underground. We visited Charles & Keith and Cotton On. Some pretty good bargains in Cotton On though I’m not that interested in C&K. I don’t know why women so madly in love with the shoes. Perhaps it’s the models and of course, the price. Well, if you ask me personally, ‘Can women had enough with shoes or handbags? I’d say, ‘Yeah right.. Gimme a break’. Well, the funny thing was that actually we got a C&K store too in our hotel but then we didn’t realize it yet back then. Hehe..

The new 313@Somerset. They got Trattoria here! Hooray!

We had a pretty lame lunch in Food Republic. I was actually hoping for those Hokkien fried noodles from the Thye Hong hawker but turned out it was closed because of something and I gotta pick something else which was the bland Singaporean yong tau fu. After that we took a walk along Orchard Road, taking photographs, having the good ol’ skewers from Old Chang Kee, visiting 7 Elevens for the silly Milo chocolates which also available in Indonesia but my colleague went crazy for it, and we ended up in the also newly built 313@Somerset mall. I took some time browsing around in a bookstore which I forgot the name was and some CDs in HMV. There are still several days ahead and plenty of time to survey for everything. Then, we decided that it’s a good time to spend our remaining time today packing things up with souvenirs (mostly food though) from Mustafa. So we headed out from Somerset MRT to Dhoby Ghaut MRT Interchange and then we took the green line to Farrer Park MRT.

We arrived around 6.3o PM in the vicinity. From Little India MRT to Serangoon MRT with Farrer Park MRT in-between are the territories of Indians and Middle Eastern people. So the atmosphere can be a bit different from other uptown regions where you can find more Western people and native Singaporean Chinese. The first time we did when we arrived was to exchange all the money. I was actually a bit disappointed because the rates here were fantastically better! I shouldn’t have exchange it in the hotel. Though in the end, it’s like around SGD 4 difference which actually you can use it for one time meal but that’s okay because what matters that time was that I haven’t been there before and it’s gonna be fun.

Mustafa Center is a kind of place (especially for Indonesians) where you can buy almost everything (for Indonesians, souvenirs). Starting from jewelry, watches, electronics, apparel, DVDs, groceries, and other consumer goods. Especially the groceries, where we headed to, are second to none in terms of the variety of the products. You can see products from as far as Turkey, China, and even from Indonesia which of course made me quite proud. We certainly took our time and I managed to bought a considerable amount of snacks for those who I ‘need’ to give back at home for a moderate price of SGD 41 (it’s a ripoff to be honest). Whilst the others spent like more than SGD 50 up to SGD 60. Jeez.. That’s a waste. Since an overseas trip was only for the chosen ones in our office, this made an opportunity like this rare and they should treat themselves better. Let’s say, buy something for yourself too and better! Well, it’s a matter of choice and strategic thinking in which they’re lacking in it.

Esplanade again at night! Cool..

Anyway, it took like 2 hours of browsing and shopping and we were famished. Burdened with our groceries, we headed out for dinner at an Indian cafeteria next to Mustafa. I forgot the name but they do serve good Coffee with milk. You should try for that. We also ordered some Martabak and Roti Prata. I usually don’t have any objection with Indian cuisine but that time, though I was hungry, I couldn’t enjoy the meals. One colleague of mine also had this trouble communicating what she wants to order for us to the Indian cashier and she said that he’s acting rude which in the end some of our orders came out not exactly what she wanted it to be. Whatever the details were, I felt quite satisfied, thanks for the coffee.

The other way around the Esplanade

It’s already like past 9 PM and since we gonna have a busy day tomorrow for the seminar, we carried the heavy groceries back home to the hotel with a good feeling that most of our so-called ‘responsibilities’ for people back home have been carried out well and especially for me, the days ahead would be to fulfill my personal needs but somehow hindered with my new side jobs, babysitting.

And the other way around again

The last day perhaps was the least interesting among the others. Nevertheless, it’s my mission to deliver the conclusion for the whole trip. So, starting with the breakfast at around 7.30 AM, we found that Capitol Hotel dining room quite crowded since the place also appeared unsuitable for dining. Why? The space was like a tight narrow long corridor filled with tables, chairs, and foods. It’s just not like those bigger hotels with special place for breakfast. At the very least, from what I saw, they do provide better food than the previous hotels but then again, I CAN’T HAVE MY SCRAMBLE EGGS WITH CHEESE OR THE REAL CHILI SAUCE! Arrrrrrghhhhhhh!!

Yeah, whatever, it’s not like I’m staying for months and having this dementia caused by lacked of Indomie or Indonesian chili sauce. Anyway, I wasn’t particularly interested in having a walk again around the neighborhood, so I was just packing my things and enjoying my last minutes in the nice hotel room before heading out again. The guides will pick us up around 11 PM. Some of the moms though, they’re still wandering around with their children scavenging the last minutes in KL.

The Sunway Lagoon, only tasting what it looks like from outside. *sigh

We bailed out of KL for good after loading up again our goods to the cars. Off we go now to Sunway Lagoon and IKEA. So first we went to Petaling Jaya vicinity to see this first pride of Malaysia. The weather was pleasantly sunny that day though it’s a bit packed at some points since it’s still a working day after all. I amused myself by taking pictures of commercial boards along the highways, not to mention the even the traffic signs amused me a lot in Malaysia. Why’s that? Because of our same language roots! We may be still in the same terms and understanding ages ago, but now the deviation is getting worse. You can only see it funny when you learn more either Indonesian or Malaysian and then compare it. You gonna giggle even just a bit for sure!

By the way, we arrived at last at Sunway Lagoon. To my surprise, we didn’t even had the chance to play inside. A theme park like this will take a whole day and the entrance fee also expensive. This would’ve been put into test only if we had like two or three days fully just to stroll around KL and its satellite cities. The fact was that we gotta fly tonight, we need to go to IKEA next and spend some time on the road to reach it, plus it’s also gonna take many hours also to feel the splendor of it. This tour program really doesn’t suit me, but for the moms.. well.. it may be the best since we can get to know more about places of interest without really having to experience it. As long as you got the adventurer spirit inside of you, trust me, you can do this anytime and travel on you own, plan it, ask the locals, and do whatever you wanna do. You know the ups and downs of traveling by your own right? So this time, I gotta give in and head for the next destination.

After dealing with some traffic, we arrived in another KL’s satellite city of Damansara. Indonesians could compare these cities like Petaling Jaya or Damansara like those in the circle of the so-called BODETABEK (Bogor-Depok-Tangerang-Bekasi). But let’s just compare Damansara with Cibubur instead as the quite equal counterpart on its role towards the capital. People keeps on coming to Damansara for a few years and the government has reshaped the city neatly plus there’s already so many real estates and apartments around there. Not to mention also IKEA! The traffic that time was not a problem at all. People drove their personal cars to the station and continue to KL by train. The train station was also seem sufficient and so KL’s transportation too!

One of the sample bedroom. Just great!

IKEA, come here to my motherland please...

Off to buy some Swedish Meatballs. Yum yum yum!! ^^

On the contrary, Cibubur who used to boast the cool air and as one of the best possible residential area outside the city has unleashed hell within itself. It’s not precisely planned, people keeps on coming, permits given to everyone who owns the money to build real estates, no apartments from as far as I know, roads seem to be at the limit, and the worse thing would be no sufficient train station and that atrocities also apply to everywhere around Jakarta.

Anyway, I know this was meant to be a blog related to tourism, but I feel that this also can be applied as an easy comparison study (on my own budget of course, unlike those who ask for the budget, compares it, and then return with the answer ‘Impossible to be applied’ after wasting the taxpayers money for the overseas survey), plus this could serve as a note from a concern citizen of Indonesia.

Enough with politics for now, let’s go shopping at IKEA! We arrived shortly after sightseeing Damansara. IKEA is located within a shopping arcade complex. So it’s actually easy if you need something else. Even so, the mall’s not that sophisticated as in KL and surprisingly not that crowded except for IKEA but still you can breathe though. I don’t know if it’s weekend. Will it be like Cibubur Junction? The only place to escape for Cibuburians who can’t go anywhere else because of the traffic. But you’d best avoid weekends for this kind of place. Why? Because everybody loves IKEA!

For those who don’t know IKEA yet, especially from countries which haven’t been conquered by it, you gonna fall in love with it from the first time you set your eyes on it. IKEA is a furniture seller. That’s it? Not at all! They pioneered the ready-to-built furnitures and the concept they offer in their stores are so interesting. They make samples of living room, bed room, kitchen, or even homes that they have refurbished and you can experience it by yourself. The models, the way they feel compact with your home, the modern touch, and they combine them all with affordable price. What more can you expect?!

Aside from those, they also sell everything for you home & living things plus the cool canteen they have! Their Swedish meatballs or the salmon are just perfect and very affordable also. One of the reasons why it’s so cheap but delicious is because we also help to bring our used dishes to the trays they provided. That way, we reduce the cost needed to be spent according to their calculations. At any rate, you gonna love it there!

Time for checking in... Sorry.. Checking out!

With monks again?! They seem to be everywhere! Hihi..

For this part, I would like to dedicate something for our guides. They had been very faithful and helpful to us, we thanked them a lot and a few months later they came to Indonesia also and in return, we took them out for a treat. Being a guide can be a very interesting occupation, despite the facts that they spend most of their times on the road and should maintain their health good all the time, they also receive the invaluable experience of getting to know places of interests and people in particular, especially their customers so that one day, they can contact them when around and us for example, will accompany them in return gladly.

We arrived back at LCCT around 5.30 PM and we checked in for the flight home around 8.30 PM. Goodbye Malaysia for now. I might return again in the near future for more. Ain’t gonna be my priority though, but then again, thank you!

PS : Conclusions will be added later in this section. I’m still in concept of how to compose it. Hope it will help! ^^

The spectacular view of KL from Restaurant 39

• Day 3 (Thursday, 23 July 2009)

We had our breakfast early again. Wouldn’t wanna to linger longer in this I’ve-seen-all-in-one-day town. Long way north back to KL for the real experience there. The hotel may be eerie at night, resembling like the rough apartment type kind of life where you can find peace and haunting silent all at once. I sometimes wonder how they can manage security in this vast hotel of many complexes of towers and empty parking lots. At least, we got ourselves right at the restaurant for a good breakfast in one piece.

There’s nothing too special in a hotel breakfast aside from its decency, but there were two things that bothered me (which also happens in the next hotel we’re staying at in KL). First, they do provide an egg station but we can’t choose what we want with our eggs! I always like my eggs scrambled added with cheese but when I asked for it, they simply refuse and ‘force’ me either to pick the boring fried eggs or the poached one on the buffet. Even worse, they fried those eggs and left them cold and dry for people to pick, instead of providing us freshly cooked!

Second, they put these so-called Maggi chili sauce with a big chili picture on it but it’s not chili at all! And I mean it! Jeez.. No wonder why my friend who happens to work in Malaysia misses the best instant noodles in the world Indomie and a decent chili sauce!

At the very least, it was a peaceful breakfast, no queues, and they provided more selections. No matter how decent the food we had back in First World Hotel, it felt like we’re in prison. Though I gotta admit that First World somehow got better rooms than this place though somewhat smaller. Anyway, we wrapped it up and getting ready for the next trip to KL.

We headed out at around 11 AM so that we can arrive earlier in KL. We said goodbye to the nice looking, neat, and lightly populated Melaka and off we went back to the highways. During traveling days like these, I always try to wake up as long as I could so that I could enjoy each and every minute of the new, strange, and rarely seen landscapes or events that you don’t normally see everyday. It might only be another trip for somebody else, but I cherish it in my own ways unless you got very tired though. Hehe..

Before leaving Melaka, I learned few useful things about the town aside from the historical and cultural legacies. Melaka owns one of the best medical facilities in the Southeast Asia. Rich people prefer Singapore of course, but without doubt, Melaka also provide it in a more affordable level. My guide said that many people flew from Indonesia for medical treatment there notably from Sumatra.

The city owns a famous zoo in Malaysia but we’re not interested for that kind of trip since also it’s not in our schedule. But the quite interesting one is this, there’s a legend derives from this certain hill named Bukit China (Chinese hill) that there used to be a palace built for Sultan’s Chinese consort from medieval times but it’s nowhere to be seen now. The hill has been used for centuries as Chinese cemetery where tombstones with every size exist. At the other side of the hill, there’s a fountain with Chinese architecture with also a myth created from it. They say that if anybody drinks the water from it, they’ll return back to the city again one day. Though quite ‘bland’ for me perhaps because I stayed there for only a night, I believe that Melaka owns a promising future with a strong legacy from the past. It’ll be interesting to visit the town again.

I enjoyed every minute of the trip back to KL. I asked the guide, Paul, everything I wanna know about Malaysia. We made a deal that next time he’s gonna be the guide again for a trip to Cameron Highlands and Pulau Pinang, popularly known as Penang and partly because Paul happens to be an indigenous  inhabitant of the island. He spoke highly about his hometown and brags that it’s gonna take more than a few days to enjoy the place thoroughly. Since it’s gonna be a new adventure, should this opportunity arrives, I won’t be hesitate to try it. ^^

We arrived in KL at around 1 PM to see this vast Sultan’s Palace or Istana Raja. The palace located around a very nice neighborhood but at the side of a busy street. Not to far from what Malaysians called Bukit Aman. You can translate that literally into English and that would be something like ‘Safe Hill’. Why? That’s because it’s where the KL Police HQ resides. That’s quite amusing. But anyway, about this palace, it’s closed to public and they only open it twice a year. First is on Idul Fitri celebration (Muslim celebrate the victory day after the month of fasting). Second, if I’m not mistaken it’s also opened to celebrate either the Independence Day or the birthday of Sultan. Nothing’s too special about this except for the guards that stand fast undisturbed like those red English guard who wouldn’t care about nothing even the doomsday. I took a picture of the vast palace but it’s a pity that we cannot explore it like the king’s palace I had visited earlier in Bangkok. One thing good was that these countries (Malaysia & Thailand) open one of their most important landmarks for public so they can see the splendor and giving the image that they care about tourism even up to the cleanliness of the place, something that’s lacking here in Indonesia. Sure we can do something from that and try to work for the best of everybody and not for one’s pocket.

From here, we cruised around several turns to stop again at another landmark of this city. It’s called the Monumen Nasional (National Monument) which was built to commemorate the martyrs in a war against the communism. The National Monument in Indonesia is a huge square with a tall tower in the center of it and it’s not maintained well, but here, though much smaller, it’s maintained neatly and clean. That’s what I like about Malaysia though if you look around, this monument ain’t gonna be a very interesting place. I took several pictures though to make it look dramatic. We didn’t spend too much time here since it’s lunch time already.

On our way, we passed by the Bukit Aman and we saw the police HQ with a huge masjid just around it, then down the hill to square of Dataran Merdeka (Liberty Plains) in front of Sultan Abdul Samad Building with a clock tower over it. I took the liberty to translate it for my convenient and I hope for you too my readers. We took several photographs with the Dataran Merdeka as the background. Anyway, this Sultan Abdul Samad Building, from all my recollections and my knowledge about KL, was one of the most renowned, of course before the appearance of the Petronas Twin Towers which gonna be our next destination for the photo hunt.

Before that, we gonna need some lunch first and the guide took us to one of the hippest shopping malls in KL, Pavilion Mall. We only have an hour here for lunch since we gotta visit some places first before checking in at the hotel. Pavilion Mall turns out to be an interesting mall, aside from the good architecture, also the resides the famous Food Republic, a famous food court concept I had experienced before when I was in Singapore’s Wisma Atria.

While writing this, I took some time to research a bit about this and turns out that Food Republic is one of the businesses owned by the prominent BreadTalk Group. It’s quite unfortunate that this ‘ideology’ hasn’t reached Indonesia yet. I wanted Thye Hong so much to reach here! What’s a Thye Hong? It’s a stand that sells fried noodles and it was good. I had one before in Singapore. I was a bit interested to try the one in KL, but exploring something new would be better.

The bitter facts were that we’re expected to finish the lunch within an hour or so and there’s so much to choose in Food Republic in such a short time!! Teppanyaki would be nice, Thai foods also quite tempting, not to mention again Thye Hong. Hmmm.. After the grueling search, my friend and I happened to stop at the same choice. Ichiban Boshi, a Japanese food restaurant who happens to sell takeaway sushi and maki. That might not be so surprising as you can find one in Indonesia too such as Sushi Nobu, but the coolest thing about it was the price! I picked like in total of 10 items or so, and the price was equal as IDR 30,000. If you see my picks, it’s probably like IDR 50,000 in Sushi Tei. So it was quite a bargain!

After lunch, we took a brief detour to buy some chocolates. KL is quite renown for its chocolatiers. I recalled one brand called Beryl’s from there, but instead my guide picked another place which he said sells better chocolates named Cocoa Boutique. I don’t know whether this is another part of those scams where such specialty stores pay tour guides as long as they’re bringing prospects to their joints, but one thing for sure, we can buy something here.

I didn’t record the price, but the variety of the chocolates are great and the taste was also decent. The price vary also so I suggest you to take your time and pick the one you really want. There are plenty of colorful selections and I can assure you that you’d be tempted to rob the store, but again a wise buy will save your wallet. That also applies for the next ‘scam’, a leather shop. You might find something you like but does that really serve your purpose of going to KL? It’s expensive anyway, so you’d best visit the place you really want to shop till you drop. ^^

Not far from there, we took several photographs just nearby the KL City Centre Park overlooking the Twin Towers. It was around 3 PM that time, it’s high time for us to check in. After the photographic session, we headed to our hotel in Bukit Bintang vicinity. I was wondering why the guide didn’t take us instead to visit the interconnecting bridge of the Twin Towers or at least taking photographs from down under the towers (like other desperate tourists), but according to the guide and my friend who happens to work at the towers later, it’s quite difficult to get into the bridge because you gotta register first and queue from the morning because it’s so crowded, perhaps like when you’re queuing at Monumen Nasional Jakarta.

Several turns from the park, we’re entering the packed Bukit Bintang streets. What’s bugging me was that the J.W. Marriott hotel entrance in KL was free for everyone going in and out without any difficulties from facing the so-called  security measures whatsoever, unlike the one in Jakarta where everybody seems to be so tense and paranoid about terrorist attacks. Ah whatever.. So anyway, we took a turn left after the intersection where the Bukit Bintang monorail station located, down the road with many restaurants and cafes, and there it was just by the intersection, the Capitol Hotel.

We checked in around 4.30 PM and it was a big relieve that the hotel was much more decent than the one we had the previous day in Melaka. It may not look much from outside though, but you gotta see the room! It’s comfy and modern with an astonishing view of KL skyscrapers and not to mention of course, the prime location! We say goodbye to our guides and they’ll fetch us again for dinner at 7 PM or so.

We took a short break and getting ready to shop! I didn’t feel that enthusiastic though. My mom went on first, since I wanna spend more time for the break. So I explored the places of interests around there by myself. Starting from the nearest, Sungei Wang. It’s a big trade center and you can easily get lost in it though the best thing about it probably because you can get almost everything there, perhaps with cheaper price, and the shops were classified in types separated by sections or floor. I’ve never felt that comfortable in dealing with trade centers like these except when I was in Bangkok’s Platinum Fashion Mall. Though not in orderly fashion, it felt nicer and the goods they’re selling were better.

I went out and go straight to Lot Ten. Recommended by my guide if I wanted to find a record shop in Bukit Bintang, but to my surprise, this place was kinda empty. Seemed like they gonna tear the building apart soon so they can promote something fresh again since the place resides strategically between Sungei Wang and my next destination, Pavilion Mall. Since I have doubled my energy for this kind of thing, I continued my search up to the uppermost level of this building. The only thing interesting I found in this building was Jackie Chan’s Cafe. If only the place deserving for such visit, I’d be tempted to try it but seemed worthless at that time. Ultimately, there’s no record shop at all there. I guess there are things that you need to find by yourself and let’s not even rely too much on the natives.

Before continuing, I gotta admit one thing. I’m a kind of traveler that travels at my own pace, I seek my interests by my own, time does not rule me, only my curiosity and my feet that I put my faith in. So when it comes to a guided tour like this, no matter how flexible it may be, I’d be bound with the schedule and also my traveling partners which notably are the mommies! So honestly, I’d stroll around this street and the malls or sipping coffees and eating snacks if I got the time in the world but I just can’t! That’s why I only took a small exploration of this vast Pavilion Mall and return back straight to the hotel through Sungei Wang again hoping that I may bump with the other group and return back together to the hotel to ready ourselves for dinner and it was in vain. I did bump into some of the mommies but they still wanna do another round of shopping. So I returned back alone to the hotel and luckily bumped myself to Old Chang Kee, the famous curry puffs, skewers, and fried snacks from Singapore! I just love it very much on my last trip to the city and I’d be sure to try it whenever I could find the stall! So I bought the fish balls and the nuggets. Seemed to me that it was bigger than those in Indonesia or Singapore. It tasted good of course! I was enjoying it in the hotel room, afterwards I readied myself up and wait until the time comes for us to leave for dinner.

After everyone’s ready, we headed out for dinner around 7.30 PM. Turns out that the place was not that far from the place where we took the photos of the Twin Towers. Just around the vicinity, we stopped at Darby Park Apartment, an apartment where my guide said has the best place to view the cityscape from the 39th floor of the building while eating your dinner. The place called Restaurant 39. Darby Park itself was quite a busy apartment filled with Middle Eastern people from what I saw. Anyway we went up many stories up to the place. When we arrived, the place seemed quite nice and I was expecting for an all-you-can-eat course there, but turns out that it’s gonna be a fine dining course. Well, that’s okay since it’s gonna be quite luxurious. So while we’re waiting, I traveled a bit around the place and amazed by the spectacular view of the city from the balcony. You can see the clear view of KL Tower and Petronas Twin Towers from there alongside many skyscrapers KL has. I definitely took the liberty to capture it all with my camera! Too bad that just across the street, a construction of a quite tall building was in the way a bit for the view, but I took several picture capturing the height of the Twin Tower from afar with the construction workers hanging on the threads under the silver crescent moon. Lovely!

I’d love to share you the story about the dinner but I’d rather keep it in my other blog that specializes in food critics. Where? It’s http://gastronomyaficionado.wordpress.com. Keep in touch with it until I got the chance to write down about the restaurant. The dinner was in the end just so-so and we would’ve spent more time shopping and having free dinner on our own instead, but we all love the moment where we share the same table and laughing, telling stories about everything, also some cultural exchange chats with our guides. It was just lovely.

On our way back, some of us including me requested to stop at the Pavilion Mall once more. I decided to exchange the size of the Vincci slippers my mom bought for my girlfriend earlier. The rest of the mommies returned back to the hotel. After we conclude our business and my mom bought a cool Fossil bag for herself, we headed back home. It’s already like around 10 PM and even though I was tempted to try the monorail just to see KL Central, we didn’t really like the atmosphere of Bukit Bintang at night. It’s dark in several places though it’s packed with people and many foreigners, but we just didn’t feel safe at all. You can compare it with Orchard Road in Singapore for that. It’s quite similar but the counterpart was indeed feels better.

Instead we went back to our room and called it a day. It’s been a very long and quite tiring day. Tomorrow’s gonna be the last day for us, so we’d best go to sleep early so we can pack our things early also and the most important thing would be to wake up early for and early stroll again around the place and do another round of early shopping in case we lack of something. That’s a lot of ‘early’ used back there eh? LOL. See ya tomorrow!

The fountain of The Red Square, Melaka

• Day 2 (Wednesday, 22 July 2009)

We woke up early and did the packing right away since we gotta leave early at 10 AM, so it’s best to wrap things up and we’re gonna have enough time for anything. Next would be breakfast. Could you imagine how’s it gonna be down there?

The colorful First World Hotel

Allow me to remind you again. The ultimate fact and figure : First World Hotel consists of two towers and over than 6000 rooms.

Now imagine how’s it gonna be on weekends! Judging from the popularity and the lodging fee, full house! Let’s play a very simple math, if a room filled with let’s say 2 people. So the hotel will be inhabited by 12,000 guests and within the 3 hours of breakfast time span, surely you wouldn’t wanna know what’s next right? Haha..

Even so, I was imagining what would the dining room… wait… HALL look like. I figured that most likely it’s gonna be like dining halls in military barracks or an overloaded prison. But in case one day you stay here, you need to bring your roomkey cards (2 for each room as always) and don’t bother devising a way to cheat coz they got this sophisticated thing for your ‘dining attendance’.

All you gotta do first is to go downstairs until the 3rd Floor. There you gonna see the restaurant. Next you’re gonna need to pass through the ticket man, hand them over your key card and they gonna swipe it on a machine. If the light goes green, off you go to fill your stomach. So don’t think like they gonna tick off your name from a guest list, if they’re using that you’re gonna be queing until lunch time. No cheating here when you know that the light’s gonna go red. Haha..

It may not look much from outside, but once you got inside you’ll realize the vastness of this place. Lots of seatings for you to pick so you wouldn’t have to worry about not getting the seat for the breakfast. I don’t know though about weekends, surely it’s gonna be one helluva riot of hungry mobs. The place itself was separated into many sections and each sections serve its own buffet breakfast. For instance that day the buffets served rice, beans, stir fry veggies, chicken curry, and sliced chicken. Plus there were also porridge with condiments and hot milk. Nice! There were also separate stations for eggs, fried noodles, cereals, fruits, and tea/coffee/juice.

The taste was unexpectedly decent even for that volume. I was imagining what the kitchen would look like. Everybody’s peeling, cutting, processing, cooking, serving, and all the mess you need to do at the kitchen. Must’ve been a mess if the hotel doesn’t enforce a good standard and to think that the life in the kitchen must be hard. Pheww… But on the other hand, the food keeps on coming and everything’s replenished quickly. The supervisors with neat suits were walking to and fro ar0und the dining hall to make sure that the tenants satisfied with everything.

After the breakfast, we took a walk around the hotel exterior after breakfast. The hotel was very close with the bus terminal making it very convenient for visitors of Genting Highland. Unfortunate for us, it was already around 9 AM so we didn’t have enough time to take a look around the outdoor theme park. Most regrettably I hadn’t even given it a try the night before, but the walk at the indoor theme park was quite fun too anyway.

Bye bye Genting Highlands!

We went straight back to the room for any leftovers and other things to do before leaving. At 10 AM sharp we went down to the rendezvous point at the Starbucks in front of the hotel. A lesson of life here, compare it with the analogy of everything, creating a thing is hard but then destroying it would be much easier. Installing a program to the PC takes more time than just uninstalling it, to get yourself admitted into an institution either for education or work takes time-absorbing processes while resigning is way easier, and I happened to encounter the same thing here. Like I said before, checking-in would be like a lifetime work here especially during weekends, but it’s much much easier to do the check-out. Just insert your room key card to the automated check-out machine outside the elevators. They even put people to attend the machine. After you inserted it, you’re officially out. That’s my lesson of life. Jeez..

Now, we’re heading downhill and then down far to the south for the old city of Melaka. I enjoyed so much the downhill trip from Genting Highlands and before heading the highway, we stopped first at a local food store and I really liked this one. Why? First you can freely taste samples, but not only that, you can also savor the sample drinks there. Local drinks like kopi tarik or teh tarik and you should try the mixture of lime and honey with ice. You can find various foods and drinks here starting from mochi, crab jerky, cookies, and many other local delicacies. Not to mention also the instant drinks like those I mentioned before but I do recommend you to buy such as teh tarik or kopi tarik. I recall the price should be around RM 13-15 and you might find that the price outside for similar products would be even higher up until around RM 20.

Batu Caves stairs with the imposing Lord Murugan as the guardian

A very Hindu Indian architectural style shrine downstairs

We resumed the journey down south, tracing back the yesterday’s path. Before Melaka we visited several places first and all of them in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. The first one was the Batu Caves, a Hindu shrine. Famous for the big statue of Murugan as the Hindu God of War, the monkeys, and the pigeon feeding. But actually the coolest thing probably the stairs up to the strangely-formed cliffs numbering 272 steps.

Long way up!! ^_^;

The interior of the caves and another stairs! I had enough for now. ^^

After we had taken some photographs around the place, we decided to ascend the heights. Even though we hesitated for awhile but since we won’t be coming back here again unless by chance. One of the biggest lessons in life is actually about taking chances or opportunities. Since that was a quite rare chance, nevertheless whether you fond of it or not, sometimes all you gotta to do is to grab ‘em while you can. So that was it, we ascended and descended with sweaty palms because height can be unfriendly to many people. As for myself, it wasn’t such a big deal but when you gotta deal with 272 steps, well.. it’s not that easy, though I gotta admit that it’s way scarier by the time you descend.

Long way up equals steep way down. *sigh*

In short, there’s nothing much to see up there actually, it’s a bit dirty (well.. if you recall scenes from Slumdog Millionaire, you gotta admit that Indians don’t care much about cleanliness) and the view wasn’t that good that time. Smog hanging around the sky of KL plus the fact that we need to go further and facing another stairs to the shrine, we decided to descend and take a sip of teh tarik down there in our rendezvous place at one of the Indian restaurants.

A short detour before Melaka was this scam program of tourism sponsored by local businesses with the MO to rip off your wallet only and in the process attempted in futile to attract me but failed miserably. But the moms thought, ‘Why not?’. It’s only for awhile though it would be a time waste from my point of view. We went to two places, a fancy wristwatch shop and a pewter shop. It’s the similar scheme where me and my friends had been taken by the tuk tuk driver to a local diamond shop. If you arrive at such place, first of all, their agents will present the products, almost convincingly, and then everything behind the veil will be seen. Everything that you see there are expensive products and of course, foreign tourists. I suppose even locals don’t bother to buy at such place except to buy chocolates (which I will tell you in the next post). The good thing was, you will not be forced to buy, it’s really up to your conscience but even so I think the shops will pay for the guides anyway for that.

Next would be a long way to Melaka or Malaka in Indonesian or you might be more familiar with Malacca, either would be fine. It’s almost like the distance between Jakarta and Bandung, but they do have better highways, less traffic, and a good view. We stopped by for a lunch at a rest area around Negeri Sembilan county. The food was horrible, most of the options were about curries. I tried the roast chicken with noodles but that was also a nightmare. So I bid you people, it’s best to hold your stomach a while longer and stop by at a decent restaurant instead. They do got this huge KFC restaurants bridging through the highway. Must be spectacular but we didn’t have the chance to try but at least it’ll be more decent. But I gotta tell you something about KFC in Malaysia later.

Welcome to Melaka!

Arriving in Melaka, we were taken straight to the city’s landmarks. Recently, Melaka has been selected as one of UNESCO’s World Heritage sites. Of course, the long history of Melaka was the real reason. The city transformed several times from Hindi culture to Muslim then Portuguese then Dutch and finally English plus with the touch of Chinese here and there.

The Tang Beng Swee clock tower

The Red Square

It’s a well-preserved city with plenty of old buildings especially at the heart of it. We stopped by at the central site called Red Square filled with the former Dutch colonial administration building Stadhuys, a fountain, the Christ Church, the Tang Beng Swee clock tower (European style as it may seem but it was made by Chinese a century ago), a Masjid, a small Dutch windmill, remnants of the old fort with cannons, clean river with boat tours, a new deck to the river with shops on it, beca tours around the site (beca is a bicycle-like rickshaw, available also in many cities in Indonesia), plus red buildings all around it. Why red? Because they’re preserved intentionally by UNESCO, the local government so that means no alterations even demolitions allowed.

The fountain of The Red Square

The replica of the Portuguese ship that landed on Melaka

Not far from there, we passed through several other modern landmarks. There were the replica of a Portuguese ship who had landed centuries ago, the revolving tower that promises a breathtaking view all over the city for a price, the modern part of the city with malls and a stadium, and then here we go, another historical landmark of Melaka.

A walk around the riverside

From Dutch’s Stadhuys, we arrived at a more ancient site of the their fellow invader, the predecessor, the remnants of the Portuguese fort of A Famosa with the remaining gate of Porta de Santiago. Up on the hill side from the gate, lies a derelict Catholic church of St. Paul. This place somehow was eerier than the last one. Perhaps Stadhuys was better maintained and preserved, while St. Paul with the erected catacombs (to prevent from its demise) and the empty caged catacomb of a certain saint that used to preach here filled with money from the pilgrims who had wished for a supernatural good luck, made me chill a bit. Perhaps at night it would be worse, but since the amount of the tourists were quite enormous, everything seemed to be just fine.

Hotel Mahkota will be the place we lodge for the night. We encircled the city a bit up until we found the shores of Melaka, not so pretty though, we arrived at the hotel. Just across the hotel was Holiday Inn and The Jetty. The Jetty had originally meant as the harbor of Melaka but since it was determined that the harbor should be elsewhere, then the already constructed jetty was transformed into a nightlife entertainment center.

Porta de Santiago

St. Paul's Church

The hotel itself seemed to be quite decent from outside, perhaps one of the best hotels in the city, appeared to be convincing from outside and the lobby, plus it’s so big. The hotel consists of many towers and 2 huge swimming pools all named with flowers. We need to walk as far as 100 meters just to get into the tower for our rooms and I gotta tell you this, the more you got inside, the more you wonder how would they even be able to maintain such vastness.

The interior of the church

The tombstones

After we entered the room, we suspect that this place used to be an apartment but was transformed into a hotel. Where else you gonna find a kitchenette with a warning not to use it? Plus somebody before us stuffed their garbages into a plastic bag and missed by the housekeeping. Jeez.. At least it was quite decent nonetheless. We took a quick shower and some rest before heading out again to the mall just across the street to grab some dinner.

Hotel Mahkota will be the place we lodge for the night. We encircled the city a bit up until we found the shores of Melaka, not so pretty though, we arrived at the hotel. Just across the hotel was Holiday Inn and The Jetty. The Jetty had originally meant as the harbor of Melaka but since it was determined that the harbor should be elsewhere, then the already constructed jetty was transformed into a nightlife entertainment center.

The hotel itself seemed to be quite decent from outside, perhaps one of the best hotels in the city, appeared to be convincing from outside and the lobby, plus it’s so big. The hotel consists of many towers and 2 huge swimming pools all named with flowers. We need to walk as far as 100 meters just to get into the tower for our rooms and I gotta tell you this, the more you got inside, the more you wonder how would they even be able to maintain such vastness.

Hotel Mahkota

After we entered the room, we suspect that this place used to be an apartment but was transformed into a hotel. Where else you gonna find a kitchenette with a warning not to use it? Plus somebody before us stuffed their garbages into a plastic bag and missed by the housekeeping. Jeez.. At least it was quite decent nonetheless. We took a quick shower and some rest before heading out again to the mall just across the street to grab some dinner.

Hotel Mahkota will be the place we lodge for the night. We encircled the city a bit up until we found the shores of Melaka, not so pretty though, we arrived at the hotel. Just across the hotel was Holiday Inn and The Jetty. The Jetty had originally meant as the harbor of Melaka but since it was determined that the harbor should be elsewhere, then the already constructed jetty was transformed into a nightlife entertainment center.

The hotel itself seemed to be quite decent from outside, perhaps one of the best hotels in the city, appeared to be convincing from outside and the lobby, plus it’s so big. The hotel consists of many towers and 2 huge swimming pools all named with flowers. We need to walk as far as 100 meters just to get into the tower for our rooms and I gotta tell you this, the more you got inside, the more you wonder how would they even be able to maintain such vastness.

After we entered the room, we suspect that this place used to be an apartment but was transformed into a hotel. Where else you gonna find a kitchenette with a warning not to use it? Plus somebody before us stuffed their garbages into a plastic bag and missed by the housekeeping. Jeez.. At least it was quite decent nonetheless. We took a quick shower and some rest before heading out again to the mall just across the street to grab some dinner.

Hotel Mahkota will be the place we lodge for the night. We encircled the city a bit up until we found the shores of Melaka, not so pretty though, we arrived at the hotel. Just across the hotel was Holiday Inn and The Jetty. The Jetty had originally meant as the harbor of Melaka but since it was determined that the harbor should be elsewhere, then the already constructed jetty was transformed into a nightlife entertainment center.

The hotel itself seemed to be quite decent from outside, perhaps one of the best hotels in the city, appeared to be convincing from outside and the lobby, plus it’s so big. The hotel consists of many towers and 2 huge swimming pools all named with flowers. We need to walk as far as 100 meters just to get into the tower for our rooms and I gotta tell you this, the more you got inside, the more you wonder how would they even be able to maintain such vastness.

After we entered the room, we suspect that this place used to be an apartment but was transformed into a hotel. Where else you gonna find a kitchenette with a warning not to use it? Plus somebody before us stuffed their garbages into a plastic bag and missed by the housekeeping. Jeez.. At least it was quite decent nonetheless. We took a quick shower and some rest before heading out again to the mall just across the street to grab some dinner.

I concluded that since we haven’t encountered a decent tasty local food here in Malaysia (Penang Village offers decent food but not that good like I told you before), then perhaps American fast food would be a good alternative.

We immediately picked KFC as one of the trusted fat country fast food brands. In Malaysia, they provide Mac and Cheese were quite okay, but the chicken tasted strange and even stranger with the so-called Maggi Chili Sauce. What kind of chili sauce was that? It’s not even spicy, it’s sweet and sour! Jeez! So people, I personally don’t recommend you to eat KFC there, it’s better to waste your time scouring for bland local food and hone up you experience rather than fast food with disappointing performance instead of being a hero at needy times like that.

After the dinner, we took a walk around the old mall and stopped by at Vincci (of course.. what else do Malaysians can offer us there?). Then we went back to the hotel to call it a day.

The ferris wheel of Genting Highlands indoor theme park

The holiday theme would be : Moms and Kids Summer Holiday! That’s because that our mothers whom were my mom and her closest friends after coming back home from Bali last year decided to book another cheap flight ticket somewhere and this time they’ll be bringing their kids. I didn’t know the reason why but they picked KL after all. For me, it’s gonna be another good adventure. So then a year has passed and here the story goes..

• Day 1 (Tuesday, 21 July 2009)

I gotta wake up at 1.30 AM in the morning coz the bus for airport’s leaving at 3 AM which means I gotta be in BSM Primajasa Terminal at around 2.30 AM. I got this paranoia where I used to try this method in Monday morning, arrived so early morning in Jakarta and went straight to the office. That didn’t work, I got sick and sleep depraved. I just finished packing around 9 PM and can only managed myself to snooze off to slumberland around 10.30 PM. The condition in the bus also required me to adapt first before I can doze.. uneasily in this case.

Anyhow we got ourselves arrived at the airport in one piece, but I dunno who got the most absurd idea to the tell the driver so that we were dropped off at Terminal 3. I haven’t realized it by the way because it’s possible that since frequent flights from low fare commercial airways were probably stationed in Terminal 3. That was actually a correct guess but turned out it’s only for domestic flights for God sake!! And now we’re stranded far from Terminal 2 at 5.30 AM, luckily one of the airport attendants said to us that a shuttle bus for terminal transfers will come soon either the blue or the yellow bus. So with our heavy luggage we’re waiting just outside the terminal.

When the bus came around 20 minutes later, it’s fully packed with our baggage and most of us can’t even sit. The funny thing was that we gotta endure until Terminal 2D because the route was circling from Terminal 3 then Terminal 1 A, B, C then us. With that condition, it’s a tough job but it’s fun. Haha.. As soon as we arrived at Terminal 2D, we checked in right away plus some little effort to coordinate the moms with today’s necessities for taking ourselves out of the airport and some other things also occurred. For your information, the current airport tax is now IDR 150,000 per head. Yes, it’s no longer IDR 100,000 since March 2009. I had been lucky then when I traveled to Thailand in February. ^^

As for the NPWP issue so that you can walk free without fiscal payment, you gotta make sure that you bring the copies of the NPWP, identity card, passport, boarding pass, and kartu keluarga (list of your family members) if you’re bringing one. One of my mom’s friends’ son didn’t have the NPWP but luckily they got away for free and after that the other’s daughter got caught in the blacklist at the immigration due to the similar names they share and of course she’s innocent plus my mom accidentally put a body spray more than 200 ML into my traveling bag and not into the registered baggage, so that the final checker confiscated the Victoria Secret’s product after only several sprays use. What a shame…

Ah somehow, after some arduous trials just to get ourselves in the departure lounge, we finally took off at 9 AM.

We arrived at the LCCT Terminal at the far side of KLIA. LCCT stands for Low Cost Carrier Terminal. That means you gotta dream yourself seeing what it’s like to be in the new KLIA if you keep on using low fare airways, notably here would be Air Asia coz the Malaysian Government didn’t approve the constructions for an only Air Asia airport. Don’t expect for a fancy terminal like Changi or Suvarnabhumi on my previous trips here, but still slightly better than Cengkareng because it’s still quite new but with a strong unfriendly atmosphere.

Baggage Claim at LCCT Terminal

The first thing that caught my eye when I arrived at the front gate of the terminal would be the Malaysian famous coffee bar Old Town White Coffee. A shame that after all I haven’t had the chance to sip of its coffee but later my guide regarded highly of this brand. They got branches all over Malaysia by the way. Then, we met the guides and they readied 2 cars for us. There’s no time to rest for now coz the check-in time would be around 5 PM and that would be at Genting Highlands which was far from here. According to the itinerary we were supposed to go to Putrajaya first. So then we left the airport behind with joy, knowing that it’s summer holiday and the adventure can finally begin! ^^

Around the new airport, from the airplane I saw that the premises were built around the vast coconut palm plantations. The guide said that the government scorched the earth and make new lands from the plantations for the new airport and the new central government city of Putrajaya. They did indeed neat in doing their job, starting from the highways, the train lines, and of course the pride of the country, Sepang F1 Circuit. I didn’t have the chance to see it but it’s not that far from the airport, which would be quite far from KL though.

Interior of Alamanda Mall

Raining for several hours all the way from airport up to Putrajaya

It was raining that afternoon, even from before we got landed the pilot had announced it. I didn’t think it would last that long, but it was getting worse. When we got ourselves around the Putrajaya, I got kinda worried that the rain’s gonna ruin the holiday. The guide said that this rain was a blessing because it hasn’t been raining for days and thanks to the rain, the smoke from the forest fire in Indonesia could subside a bit. Putrajaya itself was great, a shame I couldn’t take any photographs.

The city itself was more like a vast elite residential area. Equipped with apartments for lower echelons and big houses for the ministers. You’ll dream of becoming a civil servant if you’re working here. All the headquarters for every departments are centralized here and each civil servants reserved the right to be housed here in their service time. You only have to pay the water and electricity bills only! Now that’s a treat and more ensuring that you won’t be corrupted since the law there is indeed harsh. The prime minister himself resided in a very big mansion just across the lake. On the other side would be the Summer Palace for the Yang Dipertuan Agung, the Sultan himself. The area was maintained neatly. All grass neatly trimmed, trees and flowers planted, road marks and traffic lights were all brand new, everything was carefully planned here. Just great! Gonna make a great site for pre-wedding photo sessions. Haha..

It’s already around 1 PM and we were all starving so we stopped by at Alamanda Mall (the one and only mall in Putrajaya). Our guides, Mr. Paul with his wife Mrs. Didie (what a fun occupation to be with as couple) plus the driver of the other car Mr. Hamzah have already booked us seats at Penang Village (we got one here at Setiabudi Building, Jakarta). The dishes for the lunch were all familiar to us. A little bit of Indonesian, Malaysian and Chinese here and there. Plentiful but with an average taste. It was decent and we were all seemed thankful for the feast. Mr. Paul as the head of the guides proposed us to go straight to Genting Highlands as day seemed to waver away and the distance would be quite far. After a short walk around inside of Alamanda Mall and have ourselves ready with everything. Off then we go the gambling haven in Malaysia!

From Putrajaya in the southern part of KL, we dashed through the neat, intricate highways which interconnecting Thailand then all across the Malaysian Peninsula up until Singapore. Long story short, almost 2 hours later we were ascending the hills of Genting Highlands. It took many miles up to the top of the mountain where we can see the Chin Swee Temple and even the hotels. Too bad that the new and the old cable cars were currently on maintenance that time until the 23rd of July. It’s such a shame that we only stayed for a night because all the patrons of the hotels in Genting are eligible for a free ride up and down the hill. Perhaps on next occasion because there are plenty of tours and cheap bus fares up to the mountain, probably around RM 7 to 9 unless you pick the tour type that consists of a dine or a free ride at the theme park or even an overnight stay so it’ll be more expensive of course.

On our way up to Genting Highlands

So then here we are then, the Genting Highlands. After several security posts, it felt more like at Berghof in Berchtesgaden. Haha.. The First World Hotel would be the place to lodge. Genting actually possess around 5 hotels from different classes but this one is the budget hotel consists of more than 6000 rooms with no room service and colorful washed paints on the exterior. The troublesome part of this huge hotel is the check-in procedure. Can you imagine how big the hotel is? Two towers with more than 6000 rooms and more the 20 stories, they built counters like in banks where, as individual lodgers, you will have to pick your number and wait for it to appear in certain counter. Even with this kind of procedure, in weekends, it’s gonna take like more than 3 hours. On the contrary, to check out would be way easier coz you only got to insert the hotel room card into a quick check out machines just outside the elevators. Lucky for us, as a traveling group, the check in procedure was done in an instant. After we received the hotel room cards, it’s free time at last and the guides will come to pick us up again tomorrow at 10.30 AM just outside the hotel around the Starbucks.

The view from our room

The room was very decent for me. Got a good view of the greenery around the highlands, a table for two for a bit of landscape gazing, two good single beds, drinkable water from the sink with a shower room and a potty room. You can use the water jug and fill it with hot/cold water dispensers just outside the hotel rooms. After setting ourselves straight then we went out for a walk around the indoor theme park plus to grab something for dinner.

We took the elevator outside the lobby of the hotel and stroll around the mall. Plenty of things to see here but it’s not new anymore for me because we got the indoor theme park back in BSM Bandung but this one was much bigger with plenty of shops and foreign franchised restaurants. For Muslims, it won’t be hard to find halal food in Malaysia where you can always spot the sign and the Health Department always renew the cleanliness with their gradings, so you can pick it at your ease. Since the idea of Western restaurants didn’t interest me, we went upstairs to The Kopitiam, the food court in the premises. Plenty of choice but then again since my stomach’s a bit upset that time, I picked the safer one and that was a Fish Porridge. I had to abandon the Indian food idea. My mom picked a Teppanyaki dish while the rest prefer for a safer franchised products. Thank goodness the lunch was very decent in terms of volume not the taste, but this porridge for dinner was absolutely a bad idea. It’s completely tasteless so I gotta add more and more soya bean ketchup here plus the pepper of course. Luckily my mom’s Chicken Teppanyaki was quite okay so I tucked in there also.

The indoor theme park

Shops selling trinkets, sketches, and unique things

We returned back to the room around 10 PM for a good night rest. Tomorrow would be another adventure. It’s a few hours trip back to the south, the city of world heritage, Melaka/Malaka or Melacca.