Pelancongan Kepada Malaysia ( Tour to Malaysia) !

We went to Malaysia – Singapore for honeymoon on a holiday package with Welfare Holiday Tours whose offers seemed exciting in the beginning but we were dissatisfied by their implementation which made us hop around the places with certain time limit allotted to each place which was very less. 

As soon as we landed in KL (Kuala-lumpur) the capital city of Malaysia I was flabbergasted by the size of the airport and it took us some 15-20min to understand from where we need to collect the baggage. We boarded a subway-metro which took us to the point where we had to collect the baggage. The first thing we did was to search our cab driver who was holding a placard with our names on it. After a tiresome journey in Srilankan airlines and tasteless food we were so relieved to find him . Of course we had no idea then what all food options we would be having in the forthcoming days! The cab driver Raja is from Tamil Nadu and got settled in Malaysia . It was my first international visit so like everyone else I was also surprised by the clean – wide roads and neat traffic and more surprised by seeing too many Indians especially Tamilians who were settled there from long. I am not sure on this but may be as TN is the nearest Indian state to Malaysia Tamilians were high in number there.

Raja dropped us at hotel Ancasa saying another Guide Christopher will be picking us from hotel next day in the morning. Meanwhile we can roam on our own in areas around the hotel, he said . He told just adjacent to hotel there is China town which is good time pass as it is Chinese New year. We were greatly relieved as soon as we entered our magnificent and luxurious hotel Ancasa.  Our room was in 11^th floor and the view was great from there as we were able to see a huge Bank – May bank and KL tower and also Petronus- Twin towers from the room window.

Below are the snap shots ofHotel An-Casa , KL tower & MAY-bank (in order) from the hotel room window

Another interesting thing we spotted was Mc-D from the room window so it was decided we would have lunch there as we reached very late and the free unlimited buffet breakfast closed by 10:30 and we were in no mood to try any new cuisine. So we headed straight to Mc-D and had the usual French fries and non veg meal along with coke which seemed heavenly then .
PS: I never liked MC-Donalds!

Five things which I experienced in Malaysia and which I would love to experience again are listed below:

1.) Chinese Newyear : After a satisfactory meal we headed to China town which was all glowing in red due to various decorations as part of Chinese New year and there was too much of hustle bustle in shops . The note worthy things there were chestnuts which were yum and also guavas which were the size of small coconuts. The vendor who was selling them seemed to be Yo-Yo with all his DJ kind of pics pasted on his cart. He was very vibrant and gentle when he was dealing with us  and did not mind posing for us!

Chinese New year celebrations at China town

Chest nut and Guava Vendor

We roamed for an hour or so and in some shops we found it amusing and funny to see that there was a recorded tape of an old lady shrieking in a very happy tone regarding the sales/offers/products. She was shouting some thing like Pork for some ringgits and that offer was valid only for that day. I was not able to make out exactly what it is but understood only one thing that ringgit is Malaysian currency and 1 ringgit = 16 Rs and a word of advise here.If you keep converting a ringgit in to rupees you will never be able to purchase any thing there. Even if I converted I found some fruits/ food items and clothing (T-shirts etc) were reasonably priced . After purchasing chest nuts and T-shirts and having some juice we came back to hotel to rest for a while. In the night we came out on our own asking the Taxi for near by famous shopping center in KL and got down at BB plaza surrounded by KFC and the majority of the crowd were Chinese celebrating the Chinese new-year!

     KL-tower in the night

After roaming around and having some veg-roll from an Indian stall which was tasteless, purchased an orange juice to drain it. I purchased a leather belt and came back to hotel as we didn't find any thing interesting to buy .Below is the pic showing Malaysian currency.

Malaysian currency

Before describing the city tour we had the next day let me brief Malaysian History for those who are interested! Malaysia is a country in southeast Asia consisting of the southern Malay Peninsula and the northern part of the island of Borneo. Malays probably moved into the peninsula eventually reaching northern Borneo and displacing the indigenous Dayaks. Europeans arrived in the 16th century. Gaining independence in 1957, it joined with Singapore, Sabah, and Sarawak to become the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. Singapore gained independence separately in 1965. Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the largest city with a population of 24,800,000. This is what our guide MR. Christopher briefed to us on the first day of the tour which covered the city tour. For more information you can google.

Christopher also explained that the type of Govt in Malaysia is constitutional monarchy nominally headed by paramount ruler (commonly referred to as the King) and a bicameral Parliament consisting of a non elected upper house and an elected lower house; all Peninsular Malaysian states have hereditary rulers (commonly referred to as sultans) except Melaka and Pulau Pinang (Penang); those two states along with Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia have governors appointed by government. Sabah and Sarawak retain certain constitutional prerogatives (e.g., right to maintain their own immigration controls).

I love history and the facts. I loved visiting Istana Negara and Masjid-e-Negara

2.) Masjid- Negara Our first stop was Istana Negara which means National palace, the royal residence for the King and queen. They did not allow us to enter inside , so we took some snaps at the entrance of the palace where there were boards with details of the palace, constitutional monarchy as well as the hierarchy of all the sultans who ruled till then.

Istana Negara Entrance

Our next stop was a monument built in the memory of dead warriors in 1^st and 2^nd world wars. You can check it in the image below.

War memorial

We in Game OVER tee shirts bought at China Town :P

Then we visited Masjid-negara which means National mosque, one of the largest mosques in the world. As we entered inside we realized that wearing a burqa is must to walk inside till the point where tourists are allowed. All foreigners maintained hijab as they entered inside. It was very bright to watch all sea of people dressed in purple hijabs.

Masjid-negara

As told by our guide Christopher and as we roamed we realized it’s a strict Islamic country and we were told that there Muslims are even punished if they are caught eating food in day time during the month of Ramadan! They can carry food items to their homes but shouldn't eat in open. There is an Islamic museum which we wanted to visit but missed

3.) Kualalampur Bird Park and KL tower:  KL has one of the largest bird watches in Asia but due to time constraint we couldn't stop by! The next time I visit I will definitely take time to spend at KL Bird park . It has world's largest freeflight walk in Aviary and houses some exotic birds. Being a nature lover I am sure I would love it there.

Image source : Here

 Our next stop was the world famous KL tower or Telecommunication tower which is the seventh tallest tower in the world used for broadcast purposes with an observation deck on the top most floor and a floating restaurant.The tower also acts as the Islamic falak observatory to observe the crescent moon which marks the beginning of Muslim month of Ramadhan.(go to wiki for more). The tallest telecom tower is Tokyo sky tree in Japan.

This KL tower image is from wiki

We went to the top most floor of the tower from where we had amazing views of the KL city. It was a unique experience and I would love to go there again. Petronus towers were also visible from the windows of the KL Tower.Check the snapshots below!

Petronus towers

KL- city view

We had lunch in Little India where there were shops selling clothes from Mumbai, Kerala etc. We had some south Indian food which tasted lousy! 
4.) Petronus Towers: Next stop was obviously Petronus/twin towers .The night view of Petronus towers is extremely beautiful. There are offices inside and you are not allowed to go in. Tower 1 has Petronus offices and Tower 2 is given for lease to other offices like Accenture, Mc Kinsey etc . It was the tallest building in the world from 1998 to 2004 till it was surpassed by Taipei-101 in China but they remain the tallest twin towers so far. Both towers are connected by Sky Bridge and it’s an amazing sight to watch in the night where the zenith of the towers shine like twin stars competing with the sky!

That night we picked up courage and tasted veg noodles full of vinegar in China town. They were edible but the surrounding crab and frog dishes were not so welcoming. Hence we finished the dinner asap and enjoyed the rain outside. Being a tropical country there is sun as well as a daily evening drizzle in Malaysia. The two day stay was enjoyable with occasional drizzle , little India (which almost gave the feel of home :)) , China town, visits to all the tall towers and knowing the country's  history! 

One more thing is hibiscus is national flower of Malaysia and we could see lampposts in the shape of hibiscus almost everywhere and you can see the hibiscus flower on the currency note too!The 2 day stay was noteworthy if we keep aside the food and the whiffs or sight of the food ! We thought may be they will react in a similar way when they come across Indian spicy food.:)

5.) Genting Highlands: The next day we packed and were all set to go to “Genting Highlands” .Its my most favorite place in the whole trip . On the way we also visited “Batu” caves which is to the north of KL city where there is a Hindu shrine of lord Muruga. 

It acts as a focus of Hindu  festival Thaipusam which was happening when we visited Malaysia . You can witness many Indians there , mostly Tamilians and it’s a famous pilgrimage site for Hindus all over the world. While climbing the steps to go inside the cave you will come across many ferocious monkeys scaring you and trying to snatch things from you .I almost ran on the steps to escape from all the mischievous monkeys! Outside there is world's largest Lord Muruga’s golden statue which is 140 ft tall , a golden shrine and inside the caves also there is a shrine.

Lord Muruga at Batu caves

If you travel further north you will reach Genting highland-resorts with a Theme park also called as Genting Island which is more like a man made island developed to attract the tourists! As we were taking many hair pin bends and were about to reach Genting highland there was a remarkable drop in temperature and we didn't feel like having the local cold drink Kickapoo which we bought at Batu caves as it was burning hot there. We felt as if season changed from summer to winter in minutes and we started groping our bags for sweaters and shawls.

The main attraction of Genting is The First World hotel which held its place  in the Guinness records as the world's largest hotel in 2005 . it was the largest hotel till 2008 when The Palazzo of Los vegas replaced it. Now The first world hotel is the 4^th largest.

Nevertheless if you go to Genting should stay in this place which is like a township full of entertainment and fun. We thought of going for foot massage and fish pedicure but we felt we had no time and to be honest we didn't feel like spending a lot on it ;)

Below the hotel is a 500,000 sq ft (46,000 m2) plaza called the First World Plaza, housing shopping malls, arcades, foot outlets, Starworld Casino, and the Genting Indoor Theme Park. It has a mini stage for weekly performances (such as magic and music shows) at Time Squares, surrounded by a replica of the Statue of Liberty and an Oscar statue. Other attractions include the Watersplash Pool (an indoor water theme park for children), Genting Sky Venture (Asia's first free fall simulator) and a Cineplex. The colorful building below is the first world hotel and as it was too foggy and nothing was visible from our room which was in 20^th floor!

First world hotel

We visited Robert Ripley’s Believe it or not museum and also scary house which was lot fun! Like in any scary house there were only visitors who were scaring each other and it’s needless to say Ripley’s was very interesting .It was fun to know some facts, face some illusions and solve puzzles , capture our shadows , feel dizzy inside a room as it was slant and many more. We spent long time there.

At Ripley's

At Ripley's Believe it or not

Genting sky way (Cable car ride) was good and theme park was extremely interesting to people who want to enjoy all the rides where as I was just spending my time clicking pics here and there and observing people who were having food, the odor of which was so unbearable to me that I had to cover my head and nose with my scarf. I saw people eating some thing called herbal egg, a boiled egg dipped in brown solution packed in a plastic bag!! Well I don’t want to mention the smell of it  :)

skyway ride

We were very relieved when we found a North Indian food outlet in a vacant unoccupied corner among all Chinese, Thai food outlets. I couldn't bear the smell any longer so we almost ran to that outlet and ordered some biryani and pakodas and satisfied our eyes , nose and stomach even if the food was not so great! After a half-hr to 1 hr stroll in and around the hotel we came back to room and packed our bags as we had a bus the next morning to Singapore. Genting highland was awake even after midnight!

Our memories from Malaysia are firm and wide awake even now. All in all Malaysia is  a historic country populated by very kind people. People wear amazing traditional silk- ware and pretty women there wear the baju kurung, a knee-length blouse worn over a long skirt and also wear beautiful silk scarfs. Malaysia a country filled with attractive colorful flowers mostly orchids and has beautiful beaches. The add-on during our trip was Chinese new-year which made Kualalumpur even more bright with beautifully decorated lights, lamps and dragons .The time we visited Chinese new-year was the year of black dragon.

Few words I learnt from the Malay language are

Negara- National

Keluar – Exit

Kedai – Shop

Maaf- sorry

kiblah (also an Arabic word) - Orientation or direction of Mecca

terima kasih – Thanks!

All in all I loved the Malaysia trip as I love exploring new cultures , traditions and ways of life. As we explored we understood Malaysia is an Islamic country and has rich culture and history which will not bore you. Any new place rejuvenates me and I came back with many memories. I would love to visit Malaysia again to get amused by the KL and petronus towers and to stay for long and enjoy the beach and understand the people and everything  but this time with a better plan .

The only dissatisfaction was the holiday package and the airlines we chose for our trip. Next I would love to plan it better and explore some more places leisurely like Bukit Bintang, Lego land , Gunung Mulu national park and many more which we missed in our first trip :)

That’s all for now friends and terima kasih for reading my post !!

I am participating in the MalaysiaJao Blogathon Contest in association with BlogAdda.com.