Vacation Adventures- Part 3 – Malaysia

From KLIA, my dad’s friend had arranged some one to pick us from the airport. You see, KLIA is BIG and when i say BIG, it is really BIG. It has so many entrances. You wouldn’t be surprised even when you fail to find a really well known face there.

So, when we were making our way out i can hear my dad telling that it would never be possible to find this person whose face we’d never seen. Fortunately, this guy just found us!.

( It’s a miracle [:D]). Minutes later, I could find my self in a ” dappa car” riding straight to Brickfields ( that’s where we were staying). Malaysia was nice, not as much as S.pore , but nice. For a moment I could find no difference between the roads there and OMR ( or RGR as it is called now). It’s like they’ve got a toll booth per mile. I could realise I was dozing and was trying my best to keep awake. No use!!.

After a 1 hour drive, we arrived at our hotel, ( Hotel Mexico). The hotel was good, nice, fine!. Then, a shower, resting and we were hungry!!. We set out to explore the new city. Just opposite to our hotel, was a chinese restaurant. We decided to hop in!. the person there couldn’t understand English and we couldn’t speak Chinese or what ever language was that ! we ordered for chicken rice with some roasted pork and Some cola. Just when he put the food on our table, he goes 50 Ringgit, 50 ringgit! we were surprised! we had to pay before we ate. Seeing the surprised look on our faces he just said ” sorry!” ..lol!!

After lunch we went to a near by Indian shop to get a Hair gel and conditioner ( Ours was taken away at Singapore when we boarded our flight to KL. We knew rules did exist that didn’t allow us to carry liquids and gels above 100ml. But it did exist in Srilanka too and they seldom cared.!). We got ‘em. We had very limited currency in our hand, so were looking for some money changers there. I was surprised when the keeper of the shop told that he would exchange Singapore dollars.

After all the hustling- and -bustling we went in to do some shopping, the malls were awesome and AFFORDABLE, not like the ones in Singapore where you had to pay 20,000 bucks for a simple stiletto!!. We did loads of shopping at Sogo’s and then came down to the downtown shops when it started raining.

Petronas

“Rain??”

“yes! Rain”

“But appa, it shined so brightly and was soo hot this morning”

“In Malaysia and Singapore it is like this! It shines the morning and rains immediately!! So people always had to carry Umbrellas”

My dad ultimately makes a mark that he was very familiar with malysia’s climate

” ohh!! So they don’t have monsoon rain or east-west Cyclonic winds hun? ( Recollecting Tasneem Ma’am’s Lessons ).

Yes Indeed -I could see Umbrella stands at almost every shop. We had to cross the road for further shopping. But we were not allowed to. The traffic was completely blocked in a certain lane .Just then an alarm went “beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppppppppppp” i stared in amazement when a dozen Limosines went at 100 kmph, followed by cyclists at an amazing jet-like speed along with a couple of police motor-bikes and other caravans with spare cycles, hmm..nd it was then when i realised it was a cycle race or some sort of that. After waiting for almost half-an-hour we could cross the other side and do some more shopping!.

We bought lot of bags, handbags in specific. They are just irresistable. more than a dozen i guess

In Malaysia, You don’t get Taxis very easily like in Singapore, we had to wait, wait and wait! 5nally a taci arrived. A tamilian the driver was.

He asked ” Sir, enga ponum?”

( wher do you wanna go?

” Brickfields”

” brickfields la enga?” (where in brickfields?)

“Hotel Mexico”

” hmm… 25 velli ( Ringits) kodunga” ( It will cost 25 Ringits)

” meter Work-pannadha, varappa 5 ringits dhane koduthom ” ( the meter doesn’t work? we paid only 5 RM when we came here)

” he….( his slyish grin) sry meter workpannadhu”

” vendam ap, nee po, naanga vera taxi eduthukurom” ( it’s ok, You leave, we;ll get another taxi)

” sorry annen” ( sorry brother)

My dad says ” look, this tamil people only spoiling Malaysia, look at the chinese ones they dont get a single cent above the meter fare) *sigh*

We were lucky enough to get another taxi and ride back to our hotel. It was almost night, we ate at some indian restaurant that night.

The next morning we had to go to Malaya University. My dad’s friend there had sent a car for us ( a toyota Avanza, WOW). The University was awesome, like a picnic spot. Full of greenery, little cottages among them with Wi-Fi! and wowiee, i wish i could study there. Then off to some sightseeing.

First, we had a visit to the kings palace. The King officially shares no power, but alas, is respected with all one can. You can see pictures of the Royal Family hanging in every shop, house and the palace was amazing~!

Three or four guards with their horses all upright and they didn’t even seem to blink!.

Next, we went to some war memorial for soldiers

And then the KL tower, Who could miss that?. The push of one button and the next second we were Up! 285 feet high in the air with the whole KL gleaming and the petronas shimmering. It was a wonderful sight.

Then we proceeded to the Ultimate Symbol of Malaysia, the Petronas. Petronas was HUGE, really HUGE and we did a bit of shopping at Suria KLCC there when it started to rain again. We had lunch and my dad had to meet a friend of his.

Some one hosted dinner for us and then we went to buy some jewelery at a Chinese store. My dad wanted us to see that place. It was called Poh Kong My dad had been there earlier. Everytime he is in Malaysia he goes there to buy some thing or the other. So he goes there atleast twice in a year .No wonder he had familiar faces there. He just wanted us to see the difference between Chinese Gold and Indian Gold. ( I never knew Chinese made gold chains and rings and..)

The next morning we went to the Batu Caves. A friend of my dad was the head of it ( if i am not wrong). There were some news reporters who had come to interview dad. Meanwhile, we got free passes and a person to take us around. You can see nature at it’s best there. The sound of bats, the sunlight seeping through the cracks , the waterfall…truly amazing.

After a sumptous lunch there, he had gone to Kl’s shopping spree namely Mydin. It was really nice with so many storeys. Our first thing to get was a big Suitcase. We had done so much of shopping that we needed another one to put in our things. And after solid 5 hours of shopping there and roaming in the streets we decided it was enough . One thing about KL is that 85 0f 100 shops sell veils and scarves.Everyone i see on the road wear a kurta-like tops, a matching skirt, and a matching scarf too. Strange people * sigh*.

And the rest of the night went away packing all the things, tying them up, what to open Bangkok and what will go straight to chennai.. And finally it was over.

The next morning we had an early flight to Bangkok by Malaysian Airlines. As usual I didn’t manage to get up early. I woke up just in time and was getting ready when my mom and dad had gone out for some tea.

The car arrived just in time and we were all set to visit the nature-plenty country

l set for the one hour ride to KLIA. We were there soon and it was only 4:00 when we reached there. Our flight was only at 6:20. After waving good bye to all of them there. We proceeded for emigration, security checks and SHOPPING!.

30 Minutes before departure, we were before our gates. Our flight was a Boeing and it was a 2hr 20 min flight to Thailand. ( I got rid of my Boeingophobia since last time. yay me!! lol).

Believe me, it was the best flight I’ve ever had!. The crew were so very nice to you and half of the flight was empty. It was good, we could stretch out . The food was perfect. It was Chicken curry ( south Indian style) with rice , a fruit salad with litchi, olives. fig and a couple of other fruits which I’ve never tasted before. A nice strawberry yogurt, orange juice and 4 Ferrero Rochers! woww! The flight had PES ! gr8! except for this really annoying steward guy who wanted us to know that he knew tamil and just when I got that really good food option, he went ” ungallukku vera option venuma?” I went ” no. Thank you”. “illa, its nice bread and..” Just before he could finish I snapped ” I like this alright”. What was he trying to do? Trying to part me with Ferrero Rocher !

We were at Suvarnabhoomi Intl Airport. And this airport too was Really HUGE! and was fully made of glass. And this was when swine flu had taken root, so they had to take photographs of all of us and check people coming in from America. They were all queued out! My dad makes his statement

” America oda gathi a paaru !!"

Ok!! we finished all our formalities and proceeded out side.

Will write about adventures at BKK in my next post.

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btw I find writing this travelouge really boring . It is more than a month after we returned to India and I’ve not completed still. This is probably the 100th time I am forcing myself to post again and finally i did it! yay me~~!!