Kuala Lumpur

We Arrived!

Yawn, 3 am and it was time to get up as we planned to leave for the airport around 4:30 am. Our flight departed Saskatoon on time at 7:10 am. Upon arrival in Vancouver two hours later we were disappointed to learn our flight to Hong Kong was delayed one and a half hours. We only had one hour and 55 minutes to make our connection in Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur. Definitely not looking good. By the time we left Vancouver we were 2 hours behind schedule. We actually landed 3 minutes after our scheduled connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur had departed. We got off the plane around 8:30 and were greeted by several agents waving signs above their heads showing passenger names. Probable half of the flight missed connecting flights to places like New Delhi, Singapore and Bangkok. We got ushered off to Cathay Pacific’s transfer desk by our respective agent. We had the option of leaving our bags checked or taking them to our designated hotel – the rep strongly recommended leaving them checked. We decided to leave our bags checked to simplify check in that was less than 12 hours later. We eventually got booked into the Marriott near the Hong Kong airport. We had a nice room with a king bed. The foods voucher was worthless, the options being spaghetti with tomato sauce or vegetable fried rice. The rice was dry, salty and very low on vegetables. Nonetheless, it was something to get us through the short night.

We took the 6am shuttle back to the airport. Passport control and security screening was busy. Gary had to empty his carryon because of medication. We had breezed through security in Saskatoon over 24 hours earlier. Not in Hong Kong. Once past security we immediately found a fast food place for a quick breakfast, then off to our gate. We got reacquainted with some of fellow travellers from the Vancouver flight. One guy in particular, from Preeceville, is a chef at a family owned Indian Restaurant. He, unfortunately had not booked all of his flights on the same ticket through Air Canada and ended up staying in the terminal overnight.

Our flight to Kuala Lumpur took off and within a few minutes into the flight we needed blankets to keep warm. The flight was otherwise great, taking about 4 hours. The airport was a mob scene at immigration, we waited almost an hour to get through. When we got to the luggage carousel all the bags were up and we found Gary’s quickly. After waiting on Linda’s bag for quite some time, in near panic, we went looking for it. It had mysteriously been set near the lost and found. Breathing a sigh of relief we headed to the exit in search of an ATM and SIM cards for the phones. We bough Digi Sim cards. They work but the internet is SLOW.

We checked in to the G Tower hotel we thought one day late. In reality if we had arrived when we should have, we would not have had a room. With the confusion of international date line and time changes it turns out we actually didn’t have a room booked for January 8 which we would have needed to check in at 3 am January 9. If things went according to schedule, we would have been screwed! We would have arrived at the hotel at 3 or 4 am with no room. We dodged a bullet there! Thank You Air Canada, you provided us a flight and room and board!

After we `unpacked we rested a bit. Shortly after 5 pm we headed out and ordered a Grab (like Uber). The Grab app initially showed a 10 minute wait, then 6 and eventually a 10 minute wait. After 20 minutes we cancelled our ride and walked across the street to the “Spicy Garden” Indian restaurant. Beers, pakora, tikka masala chicken and naan bread. We could barely finish. It was great. Sitting outside in the humid heat was beneficial for our dry flaky skin. By the time we returned to or room our skin felt totally different. In a good way. Soft and moist.

January 10, our first full day touring in Kuala Lumpur. We walked around the Petronas twin towers and through the mall at the base of the towers.

Out behind the towers is the beautiful KLCC Park. We wandered around the gardens, pool and fountain in the park. We walked to the Banyan Tree Hotel and took an elevated walkway to the Pavilion Mall. From there we walked to a pharmacy to get some bandaids. Gary’s feel are getting raw from his flip flops. Our feet, and the rest of us, are not acclimatized to the +32 º weather yet. We ate lunch at Lot 10 which is a huge indoor food court in the basement of a building. It is all Chinese, Malay and other are ethnic food. We shared a sweet and sour chicken with pineapple and rice for 11.30 MYR (Malaysian Ringgit) equalling about $3.61CAD. Our lime and sour plum drinks, a local favourite totalled 9.10 ringgit equalling $2.91 CAD. We didn’t drink beer because of the cost, one bottle of beer was 17 ringgit or $5.45 CAD.

Traffic was terrible so when it came time to get a Grab (Asian Uber) we walked to the Westin hotel to designate our pickup spot. It took at least 10 minutes for the Uber to arrive and when he did he actually dropped off people at the Westin, then we got in. Our ride to G Tower took at least 15 minutes. Friday afternoon is Muslim prayer time, and I guess every Muslim was heading for the Mosque. Grid lock again.

After a cool down in the hotel room, we made a trip to Jalan Alor night food court. The Grab wait time wasn’t too bad tonight!! It had rained a bit while we were in the hotel room and after we got seated at a Thai restaurant food stall there was some thunder and a cloud burst. It eventually cleared up and turned out to be a nice evening. After sharing a Thai cashew chicken dish with beer, we walked around and eventually got sucked in to by ice cream vendor where we shared a small ice cream. We walked by all the foot massage places on the next street until we came down to part of the street lined with bars and restaurants. We stopped at the Brix Union Gastreo Pub where we each enjoyed a glass of beer as we people watched. After our beer we walked back to our hotel which was about 3 km. Along the way we stopped at the Petronas Towers and went through to the KLCC Park where we sat and watched the pool jet light show that was timed with music. There were hundreds of people surrounding the large pool. We weren’t at the hotel long before we crashed for the night.

Supper tonight was 67 ringgit total for rice, cashew chicken and 2 beer each. Total meal $21.45 CAD. Ice cream was 10 ringgit, $3.20 CAD. More beer at the pub, 34.80 ringgit, $11.13 CAD. Grand total, $35.78. It felt like we spent too much and ate too much, so we walked home and saved the $4.50 the Grab ride back to the hotel would have cost. All together we walked 12 km today. Economical food, drink and taxi fares with excellent weather. We love Malaysia.

Signs along the streets of Kuala Lumpur say: Selamat Datang 2020, which means welcome 2020. There are Christmas decorations and Chinese lanterns along the streets. After all Chinese New Year is coming January 25. There are Mosques everywhere that have call to prayer. The locals wear lots of clothing, Muslim women wear head scarves, even a few wear Burkas, Maybe they are tourists from Arab countries, not really sure. All that clothing in such humid heat well over 30º. Meanwhile we are wearing shorts, t-shirts and dripping sweat. Still loving it!

March 6, 2019March 6, 2019

Wednesday March 06, 2019

KL Tower Photo Above

We are still in

BORACAY

We bought pictures at the KL Tower. They were supposed to be available within 24 hours. It took over a week to receive the email to download them. The internet is so slow in Boracay that we will have to wait until we get to somewhere with better internet to get all of the pictures downloaded.

Since we haven’t had many photos to post lately, we thought we would post the one from KL Tower.

We spent 4 hours at the beach, by 2 PM the shade from the palm trees has vanished, by 3 PM we were showering off the salt and sand at our room.

Gary’s cold is still hanging on, its not really bad just a bit of a cough and sinus congestion and sore throat. Hope it’s gone by the time we fly on Friday March 8.

February 25, 2019February 25, 2019

Monday February 25, 2019

More touring Kuala Lumpur

We were a bit slow getting going this morning. We enjoyed breakfast on the 28th floor of the hotel where you get a nice view of the city. We arranged late check out for tomorrow and also left some postcards with the front desk to mail. We’ll see if the cards or us get home first. We walked over to the Landmark mall trying to find a drug store but didn’t have much success so we headed down the street towards the Twin Towers. Part way there we hailed a Grab taxi and headed to the KL Tower. We went up to the Sky Deck and Sky Boxes. Not the most organized place we’ve toured but the young guy who did our tickets charged us the seniors rate so guess we won’t complain. We spent a couple of hours at the Tower and had the most expensive dish of ice cream we’ve ever had but it’s so hot and humid you need something to cool off.

From the Tower we went through the chocolate store and picked up a bag of their locally made Tiramisu chocolates. The Eco Park with the treetop canopy walk we toured the other day is by the tower so we thought we’d walk back through it again. There we a bunch of grey monkeys today in the trees that we enjoyed watching for a bit. As we headed down the next leg of the suspension bridges, the brown monkeys appeared. They were considerably more aggressive than the grey monkeys and then a young couple fed them and it went down hill from there. Ourselves and two other couples finally abandoned any thought of going further on the suspended walkways and ended up going down to the ground level pathways to try and avoid the monkeys. There was a small interpretive centre that we spent a bit of time in to cool off and sit down for a bit. From there we took another Grab to the Perdana Botanical Gardens. We wanted to go to the Orchid Garden however the driver dropped us off in a different area. Thank goodness for Google maps. We walked about 20 minutes through the garden roadways and paths, twisting and turning, nothing is direct and finally reached the Orchid Garden. It was gorgeous, filled with so many different varieties and colours. Since we were in the area we hiked over to the KL Butterfly Park. It was very picturesque but on the pricey side compared to some other attractions, it was $24 ringgits each or about $7.75. There was so much foliage, flowers, fruit and decorative water-ponds and little waterfalls that the air felt so hot and humid it was almost hard to breathe!

It was just after 4:30 when we took another Grab to the Hard Rock Cafe for supper. While we have both enjoyed all the local food we had a craving for something more like home. After supper it was another Grab ride back to the hotel. Linda had done some more searching online so we walked back to the Landmark Mall and finally found the drug store, one floor down from where we’d searched in the morning. Sun screen here was slightly cheaper than in Koh Lipe so we picked up a few tubes. They certainly don’t carry larger bottles like we can get at home and it is way cheaper at home too!

Tomorrow we check out at 1pm, take an hour trip to the airport and check in for our 5:45 PM flight. We’ll likely eat at the airport because we don’t arrive in Cebu until 9:45 PM. Our flight to Boracay is the next morning at 11:05 AM.

Finally, we have a bit of video from our Monkey encounter. Gary had a close call while videoing. If you watch the video the monkeys chased a lady off the suspended bridge too!

February 24, 2019February 24, 2019

Sunday, February 24, 2019

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Today we had reserved tickets for the tour to the top of the Petronas Twin Towers. The tallest twin towers in the world! Gary got seniors pricing which was almost a 50% discount! 🤑

After the twin towers we dropped off some shopping at the hotel and headed to the subway to figure out how to buy train tickets to the Batu Caves. We met Richardo, from Brazil, who was also new to the subway. We finally bought tickets but never paid quite enough. When we went to exit the subway platform to change trains we could not get out. We each had to pay another 1 ringgit 70 cents (MYR 1.70 = $0.55 CAD). We then bought tickets for the second train which was slightly better because we got seats. The train was slow and never got over about 20 kmh. Coming home we took a Grab and it was 18 MYR (ringgit) or $5.80 CAD

Hot and tired, back at the hotel, we decided to have a beer. We had to wait 2 hours for the Bridge Bar to open.

We ate supper in the hotel restaurant on the 28th floor, the same place we get our inclusive breakfast. We watched the rain storm go by with a good view of the skyline.

We thought about running over to Petronas for some night time photos after the rain but finally stayed in the hotel and got a restful evening in our room. Today we put on 9.3 km on our feet and climbed 31 floors. Our feet are sore and legs are tired! At least we didn’t get caught in the rain tonight!

Monkeys at Batu Caves have no fear of people with food.

February 23, 2019February 23, 2019

Saturday February 23, 2019

Hello Kuala Lumpur

Today we were up bright and early. We were all packed up and down for breakfast before they opened at 7:00 AM. We got a good shot of the sunrise over the bay and the swimming pool. Once we were done breakfast we brought our bags down and checked out. Our taxi driver was there at the the requested time. We had talked to him the night before to set a time. We ended up at the airport in good time and got checked in. Being a domestic flight within Malaysia we needed to check in one hour in advance. We had a quick one hour flight. It almost took longer to get from our gate to the luggage carousel. Gary’s bag was the second one up! That was the closest to number one he has ever been!

We took a taxi from the airport to the G-Tower hotel which is a very nice, it’s definitely on the higher end of our budget for this trip. We are on the 11th floor, the same floor as the lobby and swimming pool. The breakfast room is the 28th floor. Really though, hight is irrelevant here because we are in a forest of sky scrapers that are fancier and taller than the hotel.

We walked to the Petronas Twin Towers from our hotel and had a booster juice. We booked to go up the Petronas Towers tomorrow at 9:15 AM. We took a few pictures and then headed off to the eco park on foot. We climbed the stairs and did the canopy walk along the suspended bridges throughout the jungle in down town KL. We saw several monkeys up close and watched them jumping around in the trees10 plus metres ion the air. Kuala Lumpur is an amazing city with a huge amount of green space. There is a huge park behind the Petronas Towers as well, and all through the city there are huge, gigantic trees in amongst the sky scrapers. After the ecotours we stopped at the base of the KL Tower. It’s on another days agenda but we were just passing by.

Next we set out for Jalan Alor night street food market. It’s a block or two of restaurants along the street, in fact most of the dining is outside on the street with plastic tables and chairs. It’s a taste of the world there, anything you could imagine, they have it. After we ate, we were looking for some dessert treats but it started to spit rain. We decided to go for a foot massage, and during the 30 minutes there was an epic thunderstorm and lots of rain. We ended up calling a Grab (like Uber) to get back the 13 KM to our hotel. It cost $3.25 CAD. So cheap you almost feel guilty.

Back to our hotel we went for a swim but the water was too cold after the rain. Tomorrow we will take a swim before the heat of the day passes. The rain dropped the temperature to 28°C. Down a bit from the 34°C high when we walked 13 KM and 17 flights. Kuala Lumpur is a hilly city, lots of curved streets and many one way streets. They do have sunshades on many sidewalks and lots of indoor walkways that connect many buildings. We tried to stay outside and enjoy the weather.

One last thing, Barb asked what we used for suitcases. We each have wheeled suitcases. Linda’s is regulation carryon size, Garys is a bit bigger, just enough to not make the carry one class. We bought them years ago and solely on their actual empty weight, they are very light. They were the lightest and sturdiest bags we could find at the time, plus they have a lifetime guarantee!

February 22, 2019February 22, 2019

Friday February 22, 2019

Langkawi Malaysia

Even on vacation you need to do laundry. The Dayang serviced apartments have a small laundry room with four machines that are available free for guests use. Each apartment has a drying rack that we could set on our large deck. The deck also has a ceiling fan that we could turn on to get even more air movement to help with drying.

While Linda was doing laundry she met a young Arabic couple totally baffled by their machine not running. They were busy pushing buttons, lifting the lid and trying to figure it out. They finally waved over Linda. They didn’t speak English but Linda finally got the machine going for them. They were only washing two T shirts and the amount of soap they dumped in was crazy. They waited only a few minutes, then stopped the machine and the young guy hand washes his shirts. He then waved Linda over to another machine. She helped him start that one and he dumped his shirts in there. After that machine filled he stopped it too, pulled his shirts out once more and finally wrung them out. Next thing he is standing beside Linda and our machine that was in the final spin cycle waving at it. There was no way we were adding his sopping wet clothes in with ours! The couple finally took their two shirts that he wrung out and left. It’s obvious they have never had the opportunity to use an automatic washing machine! Linda spent the next while figuring out how to get both machines to drain as they left both full of water mid cycle. Who knew laundry could be so challenging and entertaining! Our clothes washed perfectly and dried in no time out on the hot deck.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon at the pool. This hotel has a gorgeous ground level large infinity pool that overlooks the bay and ferry port. It is a great place to spend an afternoon and the water in the pool is so warm.

Later we booked our hotel in Hong Kong for our trip home and spent some time researching things to do in Kuala Lumpur.

We had a place picked out for supper tonight but when we got there they weren’t open. We walked around for a while and went back to see if we could get a table. Not a customer in the restaurant and the sign out front said “Fully Booked Tonight” . We checked with a waitress ands sure enough we had to keep looking. We walked past a KFC and Pizza Hut. Nope, not in this lifetime! We ended up back at the seafood place we ate last night. Tonight we had sweet and sour chicken with rice and cauliflower. One beer each and it totalled just under $10.50 CAD. Its definitely cheap enough to eat here and the food tonight was good!

Tomorrow we check out and take the morning flight from Langkawi to Kuala Lumpur where we will stay for 4 nights. I’m sure we’ll be wishing we had more time in KL.

February 21, 2019February 21, 2019

Thursday February 21, 2019

Wake up in Thailand, bed in Malaysia

Today we left Adang Beach Resort. Our time was up, it was time to move on. It would be ok to stay longer or go back another time. We left the island at 9 am on the resort boat for Koh Lipe where we caught a motor scooter taxi with a side car. The taxi took us across Koh Lipe to the port where we would exit Thailand. We checked in to Bundhaya speedboat ferry about 9:30. They kept our passport, and informed us they would be returned on the boat. I guess that ensures you get off the island and out of Thailand. We were transferred by long tail boat to the pontoon platform in deeper water. Everyone queues there to load on the ferry. We were #68 and #69 to board. There was about 80 people on board. The boat was comfortable but quite warm. Gary actually snoozed part of the way. It was a bit too choppy to read.

When we arrived in Langkawi it was the usual gong show to get off the boat. “Excuse me, let me get in front of you to get my bag”. How about wait your frickin turn! Anyhow we got our bags and headed to the passport control for Malaysia to be fingerprinted. Once we were through the passport control, it was time to exchange Thai Baht for Malaysian Ringit, then get mobile phone SIM cards. It was 60 Ringit or $20 CAD for 2 phones with 1.5 Gb data and free Facebook and WhatsApp. We had a taxi before we even had our money changed, they are quite enterprising cabbies. The cabbie walked us to the mobile phone booth and showed us the money exchange location. It cost us 25 ring to get to our hotel, which is really not that far, but too far to walk especially dragging luggage. About 4 km. It was hot! No aircon in the car and the cabbie had on a jacket, not even breaking a sweat!

We checked in to the Dayang Bay serviced apartments. Our room has a living room with 2 couches, aircon and a TV, A bedroom with aircon and a tv and 2 bathrooms. We also have a large balcony with a fridge, sink, kettle ,toaster oven etc. There is even a ceiling fan out there but it’s too hot to sit outside, even at night. Its now 9:45 pm and 29°C with 71% humidity.

Tomorrow we have one full day in Kuah, Langkawi.