Kuala Lumpur – saskatoonie.com

October 28, 2023October 31, 2023

Welcome Back to Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Low clouds cover the top of Merdeka 118 the world’s 2nd tallest building.

We left Saskatoon October 18, 2023 on the 5:25 pm flight to Vancouver. We then endured a 7 hour layover in Vancouver. Thankfully we have lounge passes to the Air Canada lounge through our Aeroplan credit card. Free food and beer and a relatively peaceful and comfortable place to stay. The lounge closed at 12:15 am so we went to our gate for the second flight from Vancouver to Taipei on EVA Airways. We left on time around 2 am Vancouver time (3 am Saskatoon). Yes this sounds tiring. After our meal, which was chicken and rice, or in Linda’s case, “silicone chicken”, we fell asleep in our seats which were ok. We arrived in Taiwan’s capital Taipei about 11 hours later. We had a short layover of one and a half hours. Our flight was perfect, at least for us. We landed in Kuala Lumpur about four and a half hours later around 11 am. We were met by a person holding a sign with our names on it. The bad news, our luggage was not on our flight, it would arrive in 3 hours with a China Airways flight CI721. We could either wait or have it sent by midnight to our room in downtown Kuala Lumpur. We were so tired by then, we couldn’t even think straight.

We proceeded to get SIM cards for our phones at a 7-11. It took forever as the place was extremely busy. After we got our phone SIM cards activated we have Malaysian phone numbers with unlimited data. The cost was about 45 RM (Malaysian Ringgit) or $13 CAD for one month. Unlimited texting and voice calls in Malaysia. To activate, you need to take a photo of your passport page with your picture and then take a selfie that apparently needs to match the passport picture. Our passports were issued in 2017 and after being up for 40+ hours, our selfie looked bad. Terrible in fact! It took a dozen selfie photo tries to get each SIM card approved. Our 3 hour wait for luggage turned in to less than an hour.

We bought a bottle of water and ate some trail mix while we waited. We went to the “missing luggage” area and they allowed one person to go fetch the luggage. Gary went and walked the whole length of the baggage area, around a dozen sections to the very last spot where we were told to report. Once there, he was directed back to the carousel that had the China Airline flight’s luggage. Gary waited on a bench beside a guy from Vancouver that had been on the same flight as us. He was in the same boat. Finally bags started dropping onto the carousel. The guy from Vancouver got his immediately, so Gary was hopeful. It wasn’t long and both bags came around. Gary texted Linda and we met at the arrival hall. We got outside and to the Grab (like Uber) pick up area. In about 15 minutes we were on our way to the Bukit Bintang area of Kuala Lumpur. Destination Hotel Swiss Garden.

We got checked in to room 1301 which we booked through the agoda.com booking site. We got unpacked, charged our phones a bit and headed out to the Jalan Alor street food night market. When approaching Grand Sky Restaurant we were met by the staff that remembered us from the previous year. How do they do that? Our waiter Janson gave us hugs and remembered our names. Ok, he remembered Linda’s name for sure! Amazing. We ate a great meal and had a few well deserved beer. It wasn’t long until we headed back the few blocks to our hotel. It was raining by then and we were fine with the warm wet air. The airplane had dried us out like prunes.

Shrimps, sweet and sour chicken and stir fry vegetables.

The next day we tried to make some flight and hotel bookings for the next 12 days. We had purposely not booked any flights or hotel rooms that did not have adequate cancellation in case we got delayed or something worse. Our Aeroplan card was useless because when we tried to book flights online the two factor authorization went to our Canadian mobile number. We ended up using a different card that authenticates via an email address. Aeroplan’s card failed us. We got some hotels booked for Kuching on October 24 and Miri on October 28. Both places are in Sarawak the Malaysian state located on the island of Borneo, also known as East Malaysia. When we called the credit card company, they gave us a work around that was supposed to allow us to add another phone number to our Aeroplan card profile. We tried their suggestion but when we tried to verify the number, a process where the credit card sends a text message, we could not receive the message. We eventually figured out we flipped two numbers around when we recorded Gary’s phone number. Stupid mistakes are easy when you are tired.

We went to a nearby mall for some lunch and a few batteries for the GoPro camera. We returned to the room for a rest, then headed back to our favourite spot, Grand Sky Restaurant. Supper was great. We got back to our room in decent time around 8 pm. Exhausted. Linda killed a bug right by the door on the tile floor. A quick google search identified our bug. Gary took a photo and the bug on a piece to tissue in a ziplock bag to the front desk. He showed the picture on the phone to our favourite bellman and he took Gary’s phone to the manager. Not a question was asked and we got upgraded to a slightly nicer room down the hall, room 1309. Maybe not far enough for our liking, but what can you do? We had washed and hung up shirts, undies and socks in 1301 earlier in the day so we had to haul everything to the new room. Once in the new room we realized the safe was locked shut and dead (no light came on the touchpad). We made countless phone calls and a trip to the front dest to get that resolved. We never got to bed til after midnight. We were wrecked by then. Of course a day later the safe quit again, another trip to the front dest, a chat with our trusty bellman and we had new batteries in the safe. To be honest, our trusty bellman Sabuj was the main reason we booked a return stay to the Hotel Swiss Garden. Sabuj is the nicest guy!

The next day we took a Grab to the butterfly park. It was warm, humid and an enjoyable outing. Grand Sky again for supper. We met a few guys from Miri, Sarawak where we will be going October 24. Gary sat at their table and next thing he has another beer in front of him. These guys are commercial divers that do rig inspections. You couldn’t ask for a nicer bunch of guys. Finally Linda moved over from our table. She too had a beer in a flash! We had asked what frog tasted like and before we knew what happened they ordered a frog for us, We both loved it. Even Linda tried it! Yes!. We chatted with these guys for at least an hour, probably more. One of the fellows is Iban, an ethnic tribe of Borneo. We had lots to talk about from diving to Malaysian politics. Finally, Gary went to pay for our supper and to buy a few beers for the guys! John, one of the guys shows up and has a chat with the waiter (in Malaysian) and it appears we are unable to proceed because they insist to pay for our meals and drinks. We already know how this ends, you can’t pay. They are so generous it brings tears to your eyes. We got John’s contact information and went back to our room. We kept one eye open for blood sucking insects that crawl into bed. Sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite!

The next day we went hotel shopping for our next trip back to Kuala Lumpur. We found a couple of nice options. One is very nice, newly renovated and right in the same area. It may be slightly more money. We have not booked it yet, but that’s our plan.

We checked out of our hotel October 24th. We allowed for one hour travel time to the airport so we’d arrive 2 hours before departure. On the way down the elevator with our bags we got a message that our flight was delayed. Due to the delay we arrived at the airport with extra time to spare. We checked in for our flight and were politely informed that we would need to show a return flight to KL from Borneo before they’d issue our boarding passes. Malaysian Borneo runs their own immigration. In some ways, it’s like a different country. We ended up standing off to the side at the check in counter and booked a return flight on Gary’s cell phone for December 6 from Kota Kinabalu. Guess what? The Aeroplan credit card does not work, again! So we re-do the booking and used a different credit card. We get the return flight confirmation and finally get checked in. The Dec. 6 return flight we booked cost RM 999 for a 2 hour trip. That’s $288 CAD for 2 people one way. We paid extra for a flex fair because we didn’t know what day we wanted to return. We have an overland wilderness adventure planned on November 30 for 2 nights and wanted to keep our options open.

We were 3 hours late arriving in Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak. We got into our room and went to the Top Spot Food Court for supper. The food was great. 6 huge shrimp served in Asam (sour sour). The prawns are like chicken drumstick for $8.65 CAD Linda had sweet and sour chicken and we shared one small rice and a plate of stir fried vegetables. Our meal cost RM74, including a huge bottle of water. That amounts to $21.30 CAD. We actually were too full to eat it all – we left no prawns.

December 13, 2022December 13, 2022

Labuan to Kuala Lumpur

Packing up is hard after 2 weeks in one spot

It was a sad goodbye to all of the wonderful staff at the Palm Beach in Labuan. We spent 8 days there the first time and then 15 days the second time. The staff were great, the pool was beautiful and the room we had was perfect. Did we mention the weather was also ideal. Considering it is actually the rainy season, we really lucked out on the island of Labuan. It may have rained every night but the days were sunny and hot. It was good bye to Labuan and hello again to Kuala Lumpur and the Bukit Bintang neighbourhood. The day we leave Labuan was one of the few days it poured rain before, during and after breakfast.

We arrived back in Kuala Lumpur from Labuan on December 9. We decided to spend 2 nights back at the Swiss Garden in KL’s Bukit Bintang neighbourhood and then our last night near the KLIA airport which is about an hour’s drive south of the city.

The Swiss Garden Hotel Bellman (his name is Sabuj) was the first one to greet us, he is such a pleasant guy. More on him later.

Gary has a torn rotator cuff muscle that has caused him some ongoing problems, mostly a sore shoulder, neck and right bicep. Now back in KL we made good use of the Tropical Spa Massage where we started on Friday evening with a 30 minute neck and shoulder massage. We thought maybe we ordered the wrong treatment because we were directed to a room containing large easy chairs. We soon got the best 30 minute neck and shoulder treatment we’ve ever had. Gary’s gal was named Nanna, she had fingers of steel. She stood behind and eventually beside the chair and worked on the knots in Gary’s neck. Linda had the same treatment. Near the end of the treatment we were both directed to sit on a little wooden stool facing the big chair. They piled a stack of flat cushions on the chair with a towel over them to lean our head on. Then more digging and rubbing. Did we mention we miss our pillows and bed on this trip? The treatment cost was just under $30 CAD for the two of us.

After our massage we headed down the street to the Loco Mexican Restaurant. It was costly ringing in at 134 MYR about $42 CAD. Wow, back to the reality of higher prices after visiting Labuan where food and drink cost peanuts.

We both felt good after the neck and shoulder massage. The next day we booked a 90 minute full body massages which was 110 MYR plus 6% tax translating to $36 CAD each. Gary asked for Nanna again and she performed her magic. Continuity is your friend when you are considering massage therapists. She knew exactly what to do.

Later we walked down Jalan Alor (KL’s main street food area) and bought 3 large cups of fruit. One dragon fruit, one mango, and one pineapple for 9 MYR total about $2.75 CAD. We watched some ladies from Singapore devour 2 Durian fruits. They are large spiked fruit varying in size from 9 to 14 inches across. The fruit inside is creamy and delicious if you are genetically programmed to tolerate the smell. Gary likes them, Linda doesn’t. They have a stinky smell, so much so that they are banned from all public venues, buses, trains and hotels. But in this restaurant you can eat them to your heart’s content. Durian are expensive. Gary had a small serving one day at vendor, the cost was 30 MYR about $9 CAD.

We headed back to the hotel and showered off the massage oil. We walked to Petaling Street Market and Gary bought a new t-shirt for 25 MYR, $7.75 CAD and a new watch to replace his broken watch from Thailand (that landed on the tile floor) and the more recent watch from Labuan that died shortly after leaving Labuan. This latest watch was 60 MYR, less than $19 CAD. We hope it lasts a few days longer than the last one.

We arranged to get a late check out on Sunday December 11.

After breakfast on Sunday we decided to get one last massage before leaving KL. Off we trotted to the Tropical Massage. Gary’s gal Nanna wasn’t in yet so we both settled on new therapists. We paid 85 MYR each plus 6% tax about $28 CAD each for a one hour body massage. It was pretty good. Once back to the hotel about noon we showered and checked out at 1 pm. We arrived in the lobby to discover a tropical rain – more like a torrential downpour! Once checked out we chatted with our bellman and new best friend. He has remembered us each of the 3 times we stayed at the Swiss Garden Hotel. As mention previous his name is Sabuj and he is from Bangladesh. We knew he was married and has a 14 year old daughter but this was the first time he mentioned that his family still lives in Bangladesh and he hasn’t seen them since before Covid. It’s almost enough to bring one to tears. He is the most pleasant and welcoming guy and for us is truly the front line hotel diplomat.

We proceeded to order a Grab to get us to the airport hotel named Movenpick. Our first Grab driver cancelled which wasn’t a big deal as we don’t have a flight to catch. The second Grab was a tiny MyVi (car model name) compact hatch back. We immediately cancelled it and ordered a new car. We ended up with a Nissan. It was raining so hard that we took the KL Smart Tunnel. This tunnel has an adjacent storm drainage tunnel. The tunnel roadway is 6 km long. During forecast flooding conditions the road section of the tunnel is closed and the driving section is also used to divert storm water. Cool idea unless you are driving in it during a torrential rain storm and all you can think about is all the ‘what if’ scenarios. As we exited the tunnel we found almost dry roads and a few more KM down the road there was not a drop of rain to be seen. The dry conditions allowed the driver to put the pedal to the metal and at one point we hit 150 km/hr. He’s the driver you need if you are late for a flight, buy hey, we aren’t in a rush!

We check into the Movenpick Hotel which is a huge and very weird looking structure. It’s kind of neat inside. The internet really sucks here though! There is also a huge convention centre and mosque right next door. We can’t hear any of the airplanes taking off from the airport but we can hear the call to prayer!! Good thing we have to get up early otherwise the call to prayer would likely wake us.

Sunday December 12 we get up around 5:30 am, packed our stuff and ate breakfast which started at 6:30 am. We booked on the 8 am airport shuttle that is a 15 minute ride to KLIA. Our flight on Philippine Air was at 11:50 am. We are looking forward to getting home but not the process of getting there. We don’t look forward to the climate change either. But, even the milder cold is better than what has been dealt to Saskatoon the last month which will be fine. We’ll just be putting our flip flops on ice for a while. Back to shoes and sox.

So, the Movenpick Hotel turns out to be a Muslin owned property. No big deal but they don’t sell beer. There might be a slight withdrawal soon. The hotel was not as great as the price was high. The room had a funky sewer smell emanating from the bathroom. We left the light and fan on in the bathroom and shut the door. It’s not the first time there has been sewer smells in Malaysian hotels. There is something different with the construction of drains and traps in the bathroom floor in some places in Malaysia. We mentioned it at the front desk and they said they could get us air freshener – didn’t need the funky smelling air freshener smell in addition to the sewer smell. We did survive and definitely won’t be staying there again. The worst part was the very weak cellular signal and even weaker wifi internet inside the hotel. Actually the worse part was a swimming pool for men and a separate one for women. It was raining so we didn’t press the issue of a couples swim. They are going to get a poor rating on Google and Agoda.

We made it to the Airport December 12. At the baggage check-in Linda puts her suitcase on the scale and it weights 29 kg. It’s no big deal because we weighed it before leaving the hotel and it was only 21 kg. The scale reads negative 29 kg with no bags on it. Whew. The assured us our baggage was tagged through to Saskatoon which we found out later is not exactly the case.

Our flight PR 526 departs KL at 11:50 am. It’s about 4 1/2 hours to Manila. The flight to Vancouver PR 116 departs around 8 pm. It is over 11 hours long. In case you wondered, KL and Manila are in the same time zone. Either way it will be a long night. We eventually are scheduled to land in Saskatoon on AC 7746 around midnight in Saskatoon. We leave KL at 11:50 am and arrive in Saskatoon at midnight. That would seem pretty simple. 12 hours plus the time difference of 14 hours is a 26+ hour day. Who said there are only 24 hours in a day?

We uploaded this blog post from the Vancouver airport. We had a difficult time finding internet to get it done sooner. We are almost home! Yippee

Merry Christmas to everyone.