Travel Travails - Part Deux

The LCCT (thats Low Cost Carrier Terminal) in KL has to be called inspiring. It will "inspire" you to skip travelling by low cost airlines only so you avoid coming into the country thru this airport. Almost felt like being back in Bombay's airport. Pretty sad altho they tell me the other airport (KLIA) is much bigger, better and cooler. Gotta make more money for next time so I can fly regular instead of low cost.

And of course I took forever to clear Immigration. Man I dont have luck when it comes to these things especially picking lines in an airport. Took almost an hour to clear Immigration and baggage claim.


Got picked up by my aunt and cousins at the airport and off we went to their home located in a quiet town about 40 minutes outside of KL. It was quite nice seeing all the houses in that town. After the typical apartment and buildings you see most of in my city, its nice to come across actual houses. This pic --> on the right is a shot taken from the KL Tower (or the Menara).
The pictures down below (from L to R) Sky Bar at The Trader's Hotel, Petronas Towers at night, Overhead view of Putrajaya.

The Sky Bar is a must visit for a really cool view at night of the Towers since Trader's is located right opposite the Towers. The view from the 42 floor is quite stunning.

Spent a couple of days at my aunt's before heading off to spend 3 days in KL city. I stayed with Sher who's a close friend of my cousins. Sher lives in a dorm thats attached to their church. Being the heathen that I am, when my mum came to know that I spent 3 continuous days in close proximity to a church, she almost dropped the fone. lol

<-- This is the view from the 42nd floor of the Petronas Twin Towers

Sher was kind enough to take me around the city on a whirlwind tour over the weekend. And a whirlwind tour it was. I pretty much visited all the major tourist attractions like the Petronas Twin Towers, The Menara (KL Tower), Putrajaya (which is various administrative offices of the country are located), The Batu Caves and a couple of the major shopping malls. Unfortunately due to time constraints I was unable to visit Aquaria and the F1 circuit at Sepang. But I figure there should be some places left to visit whenever I come here next.

Put up a few pictures of the places mentioned. Below is the view of the Batu Caves from up front and from the top of the steps. As you can see, there's 272 steps that lead you to the top. Bloody exhausting climb up not to mention it was a particularly humid day too.

Next stop - Siem Reap, Cambodia

Travel Travails - Part I

Greetings Faithful Readers, all three of you.
Been a while since the last post and thought I'd get a quick one in before I take off on my travels in a day or two. Hah! I love how world traveller-like that makes me sound...

As mentioned in my previous post, the initial Thailand leg of the trip got scrapped. And so onto the next destination - Slingin' Singapore. Flew in on an Air India flight. Y'know every time I fly, I always get a sense of awe while approaching & boarding a plane. The thing looks so damned big and the fact that I feel so tiny in front of it just adds to the feeling. But this plane seemed more like one of those kiddie toys. For the very first time in my life, I did not get that inner sense of Woah!!... in fact it was more like... Huh?!! Is this supposed to be it??

After a fairly uneventful flight (btw the lack of in-flight entertainment on these Air India flights sucks bigtime!) landed in the early AM at Changi airport. I was 3rd in line at Immigration. 3rd!! So of course, as per the laws laid down by Uncle Murphy, I got pulled up when I finally get to the the Immigration desk. The rather severe looking Sgt. Something-Devi duly stamps my passport but after doing so calls over her colleague and I am escorted to the waiting area of their office. Wonderful...
So as I cool my heels in the waiting area, while they confirm I'm not a threat to national security or God-knows-what, I call my hosts in Singapore cribbing about my luck in these matters and telling them I'll meet them only in the evening since they were leaving for work shortly.

I finally get the all-clear and head out into the bright Singapore sunshine. The air smelt good... almost a sense of familiarity in there. Got into the cab and headed to the condo.
I stow all my bags and decide to take a shower. Step out 20 minutes later and... its raining! No wait... Its freakin' pouring cats-dogs-and-other-land-based-creatures!! The way its coming down you'd have thought that God decided Man's sins had warranted another 40 day 40 night deluge. Hmm... I wonder if Ikea sells arks. ("Yes, I'd like this in Red Mahogany please... ")
The downpour continued for another 4 hours. Rain tends to depress me at times but in this instance, it helped that I was on vacation and also as you can see the view from the apartment was quite pretty and green.

The next few days pass off in a blur. Revisited some places from my last trip here. Hung out with my hosts and their friends. Watched Lucky Oye (pretty good) and Bolt (alright types). Walked along Orchard street checking out the Christmas decorations that were just starting to be put up. It's gonna look quite festive in a few days. Also learning how to cook some basic khaana coz I figure its high time. I also think I have the knack for it (my hosts will provide testimony to the Spanish Omelette I cooked for them).

Last but not the least I met up with The Mighty Gong Liu. We'd been in touch for a while now and I was looking forward to our meet. GL pretty much turned out the way I'd pictured her to be. Full of chat, laughs and enthu. Our first meet was lunch at a foodcourt near her office. Of course the way these places get so crowded during lunch, she ended up giving company to a couple of firangs while I was off getting my food. Due apologies about that, GL. We really should've picked a restaurant huh?!

Couple of days later, GL very kindly invited me over for some lunch. How can I say no to ghar ka khaana especially parathas! Spent a very pleasant afternoon stuffing my face and talking about this and that. I think my behaviour as a lunch guest was exemplary enough to score another meal soon (nudge nudge wink wink) :D

Next stop - Kuala Lumpur.

Can lah can

23:36 - Right now at this very minute I am supposed to be sitting here and looking at this view. Sniff...

Yeah so if you've been following the news closely, besides the Bombay situation and its aftermath, there is also the news of political unrest in Bangkok. It seems this was going on for the past many months now. But in true Murphy's Law style, three days before my scheduled departure to the Land of Smiles, the P.A.D protesters decide to march up in thousands and camp outside the airport - their intention to prevent the Thai Prime Minister, who was coming into Bkk after some international summit, from entering the country as well as demanding that he step down as PM.

So therefore in this situation**, we've had to can the Bangkok and Koh Samui plan coz the director of Swarnabhumi International Airport has grounded all flights in and out till 5th Dec. Apparently at last count, there were more that 250,000 passengers stuck there.
What I'm feeling awful about is the fact that this plan was cooked up almost 6 months ago and my friends were all coming together (they live in Dubai) and meeting up after a long time.

I now head directly to Singapore which was supposed to be the second leg of my trip. The excitement is growing again. Can't wait to meet the friends who I'm staying with (who actually were in India last month on a really swift visit) and spend the holidays with them. It will be almost exactly five months to the day when I was last there. In fact this post about my last trip to Singapore pretty much kickstarted this blog.
Also looking forward to meeting some of my fellow residents of Blogosphere who live in that neck of the woods. Should be fun...
Besides Singapore, there is also KL, Angkor Wat and Bali on the agenda. I should be back from these places by Christmas eve coz I'm hearing good things about Singapore during Christmas and New Year time.

So if you live in that neck of the woods, suggestions are more than welcome regarding fun places and/or activites that I could do.

**I was gonna crack a joke about the unsanitary situation caused by the PAD. You're looking up and saying, "Thank heavens he resisted..." aren't you?!!