Day 1: Arrival in Kuala Lumpur

Part 1 of 10
September 13, 2013
Arrival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia


This is our annual trip with my Ateis. We were able to grab another seat sale to Malaysia and Singapore through the Airasia and PAL respectively.

We arrived in the Low Cost Carrier Terminal in Kuala Lumpur in a good afternoon of September 13. LCCT is much like the Terminal 4 of our NAIA and is catering to most AirAsia flights to Malaysia.

After grabbing our bags and passing through Malaysian immigration, we bought our tickets from upon exiting the arrival area. The bus ride costs RM 9 (or approximately Php 130.00) and will be in KL Sentral MTR Station in an hour.

Since we didn't know how to get to our hotel from the KL Sentral station, we decided to grab a taxi to Hotel Al Jafs - which is our first interaction with the tuts taxi drivers. :( We were initially quoted RM 45 to the Hotel but we haggled it to RM 38. After 10 minutes, we were dropped in front of Hotel Al Jafs.

CHECKING IN THE HOTEL

Hotel Al Jafs is near Bukit Bintang, and may be the best hotel we had so far. The hotel owner was kind enough to change our large RMs to smaller ones. Our supposed room had some maintenance works during our arrival, but he was kind enough to make us stay to 2 rooms, without charging us extra. He was also kind enough to buy us some adapters since Malaysia has different outlets than we have in the Philippines.

More of Hotel Al Jafs, on my hotel review entry.


WALKING AROUND KUALA LUMPUR

When I was looking for our Kuala Lumpur accommodations, I am particular in the area. We wanted to be on the area near to basic food area - Bukit Bintang and Jalan Alor. Good thing, our hotel is just 5 minutes away from Jalan Alor.

Off to Jalan Alor

So after a quick freshening up, we walked around and found ourselves in Jalan Alor - aka the KL Food Central. We were quite early in the area, some of the vendors are just setting up. We grabbed a quick late lunch at Fat Brothers Barbeque and finished with the Turkish ice cream.

The famous food street in Bukit Bintang


Shrimps ready for grilling

Their street version of hot pot. The tube below is connected to an LPG tank and the vendor will turn it on for you. Once the water is boiling, you can blanch everything. :)

Their Street version of Hot pot. 



After the quick lunch, we decided to walk around KL through the main avenue. Petronas Tower or the twin towers of Kuala Lumpur is just 20 minutes walk from Hotel Al Jafs. We passed by KL Tower as well, and a small park along the main avenue.

Standard Chartered building

KL Tower


The twin towers

We never missed visiting any bookstore when we are on the road. Kinokuniya was the biggest bookstore chain in Kuala Lumpur and probably the best one we visited so far.




TIPS:

1. The taxi was definitely a rip off. The Hotel owner mentioned it was only RM 15 from KL Sentral to Hotel Al Jafs. But since we were tired on a long day, the taxi was a good pahingahan. Just like the same countries we have been to, make sure you haggle.

2. Do not miss Jalan Alor. It was a food heaven, you can find various cuisines - from Chinese to Malay to Indian. We loved the kitchens along the street. Just be adventurous!

3. Make sure you wear comfortable clothes. And bring an umbrella. Malaysia is a tropical country, you never know when it will rain or not. Umbrella will also protect you from the sun.

I'm back with few announcements!

I missed my blog. I have 3 months worth of backlogs, 3 country travel notes and a lot more pictures to stamp.

I'm so sorry (as if andaming nagbabasa ng blog ko) for being MIA for the past 3 months. Its been a crazy, rollercoaster ride last quarter for me.

I have yet to write my entries on my Singapore and Malaysia trip last September but I would like to skip that on this entry, since my Japan trip was the highlight of my year.

MY NEW STATUS

Yes, I am getting married next year. My boyfriend of 7 years proposed at our Hakone trip on our 7th anniversary last November. It was an unexpected event, but we have been jokingly talking about marriage since we entered our 5th year. We are not serious then though, but simply parinig and sharing pictures via Pinterest.

I won't go so much on the proposal details, kasi hindi naman talaga that sweet, down-on-his-knees proposal. We are on a ship with many, many people and we don't want to have that spotlight on us. In any way, we are not that typical couple of sweet nothings.

MOVING ON

Since I have been busy gathering stuff about weddings and reading wedding blogs, I missed out that I have a travel blog to maintain. I am back to the writing dashboard, rest assured that I will be finishing all the trip entries within the year.

And also, due to my (our na pala) priorities next year, travel has to take a backseat and maybe, all the travels that I will have are only work related. Buti na lang, my job gives me the opportunity to travel once in a while. But will still squeeze in some leisurely side trips after work.

AND MY NEW PROJECT 2014

I know, I am having troubles on maintaining this one, but I would like to help others on their wedding needs, so I decided to create a blog that would cater on them. Though I am still thinking if I would just write the entries on this blog and just create tabs for weddings.

I have few more days to finish things up and decide on the new project, and I better start now! :)