| Tour Package - KL and Genting (14th to 18th December 2008) | |
Me and my wife (Ruth) and our friends, Dawn and Gavin decided to take a short trip to Malaysia for shopping, food and some fun. We had booked a travel package from Five Stars Tours that costs us SG$1532 for 4 pax. The prices were higher than usual as December was deemed peak period and extra charges had to be imposed. This was the same for practically every travel agent we tried. The tour package was a 5D/4N trip to KL (Kuala Lumpur) and Genting Highlands. The breakdown of the charges were as follows:
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Day One - Getting across the border 7:32am... We assembled at Golden Mile complex and checked-in at the Five Stars Tours counter. There were quite a number of buses with people all boarding them and heading to Malaysia. Our first stop was going to be KL. I’ve travelled up to KL many times for business and leisure but I’ve never gone up in December. I’ve heard warnings that December trips to Malaysia is madness… hmm… we’ll see… We waited till 0745hrs and the bus driver signaled for passengers to board. I wanted to try out the GPS features of my Nokia N82. I whipped it out and started taking readings… Then I figured I’d wait till we crossed the border before measuring the trip distance. |
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It’s a 28 seater bus with reclining seats. It looks clean but the upholstery feels just a little worn. The bus is in pretty good shape considering how many people ride her every month. No funny smells or crawling bugs. 8:00am and like clock-work the driver jumps in and gives the final head count. We’re off… On approaching the check point, we were met with a queue of tour buses ferrying Singaporeans across the border. I estimated around 50+ buses were in front of us. The madness begins… It took around 45 minutes for our bus to reach the checkpoint where all passengers got off. The clearance was then swift and efficient. In less than 5 minutes, everyone was back on the bus and off across the border. |
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The Malaysian checkpoint was another story all together. We met another jam that lasted almost an hour… When it was finally our turn to clear customs, it was a mild dose of chaos. Each bus load of people added to the ever congested mess constantly trying to squeeze to be first to get through. The queue was painfully s-l-o-w. It was another 30 minutes to clear customs. We finally set off on the long journey at 10:55am. That’s almost 3 hours wasted just to get into Malaysia. I’ve never had to take more than an hour to get in on off peak season. It’s true what they say… Don’t go Malaysia in June and December. Reaching the rest stop - Yong Peng There’s plenty of food at Yong Peng. Nothing fancy. This place gets a steady flow of customers. A very lucrative set up. Lunch was over in around 40 minutes. 12:42pm and we’re off to KL. It was another session of drifting in and out of sleep… time passes… I wasn’t fully aware of my surroundings but I knew when the bus started to slow down… I opened my eyes fully and looked up… the KL toll booth… we had arrived… at exactly 3:00pm. KL is a big city. It was another 18 minutes before we reached our hotel. Thankfully, we did not meet another jam in the city, something that KL is notorious for. We grabbed our luggage and headed to the 14th floor of Berjaya Times Square.
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Berjaya Times Square Hotel is my favourite place to stay in KL (Kuala Lumpur). It’s situated in the heart of the shopping belt, it’s built directly above a mega mall and it has a taxi booking booth. The taxi booking booth is a must-have convenience if you don’t intend to drive in KL. I’ll get more into that later on… Check-in is on the 14th floor. Everything below that floor is the shopping mall. The receptionist quickly assigned us two rooms in under 5 minutes but they were on different floors. We requested to have them on the same floor and he gladly helped us out. However due to the peak period, rooms were being vacated, cleaned and allocated constantly. It took him a good 15 minutes of phone calls and typing on the computer before we were told, “Sir, I managed to get you two rooms directly facing each other along the same corridor”. Great work ! ! ! Our rooms were big and spacious with doors to separate the different sections. They were also very, very clean. Air conditioning can get pretty cold so you might want to go easy and not crank the settings all the way down.
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Shopping in KL Lots of Singaporeans flock to KL (Kuala Lumpur) to shop. Everywhere I turn, I can see and hear them. The signature Singlish and mannerisms so typical of my countrymen make me feel very at home here. There is never enough to shop back home so we must all come to KL to spend our money. KL is a city much like Singapore. Malls are large and classy. In fact, most of them are much bigger than those found back home. If you are staying at the Bukit Bintang and Jalan Imbi area, you should have enough shopping to last you a whole day. |
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| The first stop for us is KL’s geek zone, Plaza Low Yatt. It is basically an I.T. and electronics mall that has every part you need to build a PC from scratch. It used to be a place where anyone could buy stacks of bootlegged software from all the major software producers but they have since cleaned up their act and closed down all purveyors of pirated goodies. Check out the VR. |  |
| After the I.T. mall, it’s off to exploring the other retail malls. The Pavilion Kuala Lumpur is 1,400,000 square feet (130,000 m2) of retail space. Lots of up-market and luxury goods. Check it out… |  |
| Hang on… how can I continue without showing a little of Berjaya Times Square… This hotel happens to have a large mall on the lower levels that also includes an indoor theme park. Check it out… |  |
| Our last stop before dinner was Starhill Gallery. This shopping mall features all the really up-market stuff. We weren’t planning on spending big this trip so we simply admired the shop displays. We stumbled across the lower ground entrance to JW Marriott Hotel. Mirrors covered with color changing LED lights. Cool beans! |  |
Food in KL Come evening time, t’s off to Jalan Alor, or should I say Jalan Kejora? It seems the KL City Hall decided to change the name of this popular street. But then everyone still calls it Jalan Alor. If you haven’t stopped by here for the food, then you’ve not really experienced KL at all. Dinner for four = RM$94.10 BBQ Squid, BBQ Stingray, Oh Luat, Nai You Xia, Kai Lan, Wanton Noodles and Rice |
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Day Two - Suria KLCC It is day 2. We start off with breakfast provided by Berjaya Times Square Hotel, then it’s off to Suria KLCC. It’s 1.5 million sq. feet (140,000 m²) of retail therapy located at the foot of the Petronas Twin Towers. More luxury goods and retail but we’re there to soak in the sights. Check out VRs of the front, rear and interior. Unfortunately for us. We weren’t allowed up to the petronas twin towers. It was a Monday and according to the security personnel on duty, the towers are closed to the public every Monday :-( We spent the rest of the day checking out a few more malls. Gavin and I would go check out “manly” gear while the ladies shopped for girly stuffs. |
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This place is Mid Valley Megamall. Plenty of mid-range shopping and has stuff for everyone. An excellent place to shop. Lots of good buys. This other place is One Utama, it’s rather far outside of KL city but it’s also another nice place to shop. Just like Mid Valley, it’s huge and has plenty of retail variety. |
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Remember I mentioned how Berjaya Times Square has a taxi booking booth? Well, over in KL, we encountered several of cab drivers who charge RM$30 to RM$40 per trip to places like Mid Valley and One Utama. These cabbies don’t use the meter. The taxi booking booth charges you anywhere from RM$8 to RM$18 depending on where you want to go. They then issue you a “paid-for” receipt that you give to the taxi already waiting at the booth. Of course, not all cabbies there are predators. We did meet a couple of honest ones who use the meter… Nice :-) |
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Day Three - Onwards to Genting Highlands We checked out of Berjaya Time Square at 11:30am sharp and proceeded downstairs. The bus was already waiting for us. We moved off in a very short time once all the passengers were onboard. The trip up was uneventful and I took the chance to catch some sleep. The trip up to Genting Highlands took around one and a half hour. As we reached the summit, we passed through clouds that shrouded the top. |
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Once we got off the bus, we were greeted by hordes of holiday goers and heaps of luggages. The temperature outside was a cool 14 °C We could not have expected such a turn out. The First World Hotel was packed! It was a good one hour just waiting for our turn to check in. They used a number queue system so at least we were able to estimate the time to grab a quick bite. |
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We were given two rooms side by side. I have to admit I was rather disappointed at the size of room. It was very, very small. Much smaller than what I expected. Well… I was told that the First World Hotel is a two star hotel and this was a budget package… But the good thing is that it is very clean. Gavin however wasn’t so lucky… his room had a strange pee smell… eeek… |
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Day Four - Exploring Genting Highlands We looked forward to exploring the theme park. All around we see the logos that looked so much like the Disneyland Castle… high and low I searched but there isn’t even a hint of a castle. When I asked a staff where the castle could be found, I was told there is no such castle… have a look at the theme park logo.
I went to an elevated spot to check out the theme park. Even from here, I could see clearly that the park is old and reminds me of the stuff of yesteryear. On closer inspection, one can clearly see that the rides are in need of some clean up and a fresh coat of paint.
Checking out the indoor theme park, I found it to look a lot better than the outdoor one. I guess it doesn’t suffer from weathering so you can’t really tell the age. |
There is also an arcade but it isn’t stocked with the latest games. It’s sufficient to keep the really young kids busy while their parents gamble away their college funds at the casino. I then checked out the casino but I wasn’t allowed to take any photos inside. Lots of people inside and the place is packed. This place is the real money spinner. Beacuse Singapore sill doesn’t have a casino, this place is where they come to satisfy their urges. |
Day Five - Cable Car Ride Day 5 - We woke up to cool and refreshing weather. We’ll be heading home today. Our last stop will be the Cable Car. I really enjoyed this part of Genting. The peaceful and tranquil surroundings… the cool breeze gently swaying the cabin… Not enough to make you sick but enough to make creating this VR difficult. It was a plesant trip down then up the highlands again… We proceeded to the bus stop and began another journey home… This time round, the bus ride was shorter and the causeway wasn’t so packed. That pretty much sums up this holiday… |
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Conclusions If you are not a gambling man, you can skip Genting Highlands all together. It's old and my guess is that the average 9 year old kid might find it lame. If you are the shopping kind, Kuala Lumpur will be able to keep you occupied with its many malls.
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