Malaysian Tour – Addendum

In my last post, I mentioned that my beloved M and I didn’t buy much stuff from Kuala Lumpur. We were not keen with the possibility of unpacking and repacking the already packed luggage for the sake of a few trinkets. The few souvenir items that we did purchase consisted of things we could stuff into our pockets (or carryalls), such as refrigerator magnets.

It turns out that yours truly did purchase something more significant than refrigerator magnets–something which my beloved M lovingly (everybody sing: lo-ving-ly) packed together with our clothes.

I got myself a new coffee mug/tumbler/whatever from the Petronas Tower souvenir shop. It’s not entirely black, but I still  like it.

The tumbler is now serving active duty on my office desk.

Ciao!

Husbands and Wives (Wacky Wednesday 053012)

I got this little ol’ gem from zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com, who got if from somebody else (from FB I think).

Dr Jim West provided the translation: “Enough!!!  The Bible says that the wife must obey her husband, so I’m telling you for the last time- WHERE ARE THE DISHES I HAVE TO WASH?”

(For the record, my beloved M and I have an agreement: If one of us does the cooking, the other does the dish washing. I haven’t been near the stove in months.)

Ciao!

Malaysian Tour – Day 3 (051112) and Day 4 (051212)

This is part three of our Malaysian Tour log.

My beloved M and I spent the the second week of May in the great city of Kuala Lumpur, both as a vacation (of sorts) and to attend my sisters wedding. The wedding was the highlight of Day 3.

(Disclaimer: Due to the private and personal nature of the wedding, I won’t be able to post pictures of the events in this blog. It would be tacky, even if I had permission, which I didn’t ask for and have no intention of asking–private is private.)

Though I won’t be able to post pictures, I can still describe the general setting and events that occurred during the ceremony. By the way, to call it a wedding ceremony would be over-complicating the whole thing. It was a civil wedding, with only my beloved M and I standing in for my side of the family.

If you prefer a civil registration (their term) then you have to proceed to Putrajaya, where the federal buildings and offices are, and register your intent. The ceremony itself is quite simple, lasting only about five minutes. (The waiting time for the ceremony was longer than the ceremony itself.) There were lots of brides and grooms at the place the day we went, and the whole atmosphere, to me at least, was festive in a strange subdued way–you can never really rid yourself (and why would you want to?) of the anticipation of getting married, even if you forego the elaborate ceremonies–as the different sets of brides and grooms prepared themselves for the next big chapter in their lives. Forgive me for waxing poetic.

After the registration, the clerk of court gave the party five minutes for picture taking (the “swearing in” room came completely furnished with furniture and accessories for picture taking, ala a Las Vegas wedding). My newly-married younger sister and my brother-in-law then treated us and our counterparts to a Chinese lunch. The counterparts in this case being the groom’s father and mother, as well as a family friend. My sister invited several of her friends too, to round up the group.

My beloved M and I got back to our hotel around 3:30 pm or so, and decided to go swimming in the hotel pool. It had started to rain then, and we were in the water for less than ten minutes before the staff told us to hold off swimming for the rest of the day due to the danger of thunderstorms. Bummer. (No pictures here again, naturally.)

We ended the day with a visit to Aquaria, KL’s answer to Hong Kong’s Ocean Park. It wasn’t bad as aquariums go, and offered nice tidbits that were lacking in Hong Kong. We got to watch several feeding sessions, including one for sea otters another for piranhas.

After dinner, we headed for the hotel again for some rest and packing, as we were set to leave the next afternoon.

The next morning, my sister and brother-in-law took us to Jalan Petaling, KL’s version of Chinatown, for some “window-shopping.” My beloved M was bemoaning the fact that we were already packed and thus had little desire to buy anything else, lest we undo all the packing again to accommodate new items into our luggage. We had to satisfy ourselves with some refrigerator magnets for souvenirs and some bakkwa.

Our group had lunch at a quaint little restaurant (chicken for me again, naturally) and then headed off to some more tiangge-style stores before they dropped us off at the airport. We said our good-byes to my sister and her husband (who I assume must have gotten dead tired of shuttling people around all over the city, us included) and headed for the departure area. Irony of ironies, our last meal (more of a snack, really) at KL was at a local McDonald’s.

Thus ends our Malaysian Tour. Enjoy the rest of the photos.

Ciao!

Malaysian Tour – Day 2 (051012)

Our second day in Malaysia began with my beloved M and I waking very early to get tickets for Petronas. We were told (not by a few people) to get to the ticket queue as early as possible (i.e., before 7 am) otherwise they would run out of tickets and we would miss one of the most famous attractions in the world.

Well we got very early to the ticket counter, which was located at the basement of the Petronas Tower, and found out that ticket sales wouldn’t commence until 8:30. Oh, well. My beloved M and I killed time by alternately sitting on the floor during queue, shuffling a few feet here and there as the guards adjusted the line to make room for more people arriving (who obviously were told to come early, too), and taking turns shooting pictures of ourselves and crowd (see gallery below).

We got our tickets (about RM 50 each) then headed back to the hotel for breakfast. We planned to go to Bukit Bintang (the mall area of the city I guess) after breakfast, by taking the shuttle from the hotel to the city proper. The ride was smooth and fun (at least for me, since the driver was very funny) and there wasn’t much traffic.

The whole afternoon was spent at Bukit Bintang, where we toured the different “malls.” There were first class malls, very much like our very own Shangri-la mall or Podium in EDSA; there were not so first class malls, like our uhm… can’t think of one at the moment. And of course, the “should have closed before they opened malls.” I won’t mention their names since they’re so terrible I blocked them totally from memory. My beloved M and I agreed that the best mall was the Pavillion Mall, the first one we went to.

Things I learned/appreciated/discovered:

• Kuala Lumpur taxis come in a variety of colors, and the warmer the colors, the cheaper the fare. Red taxis are the cheapest ones, while blue taxis are the most expensive (think airport taxis and special shuttle services which usually charge more). There’re signs on the taxi doors that say haggling is not allowed, but I think haggling happens anyway.
• While everybody says go early for the Petronas tickets, we found out that unless you’re really gunning for the earlier trips, you probably don’t need to get there as “early as possible.”
• Apropos above, tours are scheduled at 9:00 am and 9:15 am; 10:00 am and 10:15 am; 11:00 am and 11:15 am, and so forth. The last tour is 9:00 pm.
• Again, apropos above, my beloved M asked the ticket desk for the best time to tour the towers and the guy behind the desk said “7:00 pm is the bestseller because you get to see both daytime and nighttime views.” Guess we all forgot that it rained every afternoon. That plus the humidity fogged up the glass at the sky bridge, making it almost impossible to see anything for a while.
• Riding as a passenger on a right-hand drive vehicle takes some getting used to.
• I will probably never get fully used to KL food.
• KL is better in many ways than Manila, but nothing beats your own home.

Ciao, for now!

The Saturday Before the Lord’s Day 052712

Here’s a little perk-me-up in time for tomorrow’s Lord’s Day celebration.

Re the comic above: It’s not mine.

Ciao!

Malaysian Tour – Day 1 (Amendment)

Turns out the pictures connected with the following paragraph didn’t come out in the last post. I’m reproducing the paragraph here, together with the related pictures. Apologies to all concerned.

“Dinner was at Nando’s Chicken, located at the Suria KLCC, which itself is located at the base of the Petronas Twin Towers. Nando’s is kind of similar to Peri-peri’s Chicken, with almost the same food choices. Since my beloved M doesn’t want spicy foods, and since I was too tired to choose anything else, we went with the least spicy choice of chicken–the Lemon and Herb.”

Ciao!

Manic Monday 052112

Yup, I’m back to Manic Monday. The reason for it is because tomorrow up to Thursday will be three days of manic activity. Til then, and since I’m a bit early to the office, I decided to have a few minutes “mental warm-up” as a start to the day.

Not shown: Me having breakfast while listening.

Ciao!

Malaysian Tour – Day 1 (050912) Part 2

(Continued from Part 1)

After lunch at a place called Teppanyaki, we continued our first day touring Kuala Lumpur.

We went to two places (and the descriptions below are from their own website):

• The Malaysian National Museum (Muzium Negara), “located at Jalan Demansara, a three storied structure which houses four main galleries allotted to ethnology and natural history. The displays range from free-standing tableaux showing cultural events like weddings, festivals and costumes; to traditional weapons, musical instruments, arts and crafts, ceramics, and flora and fauna.”
• The Kuala Lumpur City Gallery, “is part of the ARCH group’s vision in promoting the country’s heritage and culture. A new tourist magnet, it is situated right in the historical enclave of Dataran Merdeka (Merdeka Square) and houses many attractions in the form of prints, photos and miniatures. Located in a 114 year-old building, this landmark is a must visit for anyone who wants to know all about Kuala Lumpur!”

Dinner was at Nando’s Chicken, located at the Suria KLCC, which itself is located at the base of the Petronas Twin Towers. Nando’s is kind of similar to Peri-peri’s Chicken, with almost the same food choices. Since my beloved M doesn’t want spicy foods, and since I was too tired to choose anything else, we went with the least spicy choice of chicken–the Lemon and Herb.

We didn’t do much after dinner except to walk back to the hotel (which was roughly five-minutes away) and try to get a good night’s sleep. The taxi driver who took us to the hotel from the airport the night before told us that if we wanted to see the Petronas Tower tour, we had to line up very early (think before 7 am) so we could be sure to have tickets. It didn’t sound like we had much of a choice so to be on the safe side, we decided to turn in early.

To be continued.

Malaysian Tour – Day 1 (050912) Part 1

After a hearty breakfast of a non-porcine nature–Malaysia is a Muslim country after all–my beloved M and I were treated to a tour of Malaysian tourist spots by my sister and her fiance.

Our first stop was at the Royal Selangor Pewter Factory, which boasts the biggest pewter tankard in the world. For the record, my beloved M and I really enjoyed this place. (I don’t think I’ve actually seen a sample of pewter before.)

Part 2 coming soon. Ciao for now!

Malaysian Tour – Day 0 (050812)

Our travel to Malaysia for my sister’s wedding was quite uneventful, except for the plane ride (quite rough for me, but not so much for my beloved M) and the taxi ride from the airport to the hotel (which I blogged about last article).

The airport was not so full but it was still quite busy. Our flight wasn’t until 9 pm or so, but we got to the airport early to avoid any last minute rushes. The Ramon Tulfo-Claudine Barretto do-or-die match happened on the level below this shot.

The stewardess was kind enough to take a picture of my beloved M and me while in flight (above). Don’t let my half smile fool you. I am not comfortable on airplanes (it’s like visiting the dentist, as far as I’m concerned). The lady to my left (I didn’t get her name) actually slept through the whole flight and the landing at Malaysia. We had to wake her up before we disembarked–she was still sleeping while everyone else was scrambling to get their carry-ons–or she would have slept through the flight back.

Insert: (Adventure with the taxi driver takes place here.)

We arrived at our hotel just in time for a few hours’ sleep. The short rest was interrupted by my beloved M’s discovery of a huge cockroach on her pillow, which yours truly quickly flicked away. Our reactions were quite uncharacteristic for us–she just went back to sleep and I didn’t run after it blitzkrieg-style with my Insect-Killing Arsenal of Doom (patent-pending)–I guess we were too tired to do anything else but go back to sleep.

(We later discussed the cockroach and the possibility that we brought it with us as part of the luggage, since my sister said they didn’t have cockroaches like that–the big brown/black one–in Malaysia. Eow. Oh, well.)

We had our breakfast buffet at the hotel coffee shop, which began our Malaysian Trip Day 1.

More to come…