Pixie Dusted in SE Asia TR

[zanzibar138]

Kuala Lumpur

When we were originally planning our holiday, we had planned to just fly straight to Siem Reap when we arrived in Kuala Lumpur, but the flight schedule didn't work out for us. In hindsight, I'm glad we stayed the night in Kuala Lumpur. We ended up having a great time exploring the city at our own leisure.

So we had made it out of the station and were on our way to Hotel Summer View, just down the street. We arrived at the hotel and tried to check in, but were advised that we were too early. We were able to leave our luggage there, which was really all we needed, and I certainly wasn't expecting our room to be ready yet, but I was surprised that we weren't allowed to even check in. Anyway, we asked for directions to the Petronas Towers and headed out there.

We had to catch a train, so we made our way back to the train station. The guy at the reception desk had written down the train that we needed - the LRT - but we had a hard time finding it! We had to get some cash anyway, so we tried to find a place to exchange some leftover Singapore dollars. All the places we tried were closed! But we eventually did manage to find one that was open.

After that we needed something to eat, so we headed to one of the cafe style places in the station. DH's meal came out nice and quick, but mine took forever! It had been well over half an hour and we'd asked about it 3 times already. DH was just going over to tell them not to bother when it finally arrived.

After breakfast we still had to find this train! Eventually we found it, and lined up with what seemed like half of Malaysia to buy tickets. About 10 minutes later we made our way to the platform, realised it was the wrong platform, then arrived at the other platform just as a train was leaving We had to wait about 10 minutes for the next train, and we were finally on our way!

The next issue was finding our way OUT of the station at the other end. Well, the station was easy enough, it was the massive shopping centre that was the main problem We finally made it out onto the street, looked up, and realised we were UNDER the towers. So then it was just a matter of walking along until we found an entrance.

Entrance to the Petronas Towers sells out in advance. I've read a few accounts of people turning up first thing in the morning and not being able to go up until late in the afternoon. I had other plans for the afternoon, so I had booked our time in advance. Unfortunately with all the delays and getting lost this morning, we were well and truly late for our appointment time. I was pretty upset, resigned to the idea of forfeiting our original tickets and having to pay again to go up at an inconvenient time. We noticed on the board that the first available time was 1pm, and decided that it would have to do.

When we got to the ticket office, I thought it couldn't hurt to explain our situation to the attendant, just in case he was able to pull some strings and give us a partial refund or something. To my surprise, he told us he might be able to get us into the group leaving now

He was relying on no shows, so he had us wait to the side until the very last minute, in case everyone showed up. To our relief, we were eventually called over and told to join the group - pixie dust moment # 2!

We had our bags scanned and walked through the detector, like at the airport. DH still had to check his backpack. Then we were all ushered to a lift and squeezed inside. The lift was very cool. It was in the middle of the building, but they'd set it up to look like a glass lift with pictures of the view going up.

We got out at the bridge, which was about 40 levels up. We were told that we had 10 minutes. There was another group just leaving, which had different coloured lanyards to us.



The view from the bridge was pretty amazing!





We could see that there was a nice looking park at the bottom of the building, and figured it must be on the other side of that shopping centre we'd been in.





Soon we were called back to the lift. There were 2 lifts for this section, as they were a bit smaller and the group had to split. They also had the cool glass lift effects though. Soon we were getting off at level 86 and told that we would have about half an hour.



On this level it was like we were looking down on the rest of the city. It would have been spectacular if it was a clear day, but unfortunately for us, it was a little hazy. Couldn't really complain though!







We could see over to the other tower, but I wasn't able to see the bridge.



There were some other things to look at on this level, an interactive information area, and some models.





We spent the last 5 or 10 minutes just sitting on one of the benches taking in the view. Someone came around to get us eventually, and we went back down in the lift to the bridge. On the transfer to the other lift, there was some more information about different towers around the world.



When we exited the towers, we felt like a drink and maybe a snack. We found a cafe in the shopping centre and had some smoothies and muffins while we planned the next couple of hours.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Nice pixie dust in being to get up to the Petronas towers after your Fast Pass return time.

Nice view from the top.

 

[zanzibar138]

Nice pixie dust in being to get up to the Petronas towers after your Fast Pass return time.

Nice view from the top.

Yep, he was a great CM

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Yep, he was a great CM

He certainly was

I have visited KL on 2 separate visits of 1 night each, and on both of those visits the Petronas Towers were closed. I was gutted. I'm pleased you got to go up even though you had missed your ticket time

 

[zanzibar138]

He certainly was

I have visited KL on 2 separate visits of 1 night each, and on both of those visits the Petronas Towers were closed. I was gutted. I'm pleased you got to go up even though you had missed your ticket time

I visited briefly with my parents when I was in high school on the way through to HK. The Petronas Towers were quite new at the time and we thought we were going to see them (back in the days when you had to rely on TAs). Turns out we stayed at an airport hotel nowhere near the city, so we didn't even get to see them from a distance. Ever since then I've wanted to see them. So I was pretty devastated when I thought we might not make it.

Hope you get to see them next time

 

[maryr1oz]

Sounds like a great trip so far, looking forward to reading more

 

[zanzibar138]

Continued...

After a bite to eat, we decided to try to find the park that we had seen from the tower. It took a while to find our way, but we eventually found it, and stood watching the fountains for a little while.



The park was quite lovely, with a big lake, plenty of expansive lawns, and some nice trees. We made our way to the bridge crossing the lake where there was a nice view of the towers. There was a big group of people and I had to wait for a while for a position along the edge.



Then we explored a bit more of the park.



We watched this cute bird flitting between the trees for a while.



There were more views of the towers from the other side of the lake.



There was also a water play area and the biggest play equipment area I've ever seen in my life!

We were approached by a group of students wanting to do an interview, so I obliged. They were studying childcare or something and doing a study on nutrition, so the interview was about the effects of fast food and junk food on kids and how they can learn to eat healthy instead. It's not the sort of thing I would normally do, but I figured no one I know will ever see it

We wandered back towards the shopping centre, aiming for the train station. We stood and watched the fountains again for a while.



Our next destination was Batu Caves, and our plan was to catch the train back the way we came, but get off at station prior to KL Sentral. Then we would walk across the bridge linking to old KL station and take another train from there directly to the caves.

We managed to find the train station eventually, and soon we were heading across the river to the old KL station.





We tried to buy tickets to the caves, but for some reason the station was greyed out on the machine and we were unable to buy tickets. We decided to ask the attendant, and we were able to buy them from him. We never did figure out why they had been removed from the machines.

We made our way to the platform and waited for the train.



About 10 minutes later we were off on our next adventure.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

You are becoming quite the train experts

 

[PrincessInOz]

Nice vistas of KL.

Looking forward to Batu Caves.

 

[zanzibar138]

You are becoming quite the train experts

And that's not even the end of our train travels

There is definitely something to be said for using the public transport though. It gives so much more insight to the culture and feel of a place than just taking taxis all the time. Plus, I really enjoy the scenery from the train in a new place. Even if it's really nothing particularly scenic.

Nice vistas of KL.

Looking forward to Batu Caves.

Thanks PIO

 

[zanzibar138]

Continued...

It was quite a long journey all the way out to Batu Caves, but we enjoyed the scenery along the way and it went quickly enough. It was the end of the line so at least we knew where to get off

From the station it was about a 5 minute walk to the entrance, past some amazing hills and some nice looking gardens (we didn't go into the gardens).



There were lots of monkeys hanging around (and sitting around, climbing around etc).



The entrance was very impressive with its massive gold statue and ominous staircase.



I was expecting to have to pay an entry fee, but there was nowhere to pay. We left a couple of notes in a donations box on the way out instead.

We joined one of three queues, which seemed to be all the same. There was really no waiting as such, just walked straight through and to the start of the many many MANY stairs



My plan of attack was to just get up to the top as quickly as possible. We got there by allowing ourselves a 5 second break between each flight of stairs. We were both pretty darn happy to reach the top!



We passed a few vendors selling cold drinks and trinkets entering the massive cave.



Although I believe the cave has been somewhat ruined by over-touristing, it was very impressive, and I tried to imagine it without all the concrete paths and stairs, crowds of people, tacky trinket vendors, and rubbish.



I particularly enjoyed the light shafts coming through small holes in the 'ceiling'.



And was dismayed to find yet more stairs...



On the other side of the cave there was kind of a grotto, where the actual shrine and everything were. I always feel kind of funny taking photos of religious sites, so I didn't really get many photos of this bit. Also, it was also kind of ruined by the tacky vendors and rubbish everywhere, which was a bit sad.

We spent probably 10 minutes in that last section checking out the shrine and enjoying the antics of some monkeys before making our way back.





The trip back down was much more enjoyable, and we spent quite a while watching all the cheeky monkeys, especially these young ones playing and climbing on this fence.





There was another side trip we could have done on the way down, another cave tour or something. We were both pretty tired by this stage, so we decided to give it a miss.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs we just headed straight back to the train station. There was a train there already so we hurried up and bought our tickets (we hadn't bought return ones because we were planning to get off at a different station on the way back) and rushed to the platform. The train wasn't as nice as the one we'd had on the way there, and there was a middle aged man sitting next to me who was falling asleep on my shoulder so that was a bit uncomfortable

I forgot to mention too, that on a lot of trains in Malaysia there were women only carriages. Obviously because DH was with me I was unable to try these out and see what they were like.

We went straight through to KL Sentral station, since that was closest to our hotel, and decided to have an early dinner while we were there. We found a weird kind of place that sold street food kind of fare in what looked like the surroundings of a fast food chain. We both enjoyed our chicken curry with roti bread though Except there was a creepy man staring at me most of the time!

After that we picked up some supplies from the 7-11 (drinks and snacks for the hotel room, since it was still fairly early), and made our way back to the hotel.

Not surprisingly, we were able to check in by that time. It was the most involved check in I've ever done, taking at least 10 minutes. But we got there in the end and went up to the 7th floor in the lift. Our room was right there near the lifts.

It was a basic but acceptable room, had everything we needed really, and was quite spacious. The best parts were the opening window and the great wifi!







We spent the night in, eating our snacks, drinking our drinks, and catching up on facebook and emails from home.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Nice pictures and trip to Batu Caves. Shame you didn't like the trinket sellers. I remember climbing the Kek Lok Si temple in Penang and there are the same kind of trinket sellers and tables there to.

I love your pictures of the monkeys. So cute.


Nice looking basic room and the view? Priceless!

 

[zanzibar138]

Nice pictures and trip to Batu Caves. Shame you didn't like the trinket sellers. I remember climbing the Kek Lok Si temple in Penang and there are the same kind of trinket sellers and tables there to.

I love your pictures of the monkeys. So cute.


Nice looking basic room and the view? Priceless!

It's not that I particularly have anything against trinket sellers. I just wish they'd have left the cave in a more natural state. But I've found that to be true for most of Asia's natural attractions that are fairly easily accessible.

I love monkeys. I could stand around and watch them all day - they're so funny

 

[WanderlustNZ]

It's not that I particularly have anything against trinket sellers. I just wish they'd have left the cave in a more natural state. But I've found that to be true for most of Asia's natural attractions that are fairly easily accessible.
:

I agree. At certain locations around the world, I have found myself wishing I could take in the beautiful surroundings in a more natural state and without feeling pressure to spend more money. In saying that, I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to saying no, so I'm guilty of completely avoiding eye contact with the trinket seller so not to get their hopes up.

Those monkey pics are so cute. I love the baby monkey.

 

[zanzibar138]

I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to saying no, so I'm guilty of completely avoiding eye contact with the trinket seller so not to get their hopes up.

I do that too!

 

[zanzibar138]

Kuala Lumpur - Siem Reap

After a somewhat disturbed sleep due to traffic noise and chanting from the mosque at 5am, we woke early for our next flight.

We headed down for breakfast, which was included in the room rate. It was pretty bad - everything looked like it had been there for hours (and it was still early!). I ended up with a very small helping of rice, it was enough to tide me over.

We headed back to KL Sentral station to get the airport train. They now offer a train to the budget terminal too which includes a shuttle from the train station. We were headed to the regular international terminal though so it was just a straight forward direct train. There were a few stops on the way, and I was surprised how many people were on the train without any luggage or anything.

It was quite a long trip on the train, about 40 minutes or so. The airport is nowhere near the city!

We checked in for our flight, then made our way through security, passport control etc and to the Malaysia Airlines lounge. This was about a week before the awful Malaysia Airlines incident At this time it was still business as usual in the lounge and we had a much nicer breakfast there before heading to our flight.





We really liked Siem Reap airport, it was only small, and in a more character traditional style building. We disembarked on the tarmac, and it was quite a long walk to the terminal We had been quite close to the front of the plane, we had our e-visas, and our luggage was even among the first out!

As part of the hotel package, we had a driver coming to meet us, so we were on the lookout, and saw a sign with our name on it. We were led to a tuk-tuk!



I was a little nervous, but kept an open mind. It turned out I needn't have worried. The roads were fairly quiet, we didn't go very fast, and the tuk-tuk gave us better views of the local area and nice air movement.











Our room wasn't ready yet, so someone took our luggage aside for us and we were shown to the pool area and ordered a free drink. It was pretty hot, and I sat with my feet dangling in the pool for a bit. The water was a great temperature and I knew that later on I'd be back!



Someone came to get us and show us to our room when it was ready. We were lucky enough to have an end room on the first floor. The bedroom area was nice enough, but the bathroom was kind of weird and definitely needed a makeover.





Our power source wasn't working, so while the staff fixed it, we got into our bathers and went back down to the pool area. We stayed there for most of the afternoon, drinking $2 cocktails and reading up on the area.

Eventually we got hungry of course, and decided to just go to the hotel restaurant on this first night. After showering and changing (and realising just how bad the bathroom was going to be), we went up to the 'rooftop' restaurant (was on the top floor, open air style). We just caught the sun setting.



We started with some drinks of course.



And ordered some main courses. Mine was Fish Amok, which seemed to be a Cambodian specialty and was very good.



It was very nice in the open air watching the city light up around us.



We had a great waiter called Lyhkon, and because we were the only ones in the restaurant that night, had a great chat with him. Then it was time to head back to the room for a good sleep before a big day the next day.

 

[PrincessInOz]

What a great start to Siem Reap. Can't wait for more!

 

[zanzibar138]

Siem Reap

We awoke after a somewhat interrupted sleep. Turns out that though we didn't have any rooms above us for noise, we did have a kitchen! There was all sorts of clanging and banging coming from up there late into the night after the restaurant closed for dinner, then from early in the morning before they opened for breakfast

Breakfast was once again included in the room rate, and was fairly basic. There was some bread and croissants on offer for continental fare, or you could order off the menu. I think I had the fried noodles on this occasion which were actually quite good. I could tell that the 'juice' was fruit cordial.

After breakfast we wandered down to reception to meet our guide for today's excursion. I had pre-booked a 2 day tour through the hotel which included a private car with driver and guide and, after our most enjoyable tuk-tuk ride from the airport yesterday, was really hoping I wouldn't regret going with the car.

We've done a few private tours in Vietnam with a driver and guide, and have immensely enjoyed all of them. Our guides have always been friendly and welcoming, and you can really tell that they love to share their country with you, not only guide you at the actual attractions, but also give very informative commentary along the way.

Unfortunately this was not the case with our guide for today. In the car, he mainly spoke to the driver (who was just lovely) in Khmer, and only briefly stopped to give us his bio, including all the qualifications he had, job he had lecturing at the university, and the fact that he only guided as a second job to make more money. He put us offside straight away, but we still tried to be open-minded about the tour to come.

It didn't take long to get to the Angkor complex. We had to get our tickets at the entrance, which involved having our photo taken and printed onto our 3 day tickets (they don't do tickets for 2 days). It was organised chaos, and it wasn't long before we were on our way again.

Angkor Wat was the first temple on the agenda, and it was already very busy (we had left the hotel at 8am). We crossed the bridge over the moat, curious as to what we would see.



The guide did his job and gave us a bit of a spiel about the bridge and the gate. He also offered to take photos of us now and then. He seemed willing at first but as the day wore on we could tell he was running out of patience for us.



The gate was amazing, so detailed and well preserved. I could only imagine what the actual temple was going to be like!







We continued walking among the crowds towards Angkor Wat, feeling somewhat awed by the iconic structure.





Next to the walkway were some horses that you could sit on to have your photo taken (for a price of course).



We even managed to spy a couple of monkeys!



In the temple, we had to go around in a certain way. It's really quite well organised. We started on the ground level, with some astonishingly detailed carvings. Our guide tried to tell us the stories behind the carvings, but he wasn't very engaging and we quickly got confused and lost interest.







We wandered around the ground level, then up some stairs and saw the carvings on the second level. Our guide asked us if we wanted to go up to the top level. We thought we'd come all this way, we may as well, so he said he would wait down the bottom for us.

There was quite a big line to get up to the top level, but it went fairly quickly. It was already getting pretty hot though, and standing around in the sun made it seem so much worse! There were signs placed periodically along the line with some rules, among them no shorts or short skirts. I was dismayed to see many people climbing up with complete disregard. That kind of disrespect really makes me angry!

Anyway, soon we came to the steep and somewhat rickety feeling stairs to the top, and I had to really concentrate on that. Although there were so many people that I wouldn't have been able to fall very far anyway



It was completely worth going to the top. The views were great, and it was only then that I really appreciated the huge size of the temple, and the complexity of the layers.





We spent a while wandering around before lining up to go back down the stairs, which was even scarier than going up them! Yes, I have kind of a phobia about stairs...



On the way out we admired the stonework leading up to the top section.



Then we crossed the bridge over the moat again to find our driver.



We were at the Angkor Wat temple for about 2 hours in total.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Great update. Angkor is high on my bucket list.

I love the pics, particularly the one taken down the corridor with the lady cleaning at the end.

What a shame that you ended up with an unenthusiastic guide. I'm guessing you were quite grateful he didn't want to go up the stairs so you could have a bit of a break from him.

 

[zanzibar138]

Great update. Angkor is high on my bucket list.

I love the pics, particularly the one taken down the corridor with the lady cleaning at the end.

What a shame that you ended up with an unenthusiastic guide. I'm guessing you were quite grateful he didn't want to go up the stairs so you could have a bit of a break from him.

It's definitely worth seeing Just be aware of the dangers of temple burn-out though

I really liked that photo too, not sure why!

I'd say the guide definitely tarnished our experience in Siem Reap, so make sure you get a good one if you're going, or else just take a good guide book with you and guide yourselves! Yes, it was nice to have a bit of a break where we could just do our own thing.