Malaysia: Petronas Towers

I think one of the reasons people visit Kuala Lumpur is because of the Petronas Towers. The reason: it's tall and indeed picturesque.It is one of the many recognizable emblem of Malaysia. For a while it has been the tallest buildings in the world until 2004 when the Taipei101 beat it.

There is a mall beneath it where one can shop or even just have lunch before or after viewing the structure.

Apart from just viewing it from afar, there are some activities within the structure like riding up until reaching the skybridge. It is in between the two towers on 41st and 42nd floors, which is the highest 2-story bridge in the world.It is not directly bolted to the main structure, but is instead designed to slide in and out of the towers to prevent it from breaking during high winds. The bridge is 170 m (558 ft) above the ground and 58 m (190 ft) long, weighing 750 tons.The same floor is also known as the podium, since visitors desiring to go to higher levels have to change elevators here. The skybridge is open to all visitors, but free passes (limited to 1700 people per day) must be obtained on a first-come, first-served basis. Visitors are only allowed on the 41st floor as the 42nd floor can only be used by the tenants of the building.

But still, I think the challenge here for any shutterbug or traveler is take that ultracool and amazing Petronas Towers shot. Here are some of the best Petronas Towers shot I found from the net (wikipedia)!!! Amazing!!!

 

 

 

 

and my shots of course using Holga my lomocam =)

 

Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur City Scenes

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. One can sure have a love-hate relationship with this place.
For one, my arrival in Kuala Lumpur was not a good experience at all. Maybe it was the schedule or the time, since it was already the wee hours of the morning, plus the added stress of having slept inside the airport and the stress of having to travel to Kuala Lumpur and arriving to yet another terminal and the fiasco with an Indian Haggler. Read below and you'll know.

Now I want to ask, if there are other travelers viewing my site...if youve been to Kuala Lumpur and honest to goodness enjoyed every minute of it? I really want to know. Maybe I needed some perspective.

So anyway, the Malaysia trip is relatively short since I went straight to Singapore, and only came back and stayed at a hostel in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur called Haven Hostel. Finding Haven Hostel is yet another lost and found story...spent a good hour walking around the area trying to find it.
Let's focus on the nice things about Malaysia.

1. Malaysia is truly asia!!! Because of super diversified populace. Chinese, Malays, Indians, Arabs peacefully cohabiting. Interesting! If not a bit surreal.I think Malaysia is the grittier sister. Singapore is more Westernized.

3. Food! Singaporean and Malaysian food are both savory. But Malaysian food...one of the best!!!Peanut sauce and chicken and lamb satays the best!! And Jalan Alor is the bomb.It is a street where a lot of hawker food stalls are installed. Hawker food is what's typical turo turo or carinderia (small eatery) to us Filipinos. Malaysian food is yum yum yum.

4. The Kuala Lumpur Monorail. I took this ride to be able to get to Bukit Bintang, Malaysia where my hostel was located. Riding it is a novelty. Since of course the train runs on only one wheel, or attachment as opposed to the local Metrorail system.

5. The City Scenes. Bukit Bintang sort of looks like the middle class neighborhood of Makati and Jalan Alor looked like the back sides of Ortigas and Makati. Seriously, but it's a weird feeling. It's a city of course, what would one expect. But there are lots of weird yet interesting things going on like the a gold man on the street, stalls selling durian, and a lot more. There's a vast amount of energy in the place.

 

5. The Petronas Towers. I went to the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. Then to the mall beneath the structure. It was hot and tiring.But a trip to Petronas is something one should really experience. Well it used to be the world's tallest buildings before being surpassed by Taipei 101 in 2004 However, the towers are still the tallest twin buildings in the world.

 

Food: Hawker Food Culture in Malaysia

You're still reading my Singapore and Malaysia food and travel memoirs.

After my touch down from the Philippines to the Kuala Lumpur Low Cost Carrier Airport in Kuala Lumpur, I took a bus in Puduraya Terminal to Singapore where I alighted at the Singapore Terminal after inspections and immigrations. And in Singapore I stayed for three days in a hostel called Inn Crowd, where I met fellow backpackers George, Amy and Pam.

After three days, I tearfully went back to Kuala Lumpur and stayed at Haven Hostel in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. And there, I took the bus to the city center (I think) and explored the famous Petronas towers—truly a handsome, photogenic structure.

After that I went to the Hindu pilgrimage, the Batu Caves 13 kilometer north of Kuala Lumpur.

But what is even more exciting than site seeing is dining! My stomach took me to Restoran Waw in Jalan Alor, a hawker food street, a lively strip of grills and eateries which is widely popular in Kuala Lumpur.

And for my meal - chicken and lamb satays, grilled to perfection together with a curious concoction of peanut sauce and fish paste dip; yang-chow fried rice, and the traditional Bak-kut-teh, ( long-simmered pork in herbal soup, with the pork’s tender meat slipping easily from the bone). Downing the meal with Carlsberg beer, I thought there could be no better way to end my whirlwind of a five-day trip to Asia’s melting pot of Asian cuisine than this.

The Taste Traveler
In the end, I realized that I was too adventurous for a leisure traveler, but too soft to be a hardcore backpacker. Hence, this trip made me a taste-traveler - a foodie whose travel and adventure take me to where my taste buds lead me ●

Food: Quickly Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I am a self-confessed comfort traveler. My last international flight to Hong Kong, I was with a friend and we booked a proper hotel. But my travel in Singapore and Malaysia last November 2008 was hard core. I tried backpacking for the first time, stayed in a hostel with other travelers and endured walking carrying my big duffel bag. And I realized that in the fast-paced, stop-over culture of backpacking, places and faces come and go but the food experience lasts a lifetime.


Quickly Kuala Lumpur
Unlike my previous Hong Kong vacation on a package tour complete with itineraries and a tour guide, this trip is stripped off of such luxuries. As I wandered along at the Puduraya Bus Terminal, waiting for the bus ride to Singapore, I can’t help but grab my tattered map, brace myself, because this time, I was on my own.

Malaysia is a melting pot of races, with Chinese, Malays, Indians and Muslims coexisting peacefully. And owing to such a multi-cultural heritage, is the multi-faceted food.

I sampled my first authentic Malaysian meal in a kopi tiam or coffee shop—the roti. Similar to pita bread, roti is a flatbread traditionally served with curry. I had mine served waffle style with condensed milk and nutella that I guzzled with the traditional teh tarik or pulled tea.

As I marvel at my meal, all my initial nervousness of traveling backpacker style quickly vanished. Because I knew then, that the trip was going to be one great adventure.

Follow my Singaporean food tripping on the next entries!
Lured by Little India
Tummy-filling Foodcourts

Singapore and Malaysia: home with a bang!

I've been home for about two weeks now and been thrust into the thick of things - lock-in, work and tenure issues, personal issues, total revision of an existing show, new show offer but I'm still having major travel hangover. Sometimes I look at photos and wish I could travel again next week!

"Traveling is not all about the destination but the journey".

November 2- November 9 was all about Singapore and Malaysia

Nov 2  Flight from NAIA terminal 3 to KL LCCT 
Nov 3- In transit: bus rides from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore
Nov 3 - 7 Singapore: Sentosa everything and all around Singapore. Merlion Park, Raffles, Orchard Road, Little India, Chinatown, Clark Quay. Aeroline bus to Kuala Lumpur. 
Nov 7 - 9 Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur, Batu Caves, Suria Mall, Jalan Alor

This journey opened my senses to the different realities of life. From the painful reality that the majority are still non-english speaking and that can get you a lot more isolated.   Like in Malaysia where Chinese Malays Indians and Muslims coexist peacefully on the surface. Who knows what issues were lurking? I tell you, it's one total culture shock.
The realization that you're in another country and that probably major issues like losing a gadget or money can occur. Apart from the usual sightseeings and food tripping, making friends with fellow travellers , the trip made me sit back and realize that the world is a big place and that whatever issues I'm having back home is nothing compared to the boundless opportunities and adventure waiting. I met new people, explored new relationships with a bang!
When I was there I was in awe even crossing foreign streets, the language, observing street signs, even by the currency and regulations, i stared at people and realized we're the same and yet not. what is it like to stay in this country?
Being totally in transit all the time made me get in touch with new people in a superficial manner. Talking about mundane stuff...but meeting new people along the was, yes felt all temporary, as there is always somewhere everyone is headed and whatever tiger beer one consumed together may only be for a moment. Nonetheless, i experienced first times with these people and drank free beer gamely when one shouts "this round's on me" and yes we've exchanged facebook addresses knowing that one is not lying about their identity and all. i guess the temporary-ness of it all is what made it it all so exciting, fleeting yes, yet sincere. that even for a moment, I know in one of my travels I have shared beautiful memories with these people and when i look back they'll figure in greatly even more in my life than the people i see almost everyday that i never bothered to talk to or connect with.
I realized too, that I don't have to be filthy rich to travel around the world. If I want to, there are means to do it and I can make this dream happen. I've blogged about wanting to visit Egypt, Paris, Prague, Mexico (musts). And other SEA countries Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.(soon). With my salary I could afford a budget plane and probably stay in a hostel or modest hotel and hang out with a fellow backpacker like me. It could be stressful but with my trusty digicam and toy camera I want to capture life outside my own. And when I come back home it will always make me brasher, braver, cockier, more worldly and more arrogant in a way that I survived and experienced a lot more than the next person.  
In the same way that if I want to, I can stop traveling now. I can save salary to buy a car. Or I don't know. Save. Sure I can postpone my travel dreams until I reach 30 or 40 or 60 or when I have a family. There's no need to rush to see the whole world now. But when will that time come but now? When there's no excitement or thrill in going?
But soon I wanna leave for two months or so and probably make a documentary about it. Conquests become sweeter when you have ample time to savour the moment. Though I get the thrill of going to different places in a short span of time and meeting people along the way, I'd like to experience these places again without the need to rush. Also I want to be independent in a sense that I can literally live there for a month if I wanted to. Like, what if no one knows you there? Will I still be able to survive?
Like love, traveling knows no age nor race. I've seen old couples walk along the beach, toddlers with their passports line up at airport counters, and different races create good music together along the curb of Dunlop road. So I know I can travel anytime.
But for now if I can't go today, tomorrow, next month, next week or till when superiors allow me to go or till i can hide the fact that i went travelling then I have to schedule it! Plus I need to work work work to have money to travel! right? =)