Backpacking Day 1: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

'CAUSE 2014 is VISIT MALAYSIA YEAR.
Claim lang ng claim, di ba? Ayan, na claim ko na!! :)) 


Thank You po. More more more more. Yan! Yan!!!! Napagbigyan ng isang beses, nawili naman ako. hahaha. Pero please po Kayo na bahala kung may second, third, fourth... nth time ito. :D :D :D


DAY 1 a.k.a LAKAS-LOOB MALAYSIA.


Clouds otw to Malaysia
After a 3 hour airplane ride from NAIA Terminal 4, we arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2.

So far, this was the longest airplane ride I've experienced. Ganun pala 'yung feeling. hehehe. Since I've only rode 1 hour and 30 minutes as my maximum flight duration before ay lagi lang ako nakadungaw sa bintana, 'yun pala pakiramdam nang matulog sa airplane, mabingi ng very very light, at magutom dahil sa amoy ng pagkain ng iba. Hindi ako kakain, hindi ako mago-order. Mas masarap kumain sa restaurant sa Malaysia. :))


KLIA2 is the newest airport in Malaysia and all flights of Airasia was moved there.
TOUCHDOWN!
At ganito kataas nga na escalator ang bumungad sa'min.
KLIA 2
Immigration for my first ever passport stamp.

After this, we changed our P 1,000.00 for 67 MYR.
This meal was worth 14.60 MYR.

1. We were looking for a rice meal but there weren't any. Huhuhu. Whyyyy torture us early in the morning, whyyyyy?
2. Unli drinks! Fanta, iced tea, sweet tea, soda.
3. No spoon and fork for all meals without rice. Yes, you'd have to eat using your bare hands.

It's not a surprising thing since in the Philippines, we also eat using our hands. Iba lang siguro kasi pakiramdam na kumain ng naka-kamay sa labas. hehehe. Nasanay gumamit ng utensils kasi. 
From KLIA2, you'd have three transportation options to get to Kuala Lumpur.

1. TAXI
2. KL EKSPRES - a train that would cost you around 30 MYR but will only last for around 30 minutes.
3. BUS - cost 10 MYR but will last for around 1 hour.

Our choice: BAS!! Syempre BAS!!!! It's BAS in Malaysia nga pala.
Hindi naman issue ang oras at layo since we were there as tourists. Ano ba naman 'yung mag-travel via bus na medyo mabagal if that means cheaper fee and another hour to sleep. 
We arrived at KL Sentral which is Malaysia's largest transit hub. If you're a tourist in Malaysia, you might want to go here first just to review their transport system etc. All lines pass through KL Sentral so going to any place is possible if you're here.


KL Sentral was our HOME for day 1.
For rent at KL Sentral
We didn't want to rent a hotel room because we'd be travelling to Singapore later that night. These lockers were heaven sent to backpackers since it's difficult to roam around the city carrying everything. You'd find a lot of these in KL Sentral and one locker cost 5 MYR for a whole day use.

Before leaving our HOME, we asked the lady from the information booth the MRT line that is closest to Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC)/ Petronas Towers.

An MRT ride only cost 1 MYR but there's a better option, guys. :)

In Malaysia, they have GO KL buses. GO KL are free city buses that are launched to improve mobility in Malaysia's Central Business District. GO KL buses have four lines which are RED, BLUE, GREEN AND PURPLE and you are just to transfer line to get to your destination. There are mixed opinions/reviews regarding the drivers of these free buses but as far as our experiences are concerned, we have NO complains at all. In all fairness, GO KL buses are even better than some buses we have that are plying EDSA.

Although these free bus rides are meant to serve locals, (budget) tourists are welcome to ride too. It's like a free hop on, hop off tour of Kuala Lumpur. You can ask the information lady at our home for the map/brochure of GO KL buses.
Down somewhere we don't know.

I forgot the stations where we alighted but we rode, RED, BLUE and GREEN respectively that took us to KLCC.
We kind of got lost somewhere in KL near SOGO Market. We were asking for a nearby bus stop from the locals but the language barrier made it hard. They didn't understand us or it was us who didn't understand so we took a break and tried eating street food here.
These cost 3 MYR.
The one with crab stick was good! 
KL TOWER and a familiar looking car brand. Medyo 32nd street ng BGC ang peg.

After a little bit of walking, we found the bus stop of GO KL buses. Fortunately, the RED line driver recognized us and showed us the way to the BLUE line (Si Kuya driver na sumundo sa'min galing sa KL Sentral at si Kuya RED line ay iisa kasi nga RED line ang dumadaan dun sa bahay namin. Hehehe. Nung nakababa na kami sa bus niya bago kami nawala sa SOGO Market, nakangiti pa nga siya sa'min at buti na lang naalala niya kami nung naglakad kami sa harap niya). Then, as we alighted BLUE line at Concorde Hotel to wait for the GREEN line that will take us to KLCC, there were two Filipinas who are then waiting for a PURPLE line bus and they taught us the directions again. And! Inside the GREEN line to KLCC, a Filipina was also there and she taught us where to buy souvenirs etc. She also told us that in Malaysia, sun sets at around 7:30 PM.

Kung babasahin, medyo madali siguro pero nung nandun kami, MYGHAD SAN NA TAYO?! Pagkatapos ng medyo nakakapagod na paglipat-lipat ng bus, sa isang lugar na wala man lang kaming alam, nakarating kami sa KLCC!

 
Indeed, DAY 1 was LAKAS-LOOB MALAYSIA. 
It rained when we arrived at KLCC so we entered KLCC SURIA MALL to window shop. 
John Lloyd-Bea: Ang Pagtatapos
If you've been here before, you probably know that I am a fan of the John Lloyd-Bea loveteam and I go to most of their shooting places. HAHAHA. In their movie, "Miss You Like Crazy", they went there dibaaaaa. :)) Petronas Twin Tower is the last item on my list.

Pasig River Cruise=check, Alabang Town Center=check, Bellini's Italian Restaurant= check, Paco Park= check, Malaysia= check. :D

Hindi kagaya ni Mia at Alan, hindi ko naisip na nag-uusap 'yan dalawang 'yan. hindi ko rin naisip na magka-holding hands sila.  Pero pero pero, parang gusto kong makarinig ng, "Masaya ko pag kasama kita." na sasagutin ng, "Ako rin."
Petronas Towers has 88 floors with a glass and steel facade.

Actually, Petronas Towers/Suria has a viewing deck for a price of IDK but since we were on a budget, we let go of that and just took pictures outside the skyscraper.
KLCC Park
Everything looks like 4 PM to me but it was already around 6 PM when we left KLCC.
We bought grilled corn while waiting for the bus for 3 MYR.
The vendor told us that it's, "Masarap." Yes, he knows some Tagalog.


Then, lucky us (again) the driver of the GREEN line was a former tour guide. So whenever we passed by buildings and attractions, he just naturally told us some history about the place plus instructions on how to go around KL via GO KL buses using the English and Filipino languages. It's just felt great that it was our "tour guides" who kept finding their way to us during that day. Thank You po for giving knowledgeable and trustworthy people to guide us on our first day.


"Itong bus na 'to, libre." and he also asked us, "Pa-saan kayo?" which I misheard as, "Sasagasaan kayo." Ang morbid ko. K. hahahaha.  Sabi niya, "Pa-saan? Where are you going?" 
And a rice meal at last! Malaysia's KFC tastes bland compared to our chicken here in the Philippines. Sanay kasi tayo sa maalat ng pagkain! And, they also didn't have unlimited gravy and only chili or tomato ketchup are available for dips. But to tell you, all chicken that we ate in Malaysia were tender! Even the breast part which I dislike was also tender and soft. I wonder how they cook those.

From 5 PM - 8 PM, KFC rice meal is priced cheaper at 6.60 MYR from the regular 8.05 MYR.

It was time to leave after eating our dinner since we have a bus ride schedule at 11:30 PM and we had to be at Pudu Sentral at 11:00 to get our tickets.
We rode the AMPANG LINE to PUDU station which turned out to be a wrong station. hahahaha. Akala namin, PUDU is the same as PUDURAYA.

So when we were about to exit the PUDU station, our token wasn't valid. Nga naman, it's not the station we were supposed to alight at. Pero mapilit kami, we insisted that we were to alight at PUDU station so we paid another train fare because we needed to buy new tokens so we can leave the station only to realize later on that the person selling MRT chips was right. We were really at a wrong station. hahaha. Na-tripleng gastos kami dito. We paid papuntang PUDU station, we paid paglabas ng PUDU station at isa pa papuntang Plaza Rakyat station.

We asked the lady in the convenience store and the only line I remember saying is, "Okay, so we're not supposed to be here and we're lost." We were lost! I can't even recall how many times we got lost.
But we arrived at PUDU Sentral on time and enjoyed my Malaysian Milo na walang lasa hoping that it'd get me through the night. :))
The only time when I let my feet rest.
This is what our bus to Singapore looked like.

It was comfortable with enough leg room for a leg rest and to comfortably recline our seat without causing an inconvenience or interrupting the person at our back. The seat also has a built in back massager. 


And that's the end of our first day. 



THE REST OF OUR BACKPACKING ADVENTURE LINK: HERE.


P.S. Google+ created a timeline (with pictures and locations) of my entire trip to Malaysia and Singapore link: here.

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