Back from an 9-day, 8-night trip to Malaysia. I wrote most of this posting while waiting for my flight at the airport to describe how my trip unfolded. The main reason for going to Malaysia was to compete in the VIFA Asia Open foosball tournament, held at Breakers bar in Desa Sri Hartamas just outside of Kuala Lumpur. But of course, I wasn't going to buy a plane ticket and do no sightseeing along the way. The first part of the trip was with two foosers, while the last couple of days were with two of my ex-coworkers.
Anyway, on with my ramble.
DAY 1 (Thurs): After 9 hours of travel, we arrived late at our hotel around 10pm. With empty stomachs, we found a cheap Indian restaurant close by. This would be the first of my five visits to that restaurant. Roti Canai for 1 RM, chicken and lamb satays for 0.70 RM each. Darn cheap, and best of all, very tasty. Then we took a 10-minute taxi ride to Breakers just to see what was up. Slept around 3am.
DAY 2 (Fri): Headed out at 8:20am and got stuck in the stagnant morning traffic, arriving at the Petronas Twin Towers at 8:45am. Online sources had told me that they start handing out tickets for a free 10-minute visit on the 44th floor bridge (between the two towers) at 8:30am. By the time we got there, there was a huge line-up and we gave up waiting after 4 minutes. So we elected to take some photos of the Petronas outside and walked to the KL Tower, which provides an even higher view of the city, and a skyline which includes the Twin Towers themselves. The weather was hazy, but it was still worth the 38 RM entry.
We made a quick stop at our hotel, then went to the tournament site around 2pm for Newbie Doubles, followed by Amateur Singles and 3000 Ltd events. We left around 2am, and had a late meal, including Malaysia's famed Bat Kut Teh, along a night market-like street. Eyes shut at 4am.
DAY 3 (Sat): Canceled all morning tourism activities to get more shut eye, and registered for the day's tournament events at 1pm before getting a quick bite across the street. One important thing to note when playing foosball tournaments is to avoid overeating, which prevents getting into a sleepy lull during the digestive period. We played Newbie Singles and Open Singles, skipping the Ladies Open Singles wedged in between. We called it a "early" night, sleeping at 2am.
DAY 4 (Sun): KL visitation sites were the Central Market and the Islamic Arts Museum. It's amazing how fast you can get through a museum when you're in a rush. Got to Breakers just after 1pm, but the doors weren't even open yet. Someone must have slept in. Finally, when they did open, around 2:30pm or so, I had Amateur Doubles, then Open Doubles. Left Breakers at 3am and in bed just after 4am. Do you see a re-occurring pattern here?
DAY 5 (Mon): Last day of the tournament, so it started later in the day. We were up and out around noon and headed to the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, Independence Square (Dataran Merdeka), the Masjid Jamek Mosque (which we couldn't enter due to a dress code), the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Petaling Street, the National Museum, and finally to Breakers again to finish Open Doubles and played Mixed International Doubles. We got our prizes at 1:30am, and smoked some shashi before going back to the hotel.
DAY 6 (Tues): A 2-hour bus ride brought us to the historical city of Melaka (Melacca). We followed a walking tour I found online to learn about Malaysia's past as a colony of Portugal, Japan, and Great Britain, and finally its independence. Truly a worthy day-trip to make if staying in KL. Arriving back in KL around 9pm, we still found time to stop again at the Petronas towers for some great night shots. That night, my ex-coworkers arrived in KL at our hotel, and I moved over to their room because we had to get up early the next morning. The foosball guys also had to catch a flight early the next day as well.
DAY 7 (Wed): The three of us slept through a 4-hour bus ride to the Cameron Highlands - the highest region in Peninsular Malaysia, and a good 10 degrees cooler than KL. After checking into the Strawberry Park Resort, we joined a small agricultural tour where we were introduced to the farming sector which covers the highlands. We were taken to farms for chrysanthemum, water cress, strawberries, multi-crops, lettuce, and cactus. We also did some strawberry picking from a hydroponic crop. As the day progressed, cold symptoms were becoming more and more apparent.
DAY 8 (Thurs): We started the day with a nice breakfast buffet at the hotel, and soon headed on another tour. On the list were a Rose Centre, a butterfly farm, a BOH (best of highlands) tea plantation, a bee farm and a Buddhist temple (both of which there are plenty of in Taiwan). In the afternoon, more Indian food and a visit to a clinic for my cold and asthma, and a rest stop at the Starbucks before boarding our bus for a 5-hour commute back to KL.
DAY 9 (Fri): After a terrible night's sleep, I was up at 5:15am and on a monorail at 6:15am making my way back to the KLIA airport. 9:45am at the time of writing this, and on the plane ready for take off.
More on Malaysia impressions coming soon...
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