Kuala Lumpur, Final City in Tour 2010

Day 8

We had already left Mandalay Inn at 6 a.m. to catch our flight to Kuala Lumpur. We rented a minibus from the Inn which costed us USD 10 ($1,5 per person). Thank you Mandalay Inn for gave us such a great service. Definitely stay at Mandalay again if I come back to Siem Reap.

We arrived at Siem Reap International Airport. The airport was quite small, maybe the size is the same as Jogjakarta Airport. We had to pay departure tax, which was quite pricey, USD 25. The waiting room was quite big and I could use Wi-Fi in that room. Finally our plane had come and apparently, it was a blue-limited-edition- Airasia plane! Wow, we were so lucky.

The Blue AirAsia

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

At 12.00 p.m., we arrived at Kuala Lumpur Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT). Even though LCCT was just a budget terminal, it was quite big and had many store and restaurant. We took skybus to KL sentral. It costed us RM 9 and the journey took about an hour. From KL sentral, we took monorail to Bukit Bintang. After arrived at Bukit Bintang, we walked to Pujangga Homestay, our homestay. We reserved a dorm-type room, RM 25 per night per pax. The room was quite small and dark and didn’t have bathroom. The bathroom were shared outside. I suggest you to find a better homestay than this one.

Pujangga Homestay. This was our dorm. Tiny and dark.

At living room, Pujangga homestay

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

Time to explore KL! Our first activity in KL was exploring Mall and shopping center in Bukit Bintang. I think mall in KL was just the same as in Jakarta. Practically we just walked around and didn’t buy anything. At Berjaya Mall, I found a Korean hobby shop which sold many K-pop goodies. If you are a die hard K-pop fans, you should go to this store. Kuala Lumpur is a city with so many tourist from all over the world. From what I saw, there were so many tourist from Middle East and Northern Africa, something I rarely saw in Singapore or Bangkok two years ago.

At sunset, we went to Merdeka Square. We went there by monorail from Bukit Bintang, changing into LRT in Hang Tuah and stopped at Masjid Jamek station. It was less grandeur than my expectation. It was just a square with a huge Malaysian Flag with an old building across the street, which is Sultan Abdul Samad building. Nothing special there. After that, we went to Petaling street by foot. Yes, by foot! We lost but finally we could find Petaling street. This place was packed with tourists. Many food stall and souvenir sellers here. We had our dinner in a food court. They sold many kinds of food such as Chinese, Indian, and Peranakan food. The taste was quite good and inexpensive. After exploring Petaling street, we went back to our homestay .

View from Merdeka Square

Huge Malaysian Flag

Sultan Abdul Samad building

KL monorail, a little bit like Bangkok BTS

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

Day 9

Our first destination was Batu Cave, 13 km north of Kuala Lumpur. First we went to Bukit Bintang monorail station, changing into LRT in Hang Tuah station and stopped in Masjid Jamek LRT station. From Masjid Jamek station, we walked to Puduraya Bus Station and went to Batu Cave by bus from Puduraya. I forgot the bus ticket price to Batu Cave, but I think it won’t cost you more than RM 2. The trip to Batu Cave itself took about 40 minute from Puduraya.

Batu cave entrance gate

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

Batu Cave is a huge Hindhu - Indian temple, probably the largest in entire Malaysia. The temple has a 42,7 meter high statue. The Lord Murugan statue to be exact. The statue is the icon of Batu Cave. To enter this temple, we didn’t have to pay anything.

The 42,7 m Murugan statue

There was a lot of bird in the temple

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

To reach the cave, we must climb a steep flight of 272 steps. Yesss, 272 steps means a lot of energy required to reach the cave. It was quite tiresome but it definitely worthed. When you climb, please beware of the monkeys. They are fierce and aggressive. Keep your camera, sunglasses, or your snack safely. FYI, the monkeys successfully grabbed my milk!!! I hate them.

can you see the 272 steps?

The monkeys were really aggressive. They stole my milo :(

Just Climb!

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

Finally we reached the cave. From this place, we could see Kuala Lumpur skyline. Inside the cave, we could see Hindhu shrines which were used to worship God. After exploring the cave and taking some photos, we want back to Kuala Lumpur by bus.

Enter the cave

KL skyline from the cave

A shrine inside the cave

Statues

The cave's interior

Yes, even after 272 steps, you can still find stores here

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

We were looking for food in Puduraya area. We walked and found out that Puduraya was located near Petaling street. We decided to have our lunch in Chinese food court.

Our next destination was IKEA Kuala Lumpur. IKEA is located far from the city center, about 20 km from Kuala Lumpur center. We took LRT from Pasar Seni station to the terminus of Kelana Jaya line, Kelana Jaya LRT station. From Pasar Seni station, the trip to Kelana Jaya took about 20 minute. From Kelana Jaya station, we used free shuttle bus which are available every 90 minute. It took another 20 minute from Kelana jaya station to IKEA.

IKEA KL is a huge shop that sold furniture, household stuff and many more items in good and unique design but not cheap. I didn’t buy anything here. In IKEA, we also met Ira’s friend, Rudi and Maya. They studied in KL and they accompanied us exploring KL till the rest of that day.

Lunch with Rudi and Maya

From IKEA, we went back to Kelana Jaya station, took LRT to KLCC station. Yup, we were heading to Suria KLCC and Petronas Twin Tower. We spent our evening in this place,eating and taking photos.

KL skyscrapers from KLCC park

The fountain

The interior of Suria KLCC

Twin tower, the landmark of Malaysia

Pose together

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

At 10 p.m. we said goodbye to Rudi and Maya and went back to Bukit Bintang. At 10 p.m., Bukit Bintang was still packed with tourist from all over the world and there were many attractions in the streets of Bukit Bintang. We just looked for a while and then went back to our homestay.

Attractions in Bukit Bintang

Bukit Bintang at night

Attraction in Bukit Bintang

Day 10

August 4^th 2010 was our last day in KL and also our last day after 10 days touring. We didn’t do much activity that day. In the morning, we went to Chow Kit monorail station and walked into Syarikat Kamal bookstore which sold medical books in cheap price. After that, Martin left earlier because he had to catch his flight to Singapore while the rest was still busy packing.

Exploring Bukit Bintang for the last time

Finally, it’s time to say goodbye to KL. We left the homestay at 2 p.m. and heading to LCCT airport. Our flight was delayed for almost an hour. Speaking of KL, this city didn’t leave any impression to me. I’m not a Malaysian anti or whatsoever, but compared to Bangkok, Singapore, or even Saigon and Phnom Penh, KL is way too mediocre.

At last, we went back to Jakarta safely and the 10 days journey was finally over. See you at the our future entry!

Day 7: The Mighty Angkor

We woke up very early that day to catch the sunrise in Angkor Wat. At 4.30 a.m. we already left the guesthouse. Heavy rain fell all over the night and we were afraid that we couldn’t see the sunrise. We went by tuktuk and it only took about 30 minutes from our guesthouse to the Angkor complex. Angkor wat complex is really huge. It’s almost impossible to travel from one wat to the other wat by foot so you must rent a bicycle, motorcycle, tuktuk or car to travel around Angkor Wat Complex.

Before we enter the complex, we had to pay the ticket first. There are three type of tickets; one day ticket (USD 20), three days ticket (USD 40) and one week ticket (USD 60). If you are a history lovers or have an interest in archeology, I suggest you to take the three days or one week ticket. But if you’re just an ordinary traveler like me, trust me, one day is more than enough. The ticket itself is quite good. The officer will take our picture and print it out to the ticket. Carry your ticket at all time in Angkor because there will be regular checks for the ticket at almost sites within The Angkor Complex.

At 5.00 a.m. we had arrived at Angkor Wat. It was very dark. Other than car’s and motorcycle’s lamp, there was no other light but The Wat was already packed with many tourists. Thirty minute later, the sky became blue but we were very disappointed because the sky was very cloudy. We failed to see the sunrise in Angkor Wat.

Mission: failed. The sky was cloudy.

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

We started to explore Angkor Wat. It was a very large temple. The Angkor Wat was built in 1200 A.D. by King Suryavarman. This temple is a Hindhu temple where Lord Vishnu was worshipped. At that time, Kingdom of Khmer reached its golden era and their territory was from Thailand to Vietnam. It was believed that one million people had lived in this Angkor town at that time, making Angkor the biggest city in Southeast Asia at that time. But then, Kingdom of Khmer became weaker and finally collapsed. The Angkor complex itself was left by its citizen and was forgotten. In 1960s, Angkor Wat became one of the prime tourist destination in Asia, even Jacky Kennedy went to Angkor. But after Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia, the tourism in Angkor collapsed until early 2000.

You can see some parts of the temple were restored

Mighty Angkor Wat

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

There was a large artificial lake in front of the Angkor Wat. The lake was also built in Jayavarman Era. Quite amazing huh. There were a lot of aggressive monkeys inside the wat. Be careful, they could grab your snacks, accessories, and even your camera. When we came to the Angkor Wat, some parts of the wat were renovated, which was quite disturbing.

Inside Angkor Wat.

Be careful, they could grab your camera.

This is the artificial lake in front of Angkor Wat

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

After almost three hours in the Angkor Wat, we moved to our next destination, Bayon. The distance between Angkor Wat and Bayon is about 5 km. Before entering the Bayon Temple, we stopped first at the “city gate”, which was still far away from the temple, to take pictures.

From Angkor Wat to Bayon

Bayon Gate

Bayon gate

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

The trademark of Bayon is four-sided-face giant stone statue which is easily recognized. Every tower in this Bayon temple contains that four-sided –faces. The temple itself wasn’t as large as Angkor Wat. Many parts of the temple had been ruined and I could see some restorations have been done. Just like Angkor Wat, Bayon Temple is a Hindhu Temple.

Whose face is this?

Can you count how many faces in this pic?

Bayon Temple

Every tower has four faces. Can you see them?

Some parts are just like this

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

After visiting Bayon Temple, we visited some little temples which were less famous than Angkor Wat and Bayon. At 12 p.m. we took a break for lunch. There was a food hawker complex near The Elephant Terrace temple. The food was expensive and the taste wasn’t really great. Definitely my worst lunch in Cambodia.

A temple near Bayon

Next destination was Ta Phrom. This temple was really popular among the tourist, definitely the highlight of Angkor complex besides Angkor Wat and Bayon. Have you ever watched Tomb Raider? If you have, you may recognize a few scenes from the movie in this temple. The popularity of Ta Phrom was huge because of Tomb Raider. Some even said that Ta Phrom is Angelina Jolie temple.

Ta Phrom

Angelina Jolie Temple

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

But other than Tomb Raider factor, Ta Phrom itself was really stunning. It is best known as the temple where many big (really really big and old) trees have been left intertwined with the stonework. It’s like a perfect combination between nature and human work. This place is definitely my favourite temple in Angkor. Just like in Angkor Wat and Bayon, there were some parts of the temple that were in restoration.

Fantastic interaction between The tree and the stone

If you watch Tomb Raider, you can easily recognize this place

Ta Phrom is amazing. Definitely my favourite place in Angkor

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

After Ta Phrom, we visited many small, less famous temple. Honestly, I felt bored because there were nothing special at those temples (at least for me). In my mind, they started to look the same, from one temple to the other temple. It was 4 p.m., we were already bored, got nothing to do, but we had to stay at Angkor to watch the sunset.

Mati gaya

I love this place

Just another temple in Angkor Complex

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

At 5 p.m. we went to Phnom Bakheng. It’s the best place to see the sunset. Apparently, to reach Phnom Bakheng wasn’t easy at all. All I can say is prepare your stamina. First, we had to climb the hill. The path was really long and twisty. After we reach the top of the hill, again we had to climb the temple to reach the top level of Phnom Bakheng Temple. The stairs were really narrow and sharp, we had to be careful. Finally, we reach the top level and I must say that the view from up there was really fantastic. You could see Angkor Complex in 360^o view. I even could see Angkor Wat from here. Really beautiful. Unfortunately, the sky was cloudy again. We failed to see the sunset.

View from Phnom Bakheng. See. the sky was cloudy again.

Sunset in Phnom Bakheng

The temple itself is quite beautiful

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

We went back to Siem Reap town. We decided to taste The Cambodian version of KFC since Vietnamese KFC tasted great. The menu was different from Vietnam and Indonesia. Apparently, Cambodian KFC was more expensive and less delicious than Vietnamese KFC. Cambodian KFC also didn’t provide rice. After having meal, we went straight to the Inn and rest. We didn’t go anywhere because we were very tired. Besides, we had to wake up early to catch our flight to Kuala Lumpur.