Our Trip to Malaysia - Batu Caves

After Genting Highlands which had left everyone in the group complaining about the food, we started for KL, the capital of Malaysia.
Mr. Tanwar, my fellow Rajasthani from Jodhpur, delayed the departure by 30 minutes as he attended to some last minute requirements (not sure what it was - maybe his kids had to go to the toilet)
Amarjeet, our local guide informed us that we would stopping at Batu caves. These caves are situated about 15 -20 kms away from KL and houses the temple of Muruga, a Hindu Deity.
The temple is more than 100 years old. The limestone caves they say are more than 400 million years old and the temple attracts 1.5 million pilgrims annually.
Once again when we compare it with the cave temples in India and if any one has been to the Elephanta Caves outside Mumbai, the attraction is nothing much to talk about. I am not even talking about the Ajanta and Ellora attractions.
The pic alongside is the tallest Muraga statues in the world that stands on the foot of the caves. 272 steps alongside lead to the cave. Mayank and I made it in one go and at a fast pace.

Two special things about the place:

• We had coconut water. The coconuts are full of water and one coconut provides a belly full. Needless to add it was costly. At RM 3 for a coconut it came to Rs. 42/=. But it was worth it.
  
• Mayank took a picture with a python around his neck. I will upload the pic once I have scanned it. But this will always remind us of Batu caves and Mayank looks cool. He had wanted to take the pic at Genting Highlands but had backed off. Although Amarjeet had managed to let him get the snake around his neck there as well (without paying a penny). We paid RM 15 for the pic at Batu Caves.
  

Till then we had thought that the tour was highly professional. There was no commercial strings attached. But just before we reached Batu Caves we had the first taste of commercialization. We had a stop outside a watch shop. Just like in India the tour guide told us that the shop prices are attractive. I wonder why only tour operators find such shops attractive? Why don't the locals shop there?

Anyway this was a small irritant and as I did not buy anything I have nothing to complain about.

By six in the evening we had reached our hotel in Malaysia.

The rooms were good and the location was central.

We meet Homi, our Cox & Kings guide from India. The guide who was supposed to part of the tour had failed to report and Homi was sent as a replacement. He was a couple of days late but he made his presence felt immediately.

If Amarjeet's spoke in a modulated tone, Homi was an out of tune African drum. If Amarjeet brought humor in every sentence, Homi killed it with his long drawn narration. If Amarjeet was relaxed, Homi was time bound. We now had a guide who took his job as the tour leader seriously.

To be continued....

GENTING HIGHLANDS - TRIP TO MALAYSIA

• "The journey to Genting Highlands is going to take 2 hours" the sweet sonorus voice of Amarjeet informed us. Don't get me wrong but he was a cute looking Punjabi Munda with a modulated voice and a sense of humour.
• We had the near to the front seats and while a few of us napped, I was fully alert taking pictures and videos of the trip.
• Amarjeet, our friendly guide, told us about Genting Highlands but he was most impressed by Uncle Lim.
• Uncle Lim, the founder of Genting Highlands, was a small carpenter who rose to become the most powerful private contractor of Malaya to the 12th richest man in the world.
• He started work on Genting Highlands in 1965 and the first hotel at the hilltop was opened in 1971. Developing from an isolated hill top today the place is a must visit for tourist to Malaysia.
• Well getting back to my trip - The bus journey was smoother than a flight. Not a single pot hole in sight, we travelled over 125 kms at almost even speed and the broad roads and disciplined traffic was another special feature of Malaysia.
• Enroute we crossed KL and had our first glimpse of the Petronas tower, another must visit site of Malaysia.
• The roads started going up an incline and the greenery and flowers were in abundance. Palm trees, infact entire plantations lined the highway and hibiscus of all colours, planted in the road dividers, danced in the light breeze.
• Our luggage had already reached the hotel we were informed. By the way, Amarjeet had made a midway stop at a highway dhabha which was as well equipped as the best food courts.
• One irritant which dogged us through out the tour was first sensed at this stop. The smell of raw non vegetarian food (especially beef) can kill the appetite of most vegetarians and non beef eating Hindus.
• The trip to Genting Highland from the base of the hilltop was done on the Genting skyway, a cable car that runs 3.4 kms in only 18 minutes. The beauty of the cable car ride is that we take the ride over a tropical rain forest which is more than 70 million years old. If green is your favourite colour you will have nothing to complain about.
• "Genting Highland is only the third entertainment city in the world" Amarjeet informed us adding that it was at par with Las Vegas and Sun city.
• By the time we had checked into our Hotel, The first World Hotel, the biggest hotel in the world with 6,118 rooms (It is said that the hotel has this odd number of rooms as the place is 6,118 feet above sea level), we were dead tired. The world biggest hotel has very small rooms and no room service is provided.
• We had some expensive sour tasting coffee and got ready for dinner. The spread was huge but the food taste did not suit us so a hard core non veg like me had to suppliment my meal with fruits.
• The next day we had breakfast at a new place and spend some time at the theme park. Nothing special here.
• The casinos were crowded and noisy. I did not play. I believe the ambience was as good as the casinos in vegas.
• The lunch was again at the place where we had dinner and then we started for KL.

The highlight of the visit to Genting was the cable car ride over the tropical rain forests and the variety of hibiscus all along the road. The palm plantations and terrace agri plots along the way was what impressed me the most.

I was not impressed by the casinos as I did not win (I believe I would have liked it if I had played and won) and the theme park was nothing out of usual.

By the way the place was damn crowded and expensive by Indian standards. Chinese youngsters were the dominant group with Indians coming a close second.

To be continued....

OUR TRIP TO MALAYSIA

Hi,

The trip to Malaysia and Singapore was good.

I think this sentence actually sums up my impression about the two countries. Nothing exceptional but no one is disappointed. In this post I talk about Malaysia.

• Cox & Kings our tour operator had booked us on Sri Lankan Airlines (I had protested and asked them to book us on a direct flight but they said that it would cost Rs.10,000/- more for the four of us) which meant that we took a flight first to Colombo (3.30 hrs) stayed there for a few hours (In fact we reached there at 10 PM and shifted to a reasonably good resort called Tamarind Tree and started back for the airport at 5.20AM) and then boarded the flight to Malaysia. (3 hours)
• The KL airport is reasonably big and we had to take the mono rail from our terminal to the exit and immigration terminal. This was the first time we took the mono rail at an airport and the uniqueness of the rail trip impressed me. I embarrased my daughter by taking pictures. The mono rail at the airport is the slow version of the metros. Another unique feature of the airport was the effort to create an ambience of closeness to nature within the concrete. We had sunlight streaming in through atriums and green foilage along the travelator. I embarrased the family once again by insisting on taking pictures. I will no longer mention this embarrasment part as this continued to happen at regular frequency till they gave up protesting.
• OK, Need to add this - we had to fill in the health form for Swine Flu. I believe they had a thermal detector in place as well. The form was also needed at Sri Lanka. Indians are given 72 hours Visa on arrival at Sri Lanka.
• Our Guide Amarjeet was waiting for us at the exit and by the time we gathered together it was almost 2 in the afternoon. (3 and half hours ahead of India and Sri Lanka). 42 of us had collected from Delhi and Mumbai.
• Amarjeet is an Indian Malaysian (second generation) and can speak Hindi. It is understood that he is the only Malaysian guide who can speak Hindi.
• We put our luggage in a mini truck and boarded our Bus for Genting Highlands.

To be continued...

INDIA, MALAYSIA, SINGAPORE & SRI LANKA

Hello,
I have just completed a 15 days tour of the above mentioned countries and the first difference between the southeast and the Indian subcontinent is clearly the cleanliness and discipline.
When we land into India from Kuwait we see some greenery and are so happy but then when we reach Malaysia and Singapore, India looks like a desert. The rain forests of the southeast are green and pleasant.
Then when you get out of the aircraft the manner in which things are handled is also different Malaysia and Singapore are strict but efficient. India and Sri Lanka are lax and indifferent.
The only thing in favor of the sub continent is the prices.
Singapore doubles the prices of everything in Malaysia. So if a tee costs 10 ringets in Malaysia it is 10 Sing $ in Singapore. And the price of a similar looking tee in Sri Lanka is just 400 Sri Lanka rupees. That is rupees 200 (Indian).
Rest in my detailed post later.
Best regards,
Manoj