Singapore - KL Trip (Part 2)

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I should've done this earlier when I could still remember everything clearly. But I'll try my best to recall the events as they happened.

November 21

We arrived in KL at around 4:30am in a place which reminded me of our very own Recto. It was unexpectedly cold that morning and the place was unexpectedly very much alive. Whether the people were still awake from the previous day or were up very early for the day, nobody could tell. I just hate myself for not asking Ramie what the place was called.

Ramie had to negotiate with maybe four taxi drivers before we settled for the two who took us to Rasa Sayang, a restaurant that had the air of our local Dencio's (or Gerry's). Besides the tables and chairs that were so Dencio's/Gerry's, almost all their waiters were Filipinos too. But no, Rasa Sayang didn't have sisig in their menu, too bad. Since only Ramie had Ringgits at the time, we let him decide which food to order. And again, I hate myself for not asking him what we had. And worse, I forgot to take pictures of the food. As far as I can remember, it was something like roti with a variety of dips. I swear, the next time I travel, I'll take photos of everything and I'll take note of names. I promise.

Anyway, we went to Rasa Sayang to wait for a guy named... damn, I forgot too! He had the key to the condo unit where we would check in (for free!). He arrived at around 6:30am and offered us a ride to Vista Damai condominiums. Unfortunately, we wouldn't fit in his car so we decided to just walk. All for one, one for all. Hehe. It was only a few blocks from the restaurant anyway. So with each a luggage in tow, we walked the dark streets (yes, the sun doesn't shine in KL until around 7:30 or 8:00), crossed a highway, and finally got to the posh Vista Damai.

The apartment was a one-bedroom unit with a very nice kitchen and a spacious T&B. It also had a window that faced the direction of the Petronas and overlooked the city traffic. Indeed, the best things in life are free. After parking our luggages in different corners that we picked, we took turns in taking a shower. While waiting for the "key" guy earlier at Rasa Sayang, we drew lots to decide who would take a shower first. If my memory serves me right, Shiela got to go first, followed by JoAnne, Anna, me, then Ramie.

When everybody was ready, which was around 9:30am, we decided to go out and have breakfast at McDonald's. In Malaysia though, in KL at least, most establishments open at 10:30am so there wasn't any money changer that was open. Save for Ramie, we were all still broke, Ringgit-wise. So he lent us MYR10 each so we could at least have a decent breakfast. He then left to meet his friend, Jeremy.

After breakfast, the girls decided to go shopping while I had to go online and check my emails. Internet surfing cost MYR4/hour. The internet shops were almost empty when I went there. Maybe because it was a weekday. I still remember how much I missed Manila at the time. But now, I'm missing KL. :-(

Ramie decided we meet at lunchtime. While the three girls went shopping in Bukit Bintang, I spent half an hour at an internet shop. I had to ask a friend in Manila to send me prepaid credits because I ran out of load, and I couldn't load the card I bought in Singapore. The girls decided to meet at noontime at Gloria Jean's. But when I went there, they were nowhere in sight. I couldn't text them using my mobile phone because I had to wait for an hour for my roaming to be reactivated. I went looking for them inside the mall, but to no avail. Getting lost all by yourself in a foreign place wasn't really the best thing that could happen to you, but it wasn't that bad. It had a certain feel of liberty in it.

Anyway, I had to go to a second internet shop so I could text them using Chikka. It was probably around 1:00 when we all met. We then headed to a Chinese restaurant nearby to have an authentic Chinese (read: dirty and full of MSG) lunch.

Okay, I don't remember much about what happened after lunch, but I think we went back to the apartment to freshen up a bit. We then went to Suria, a posh mall between the Petronas Towers. We wanted to go inside Petrosains (pet-ro-signs), but we arrived a little late. So we just went around the mall, took some photos, bought some chocolates, then went out to see the Petronas in all their glory.

We spent around three hours just taking photos of the magnificent Twin Towers. I was in awe all the while, slightly forgetting about the real world. After noticing that we were all getting into each other's nerves, we decided to stop taking pictures (we definitely took more than 200 anyway) and headed to Chinatown to have a late dinner. My memory is starting to fail because I can't remember what we had for dinner that night. All I know is we had a serving of Yang Chow fried rice and a bottle of beer each. It was almost midnight when we finished.

Before snoozing, we all agreed to wake up at 4:30am so we could line up for free visit passes to the Bridgeway of the Petronas. But deep inside, I wish nobody would really wake up that early. It was around 2:00am when we called it a day after all. But then, I forgot that Jo Anne was with us.

November 22

At exactly 4:30am, Jo Anne shook us from our slumber and made us coffee. How thoughtful. An hour after, we found ourselves walking on the dark streets of KL. We took some photos along the way, and made it to the line early, but we were definitely not the earliest. There were around 20 people in front of us already. We waited a good two hours before finally getting our visit passes. Before going up to the Bridgeway, there was a short briefer in an auditorium. After the briefer, the color-coded IDs were given out to the batch of visitors. Jo Anne and I made the mistake of getting our IDs first because the three got a different color from ours. Fortunately, the batches of visitors overlapped so the five of us (actually only four at a time) got to have group pictures taken.

When we descended, we decided to have brunch at Pati Bungsu, an Indian restaurant on Jln. Yap Kwan Seng. We ordered a total of five dishes which all tasted great. The restaurant looked a bit confused though with its luxurious furniture, great food that lacked proper presentation, and its seemingly indigent service staff.

We wanted to make the most out of our time because this was the last day of our trip. So, after brunch, we headed back to Suria to get some more chocolates. We then went to the train station and bought tickets to the station near the KL Tower.

After getting off the train, we walked and walked until we couldn't any more. We hired a taxi to take us to the KL Tower. While there, we again took countless photos and watched a cultural dance show. After the show, Ramie, Jo Anne and I decided to go back to Bukit Bintang to do last-minute shopping. Anna and Shiela wanted to try rappelling so we left them there.

It was already 2:30pm when the three of us got to the condo. We were running late for our bus trip going back to Singapore, which would leave at 4:00pm. Anna and Shiela arrived a little later, taking their sweet time because they would leave the following day anyway. I don't know how we did it, but we were able to make on time for our trip.

Funny bus moments: Jo Anne took a shot of the cute guy in front of me. She forgot to turn off the flash; Ramie asked the guy behind him, "Excuse me, can I recline my seat?" with his American accent. The guy quipped, "Ay, sige okay lang." Hehe.

We arrived in Singapore at 10:00pm and headed straight to the airport. It seemed that we had planned very well for the trip because our last Singaporean dollars were just enough to buy us a decent airport dinner. We checked in our luggages after dinner and lounged till boarding time.

November 23

At half past midnight, we boarded the plane and I again felt the need to cry. It was around 4:00am when we landed on the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark. Home sweet home. I love that airport. Very cozy. At 6:00am, we were having breakfast al fresco at Jollibee St. Francis Square. There's really no place like home.