On 28 March 2010, I decided to embark on the beautiful journey to Malaysia for Travel and leisure purpose. Little did we know that I will be remembering all the vivid details and best of all, the fun, laughter and the awesome time we spent together.
The Itinerary
We were to embark from Karachi Airport using Sri Lankan Airlines. In Sri Lanka, we were to stay in Airport transit for about 7 hours. Then from there, we were to be moved to Kuala Lumpur (KL). From there on wards, we were to be stayed in KL for 2 nights, moved to Genting Highlands, a hill Station. Two nights stay here followed by movement to Penang, another state in Malaysia. Again, 2 nights stay and followed by Langkawi, a beachy island, two nights stay there and move to Sri Lanka, one night stay they and back to Pakistan. In more summarized way,
- Karachi > Sri Lanka.
- Transit for 12 hours Sri Lanka >
- Malaysia – Kuala Lumpur by Air
- Stay there for two nights
- Kuala Lumpur > Genting Highlands by ROAD
- Stay there for Two Nights
- Genting Highlands > Penang by ROAD via Bus
- Stay there for Two Nights
- Penang > Langkawi by Ferry on the SEA.
- Stay there for Two Nights
- Langkawi > Kaula Lumpur > Sri Lanka by Air
- Stay there for one Night
- Sri Lanka > Karachi.
Now if we ponder on this itinerary, this is quite a rational one, since we planed to utilize every bit of time and money we had. Otherwise, this should not be the case of a visit to any country. The ideal itinerary would be to settle down in good city or a week or two.
FIRST STOP Kuala Lumpur Hotel: STAR POINT HOTEL 3 Star hotel.
The location of the hotel was ideal in the sense that it was in the heart of Little India. All the indian foods along with Malay, Chinese, and other yummy foods were available. We discovered later that it was close to Masjid Jamek, an LRT Station. Now Malaysia, LRT (Lumpur Rapid Transport) is a underground / above the road MASS train / sit system where you can commute from one corner of Malaysia to another very easily, provided you have an understanding of it’s complex railway system. First night, we went to KAMPUNG BARU and had amazing 3 dishes of MEE GORENG meaning, Fried Noodles. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mee_goreng. We ate around three dishes of MEE GORENG and has 2 LYCHEE Drink. Now the LYCHEE drink is very refreshing drink considered in Far East. This is one of delicacies to be tried whenerever one is going to Far East. Second day, we were taken to Half day City tour, which started from display of Chinese Temple, followed by Monument of the time, when Malaysians captured the Malaysia from Chinese and then we were taken to Chocolate Factory. Malaysia, according to the Tour Guide, is the Fourth country producing Chocolates. The chocolates of Malaysia had an interesting thing, that they infused different flavors in Chocolate. For example, I tasted Orange Chocolate, Coconut Chocolate (Now this Chocolate was not BOUNTY. It was infused with Coconut). Again, we bought a sample of Chocolate and then we were taken to Batik Factory. Batik is an Art of Painting different vivid Patterns on Cotton, Cotton Silk and Silk. Once again, this art of very much prevalent in Far East Sector. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batik. The tour ended with Petronas Twin Towers. The twin Towers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petronas_Twin_Towers) was known to be the largest building untill Burj-Khalifa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Khalifa) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BurjKhalifaHeight.svg) came into existence. The same night we went to Twin Tower again to take the pictures of Twin towers for the photography.
Final Thoughts.
Kuala Lumpur was the Capital of Malaysia. Now it is just a place to see big Shopping Malls and Petronas Twin Towers. I would say, the only good thing to see there is petronas Twin Tower. Links to be posted here.
Second Stop: Genting hghlands Hotel: AWANA Highlands 3 -4 Star Hotel.
Genting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genting_Highlands) is a place 6000 ft above sea level. This place usually having cold temperature all the year. The biggest charm for Families is the Genting Skylands ( A Cable car) and Genting Play Area, also known as Genting Theme Park. The basic point of Genting is that, you go there, just stay in the cool climate and wind up from the hustle and bustle of the busy metropolitan life. Genting, I would say that it is by far one of the relaxing places. There is a Hotel First World Hotel, which is according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_World_Hotel), worlds Biggest hotel by number of rooms. Now it may be the biggest hotel, but it is quite pathetic to see the hotel having just the Theme park in its view.
We stayed in Awana hotel and my my my What views it has. Also, we came to know tht there is free shuttle service provided by the hotel which takes the hotel guest to Genting Skyways, which again, takes them to Genting highlands. We stayed in Genting just by Enjoying the Weather and eating and doing nothing else.
Final Thoughts
It is one of those places, where you just go there and enjoy the weather. In Pakistan, we do have exactly such places like Nathia Gali, Naran, but the is it sad to see that tourism and development department of Pakistan is doing nothing in this regard. People from outer world of Pakistan, do come, but they come on their own. They might hear from unknown, inate sources.
Third Stop : Penang Hotel Copthorne Orchid Hotel 3 – 4 Star Hotel
From Genting, we were taken by our travel agent by VAN, which left us of in the BUS Station of NICE. http://www.supernice.com.my/. Once we boarded the bus, I was astonished to see the large compartments of the bus. The whole bus was seating overall 20 People / head counts. Every passenger was having enough large leg room (to stretch legs), as if you are sitting in the an Airplane seat which is next to EXIT Door. Plus the Bus was providing Onboard movies. I watched Universal Soldier 3. Anyways, the bus journey was again, as expected, quite good, except for the fact that the bus got broke down somewhere in the middle of nowwhere. We were then transferred to another bus enroute the same direction. One could go from Kuala Lumpur Airport to Penang Airport using an Airline as well, but I do think that Bus Journey was again, spectacular as passing by of trees, cars and other architectures was a sight to watch. Once we reached Penang (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Town,_Penang) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penang), we started to see the real beauty of Malaysia for which is it quite popular, the Beaches. Malaysian Beaches are known for their water sports, fun and Cleanliness. We didn’t get to the famous WHITE Sand Beaches, but the beach was quite impressive. We stayed in Copthorne hotel, which over looked, well, another beach. Penang had a NIGHT market, which is hawker stalls, the locals use it for the selling cheap branded stuff. We just skimmed and scanned the local stuff and then we went to have dinner and had Satay. Now Satay is again, one of Malaysian
Final Thoughts
Penang is considered as Bangalore of Malaysia. It is the IT Sector of Malaysia. I have seen WIFI on Bus, yes on a public Bus. Imagine this. You have a Mobile phone, which has WIFI in it. You board the bus, and then in a matter of seconds you are connected to Internet, till the time you unboard the bus. Do check out the picture of the bus, where they even have advertised as “Follow us on Twitter / Facebook”.
After all that, I would like to present the Web album of My trip to Malaysia. Happy Viewing.
سلمان کے خیا لآ ت 