A Short trip to Malaysia & Singapore!

Prologue

It had come to my mind in 2009 to break the barrier and see the world outside India. After discussing with Manoj, it was decided that 2009 Christmas vacation would be the right time to make it happen and the destinations were Malaysia & Singapore. But as usual, things dint work out as planned and had to postpone the trip :( :( :(. Sometime in February 2010, KP invited me for the same trip along with his buddies with additional Thailand in place. But due to personal reasons, grudgingly had to drop myself even this time. Then came 2010 December and tour could not happen since Manoj had is house warming ceremony in pipeline for execution.

Fed up with the number of postpones called Manoj in early 2011 and “Boss! Are you coming this time or not???”

“Dhani! This time I am game 100%” was the response from other side of the phone :). (Dhani --> Boss in local Tulu language)

Then as usual, the plans started to get in shape with googling for sightseeing places and places to stay. Side by side, booked all the flight tickets in economic Air Asia. KP & Amol gave good amount of suggestions regarding what to see, places which are safe enough to stay for newbie’s and food options. It was Sathvik’s (my Nephew) first birthday when Manoj came down to Bangalore and we applied for the tourist visa through TT services. After submitting few more required documents, I got both of our passports with Visa of Malaysia & Singapore stamped on them. Witnessing the first visa stamping on the passport was quite a different feeling I should say and I guess it’s the same with everyone :). Informed Manoj about the visa stamping and he said,

“I have used my passport many times as Address & ID proof! Enough is enough. Now want to make actual use of it for which it is meant…”

“100% true!” was my response.

After a lot of research, confirmed booking in Hotel China Town Inn for our stay at Kuala Lumpur. Amol suggested no need to book any hotel in advance in Langkawi and we can find one on arrival. Since Singapore was a costly affair, tried my best to get a budget hotel and found Hotel81 group of hotels. On enquiring with Guru, all I got to know was Hotel81 is good one but popularly known for illegal business :(. Damn! He suggested staying at his house (in spite of him being in India by that time) and after few more confirmations about his friends comfort levels on our presence, we agreed his hospitality.

Borrowed Prasad’s tiny 10 inch laptop for 6 days since I was sure I will run short of memory for the photos. Called up home just before a week and mom was very happy this time.

“Great! That’s nice! Enjoy and have fun. Take care and call us in between if possible!”

“Is it coz, I don’t have to take my bike in this trip???” I wondered :)

Also finalized on few things like whether to activate International roaming on our sim card, how to manage finance and so on. Now with everything in place like stay arrangements, visa and air tickets all we had to do was to wait for D-day to see in calendar!

Day-1 | 22-April-2011 | Bangalore (India) - Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

Got up on usual time but with little more enthusiastic as the day was preplanned to be quite special. Manoj turned up in Bangalore by 7:30 AM & after getting freshened up, morning breakfast was at Prasad’s place as it was his house warming ceremony. After bidding bye to the couple & congratulating for their new house, got back to our net, packed the bag packs & got into well known BMTC to Jaya Nagar after waiting for a while at bus stand. Now being at Jaya Nagar 4th block, we had couple of things to do before boarding Vajra Vayu AC bus to Airport.

After filling our tummy at Cool Joint & exchanging few currencies at Western Union, we were on our way to Airport. I had been to airport couple of times but all these many times, either it was to receive/accompany someone or for a jolly ride. But today, for the first time, the feeling was quite enchanting as we would cross over the sub continental border & see the world outside. Manoj too was quite happy as he had seen many people going in Vajra Vayu to Airport & it was his turn today. Although we were silent for most the time during our journey, thoughts running in ourselves were many.

Once getting down at BIA, as we had ample time to board the flight, got little busy clicking the shots of here & there. After a series of process like checking in luggage, getting boarding pass & several security checks got on chairs near Gate 15 waiting for our turn. ‘Empty mind is Devils workshop’ was true with respect to Manoj & there he says,

“Dhanikule, How about Pizza???” looking at Pizza Hut counter.

After several “No” attempts of mine, lost the battle with Hungry monster & filled fatty food till neck & to help digesting that, had big glass of soft drink. Gosh! It just sucks. But the dude looked satisfied hinting me what I should be going through for few days ahead :(.

All set to go...

Tower at BIA

While waiting near the gate, a middle aged person came & sat next to me and started firing few questions about me & the reason for being here. Even before I could ask him ‘Who are you?’ he himself showed his ID card saying Airport security. After a terrible grinding session of 15-20 mins about our journey, where I work, what I do, reason for our travel & so on, I asked him…

“May I know the reason for all these check???”

“Random security check is going on. So I asked all the details. Thanks for you co-operation.”

“What’s your name??” He got on with Manoj after mine.

“Manoj Kumar…”

“Where do you work???”

“Infosys!” Gosh! All security check got over with his company name.

Was wondering how come my company is so different from Infosys with respect to our journey!

It was around 5:00 PM when the gate was opened & every passenger was let in after security check again. Not to mention again the prestigious feeling we went through as we boarded the flight & settled down on our respective seats. It was just few mins of sitting in my seat, that I realized we have tough time ahead for next 3.5 Hrs. Damn! The seats are not comfortable at all. There is hardly any push back :(. But this was the flight which would take us to KL at economic fare. Compromising on the comfort level, took out my camera to click few shots from inside the fight. To our luck, even air hostess dint look impressive :(. After quick security demonstration, the flight finally took off detaching itself from Indian soil.

Inside Air Asia...

Bye bye India :)

“Now when I get down, it will be other side of the world!” Manoj said for which I nodded.

In short time, we were served by food we had ordered while booking the tickets. Stuffing in Veg Rice & Coffee which assured 0% taste to my tongue was a painful task but was very easy to Manoj. Post eating session, was little busy looking at the top view of Indian land. With nothing else to do than looking outside, slowly closed my eye shutter once the outside world looked dark to my eye lens. Manoj tried to watch a movie in laptop but the effort went in vein due to grinding sound of the turbines at wings. It was only when I woke up after a quick nap, found out that Manoj was busy chatting with nearby passenger named Vinod. Vinod did discuss a lot of things about his work, life at KL, his relation with India & also guided us about visiting places in KL. He also advised about being cautious with taxi drivers as they are well known for looting people.

It was 12:00 midnight KL time that an announcement was made about our flight landing in KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) LCC terminal. With 2 idiots having absolutely zero idea of reaching our pre booked lodge, Vinod assured he would help us to get to the city. After all the process of Immigration check, liberal security check & collecting our checked in bags, we moved along with Vinod to waiting express bus to KL Sentral.

“Is there any place where I can get water to drink??” I asked Vinod hesitantly as I was very thirsty.

“I think we need to buy from any shop nearby…” was his response.

For 3 half liter bottles, I ended up paying 17.4 Ringgits (RM) which I thought is the usual price initially.

“I think each of these bottles hardly cost 1 RM in city..” Vinod said & that’s when bomb blasted in me.

45 mins of journey in express bus at midnight was nothing special except chatting with Vinod who was born & bought up in Malaysia but Tamilian by religion. On reaching KL Sentral, once again Vinod arranged us a taxi for 25 RM to our Hotel in China Town which was around 4-5 Kms from KL Sentral. We thanked Vinod for all the help he did & reached our Hotel China Town Inn in 20 mins time.

“Excuse me! We have a room booked in the name of Krishna Samaga for today!” I said the receptionist in full sleepy mode.

But all my sleep vanished in no time when the receptionist responded,

“Sorry Sir! Since you had not confirmed your booking by making payment, we have given that room to others & there are no vacant rooms at the moment!”

“What??? But you had confirmed me the room in mail…”

“Yes! But that doesn’t mean your room is booked without any payments.” What the f***ing rule is this?? I wanted to ask her.

After a lot of arguments, we had no other choice than to accept her words of waiting till morning & if any room is vacated by then, it will be granted to us. Another option we had was to go out & look for other nearby hotels which we dint opt thinking it would be risky to walk out at midnight at unknown city.

Apologized Manoj for the inconvenience caused & for both of us, Sofa at the reception looked tempting than anything else at that moment.

Day-2 | 23-April-2011 | In Kuala Lumpur

“Dhani! Did you get sleep??” I asked Manoj with my eyes closed.

“Not completely…” was his answer in short.

After a while, could see the day shift receptionist was in place & decided to explain the matter to them politely.

“I am sorry! There is one room vacant at the moment costing around 103 RM… If you want, I can give it to you right away..” she said.

Without second thought, swiped my card, got in with our bag packs & hit the super cozy bed in few seconds. It was around 10:00 AM when I woke up & the glimpse outside the window said me that the day life had already started.

Street of China Town as seen from our room...

Got freshened up & we were ready to explore KL by 10:45 AM. As per Vinod’s suggestion, first we walked towards High Court area looking at all the passing tall buildings & on the way saw some Indian restaurant, grabbed Dosa & Chutney. But Manoj was happy with a cup of coffee as he dint want to eat with stinking non-veg smell. But the smell hardly mattered to my appetite.

The high court area looked neat & it was time for us to pose in front of Camera lens. After ample of shots with varying poses, continued our walk towards Petronas Tower as we had decided to explore the city by foot than rolling Ringgits to taxi drivers.

KL City roads

City structures!

Close to KL High Court!!!

Bikers group...

It isnt that bad too... :)

Rarely found....

KL High Court complex!!!

Say cheese!!!

Mega structures everywhere!!!

Petronas looked absolutely stunning as I had seen it in TV till date. At last, I was finally standing right in front of glorious sky scrapper. The view was so fascinating that we ended up spending good time eyeing at it. As usual the busiest of all was my camera who was doing his job non-stop clicking shots one after another. After enquiring about going to top floor, was completely disappointed when the person at the counter said we would get tickets for 2 days later. With a distress walked to a garden opposite to Petronas to rest for some time. After spending quality time staring at the towers, our walkathon continued & this time, it was towards KL Telecommunication Tower.

KL Telecommunication tower spotted...

This was opposite to Petronas

Finally, Petronas for you all... :)

Ground Zero of Petronas!!!

This is how it looks side by!

Other side of Petronas...

Everyone wants to pose then why not he???

Petronas top with full zoom!

Sky bridge of Petronas

View outside Petronas!!!

KL streets looked very clean to my eyes which had seen dusty & dirty streets for so many years. The walk was joyful to me but am sure it wasn’t the same for Manoj as he was burning his appetite at faster pace. I was enjoying my walk in spite of sweating under hot sun. In few mins, we reached base of gigantic telecommunication tower & after a quick enquiry, we got the tickets to top view point floor which was at around 40-50 floors high. The views looked stunning from this height & all the nearby building looked as small as match boxes. After taking a round to the floor, came down & had ice cream as part of our lunch. All thanks to Manoj for his idiotic ideas I said to myself. Also, it rained for a short time delaying on our next plan.

KL Telecommunication Tower...



On the roof when you enter KL Telecommunication Tower!

KL City is huge!!!

It was already 4:30 PM by then & Genting Highlands & Batu Caves looked too impossible for us as it was outside the city. With nothing else to do, walked back to Petronas Tower & spent the entire evening looking at it. If not anything else, at least the ambience was quite peaceful for the evening & Manoj was busy taking nap. As it started to get dark, the twin tower too was slowly lit up with lights making it more beautiful. It was around 8:00 PM when we decided to move back to our net filling our appetite. After enquiring with Indian taxi driver, we reached Hotel Sarvana Bhavan & of all, Manoj was very happy to find a hard core veg hotel. Completely neglecting about the price mentioned at right side, smashed two dosa’s one after the other & topped it with a juice. Walked back to room & slept tight with early morning run to Petronas Tower to go to top floor as a first thing to do tomorrow.

Fashion Show inside Petronas...

Inside Petronas!

Petronas illuminated at night!

Right below it!!!

Day-3 | 24-April-2011 | Kuala Lumpur - Langkawi (Malaysia)

It was just 5:30 AM in the morning when we got added to the lengthy queue waiting for the tickets to go to the walk bridge & above in Petronas. Thanks to LRT metro trains with the help of which we could reach Petronas in just 10 mins from China Town that too in just 5.6 RM :). LRT train stops at the underground of 88 floor gigantic twin towers. With a quick enquiry, we came to know that ticket counter opens at 7:30 AM & gosh! What to do till then. Tourist crowd was getting added to the queue at regular intervals. With nothing else to do & tired of standing for long hours, we all got settled down there itself & hunger had already started to knock the door.

Once the ticket counter was open, our long time settled place moved back & as we neared the counter, the fate had different story for us.

“Morning session tickets are sold out & we might get the ticket for NOON session now…” We heard someone say ahead of us.

Man o man! What the f**k is this? We can’t get onto NOON session as we had our flight to Langkawi scheduled at 4:10 PM & it was sure that we can’t reach airport if we take NOON session tickets.

“Dhani, let’s leave it! Anyways we have already seen Telecommunication Tower & it will be more or less the same views. Moreover, the crowd hints that this view point is slightly over hyped for the tourists…” Manoj whispered for which I too nodded my head.

Waiting for the KL Watch tower ticket!!!

With no plan B, got back to our room after a breakfast at Sarvana Bhavan. It was just 2 days since we had left our sub continental land & we were already missing the food it offered to us till date :(. Checked out from Hotel China Town Inn & got onto same LRT train to KL Sentral from where we boarded Express bus to Airport at 8 RM/Person.

Area where we stayed 2 days in KL

It was midnight when we had commuted from Airport to KL last time but today, sun was shining on top of us offering beautiful country side views on our way. All the way, I could see smooth tarmac & green lawns very next to it with no space for dust.

“Dhani, why isn’t our country so clean like here???” we both asked it to one another but none had the answer.

“Might be the population, maturity of citizens, strict laws & the list goes on….” I thought.

It was around 2:30 PM when we were through with moderate security checks, collecting boarding pass & waiting near the gate. Gates were opened on time & we were on air after a quick security demonstration. We had just left Malaysian main land & could make out huge chunks of clouds all around & then it all started.

Flight started acting crazy with sudden losing altitude & it looked as if it’s getting out of control. My mind confidently said it’s because of cutting clouds but the big question in mind was, ‘Will this be back to normal??’

As the flight was too shaky, passengers started screaming on top of their voice & few were praying closing their eyes. Although I was pretending to be normal, balls were on my mouth & heart was beating at double the speed :(.

“Dhani what’s happening???” I asked Manoj just to change the concentration.

“Sit quietly…” our hungry monster said closing his eyes. Might be he too was busy praying. Thought let’s check it out from Air hostess but they too were not to be seen in sight.

After few more disturbances, flight got back to normal state getting us back to relax mode. Damn! They should have at least informed us about the disturbance in advance.

I could see the blushing face all around as if they all have won world war :).

“Damn! I was thinking what a fate! My parents don’t even get chance to see my body…” was Manoj’s words for which I dint know whether to laugh or cry :).

With unforgettable flight experience, we landed safely onto the famous island of Malaysia. As soon as we were walking out, could here lot of tourist agents shouting on top of their voice to get the package fixed with incoming tourists. First thing that popped out in mind was our local vegetable market. Was proud that our local market culture is there everywhere in one or the other form :). With no plans being in Langkawi, we decided to wait for a while to see how many of tourists will opt for these agents and then we too decided to get some half day sightseeing package from a randomly opted agency.

After enquiring for a while with the agent, we decided on a half day package including pickup from our to be booked hotel and drop at the airport tomorrow and in return he took 150 RM after a little negotiation.

“Sir, Tomorrow morning, my driver will come to pick you up at 9:30 AM sharp!” he said with a big smile as he got a super deal from 2 idiots.

“Do you book lodges as well??” was our next question and after he nodding his head, we got a lodge booked from him.

With our sightseeing plan done for Langkawi, hired a cab for a lodge and straight to lodge. After relaxing for a while in room, thought to check the beach nearby and there we walk to a beach. It was partially crowded with tourists with few enjoying water sports, some relaxing lying on the sand, few enjoying playing in water and last but not the least babes flaunting their curves :). With no plans for rest of the day, we decided to walk on the shore looking at the babes and enjoying the moment. After walking for a while, the water was so clean that, we couldn’t control getting into the water and we too had our share of beach bath.

Landed in Langkawi!!!

Cool streets...

Oh yeah! I have come here...

Howz that???

Having spent the quality time in beach, walked back to main Street in search of food. With a careful watch on each hotels we passed by, I could locate one hotel which had written ‘South Indian, North Indian…’ but our big boss rejected getting into it for some senseless reasons.

With no other option left, continued our search and ended up in a duty free super market to grab something eatable. And what better Manoj would have got apart from Cornetto’s and Coke along with some Biscuits? Bought 2 Cornetto’s and 2 ltrs of Coke. I was quite hesitant to go with 2 Ltrs of Coke but Manoj Said,

“Dhani! Don’t worry… I am there to finish it off…” no wonder he will be Sumo fighter soon I said to myself :).

After a while,“Dhani! How about fruits for dinner???” Manoj said again and unexpectedly, it made sense to me as well.

Bought some fruits to room along with coke and grabbed them all with pleasure before quitting for the day.

Day-4 | 25-April-2011 | Langkawi - Kuala Lumpur - Singapore

Woke up when Manoj was still in deep sleep and had a quick morning walk beside the shore to enjoy the morning pleasant climate. With beach being less crowded at this time, it was cherishing to walk with the music of peaceful waves. It was already nearing 9:00 AM when I got back to room and Manoj was all set for sightseeing. I too got ready in no time and we were ready to check out with our baggage and were waiting for our rented pickup car to arrive.

During the early morning beach side walk!!!

Islands everywhere

Trying to get some good photos...

Langkawi cable car on top of the hill

Air Asia landing...

Beautiful & clear water

It was few mins to 9:30 AM and a car approached us and stopped nearby.

“Krishna??” a well built quite young man said waiting for our confirmation.

After confirming our names,

“Hi! This is Joe. Driver for your sightseeing…” he said with a smile.

I was happier for the car we had got for our half day sightseeing than anything else. Of course, after riding RE for years and suddenly getting a chance to royally enjoy the tourist place with brand new Nissan would make anyone happy!

Joe helped us to place our bags on back side and started our sightseeing with brief introduction about him while on the move. He also briefed about which all places we would be covering in half day and how we would be covering them all.

He showed us one 5* hotel on the way and said,

“My wife works here! Sharukh Khan had stayed here while shooting for a film in Langkawi. My wife has her photo with Sharukh and teases me every time :)”

He stopped to fill the fuel and also a place where tourists would go on boating to Thailand. As the time ticked, Joe also took us from one spot to another. I was quite adamant about the Cable Car journey up the hill in spite of Joe warning of being late if we go for it. But later when we reached the place, we were disappointed when we came to know that Cable Car is not there due to maintenance :(.

Our rented car for local sighseeing - Nissan :)

At the bottom of Langkawi Cable car station...

Beautiful Lotus!

With no option left, moved on to the next spot: a beach with many tiny islands could be seen and Joe said,

“The hills at far distance belong to Thailand. It’s just 45 Mins of boat ride from here but you need Visa.”

The place was just magical with white sands, crystal clear water and greenish rocky hills between the water with 0% crowd. After some photo shoots, Joe waved us to come back as it was already 11:00 AM and we still had lot to cover.

Next in the list was Black Beach where the color of sand was Black. As it dint look clean to us, got back to car with minimal photos.

While on the move, Joe enquired about our trip in brief and after our briefing on the same, he said,

“Krishna, Manoj, That’s awesome! You guys are just like western tourists…” and his comment made us feel worth buying Nissan instead of renting it in spite of we leaving credit card life :).

“You Know Kaho Na Pyar Hai?? The Movie was shot here…” Joe said with slowing down the car pointing to a beach side by.

“Can we visit this beach??” I asked with curiosity.

“Don’t worry! I am stopping here. Go, take photos and come…”

This beach had very little crowd and was just a blissful place. If we dint had any time constraints, I would have surely jumped to water in no time. But as we were time bound, had to get back with only photos.

Standing all alone...

Those islands at back belongs to Thailand!!!

Black Sand beach...

He is good at only these!!!

Who dont want to be here???

Hard to get back from these places :(

Next spot was Langkawi Top Station from where we could get aerial view of the many tiny islands. After 20 RM entry fee, we were greeted with a cup of coffee with wonderful view of all the tiny islands belonging to Langkawi. Joe signaled to head back after spending quality time & next was Eagle Square which was also the last spot in list for us.

“Krishna, Manoj, there are 2 main source of income in Langkawi. First is tourism and next is Rubber farming.” Joe said sending few more details about Langkawi to our brain.

“Don’t you feel like going to KL??? I mean it has better infra structure, good life style and so on…” Manoj pulled his brain trigger and fired a question on Joe while I was busy seeing the landscape of this wonder land.

Joe responded saying he is very happy in Langkawi and feels horrible to be in KL which has developed city look with no much greens around.

“Then you must visit India…” was my response with decorum :).

After quite a long drive along country side vista, we reached Eagles Square and Joe said we should be back in 30 Mins time as we are already short of time to travel till Airport.

Eagles Square had big statue of Eagle which is the main symbol of Langkawi. We walked few meters and got busy with clicks even though sun rays were burning us to the core.

View from highest peak of Langkawi!!!

Islands everywhere...

Symbol of Langkawi...

Wanted one with me posing

“Manoj…” Joe screamed from distance and that’s when we realized we are late.

“Krishna, Manoj, listen: We are already late. I have just 30 Mins to reach Airport and it’s quite far. So I hope you don’t mind if I drive little faster…” Joe said while we got inside our Nissan (even though it was for rent).

“We don’t mind until we are safe..” I said and Joe zoomed off with a smile.

With my eyes constantly seeing the speedo meter needle at 130-140 Kms, we reached Airport in hardly 20 Mins and Joe was very happy as it was his record time.

“Great! At last we made you break your last record and create new one…” I said while handing over balance amount of the package at his hand.

Once in Airport, it was a usual process of waiting at the gate eyeing at every gorgeous girl our eyes could spot. It was 4:30 PM when we reached KL Airport and again it was the same process. But in due time, I was hungry and was desperate to have some solid food as Manoj’s ice cream plan had made me reach my temper to the last bearable point. With a small search outside Airport, spotted some restaurants which served Burger and stuff. Without much of thinking, ordered Veg Burger, Finger chips and soft drink. After all, my hungry appetite deserved at least this. Manoj was doubtful with the veg tag and said he would go for it after tasting my burger. Burger tasted delicious to our hunger and he too ordered the same. After filling our appetite, all we had to do was to get into Air Asia again to Singapore. Time passed by watching few babes in their sensational outfits and after a security checks, we got onto our respective seats.

With flight attendants giving emergency instructions which hardly went to any of the passengers head, tiny Air Asia zoomed off leaving the Malaysian soil.

“Boss, when we get down it is yet another country for us…” I said quite excited!

I had always heard good things about Singapore like the quality of life, discipline, good infrastructure & so on but the time had come for me to witness it :). As the journey was just for one hour, it passed by soon and as we were getting close to the ground, I could see City lit up in lights. Our flight landed at Singapore Airport and after the immigration process, we were out with our baggages. We both were shell shocked by the way Airport was built. Even though the country was so small, it had 3 different terminals and each was interconnected by trains. Airport displayed an amazing architecture I must say.

Guru had told us about sincerity of the taxi guys here and hence we both were quite relieved. But we hardly knew the route to his house. Luckily, all we had was his roommate Shanmuga’s number. Bought a calling card for 5$ and called Shanmuga. He was very helpful about giving the address of his house and more than anything I thanked him in myself for telling me that there is Anand Bhavan in airport and we can finish our dinner there itself.

Boy! What a pleasure to see Dosa’s on the menu displayed :). With our appetite full, hired a taxi till their house and in no time, our taxi was rolling in city streets! It took around an hour to reach their residential area and all I did on the way was witnessing the outstanding infrastructure of this tiny country.

Took our baggage’s out after paying 27.2$ and Prabhu had come down to take us. Once in their house, we had general chit chat and in between Amruth too stepped in after his late night work shift.

“Shall we go for a small walk??” Amruth asked probably after reading our mind.

We had a small walk for some time and in due time, Amruth explained many things about Singapore and how he feels being here. Walked back after some time and 3 guys crashed in delicate cot.

Day-5 | 26-April-2011 | In Singapore

Amruth was still inside the blanket when we got ready to Sentosa. Shanmuga handed me few coins saying it might be useful in bus. As per Amruth’s suggestion, we boarded AC bus to Harbor Front which was pretty crowded with people with their laptops hanging on their shoulders. Reached Harbor Front by 9:30 AM and grabbed Idli’s in a small tea stall nearby. Post breakfast, walked to the other side and after enquiry, got the deal fixed for 123.4$ which included to and fro Cable Car journey, entry to Under Water World (UWW), Dolphin’s show and some 3D show.

“Dhani! This is outstanding…” Manoj said with his face as thick as his tummy.

Residential street of Singapore

City Infrastructure!!!

It was my first Cable Car journey and I too was quite excited. But as I moved to take some shots, Car got shaky and Manoj was quite scared. With a thrilling 5 mins journey, we landed in Sentosa and were welcomed by a beautiful lady who would take us for a tour which covers UWW and 3D show.

Enjoying Cable car experience

After her instructions, we got into a bus which took us all (who had taken similar package) to UWW. UWW had great collections of rare water species. As the time was flexible, we took our sweet time to enjoy watching every species with good amount of photos. Having done with UWW, we got seated for Dolphin’s show. Manoj was pretty excited as he had seen it many times in TV and now watching they perform right in front of his eyes. Dolphin’s show ended with some cool stunts of the friendly Dolphins and we were back to bus towards 3D show.

Under water world!!!

There were verities of them...

Curious kids waiting for Dolphin Show!!!

Here they are...

Stunt time...

giving pose

Another stunt!!!

Cute faces!

Loved the expression

This was half of my size

It looks like a plant but not :)

Awesome color...

Amazing experience

You know what it is!!!

3D show was not up to the expectation and was desperate to get over with it. With this, our package was over and we were free to explore whatever we wanted. First thing I wanted to check out was Merlion. With the help of Sentosa map handed over to us, it was quite easy to reach 37 Mtrs tall statue of Merlion with the head being of a lion and body of a fish.

“Merlion --> Marine Lion??” I wandered in myself.

With no second thought Camera got busy clicking us in various poses.

Beautiful Parrot!!!

Merlion statue which I had seen only in TV so far

Oh yeah! It was in Sentosa...

Having done with satisfactory amount of clicks, we decided to just roam around killing some time. Saw a direction board which said route to Universal Studios and soon our big boss said,

“Dhanikule, I will not go here! I would go to Universal Studio in US…”

Plan cancelled I said to self and decided to roam around in free Metro kinda train service from one place to another. Sentosa was just awesome with free train and bus service for the tourists in its campus. With this free service in hand, we made a point to make maximum use of it :). Got onto an open bus towards Palawan Beach to explore a bit of sea shore of Singapore. Palawan Beach also had another hot spot named ‘Southern most point of Continental Asia’ for which we had to walk few mtrs in hanging bridge. After lazing out there for some time & watching babes in 2 pieces, got back to main land although we had no plans for the day.

Damn! It takes 2 days to explore & hence compromised with photo outside :)

Thats a last island of Asia!

Hanging bridge to reach there

Proof of it!!!

Read it carefully

No No!! Its not Kerala.. :)

Killed our time grabbing few fruits, ice creams and roaming around in free transport till it got dark and it was time to enjoy the ‘Songs of the Sea’ laser show.

Damn! Luck not favoring us, it started to rain as soon as we got onto our seat with good view for the show. But the best part being, the organizing team soon distributed thin polythene rain coats for all the visitors and I was just amazed with the amount of care taken about the tourists.

“Dhani, this is the difference…” Manoj said referring to the care taken if this had happened in India.

But the rain god was kind enough to understand the situation and soon the show began with beautiful animated movie played on water sprinklers and laser lights. The 45 mins show was worth a watch after which got back to Harbor Front in the same cable car. With this, our sightseeing in Singapore had come to an end.

Songs of the Sea Show!!!

While we were walking out of the Cable Car building, a young lady got into our lift and Manoj was very quick to catch up with her. As we were confused with direction to metro station and as even she was, macho took this as an opportunity and started playing with her.

“Hi! This is Anu…” she said in a friendly tone soon after which I think Manoj replaced himself in place of SRK and Kajol with Anu for their DDLJ movie :).

She was from Chennai and was on a week’s tour to Singapore before joining her new company. As she was holidaying alone in Singapore (although she was staying at her relatives place) Manoj delivered a killer dialogue which made her shrug her shoulders and roll her eyes :).

“You are travelling alone in another country! You must be brave girl…” :) :) :) he has an art of impressing girls I must say!

With the little confusion in getting the metro train tickets, we boarded the train to Little India since Amruth had said that we can get all Indian things there.

As soon as we got down at Little India, I was just on cloud 9 looking at the hotel names which read, Saravana Bhavan, Krishna Bhavan, Ananda Bhavan etc. Boy! Will I get all Indian snacks here? I was wondering and Manoj’s face showcased the same question with more aggressiveness. Now the tough job for us was to select among the bunch of restaurants visible to our eyes. Without thinking much, got onto one such restaurant and had Masala Dosa and Lemon rice. Man! What a pleasure :).

Came out with our tummy full and took taxi back to our stay. On our way back,

“Dhani, instead of disturbing them by leaving to Airport very early in the morning, let us directly pack our luggage and go to Airport right away. We can take rest there…” Manoj suggested.

Thought it would be better to minimize the trouble to them and we decided to pack our luggage and move on to Airport. As planned, got fresh, packed our belongings and took a taxi to Airport. With tummy full and nothing else to do, we selected two benches at the airport to spend our night with our baggage as our pillow :). And to our luck, there were plenty of tourists who had occupied one full bench as their unperturbed bed like us :).

Day-6 | 27-April-2011 | Singapore - Kuala Lumpur - Bangalore

Although the night sleep wasn't pleasant, we got cosy in getting up and it was already 7:15 AM. First thing we decided upon was to fill our tummy to the full and it was Anand Bhavan which fulfilled our need :). With plenty of time left and nothing else we could do, spent time at the gate till we flew back to KL from where our return flight to Bangalore as book at NOON.

It was very much needed for 2 hungry souls :)

Once again landing at KL airport and having cleared with all Immigration process, spent some time roaming outside the airport, cooling our eyes and grabbing burger and coke.

While waiting near the gate, a long haired western guy started off with a casual talk.

“I would be in Bangalore for some time, then would visit to Shirdi and from there to North…” he said while I was busy looking for babes.

“Last year too I had been to India for about 3 months during which I visited Dharamshala, Varanasi, Uttar kashi & so on…” Boy! He has travelled my country more than me I thought.

He was also quite fond of Royal Enfield machines and said he is planning to visit Ladakh in bullet. After spending some time chatting with him, it was finally the time to board the flight back to our land. Manoj didn’t seem to be excited about going back to usual life style but I was kinda ok as I had my big bike trip in pipeline :).

Flight left the Malaysian soil in no time and we both went back to the day on which we left for this trip. 3.5 hours of flight journey was quite silent except about the discussion about our next tour.

“Dhani, Next trip will be to Srilanka…” Dude said with thumps up in style.

Also for some reason, Manoj couldn’t come out of his encounter with Anu and delivered few shayaris on her name :).

“Dhanikule, I have made one shayari for Anu…” he said.

“Thu majhe itni pyari hain Anu, Thu majhe itni pyari hain Anu, Jitna hema ko pyara hain uska Dhannu…” Lucky he told only to me, else everyone would have laughed holding their tummy tight :).

It was around 5:00 PM we our flight landed in BIA. Got out of the airport with a wine bottle in black polythene cover bought at duty free shop at airport and being sincere, we boarded Vajra Vayu airport bus to our house paying 200 bux for the ticket instead of hiring taxi. After 6 days of exploring world outside India, we were back on the track all set to get back to our routine life. Vajra Vayu took around 3 hrs to drop us at our house thanks to huge traffic jam. It wasn’t a tough job for us to realize the reason for 3 hrs bus journey for just 40 odd Kms as we knew we were back in India :).

Epilogue

Walking back home on the same streets with our baggage hanging on our shoulder,

“So Annere, how was the trip???” I asked Manoj.

“Dhani, World outside India rocks!!! We should do this more often…” was the response from other side.

Although the trip lasted just for 6 days, we got to know the world outside our country and if not anything, this trip had triggered us to explore the world more in coming days. Of course it needs sufficient amount of finance which would take time but it’s surely not something which is not possible. After all, one way to learn things in life is through travelling :). At the end of all, we were one of the very few idiots who earns in Rupees and spends in Dollars :) :) :).

Having successfully done with our first international tour, I was feeling pretty light with the sense of accomplishing something in life. But with upcoming mega bike trip to highest motorable road of the world, the thirst to travel was still sweltering in me.

So, the Journey will continue again…… :) :) :)