Tioman Islands, Malaysia

 We started our trip early morning by around 6am from Singapore. Took the bus to Johor, and brought tickets to Mersing from Johor. The bus journey took around 2hrs, and we reached Mersing by around 10:30. However, the next ferry was scheduled only at 2pm.

We roamed around Mersing for some time, near the Mersing river, and had food from there before waiting for the ferry. Finally, by 3pm, the ferry took off from Mersing. 

-> Mersing river.

The sea was calm and the ride was peaceful, and we reached Air Batang by around 5pm. The peace and serenity in the place was visible from the jetty itself. A long stretch of the beach with absolutely no one, and the ocean with green water, so transparent that we could see the colors of the fish from above.

We took accommodation in a room near the jetty, unpacked, and set ourselves for a walk in the beach. The beach was a little rocky one, and is stretched for a kilometer or so. We walked till the end, passing across a few chalets on the beachside and small shops. There were quite a few shells and bleached corals on the shore, and Kirti started collecting those as her souvenir. 

 

It was a nice calm walk, with the ocean also very calm with little waves. We were impressed by the color of the water, and the peacefulness of the area. We had dinner from a small restaurant nearby and called the day off.

Color of the sky during sunset in tioman.

Next day, we rented life jacket, and snorkeling glass from the owner of our place, and we went to Marine Park, which was around 20 minutes walk across the shore from our place. We decided to do snorkeling, it was my second experience and Kirti’s first. 

Initially, we snorkeled near the shore, and there were a huge variety of fishes, including a shoal of small fish, zebra fish, golden fish, a yellow-black fish, dark green, dark blue and almost all colors familiar to mankind. It was an absolutely amazing experience, and we were truly wondered by the underwater colors. 

 Sadly, we had no underwater case for the camera. This pic is taken from the top. ->

We continued shore snorkeling for some more time, until we decided to move away from the shore, to the main place where fish feeding was done, and hence, a large number of fishes would be present. After Kirti gathered her composure, we went on there, and it was another breathtaking experience. The variety of fishes was truly great, and we had a splendid time observing them underwater. Meanwhile, I had cramps, however Sriram, another tourist helped relaxing my muscles, and we took off from there after that. Also, Kirti spent some time swimming on the shores. ;)

Afternoon, we had scheduled a trip to the nearby islands of Tioman with the speed boat owned by the hotel owner. 

 

He took us to an uninhabited island around half an hour in speed boat from our place. It was a bumpy ride, and Kirti was having a slight back pain. The island, an amazing one, featuring a small beach with silky white sand, and a pure green beach nearby. We felt really in paradise, and it was just us in the whole place, later though, a giant monitor lizard joined us. We spent some time there, and later proceeded to Monkey bay.

 

Monitor lizard in the island near Coral Island.

Monkey bay was another small bay in Tioman, which is also famous for snorkeling. However, the sea was a bit rough, and our ride to Monkey bay was enthralling, with the boat hitting the waves, had us swaying from one end to the other. It took us around 20 minutes to reach there, and any roller coaster experience would have easily been a cakewalk for us by then.

 

I decided to jump to the sea for seeing the corals beneath, however spent only a few minutes snorkeling, as the sea was not very calm. We headed to monkey bay, the beach, and spent a few minutes there as well. Again, green water and a small peaceful shore.

                                                
                                                       Monkey bay ->

We decided to call of the trip then, as rains were imminent. We started to ride back to our island, and before we reached there it started raining. The owner who drove the speed boat, however skillfully managed to get us to the shore, while the rain was pouring down, and the sea was at her violent best. It was really an adventurous trip, more than the scenic one, as by the end of the trip, we were talking about the bumpy ride rather than the beauty of the islands visited.

 

We took rest, and by evening, we walked in the beach towards the opposite end, had dinner and called the day off.

Unluckily, we could not get the return ticket for the next day evening ferry, and we had to return to Mersing by the morning ferry

Kirti lazing around before catching the return ferry to Mersing.

and I was involved in clicking :)

In Mersing, we had food from a restaurant, yet again owned by a Keralite, and then spent some time in KFC, and visited a Chinese temple, and a Hindu temple nearby, before starting our return trip to Johor.


-> Chinese temple in Mersing.



The return trip was again very scenic, and we realized it was such a long time since we have seen the blue sky with such a huge expanse. We reached Johor, boarded the bus to Singapore, even if the immigration port was crowded, we managed to reach back in Singapore before midnight, and had a sound sleep.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Day 2

 Our second day was a more relaxed day compared to the first one, as we did not have much plans for the day. We got up by around 8am, had breakfast from the hotel, checked out as were going back that day. After keeping the luggage in the cloak room of the hotel, we took the train to KL central, and from there a train to Batu caves.

 Batu caves, is a Hindu temple, and had huge statues of Lord Subramanian and Lord Hanuman, sacred deities of Hindus. We got down from the train, and the cave temple was just aside. After taking some snaps from the bottom of the temple, we had to climb around 300 or so steps to reach up the caves.

There were 2 caves, the light caves and the dark caves. Light caves, as the name suggested had light, both natural and artificial, and had small temples inside. It was a nice sight, but I was saddened seeing the amount of “human intervention” inside, hampering the natural beauty of the place.

 We decided to take the dark caves also, and we had to pay some amount for that, as we were accompanied by a guide, and it was an “information tour”. To be frank, the dark cave tour was my best experience in KL. It was great, informative, and what not! I don’t have enough adjectives for the tour. It was a fabulous one, and the most impressive moment was the one in which our guide asked every one of us to switch off the torch light and to enjoy the total darkness! It was awesome! The guide also explained to us, the source of energy in the cave (it was bat poop – guano, as there was no sunlight), and various creatures which inhibited the cave, and the stalagmites, stalactites etc etc. We were lucky enough to spot a cave snake as well. I was really thrilled by the end of the tour, and was happy to be back in sunlight J (We had just watched the Planet Earth episode about “Caves” before coming to KL, may be that added on to the excitement)

We took the train back to KL, and had lunch from KL central, after which we proceeded to Dataran Merdeka, the “capital” street of KL, which hosted the main ministry buildings along with the tallest flag pole in the world. There was a small cricket club as well nearby, and we spent a few minutes there

.

 Then we proceeded again to take a glimpse of the twin towers in day light, and went to the park nearby the tower. We took few snaps from there, roamed around a bit, and then took a taxi to KL tower. 

We had decided to go up the KL tower, which boasted of a 360⁰ view from the top. There was an offer clubbed with the ticket, and we could play a video-game of F1, before going to the top. 

The view from the top was spectacular, it was around 98 storeys high it seems, and KL tower was already on top of a small hill, hence that added to the height. There were some telescopes placed, and we enjoyed watching the view, and through the telescope. After spending some time at the top, we got back down, had food from the Punjabi restaurant nearby, went back to the hotel, took our luggage and got on to the bus to Singapore.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Day 1

 It’s been a while since I have been planning to write about our short and sudden trip to Kuala Lumpur. All of a sudden, out of the blue, we decided on a fine Wednesday evening, to make a trip to KL for the weekend. Without much planning, we boarded the luxury bus to KL, and reached there by Saturday early morning.

With the help of Google maps print out (courtesy: Kirti), we walked to the hotel where we had booked our accommodation. The receptionist, Mustafa, a Pakistani, was a nice guy, and by paying 30MYR extra, we were allowed early check in. We checked in, and had a nice sleep.

We woke up by around 7 in the morning, had breakfast from the hotel, and started out first day. We had planned to go to Thean Hou Buddhist temple, and had checked which station to get down from the metro. However, just like in all the other trips we pursue, we lost our way, and ended up in another Buddhist temple, near Little India. It was Vesak day, the temple was crowded, and there was a fair at the entrance of the temple. To be frank, it was much similar to the festivals we have in India, when we saw it. However, there was nothing much to see there, we walked back, and got a taxi to Thean Hou temple.

Thean Hou temple was a Chinese Buddhist temple, and it was huge and beautiful. We could go inside the temple, and we really enjoyed every bit of it. It was peaceful and serene. There was a wish tree were Kirti hung her wish of “World Peace” and we moved to the upper storey of the temple. It was again nice, and hosted 3 beautiful sculptures of Buddha.

  After spending some time there, we decided to take leave, and on the way back, saw a turtle pond, a small pond with numerous turtles. We were a bit hurt when we saw people taking turtles in their hand and throwing it off. There was also a small park nearby with a few statues of different animals. Since we were kids (!!!), we played there for some time as well before taking leave.

 We had planned to catch a train to our next destination for the day, Shah Alam Mosque, but the taxi driver, Stephen, advised us to take a taxi, as it will be a much better option as we had plans of going to Selanggor as well. We decided to take the taxi itself, and it proved to be a good decision, as Selanggor was sparsely crowded, and getting a taxi back to KL was not a very viable option. And, we went to Shah Alam Mosque, the biggest in Malaysia, and the 2^nd biggest in South East Asia. We could see the dome from a distance itself, and when we reached there, it was a sight to behold!

A mosque with blue colored dome itself was unique, but the fact that it was so large, and yet beautiful was captivating. Such was the grandeur of the mosque that, it was the highlight of our day. There was a lake near the garden surrounding the mosque, and the entire place was again, so picturesque and serene. We reached there by prayer time, and had to wait before they allowed us inside. In the meantime, we had food from a nearby restaurant, and I had Rojak (a dish with peanut and some sauce, was tasty), and Kirti had rice.

After our lunch, we walked around the mosque, and as the prayer time was over, we were allowed inside.
Kirti had to wear a burqa, a green one, before coming in. We went inside the mosque, and it was an architectural marvel. The walls, and the pillars and everything were grand, and we really had a great time there. We were allowed to go inside the prayer hall, from which we could see the inner side of the dome.

After spending some time inside the mosque, we decided to take leave and move to the next place.

We had to go to Selanggor, which was quite far away from KL. The drive was nice, with good scenery around. There were quite a few palm estates, and we could see the remote villages outside KL. We also saw a few Chinese cemeteries uphill, and Stephen told us that they believed that higher the place they are buried, more closer they will be to God, it seems. Meanwhile, he also advised us to take the eagle feeding trip in Selanggor.

We reached Selanggor river by around 4:30pm, and were just in time for the eagle feeding trip. It was not crowded, and there were only 2 of us. Stephen also accompanied us for the trip. Again, it was my first time that I was taking a boat trip with mangrove forests on the other side of the shore. It hosted a number of species of birds, and of course, eagles being the most famous. 

 

 The speed boat driver put some food in the water, and we waited patiently. In around 1 minute, we could see a number of eagles flying, swooping majestically, and picking up the meat. Time and again, I was reminded, eagles are majestic! We watched that for around 20-30 minutes, and on paying some extra tips to the driver, he took us some more inside the river, almost till it joined the mouth of the sea (Malacca Strait), and we headed back.

The journey back in the boat was also nice, as we came back near the other shore of the river, the mangrove forests being close to us. Again, we spotted a number of river birds, and the place would have been a real heaven for an ornithologist.





After the eagle trip, we headed to fort Altingsburg up in Buki Melawati. We had to take a tram up and there was a small museum there. We could view Strait of Malacca from the top, and after spending some time there in the museum, and with the monkeys outside, we came back down in the tram. We had tea from a local Malay restaurant (interestingly run by Keralites!), and then headed to Selanggor river again for the famous firefly tour.

Again, it was well worth a trip, and they say that Selanggor hosts one of the largest firefly colony in the world. It was beautiful to see them glow in the dark, and was again one highlight of the trip. After the firefly tour, we got back on the taxi, and started our trip back to KL.

However, there was some procession going on in KL as it was Vesak day, and since it was crowded, we asked Stephen to drop us near the Petronas twin tower. We spent some time outside the Petronas tower taking the “most wanted photo” there, and then spent some time in Suria KLCC mall. Later, we decided to walk back to our hotel, as it was nearby the Petronas towers.

On the way back, we brought food from the Punjabi restaurant near our hotel, and had a little chit chat with Mustafa, the receptionist and went back to sleep after the hectic first day.