Personal website of Mithun Divakaran, a guy you may or may not know -- or like.
Date: January 16, 2023
After spending nearly a month in (mostly) Manila, it was time to say goodbye and fly out.
Once I was done wasting time (I checked in early), I went back down and cleared immigration.
Manila’s NAIA is notorious for delays but fortunately my flight departed on time.
Continue reading “Flying AirAsia from Manila to Bangkok” »
Date: 4th October 2010
Today was the last day of our trip, and what a trip it has been: 3 whirlwind days in Singapore, 6 full days in Malaysia (1 day in Penang, 2 in Langkawi, and 3 in the capital city)
We woke up at a reasonable time and since I was done with all my packing yesterday itself, after breakfast I headed to Times Square just to roam about and see if there was anything I could pick up for the last time.
I did go around looking for camera tripods but as mentioned earlier, most shops were closed.
Once all three of us were packed and ready, we checked out of Irsia and hailed a taxi. We initially asked him to take us to KL Sentral, from where we thought of taking the monorail to the airport. Then the taxi driver offered to drive us to the airport for RM60 (Rs. 875/$20/€14). The three of us looked at each other and wondered about all the luggage we had, sighed… and then said “fine” to the taxi driver.
We arrived at the LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal) an hour later, and were among the first to check-in for our 3:30pm flight.
We had pre-booked for 20kg luggage (per person) and fortunately all our luggage came just under 60kgs!
Relieved everything worked out alright, we went through customs and made our way towards the departures lounge. There is a Duty Free at the LCCT but liquor prices weren’t that great (read: cost more than Bangalore Duty Free) but you get good enough selection of international brands and chocolates. I instead went to a store selling traditional Malay sweets and snacks, and picked up tea biscuits, chips, etc. Something different for a change I thought.
We had to sit a bit longer in the boring departures lounge because our Air Asia flight was delayed by 45minutes. By the way, there is a new LCCT set to open by the end of the year.
Once it was time, we made our way in. We pre-selected our seats as myself and Ramesh were keen on window seats.
I took a break from taking photographs to reminisce about the last few days. I guess its always sad when a holiday comes to an end, especially when you think how fast time flies by.
We began planning for this trip as early as March. Booked our flight tickets in April. Made arrangements for stay in Singapore first, since we were going during F1 weekend. We made most of our booking via Hostels.com and Hostelworld.com, with only our Langkawi booking done via Agoda.com.
We flew Tiger Airways (one way) to Singapore (which cost Rs. 4500 per person) and our Air Asia one way journey from KL to Bangalore (with 20kgs luggage and pre-booked meals) cost us Rs. 3600 per person. All in all, this 9 day trip (10, if you include today) cost us around Rs. 36,000 ($810/€560) — that’s flight, stay, food, commuting fares, and sightseeing expenses! 🙂
I didn’t do a whole lot of shopping, so I spent the least among the three of us.
If we had gone via a packaged tour, it would have easily cost us more than Rs. 50,000 per person and I doubt we would seen all that we saw the past 9 days. Sure, we didn’t check out Sentosa Island (and Universal Studios) but that’s due to lack of time in Singapore. It was either Sentosa or the Zoo — we chose the Zoo. In Malaysia, we skipped Genting Highlands as well because it was another theme park and casino — places subsidized package tours include so that they bring in droves of tourists in hopes the tourists will spend some money.
The long wait at the airport made me quite hungry and I was looking forward to the meal I had pre-booked. Not that I had high expectations, I was just hungry.
So would I go back?
To Singapore, that’s a definite ‘yes‘! Mostly because the experience of being in Singapore during F1 weekend is just too good. The whole city really comes alive during the Grand Prix. The main lesson learnt from this Singapore visit is that 3 days isn’t enough, even for such a small city state. You can spend an entire day at the Zoo itself — go see the animals in the morning and then the Night Safari once it gets dark. You can spend an entire day at Sentosa, for which they have activities from daylight to sunset. Next time, I’m definitely going to Universal Studios Singapore.
Also, next time, I’m going to carry a lot more money. SGD$250 is enough to get by for 3 whole days in Singapore (which is what we spent on getting around, eating, some shopping, and the attractions we visited). But next time, I’ll probably triple my budget and stay for minimum 5 days. I want to have fun in Singapore!
Would I go back to Malaysia? Well, depends really. I felt I saw all that I needed to see and do in Langkawi. I also saw quite a bit of what I sought in Kuala Lumpur. The one place I do feel ‘incomplete’ about is Penang. Just one day in Penang was a bit of a stretch, plus I didn’t get to see what was on the other side of the bridge, which apparently has its fair share of attractions.
Funny thing though, until last year, I didn’t even know there are two ‘sides’ that make the nation of Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Langkawi are all on one ‘side’ — but there is more to Malaysia, on the Borneo side.
Sabah and Sarawak are famous for its wildlife, lush forests and serene coast line — offering an experience quite different from that of the ‘main land,’ so to speak.
But because they are far apart, and not as developed, most tourists to Malaysia are often oblivious to Sabah and Sarawak’s existence.
Air Asia has flights to Sabah and Sarawak, so if I do go back to Malaysia, I would probably hop over to ‘the other side’.
As we descended, the nice and sunny outside suddenly turned dark and rainy.
After picking up some stuff at the BIAL Duty Free, we were out in half-an-hours time. We hired a cab who agreed to take us to Srajapur Road (near Total Mall) for Rs. 650. We opted not to take the airport bus due to the luggage we had.
If felt nice to return to the post-rain, fresh air and experience Bangalore’s greatest asset — its weather. But 30 minutes into our journey, and into peak hour traffic, it didn’t take long for all three of us to get frustrated and say the same thing:
“Man, I wanna go back!”
P.S: I also didn’t get to have bread ice cream in Singapore!
Other posts in this series:
Singapore & Malaysia 2010: Planning and preparing for the trip
Singapore 2010: Day 1 – Little India, CBD, Clarke Quay, China Town… and a lot of walking
Singapore 2010: Day 2 – Orchard Road, mall-hopping… and already shopping
Singapore 2010: Day 3 – Singapore Zoo, Marina Bay Sands; leaving Singapore for Penang
Malaysia 2010: Day 5 — Langkawi (Ferry ride from Penang, Cable car & Sky Bridge)
Malaysia 2010: Day 6 — Langkawi (Island hopping tour, Pantai Tengah beach, Night market)
Malaysia 2010: Day 7 — Kuala Lumpur (Low Yat Plaza, Petronas Towers, Jalan Alor)
Malaysia 2010: Day 8 — Kuala Lumpur (Batu Caves, Petaling Street/China Town)
Malaysia 2010: Day 9 — Kuala Lumpur (KLCC Aquaria, Merdeka Square, KL Tower observation deck)
I know I haven’t posted anything new in over a week, but that’s because I was travelling. This time, it was a 10 day trip to Singapore and Malaysia – both first time visits for me.
While the next few posts are going to document what I saw and feature some of the 3,900+ photos I took, I thought I’d make a post first on how much planning and research went into this trip, which itself was a process I enjoyed.
When I got back from my Thailand trip last year, the friends I travelled with in India in the past said we should do an international trip. Ramesh, the gearhead of the group said he would like to go for the Malaysian Formula 1, but this was in March. As it was too soon – and I still had my credit card dues to clear – I said I couldn’t do it.
So I suggested we plan for the Singapore F1 instead, to be held in September. This would give us a good 6 months to prepare. We soon figured there wouldn’t be much to see in Singapore and since we were going all the way there, we might as well see another destination as well. Hong Kong was in consideration but given how expensive the city was, we chose Malaysia instead.
First up was booking our flights. We set the dates for Formula 1 weekend, and since we figured it was going to a busy period, we decided to book early.
We were going to do this trip on a budget and since it was only going to be a one way journey to Singapore, flying Singapore Airlines was out of the question as the one-way fares were too high. We instead opted for the budget carrier Tiger Airways. I got my one way ticket for around Rs. 4,500 (US$101/€73) when booked late March and this was for direct flight which leaves Bangalore at 11:30pm and arrives at Singapore at 6:30am. Seemed convenient to us.
We initially wanted to fly straight from Singapore to Langkawi but unfortunately, tickets were sold out. So we decided to fly to Penang instead and then take a ferry from Penang to Langkawi.
From Langkawi we would then fly to Kuala Lumpur. After spending a few days in Malaysia’s capital city, we would fly back to Bangalore via Air Asia. The return ticket cost me around Rs. 3,625 (US$82/€59) including a pre-booked meal, up-sized baggage limit (20kgs) and a selected seat.
Since we were going to be three people, we made our hotel reservations well in advance. Most of our rooms were booked using Hostels.com, hostelsworld.com and only the Langkawi booking was made using agoda.com. Just about every flight and stay booking was made months before our journey, saving us a lot of money and giving us enough time to plan our itinerary.
When calculating how much cash we needed to carry, we considered the entry fees, daily food expenses and the balance amount we’d have to pay at all the hotels we booked via hostels.com and hostelsworld.com (both only accept 10% of the amount at the time of booking and the remaining 90% have to be paid in cash on at the time of check in). I also decided that all large purchases would be made on the credit card, so in the end, all three of us converted around Rs. 20,000 in Singapore dollars, Malaysian Ringits and the rest in US dollars.
We also needed to plan our luggage and what all we were going to carry. The thing with budget carriers (at least in the case of both Tiger and Air Asia), you have to pay for check-in luggage. We paid for the minimum of 15kgs for our onward journey but opted for 20kgs for our return. We also planned it in such a way that we wouldn’t carry 3 different deodorants or shaving creams, thereby minimizing space used as much as possible. In fact, Loiyumba, the third friend on this journey had the least luggage (one backpack) while going since he said he wouldn’t be shopping much. Of course, I told him all that would change while coming back. 🙂
We knew this being our first trip – and due to time and money restrictions – we wouldn’t have been able to do everything. As for our planned itinerary, it went something like this:
Day 1 (Singapore)
Arrive at hostel 8am approx. – rest for some time – go to Sim Lim Square by 10am for camera equipment shopping – head to Little India – from Little India to Arab Street/Kampong Glam – then head to Geylang Serai – from Geylang, by sunset, head to city for River Cruise – watch the F1 pre-race show, head to Clark Quay for dinner
Day 2 (Singapore)
First head to Singapore Zoo – then check out Orchard Road, have lunch from the hawker centers – photo session at Merlion Park – check out Marina Bay/Raffles Hotel & Marina Bay Sands hotel – Chinatown, from where we’d have dinner
Day 3 (Singapore)
Pack up and keep things ready – head to Vivo City Mall, take monorail (SGD$3) to Sentosa – Sentosa cable car and other attractions – Jurong Bird Park – be at Changi airport by 6pm for flight to Penang
Day 3 (Penang)
Check in to hotel at 10pm and then head to Gurney Drive for dinner – buy ferry ticket to Langkawi (if still open)
Day 4 (Penang)
Buy ferry ticket to Langkawi – visit Kek Lok Si (largest Buddhist temple in South-East Asia) – Bukit Bendera, the tram ride up to hill-top – drive on Penang Bridge and then come back – head to Batu Ferrenghi till sunset – drive back to Gurney drive at night for dinner
Day 5 (Langkawi)
Go to Eagle Square as it is in Kuah, where the ferry docks – head to hotel and check in – post lunch, try and rent bikes to go to Gunung Raya, the Langkawi Sky Bridge
Day 6 (Langkawi)
Island-hopping tour – drive around post lunch – hit the beach and relax
Day 7 (Kuala Lumpur)
Catch morning flight to Kuala Lampur – check in by noon – check out Bukit Bintang area – head to KL tower in the evening to get a view of Petronas and the city lit up – China Town for dinner
Day 8 (Kuala Lumpur)
Wait in line for Petronas Towers tickets at 7am – depending on when our time slot is, plan the rest of the day – visit Batu Caves – if there is time, check out National Mosque, Masjid Negara
Day 9 (Kuala Lumpur)
Shopping
Day 10 (Kuala Lumpur)
Shopping – depart for airport by noon
Well, that was what we thought of doing. But did we accomplish all the above? For that, tune in to my blog the next few weeks 🙂
Read the series here:
Singapore 2010: Day 1 – Little India, CBD, Clarke Quay, China Town… and a lot of walking
Singapore 2010: Day 2 – Orchard Road, mall-hopping… and already shopping
Singapore 2010: Day 3 – Singapore Zoo, Marina Bay Sands; leaving Singapore for Penang
Malaysia 2010: Day 4 — One day in Penang (Around Georgetown, Gurney Drive, Penang Hill)
Malaysia 2010: Day 5 — Langkawi (Ferry ride from Penang, Cable car & Sky Bridge)
Malaysia 2010: Day 6 — Langkawi (Island hopping tour, Pantai Tengah beach, Night market)
Malaysia 2010: Day 7 — Kuala Lumpur (Low Yat Plaza, Petronas Towers, Jalan Alor)
Malaysia 2010: Day 8 — Kuala Lumpur (Batu Caves, Petaling Street/China Town)
Malaysia 2010: Day 9 — Kuala Lumpur (KLCC Aquaria, Merdeka Square, KL Tower observation deck)
Malaysia 2010: Leaving Kuala Lumpur… and about going back
