Wednesday, September 06, 2006
7th September, 2006 Thursday
Kuala Lumpur
Local time 11.00 am
Day 3-4
Yesterday the flight to KL was delayed by more than an hour. Nothing surprising for an Indian traveling on Indian airlines.
When we deplaned and entered the airport, it was a sight to behold.
They claim that KLIA is the world’s best airport. I did not doubt it. The arrival terminal is posh and futuristic, with every thing from books, to all sorts of American food and coffee outlets available. The airport is so huge that a train takes you from the arrival section to the luggage and immigration section. The new airport was ready five years ago and is 60 kms from the city. The drive to the city is fabulous, just like you would fine in a developed world. Fantastic roads with a small section of the roads devoted exclusively for the 2 wheelers.
The guy who received me at the airport was Mr Lingam, a Malaysian of Indian origin. He was very very nice and polite. I asked him that I would like to dive at Sabah. He was very helpful and took me to the Malaysian airlines counter and enquired about the price and timings. The return ticket would cost US $ 300. And the tickets were not available for today. I did not try the other airlines and gave up the idea. He also gave me my ticket for the Singapore train journey.
Then he drove me in his big air conditioned vehicle (like in Bangkok I was alone with all the space, but I preferred sitting in the front seat so that I get a good front view and could talk to him). I asked him wether he has ever been to India to which his reply was negative. I asked him about his job and his boss. He gave me an impression that he is very content with his life here. He said that next year he might be going to India but he had serious doubts regarding it. I told him that except for India being very cheap, there’s nothing to it. He would be badly disappointed with any of our big cities because none of them stand come even close to KL or even Bangkok. Of course, Bombay would stand out for the metro city in the world with the most horrendous roads. In fact, people all over the world would not even consider them as roads.
He dropped me into the hotel which is located at the heart of the city, very close to the China town. IN KL, I saw 3 races: the most modern were Chinese, then came the South Asians and the most conservative Muslim Malaysians, the women still wearing head scarves and covering their whole body in loose clothes.
The hotel is good but does not have a swimming pool or a gym. Overall, Malaysia is much expensive compared to Thailand. Now I understand why you keep running back to Thailand. It’s the ultimate paradise, where you get everything available in the modern western world for a very nominal price.
After shower, I went to the spa and they were offering body massage with 20% discount. So I took that and then took some rest.
Well rested, in the evening I asked them for a gym. There was one at a plaza called the Megamall at a place called Midvalley. I went there by metro just 2 stations away. The Megamall was mind blowing. Huge! Gigantic! Enormous. 4 floors up and 2 floors in the basement. In fact, I actually got lost! It has just everything, not one but 3 Mc Donalds and perhaps even more, multiplex, all sorts of items except for cars and bikes maybe. On the 3 rd floor was Jackie Chan’s “ California Fitness”. Boy o boy, “Crunch” is a joke in comparison to this behemoth! Enormous bi floored, the top floor has rows and rows of cardio lean machines and thai kick boxing ring. Down are sorts of machines for sissy body builders and then there’s a section for the hard core one’s with tons of weights available. Guess what! I did squats and leg presses! Outside was a huge swimming pool!
Then the locker room and shower! Rows and rows of lockers at the end were mirrors with hair driers, oils. Again rows and rows of showers with body soap, shampoo and conditioner fitted in each cubicle. Of course, there was the dry and the steam sauna. And like everywhere in the world, I found in the sauna one guy giving another heaps of unsolicited but good will advice on how to pack up muscle mass!
After the work out, I went to the food court. Again the size and the variety! You don’t know what to eat! All sorts of meat, fruits, juices but I think no beer. This I think is a problem with Malaysia. It is very modern, advanced but much conservative compared to Thailand. Also its more espensive, especially for us Indians. Of course, much open compared to India thanks to the Chinese population here! The Malayan muslims and south Asians are same everywhere! They are what they are and simply can not change!
I had a good night sleep.
Today morning I had a breakfast from the buffet. I didn’t like it that much as there wasn’t much of meat. In fact, except for eggs there was nothing else that was beefy.
Then I went to the National Eye Hospital. It is a charitable hospital like our lotus and I saw a lot of consultants with Indian names on the board. It was a pity that the medical director was on leave because the guys I met from the administration were not doctors. It was very clean and decent looking, like our Breach Candy or Jaslok. But I don’t think they are doing anything very impressive like research or clinical trials. I asked them for more information about the hospital, but I think they were not very knowledgable about it. I wanted to know about the salaries and working hours, but everyone was very busy as it was the peak working hour.
Now I am hungry. I will go to the china town and look for something to eat.
Kuala Lumpur
Local time 11.00 am
Day 3-4
Yesterday the flight to KL was delayed by more than an hour. Nothing surprising for an Indian traveling on Indian airlines.
When we deplaned and entered the airport, it was a sight to behold.
They claim that KLIA is the world’s best airport. I did not doubt it. The arrival terminal is posh and futuristic, with every thing from books, to all sorts of American food and coffee outlets available. The airport is so huge that a train takes you from the arrival section to the luggage and immigration section. The new airport was ready five years ago and is 60 kms from the city. The drive to the city is fabulous, just like you would fine in a developed world. Fantastic roads with a small section of the roads devoted exclusively for the 2 wheelers.
The guy who received me at the airport was Mr Lingam, a Malaysian of Indian origin. He was very very nice and polite. I asked him that I would like to dive at Sabah. He was very helpful and took me to the Malaysian airlines counter and enquired about the price and timings. The return ticket would cost US $ 300. And the tickets were not available for today. I did not try the other airlines and gave up the idea. He also gave me my ticket for the Singapore train journey.
Then he drove me in his big air conditioned vehicle (like in Bangkok I was alone with all the space, but I preferred sitting in the front seat so that I get a good front view and could talk to him). I asked him wether he has ever been to India to which his reply was negative. I asked him about his job and his boss. He gave me an impression that he is very content with his life here. He said that next year he might be going to India but he had serious doubts regarding it. I told him that except for India being very cheap, there’s nothing to it. He would be badly disappointed with any of our big cities because none of them stand come even close to KL or even Bangkok. Of course, Bombay would stand out for the metro city in the world with the most horrendous roads. In fact, people all over the world would not even consider them as roads.
He dropped me into the hotel which is located at the heart of the city, very close to the China town. IN KL, I saw 3 races: the most modern were Chinese, then came the South Asians and the most conservative Muslim Malaysians, the women still wearing head scarves and covering their whole body in loose clothes.
The hotel is good but does not have a swimming pool or a gym. Overall, Malaysia is much expensive compared to Thailand. Now I understand why you keep running back to Thailand. It’s the ultimate paradise, where you get everything available in the modern western world for a very nominal price.
After shower, I went to the spa and they were offering body massage with 20% discount. So I took that and then took some rest.
Well rested, in the evening I asked them for a gym. There was one at a plaza called the Megamall at a place called Midvalley. I went there by metro just 2 stations away. The Megamall was mind blowing. Huge! Gigantic! Enormous. 4 floors up and 2 floors in the basement. In fact, I actually got lost! It has just everything, not one but 3 Mc Donalds and perhaps even more, multiplex, all sorts of items except for cars and bikes maybe. On the 3 rd floor was Jackie Chan’s “ California Fitness”. Boy o boy, “Crunch” is a joke in comparison to this behemoth! Enormous bi floored, the top floor has rows and rows of cardio lean machines and thai kick boxing ring. Down are sorts of machines for sissy body builders and then there’s a section for the hard core one’s with tons of weights available. Guess what! I did squats and leg presses! Outside was a huge swimming pool!
Then the locker room and shower! Rows and rows of lockers at the end were mirrors with hair driers, oils. Again rows and rows of showers with body soap, shampoo and conditioner fitted in each cubicle. Of course, there was the dry and the steam sauna. And like everywhere in the world, I found in the sauna one guy giving another heaps of unsolicited but good will advice on how to pack up muscle mass!
After the work out, I went to the food court. Again the size and the variety! You don’t know what to eat! All sorts of meat, fruits, juices but I think no beer. This I think is a problem with Malaysia. It is very modern, advanced but much conservative compared to Thailand. Also its more espensive, especially for us Indians. Of course, much open compared to India thanks to the Chinese population here! The Malayan muslims and south Asians are same everywhere! They are what they are and simply can not change!
I had a good night sleep.
Today morning I had a breakfast from the buffet. I didn’t like it that much as there wasn’t much of meat. In fact, except for eggs there was nothing else that was beefy.
Then I went to the National Eye Hospital. It is a charitable hospital like our lotus and I saw a lot of consultants with Indian names on the board. It was a pity that the medical director was on leave because the guys I met from the administration were not doctors. It was very clean and decent looking, like our Breach Candy or Jaslok. But I don’t think they are doing anything very impressive like research or clinical trials. I asked them for more information about the hospital, but I think they were not very knowledgable about it. I wanted to know about the salaries and working hours, but everyone was very busy as it was the peak working hour.
Now I am hungry. I will go to the china town and look for something to eat.
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