Kuala Lumpur Sight

Wow, I actually had time to wander around Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square) and take several shots of the Sultan Abdul Samad building. I always admire the building since my early childhood. It stood there long before I even born into this world.


It was designed by A.C. Norman and built in 1894-1896 to house several important government departments during the British administration. A.C. Norman spent time in Africa and saw Muslim temples in India which led him to use Moorish architecture in the building's design, not realizing that the Malays already had a highly developed South-East Asian form of their own.

In 1971, Kuala Lumpur suffered a huge flood after a heavy rainfall. Part of the building was not spared. In 1978, a massive renovation was undertaken. The renovation took six years to complete with a total cost of RM 17.2 million. That's really big money during that time.

The Historic City Melaka

Bandar Hilir

It’s school holiday again. We plan to take our kids to some cool places. After all I can’t remember when was our last “out of the state” family trip. We list out some places that we think might be suitable for a family activity.

Now what are family activities? Kids love to play and discover new experience. So we just need to find any playground and they would be happy enough. Or perhaps a zoo or a science exhibition might be interesting. And then I thought Melaka would be a great place to visit. It has variety places of interest for the whole family to discover. Beside its just 1 hour journey from Kuala Lumpur and we even has relatives living in Melaka. That’s just perfect.

Despite being the second smallest State in Peninsular Malaysia (after Perlis), Melaka is crowded with tourist especially on weekend. Infact, Melaka attracts the westerners such as Portuguese, Dutch and British since 1511.

I counted that Melaka has around 60++ places of interest:

• A’Famosa (Porta de Santiago)
• Aborgines (orang Asli Village)
• Aborgines Museum
• Ayer Keroh Cultural Village
• Bee Farm
• Bukit China
• Butterfly and Reptile Sanctuary
• Casuarinal Park
• Cheng Hoon Teng Temple
• Christ Church
• Clock Tower
• Crocodile Farm (Taman Buaya)
• Dataran Padang Pahlawan Melaka
• Dataran Sejarah
• Ekspo Melaka
• Gallery of Admiral Cheng Ho
• Handicrafts
• Hang Jebat’s Mausoleum
• Hang Kasturi’s Mausoleum
• Hang Li Poh’s Well
• Hang Tuah Hall
• Hang Tuah Walk
• Hang Tuah Well
• Hang Tuah Mausoleum
• Jonker Street
• Jonker Walk
• Kampung Kling’s Mosque
• Light & Sound Spectacular
• Malacca Fish World
• Malacca River
• Malacca Sultanate Palace (Cultural Museum)
• Malaysia Youth Museum
• Maritime Museum
• Medan Ikan Bakar Pernu
• Melaka Africa Ostrich Park
• Melaka Agropark (sungai Udang)
• Melaka Islamic Museum
• Melaka Raya Walk
• Melaka Tropical Fruit Farm
• Melaka Zoo
• Mini Malaysia & Mini ASEAN
• Peacock Paradise
• People’s Museum
• Poh San Teng Temple
• Portugese Square
• Proclamation of Independence Memorial
• Recreational Forest
• Sri Poyyatha Vinayagar Moorthi Temple
• St. Francis Xavier’s Church
• St. John’s Fort
• St. Paul’s Church
• St. Peter’s Church
• Taman Budaya Seri Malaysia
• Taman Merdeka
• Taman Rekreasi Durian Tunggal
• Taman Ular
• Tapak Sejarah Nsan Acheh
• Tasik Ayer Keroh
• The Baba and Nyonya Heritage
• The Dutch Graveyard
• The Stadhuys
• Villa Sentosa

We choose several places like Melaka Zoo, Bandar Hilir (the area which the Portuguese and Dutch relics concentrated) and Maritime Museum.

Melaka Zoo

Melaka Zoo

Bandar Hilir

Maritime Museum

Jakarta - Shopping Heaven

Soekarno-Hatta International Airport

It was a really short trip but worth every penny or should I say worth every Rupiah. Jakarta reported to had a visit by George Bush and university students having several picket sessions. But when I arrived, everything seems calm and the road is busy, I mean really really busy. Twice as much busier than Kuala Lumpur.

I manage to check in to Santika Hotel located in Pertaburan road. A little shock at the counter as there is no reservation under my name. The rate is far expensive than I planned earlier (around USD81 per night rather than USD49) but time is running out, I just pay the deposit, RP 1600000. I tried to call my boss, darn I just couldn't get through the roaming network. I thought Hotlink should to guide me better.

The next task is to find the meeting place somewhere in Palmerah road stretch. I decided to take a taxi just by the hotel lobby. "This is easy" I said but the driver seems had no idea of the place and later on he simply drop me in the middle of no where. Crap... with no map and no exact address, I wander of by the street and off to some large market.

I walked until I find the main entrance of the office and I thought I was finally there. But it was not. The guard help me stop a taxi (there call it mini bus or something), a Toyota Unser with no. 9 on the windscreen and ask me the driver to send me to the exact place. And again I thought I would be there in no time. I'm wrong again, when the last passenger get down and I'm the only one left I ask the driver, "are we there yet ?" the driver was shocked and he is completely forgotten to drop me. He quickly apologize and send me to the exact place.

By the time I arrived at the meeting place, my boss called and ask me to get back to the hotel as there is no one at the office by this hour. Crap, all this sweat is out for nothing. But at least I already know the place. This whole mess is just because I can't use the Hotlink's roaming facility. The next day onwards, I simply direct the taxi driver to the exact place.

With 3 days 2 nights trip in a foreign country what would you do? The best I could imagine is shopping. That is exactly what I do, I ask the bell boy where is the best place for souvernier, textile, electronic and so on, he gave this list

1. Sarinah Plaza (Souvernier stuff)
2. Semanggi Plaza (Famous local mall)
3. Sogo (Only the elits goes there)
4. Mangga Dua (Get your DVD here for only RP6000)
5. Majestik (Famous textile street - Like Jalan TAR in Kuala Lumpur)
6. Roxy Mall (The whole mall selling cellphone - nuts)

One thing about Jakarta (currently) every vehicle entering mall or hotel must go through the security post equipped with bomb/explosive detector. What do you think, feel scared or secured?

Generally Jakarta still a save place to travel especially for shoppers and the people here had a great hospitality attitude.