flip'n travels

Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place.  ~Lance Armstrong

 As I approached Panar Laban, my feet gave in and I fell a few steps before I reached the door.I did not resist the fall. I sat down for minutes thinking it was a well deserved rest. Finally, I picked myself up and dragged my painful body inside the hut to sleep. 45 minutes later, Ron arrived and we started to prepare ourselves for the final showdown: the trip back home…

We hurried to the restaurant to eat our breakfast and started our descent. As was expected, I went on ahead and left Ron to the mercy of the mountains. After going past the 2 kilometer mark, I felt the burning pain on my feet. My muscles started to shake and my hands were blistered as I used a cane to support my weight as I go down. My ipod died on me and I had to hum ACDC songs to pick up my speed.

As I walked down, I met people asking me how the sight was. I told them about the place where we stopped and it was magnificent. I’m sure the sight on the summit was a hundred times more fabulous. I saw excitement on their eyes, much like our excitement the day before. And try as I may to complain about the pain I felt, I did not utter anything that would dampen their spirits. I was ashamed for even thinking of exhaustion when I see porters climb up with their heavy load.

The people I walked with were my distraction. We were talking non-stop even as we drink our fill on pit stops. I even saw a Japanese guy strumming a guitar as he climbed. We even got to sing a few songs before parting ways. I felt the pain leave my body as I met brave souls trying to conquer nature.

Finally, I saw the gate from where we started. I had to stop every few steps to rest. As I cross the threshold, I was almost close to tears. I made it out of Kinabalu alive.

Somewhere between the climb up, I thought of quitting. Looking back, I’m glad I didn’t. There was something about this crazy idea of mountain climbing that made me something else, maybe even something more…

I have conquered my metaphor of fear, I no longer fear pain…

When we arrived teleported from Singapore to KL. We were several hours ahead of schedule. I mean waaaaaay ahead of schedule. We were welcomed with a silent treatment, because it was like 3:30 in the morning. We booked a room at the Equator hostel a week before the trip. It’s the same hostel where we stayed exactly 2 years ago. I like its homey ambiance, unassuming aura, clean facilities and friendly hosts. However, when we arrived, it seemed like everyone’s in deep slumber, we waited outside the gate for an hour but no one’s responding to our distress signal. We can’t blame them, they’re expecting us to arrive at 6-ish. And we never thought of booking a plan B Hostel.

think-think-think

Monette suggested that  we can stay in the police station until dawn breaks. We both paused for a jiffy–”NOT!”

think-think-think

“can we just go to the nearest Starbucks? oh, everything is still closed”

think-think-think

I walked couple of blocks along Lorong, and EUREKA! Just like a cheesy movie plot, providence played a cameo: the good guy ran-out of bullets in the middle of an action scene in an abandoned warehouse, and then  there’s a new gun conveniently sitting prettily right beside him… There’s another Hostel that wasn’t there a year ago. And so we rudely woke the receptionist, Thana, by furiously knocking on the window (CLICK HERE to read a separate entry about Thana). And so we walked-in and good thing, they got available dorm beds for us.

Classic Inn hostel is a softer version of its contemporaries in the post war row houses cum hostels along Lorong 1/77A. The dorms are clean and comfortable. We took two beds in the mixed dormitory. When Monette opened the sliding door slowly, her eyes quickly adjusted in the dark, then she gasped and closed it instantaneously.

“HOH MY GAWD, RONNIE”.
“why? what’s wrong?”
“there’s a guy in the room!”
“uh, duh! its a mixed dorm!”
“he’s sleeping…
“uh, duh…”
“….NAKED!”
“oooh–WHAT?!”
“Happy FI-YES-TA!”

Here’s another unsuspecting victim (by the way, he knows that we took his photo)

They got an al fresco porch in front where you can eat breakfast, read papers or randomly talk to other backpackers. They also got a small garden where they hold an acquaintance barbecue parties for the guests. Breakfast is free, they serve roti canai with sambal dip, butter toast, fresh fruit and coffee or tea. we shared the table with a retired couple from London. We talked about travel, work, economy, politics and they taught us pointers about Life… We walked off the breakfast table, and we never saw them again. We never got the chance of asking their names and introduce ours, but we had a very meaningful conversation with them.

CLASSIC INN
52, Lorong 1/77A, Changkat Thambi Dollah,
Off Jln Pudu 56100, K.L. Wilayah Persekutuan
Dorm MYR30/person
http://www.classicinn.com.my/

EQUATOR HOSTEL
70, Lorong 1/77A, Changkat Thambi Dollah,
Off Jln Pudu 56100, K.L. Wilayah Persekutuan
Dorm MYR25/person
http://www.equatorhostel.com/

Going out of KL via the international airport, it is not as convenient like in Manila. It is outside of the city, one hour and a half  travel by bus (Like manila to Clark). We didn’t expect this. Our flight to Siem Reap is at 7 AM and we have to be in the airport at least two hours before the scheduled flight, but buses will not operate until 5 AM. Cabs are ridiculously expensive. It may range from MYR100 -MYR200 while buses are only MYR9. But now you can take the newly opened KLIA EKSPRES. I haven’ tried it but it will be a shorter trip and will cost around MYR35 (one way).

Click here to KLIA EKSPRES website

So we decided to catch the last trip to the airport and stay there overnight. With only 1 hour before the last bus, we still managed to go to the mall in front of our hostel to eat a good nasi lemak, because we’re unsure of the food in the airport, then we took off and run for dear life. We’re like contestants of amazing race, running with our huge bags, catching our breath, squeezing ourselves in the LRT cabins. Some drama because I lost my train pass. But we were able to get there in time.

We reached the airport at around 9:30 PM. then we started thinking of ways how to kill our time and how to try finding a comfortable corner to sleep… for it’s going to be a long 10 hours of waiting.

TIP: Air Asia is the most affordable airline of choice to Siem Reap. But unlike Cebu Pacific that has free baggage allowance of 15 kg, you have to pay something around MYR15, so make sure you reserve few extra Ringgits in you pocket.

This entry makes me frustrated. Yeah, frustrated. First, Ron and I returned to Bukit Bintang from Batu Caves and the blasted heat of the sun-baked my skin five pigmentations higher than my normal. Thana led us into this side street where we had the most amazing lunch. Amazing because it was a south Indian Meal and was NOT all spicy, and I like the fact that it is authentic (we were the only tourists inside. I am at times blind, but I noticed everyone, and I mean everyone, was Indian). But we were so dead tired and burned that we did not remember to take pictures! We didn’t remember the name of the wonderful restaurant! We didn’t even know what the Indians call the banana leaf rice in their language! There is just this… (and two videos sitting in the pc waiting to be edited…)

We are terribly sorry that we cannot share where we had this… But I guess the preparation for the Banana Leaf Rice is ultimately the same everywhere they serve this. Everything starts with the positioning of the banana leaf. The tail end should be at the left end of the person then you wait for the assorted viands and rice to be served. Sautéd, curried and pickled vegetables and papadum (thin crispy Indian wafers) are lined on top to make room for the rice topped with gravy. I especially liked the deep fried-to-crisp sweet potato and left out the curried string beans because it was a bit too spicy for my taste buds. Of course there’s no other way to enjoy the meal but to eat with our bare hands.

After finishing the meal, we folded the banana leaf halfway towards us as we enjoyed the meal so much. Folding it the other way around means otherwise. I’d say it was the most interesting meal I’ve ever had to date since I travelled and would have another one when I get the chance to go back to Malaysia.

And because we needed coffee to replenish our dehydrated caffeinated veins, we were on a roll to find a Starbucks. Unfortunately, there was none in a strategically positioned area where we can watch the Petronas Tower explode its night lights. We had to go to Coffeebean and Tea Leaf to get our fix. I bought the ever coveted Sampoerna for RM5.00 (10 sticks). Yes, it is the best cretek cigarette in the world. The last time I had it before the trip was 3 years ago when it was introduced to me by my friend Paolo who used to work in Malaysia. He aptly described it as cigarettes for kids. Gudang Garam and Black Bat taste like blah! compared to Sampoerna. Oh, and this was when I got Ron back to smoking. So sue me…

I generally thought there was nothing other than the Petronas Towers in Malaysia that could quite catch my attention. It was sparkly and all, but when Ron told me there was this huge Hindu statue in the country, I just had to see it. It also helped that it was shiny and golden, and I am a girl and I like them shiny things…

As soon as we finished our hearty breakfast; Ron, Thana and I went on our way to go to the Batu Caves. We walked a long deal passing by the penitentiary building to Kota Raya central market. From there, we took Bus 11 in front of Bangkok Bank and paid RM2.50 to get to the sight.

We arrived Batu Caves and found the grounds full of pigeons. It was terribly hot but didn’t stop us from taking a photo-op.

We approached the cave in awe as the world’s largest statue of Lord Murugan welcomed us. Standing at 42.7 meters, it was a sight both terrible (as when you hypothetically look at a god and you feel fear and love and oneness with the universe) and awesome.

We had to climb 272 concrete steps to get to the main “hall” leading to other temple complexes inside. There were macaque monkeys everywhere, especially on the steps as they look at people clawing their way up the cave.

The gopuras were as intricate as the ones in Singapore. I was bothered that the temples looked alike everywhere we went and apparently, the artist who founded Sri Mahamariamman Temple in Kuala Lumpur was also the same person who installed the temple caves. The architecture is Dravidian, which is described as pyramid shaped temples which are dependent on intricate carved stone in order to create a step design consisting of numerous statues of deities, warriors, kings, and dancers.¹

The inside was huge with several small shrines dedicated to other gods like Hanuman, the monkey king who helped Rama rescue his wife Sita from Ravana.

Seeing so many places of worship and learning about different religion made me realize our deep need to connect to permanence which is this earth. It is the fear of something terrible like death that binds us to immortalize our souls. I love Indian literature. There was a time I can recite the Ramayana and Mahabharata by heart, but that was a long time ago. This love has to be revived…

(Please excuse the photos, we used point and shoot cameras here)

I’ve been to Malaysia twice, first was in march of 2007 as a side trip of my 9 day Singapore stint. I traveled 870 kilometers from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur just to see one thing–the Petronas towers. Who wouldn’t want to see something as majestic as the structure once tagged as the tallest in the world? The world’s spotlights all focused on it when it opened in 1998. KL became popular overnight, a must visit destination among tourists and backpackers alike.

My first photo with the twin towers in 2007

It’s an entry on my 1000 things to do before I die–to have my picture taken with the twin towers. I was too excited to do that. That’s why when I first saw the towers few meters away, I couldn’t help but sprint my way to it, barely feeling that my skin was burning from the scorching heat of the summer sun. I literally dropped my jaw and talked to myself dreamily “so this is the building with a floor plate design based on basic islamic geometry of two interlocking squares creating an eight pointed star…. yada yada yada….”

I stood in front of it for like an hour, wide eyed, like an autistic child staring at a spinning object. And then all around me was silence, deafening silence….

I decided to go to the mall under/below the towers. Yes, there’s a mall-The Suria KLCC to kill time while waiting for the Petronas night lights to turn on. By the way, the building is best photographed at night.

Thrift Tips: The shops in Suria KLCC is a bit pricey as compared to Glorietta, so  wardrobe shopping is not advisable. Chocolates are cheaper though (they make Cadbury in Malaysia, FYI). You may also want to try the food court. They serve good authentic and affordable cuisines like sambal, nasi lemak, nasi goreng and oh, try their bread talk, the hints of malay flavors are quite interesting.

A popular “must do” when visiting KL is going up the skybridge. that’s the shaft walkway connecting the two towers. What’s good about the skybridge is that it’s FREE. The bad news is, there are only 1,300 timed tickets a day and it’s given out on a first-come, first-served basis. First time I went there, the queue started at 7:30 AM, and they didn’t gave out tickets until around 8. And if you are visiting the Petronas Twin Tower Skybridge during a weekend, you will probably need to stand in line 30-60 minutes. Also, after having waited all that time for a free ticket, you only get to ascend to the 41st floor (170m) and you can only stay inside for 10 minutes.

Giant Monette, March 2009

Due to time constraint, We never dared queuing up the lines, it’s just way too long. I went to the KL Tower instead. It has far better views and it hardly gets overly crowded even on weekends. It’s not free though (RM8 per adult) and it’s harder to get into (the LRT doesn’t go there so you’ll have to take a cab). But unlike the obstructed view from the skybridge, KL Tower got a 360 degrees panorama and you may stay for as long as you want. And you get to see Petronas on a bird’s eye perspective. YES it’s technically higher than the twin towers because it is on top of a hill.

TIPS: the Petronas sky bridge is open every Tuesdays to Sundays, 9:00am – 5:00pm (except for Fridays, they don’t operate from 1:00 – 2:30pm). You may also check it out during Public Holidays, except the days around Eid Al-Fitri (end of Ramadhan) and Eid Al-Adha. . Basically if you want to go on a Monday, call ahead of time to check.