Batu Caves and Sunway Lagoon

We came back from Genting Highlands to Kuala Lumpur (KL) and on the way stopped at Batu Caves.

Batu Caves

Batu Caves is a major tourist attraction in Malaysia and most of the tour operators ensure that you stop at Batu caves enroute to Genting or while coming back. There is a huge Shiv (a hindu god) idol in front of the caves. The insides of the caves is Ok. It could have been better if they had not built so many temples inside. I am sure without the temples, the place would have looked awesome.

Climbing the 170 odd stairs is no big deal but beware of hundreds of monkeys who will pounce on anything edible in your hand. If you have small kids with you, be extra careful. On the left you can see a picture of the shiv idol and behind the idol, stairs taking you up to the entrance of Batu caves.


The best part about Batu caves are the few shops/restaurants near the parking area which serve South Indian food at very reasonable prices. If you want to have reasonably good (not so spicy) and pretty cheap Indian food, do dig in.

From Batu caves we went directly to the exotic Sunway Lagoon.

Sunway Lagoon
Sunway Lagoon is a nice place to spend time with your family or even if you are on a honeymoon. The water park in Sunway Lagoon is simply wonderful. Its more of a theme park, with a huge wooden bridge crossing the various water parks and leading to some thrilling rides.
The major attractions of Sunway Lagoon are:

• There are two hotels - Sunway Hotel Resort and Spa where we stayed and the more expensive Sunway Pyramid. Both the hotels are very good in terms of rooms and services
• Theme Parks - Water parks with surf beach, water rides, extreme park etc.
• Shopping Mall - There is a shopping Mall right next to Sunway Hotel Resort, in fact it's internally connected and there are many good restaurants in the mall

The photo on the right is that of theme park (water park) from my hotel room. You must enjoy the water park if you are there. Some tips for the same:

• If you are staying at the hotel, make sure you carry towels from your hotel room (yes you can take those)
• But make sure you take some cash with you, as you would need to rent a locker to keep your clothes etc. Each locker is 5 Rn each.

We took dinner at a restaurant in the Sunway Shopping mall called as 'Mantra'. The food is very good and the ambiance is excellent, but the prices are slightly on a higher side. But I would strongly recommend the restaurant if you want to have good Indian food in Malaysia.

The next morning we got a very good breakfast buffet spread at the hotel. Then we moved on to KL from there.

Genting Highlands

On the same trip (to Malaysia) we went to Genting Highland near KualaLumpur(KL). Genting is basically a hill top entertainment weekend getaway for the Malays and there is not much for tourists really. Genting has three primary attractions:

1. Casinos: Casino de Genting is a nice place to burn some money :). It offers all international games be it Roulette, Blackjack, Poker etc. But the only problem is that there is nothing special to offer for the tourists. If you have been to casinos elsewhere, you can easily give it a skip.
   
2. Theme parks: There are two theme parks in Genting: Indoor and Outdoor. The theme parks are opened from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm (outdoor). The indoor one is opened until 12:00 midnight. The theme parks are really good and there is a lot to do for the kids. Even the adults can have their share of fun with a few thrill rides. But if you have been to any of the Disney parks' or to a good amusement/ theme park around the world, you can easily give this a skip.
3. Ropeway: We took the ropeway to the top (even then you have to travel half of the distance by car) but took the car all the way down the next day. The ropeway journey is very scenic indeed and a delight for a photographer. But we were unlucky as it was a very cloudy day and the clouds were really low, so we couldn't enjoy the ropeway as much as we could have enjoyed otherwise.
   

Picture of the beautiful rope-way ride.

Otherwise, there is nothing much to do in Genting. Even if you plan to make a trip, make sure it is a single day trip. There are 5 good hotels (we stayed in the The First World Hotel), but if you can , do avoid staying over night, unless of course you wanna play at the casino all night long.
People on Honeymoon can give Genting a skip.

Tips for Genting:

• It rains there most of the time - take umbrellas, raincoats etc.
• Most of the places our interconnected in Genting... even the hotels you can move from one hotel to another easily but some places are not covered hence the umbrella is necessary
• You need not stay overnight - best plan to go early morning and come back to KL in evening
• Vegetarians - Do carry something, you might find it difficult to get something to eat
• Ropeway is highly recommended but you need to take a call looking at the weather - the weather in Genting can be very different to that of KL, so be prepared!

Happy Traveling.

For more info on Genting, visit: http://www.genting.com.my/

Langkawi - Malaysia Day 2

I will began day 2 with this beautiful pic I took on day2 sunset:












But before I write about day 2, at the end of day 1 we had our dinner at a fabulous Thai restaurant "Barn Thai". The setting is unique as the restaurant is in the middle of a mangrove swamp. It's completely surrounded by marsh land and there is a wooden bridge connecting the restaurant to the main road. You have to walk (around 450 mts) on the bridge to get to it.

The swamp has a dense cover of large and small trees, shrubs and bushes all around. The trees are literally up-rooted - the roots are coming out on the surface, giving the whole place a creepy sort of a feel. For adventure lovers, this place is heaven. The restaurant has been built in such a manner that it really merges with its natural suroundings. You can see trees inside the place with even nests on it which means they haven't touched the flora at all. They have rather built the restaurant around it.

The food is good and they serve drinks as well. Though we are vegetarians and there was not much for us, but I am sure the non veggies will love the place. But even if you are a veggie you should go to the restaurant for the experience.

The next day we went for an Island hopping tour. We booked the tour through concierge at Berjaya. The tour picked us from the hotel at 10 and it took an hours drive close to Cenang beach (we also picked a couple of people from other hotels). Near the beach we boarded a Speed boat ( there were about 8 other people on the boat). We were told that we will go to two islands, the first of which is called "The Island of Pregnant Maiden" apparently because of the shape. The island has a fresh water lake and locals believe that a lady unable to conceive would be able to do so if she takes a dip in the lake. The second island is called "Pulau Payar" where we sent swimming in the sea. In between we also did Eagle Feeding.

Island of Pregnant Maiden
The island of pregnant maiden is a scenic island in the midst of all the 100 islands of Langkawi. It took us approx 40 mins to reach there by speed boat. The lake is beautiful and you may want to take your swimming gear, though if you dont want to take a dip, you can go pedal boating. The only problem on this island is there are lots of monkeys enroute from where the boat drops you to the lake. The monkeys will snatch at bags and eatables you carry. So I suggest you to take everything in a backpack and not to take out anything unless you reach the lake and same for the route back to the boat. Here are some pics:

Now you know why it's name! :)









Pulau Payar

We stayed at the beach and took a dip. You will get temporary beach shops which serve cold beer and drinks. So even if you don't carry anything to eat you can get chips, chocolates etc. Some pics:

Whenever I see this pic, it makes me want to go back and take a dip in the clear, cool sea water. :)








We came back from the Island hopping tour at lunch time (it took about 4 hours in all). The remaining half day we just roamed about in Langkawi, driving leisurely. We went to the Black sand beach where they have a small market as well and we bought some stuff there ( Yes, you can bargain hard!). Then we went to a beach on which we have the Four Seasons hotel. We spent some time on its beautiful white sand walking together hand in hand collecting shells and talking. It felt beautiful and so romantic. :)
Then later in the evening we went to the Cenang market. The entire street was lit up in beautiful lights. We had dinner at the Indian restaurant called as "Tulsi". The food was just ok. I would Tulsi a 2 on a scale of 5. Then we went back to Berjaya and left the rented car in Berjaya's parking.

Next day morning we had our breakfast and deposited the car keys at the reception. Our pickup was there to take us to the airport and then to KL. I did not want to leave Langkawi, for some reason I had fallen in love with the place. If given a chance I would love to go back and spent a week just lazying around at the beautiful beaches of Langkawi.