1 of 1

by Gan Yung Chyan Frontrich

• A
• A
• A

Malaysia celebrates Visit Malaysia 2007 in January. In conjunction with the New Year season and the annual tourism celebration, I decided to make my first independent flight trip to Kuala Lumpur from Singapore Changi Airport and this could be my first and last flight for the year 2007. Way back in the 1970s, my parents paid Singapore Airlines to bring us to the old Subang International Airport for holidays. My brother and I were too young to recall such memories.

My first independent direct flight to Kuala Lumpur is with Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). The jet used for this outbound flight is a Boeing B747-200 Combi and it is painted in the new ethnic pattern livery of PIA. I paid S$107 for a return flight to KLIA, which is located in Sepang district, south of Selangor and far away from the actual destination, Kuala Lumpur Sentral.

PIA is an unusual airline. The air hostess does not do the usual greeting onboard. It is rather a bearded male crew, donned in a formal white uniform bearing the resemblance of a pilot, who checks our boarding pass once I stepped into the jet. The air hostess who looks rather tired and expressionless shows us where my brown seat is.

There is a delay of one hour and thirty minutes at Changi Airport before I flew but that is not the worst I have to bear. Previous flights to and from KLIA which I travelled with AirAsia via Senai, Johor Bahru, took a delay of 3 to 5 hours. Onboard the PIA return flight, the video screens demonstrate to the passengers safety procedures. I am served fruit juices- apple and lemon. The inflight magazine Humsafar is in rugged condition and it took me two flights with PIA in order to get three Humsafar copies in desired condition from the PIA's Airbus A310 jet.

Like Malaysia, Pakistan is celebrating Discover Pakistan in 2007 and the November/December 2006 copy of Humsafar celebrates this tourism event in a big way with a short commemorative message and a paragraph on the 50 years of flight from Karachi to London is included. This issue of Humsafar is a New Year gift to me.

Once I landed in KLIA, I find the terminal connections interesting. Previously, when I travelled with AirAsia on the domestic skies, there is no need to travel in an Aerotrain. For international flights, I need to pass through the Immigration and transfer to another terminal in an Aerotrain in order to reach the terminal that has KLIA Express facility and airline offices.

The Aerotrain has three cabins and each ride can accommodate more passengers than Changi Skytrain. Orange and white are the colours and both systems are manufactured by the same contractor. Along the track to the next terminal, one can admire the picturesque scenery of KLIA and be impressed by the achievements KLIA has attained so far. I saw the charter flight of Siberia Airlines (S7), Malaysia Airlines and a Gulf Air jet taxiing at both terminals.

KLIA is one of the World's Best Airports as its terminals are up to world standards in design and user-friendliness. Firstly, it does not take 30 minutes to visit the airline offices in the airport as one has to in Changi Airport. Next, KLIA has the world's second tallest control tower shaped in an Olympic torch. It is not crowded and one can partake in lunch and dinner at its air-conditioned food court at a price of S$2.50 to S$3.00. I especially like the Nyonya food (sardine-vegetable rice and a pack of rojak cut fruits) at the terminal where I boarded for my PIA flight back to Changi.

Travel to Kuala Lumpur Sentral is by Airport Coach at a cost of RM10.00 (S$5.00) which previously ended in Chan Sow Lin LRT Station. A KLIA Express ride costs RM25.00. It takes me 1 hour to reach Kuala Lumpur by the Airport Coach but along the way, I take snapshots of Malaysia flats. Seremban, the huge advertisement stands ubiquitous in all major airport zones of Southeast Asia except Singapore. Along the expressway, there is even a Genting advertisement welcoming passengers to turn towards Genting.

At Kuala Lumpur Sentral, I witness more bargaining deals. AirAsia's bus subsidiary, SkyBus, operates coach rides to KLIA - (Low Cost Carrier Termninal) LCCT at a one-way fare of RM9. This fare is cheaper than a one-way fare from Kotaraya II to Senai Airport. Aerobus, its competitor, charges at a discount fare of RM8 one-way and RM14 for a return trip. I tried both coach operators. Both coached are comfortable and fast. SkyBus explained to me that during working days, the trip to LCCT takes 1 hour 15 minutes at least.

I visit KLIA - LCCT on the second day of my trip in Kuala Lumpur. The exterior of KLIA - LCCT is a dull-yellow terminal but it is bigger than its bright-yellow sparking rival in Singapore. There are at least 20 checking counters for AirAsia (AirAsia, Thai AirAsia and Indonesia AirAsia). Cebu Pacific Air has four check-in counters but it has no office in the Terminal. Only AirAsia and its East Malaysia subsidiary FAX have HQ offices on the second floor. AirAsia has now published a four-page news card (not inflight magazine) called RedBuzz, informing passengers about the Group's offers. The sales counter of AirAsia sells tickets of AirAsia and FAX. There is a 24-hour Asia Kitchen restaurant, a McDonalds' outlet and there are coach counters selling tickets to Kuala Lumpur.

In Kuala Lumpur, I met the General Manager of Royale Bintang Hotel, Leo Kuscher, who took time to come out of his meeting to meet me as I passed the GSA Proposal to him. The serious-minded Leo arranged me to visit a twin-sharing room. Royale Bintang Hotel has a few floors of corporate rooms and another few rooms of executive rooms on a higher level. Leo plans to visit Singapore later.

I stayed in The Green Hut Lodge where its Manager is the Chairman of the Malaysia Budget Hotels Association. The Green Hut Lodge is a very clean guesthouse with Free Net surfing facilities for its occupants. Its staff Iris, Azman, and others are very friendly. On the eve of my departure, I went with Iris and her Sarawak friend to taste Jalan Alor's famous food which comprises shellfish. I took the courage to eat the flesh of a shellfish which is tasteless. Normally, I do not eat shellfish as it is an unclean food item according to the Bible.

The New Year Eve is the most memorable. I celebrated it at The Green Hut by taking snapshots of fireworks near Sungei Wang while I received New Year greetings from friends in Singapore. Like Singapore, the fireworks that last six minutes take place all over Kuala Lumpur. The Curve (next to Royale Bintang Damansara) and area near the Twin Towers are the major sights for fireworks. Sungei Wang has a New Year Chinese concert where it is a rare chance to see new Malaysian singers performing along with A-Do.

Commuter travel in Kuala Lumpur is still cheap. The bus stops of Kuala Lumpur now have stands indicating the RapidKL bus numbers and their destination stops. According to PK Chai, RM2 entitles the commuter to a full-day ride on the specific bus number. For example, Bus 113 takes you from Maluri via Bukit Bintang to Medan Pasar and one pays RM2 using a Touch'N'Go card similar to the ezlink card or coins and holds on to the ticket until the end of his repeated ride on the same day, thus saving the commuter money. I thought this is a good idea and it could be implemented in Singapore to assist those commuters with lower income per month less than S$1200.

I travel in KL Monorail and KTM Commuter to travel within Kuala Lumour and KLCC Centre. The colourful KTM Commuter has Asia's most silent engine system. I hardly hear the sound of the engine in the cabin. It is quieter than the Hong Kong MTR system. Putra LRT (now rapidKL) and KL Monorail are noisy train systems. Guards are prevalent along KTM Commuter tracks to Rawang and Seremban.

Tourism booths, museums, Chinese-owned travel agents and airline offices are closed on public holidays in Kuala Lumpur. They make intercity-travel difficult for tourists. It is best to avoid visiting Kuala Lumpur during public holidays except for active shopping and fitness-training. Petaling Street is dead during the day but it becomes alive in the evening. The aroma of five-foot-way food tells one that one is in authentic Chinatown, which a Caucasian tourist commented to me that should be the atmosphere in Telok Ayer.

I went to take a look at Kuala Lumpur's Little India know as Masjid Jamed India district. The Indian Muslim mosque is a spectacular green-white architecture, standing next to the huge Indian "Bazar" festooned with Muslim dumplings. Many Muslims kneeled to pray on Hari Raya Haji there. Nearby the mosque are the flats where Indian Muslims live, a thriving residential community next to the Police Station that has a post sponsored by a commercial company.

The Indians of Malaysia are an enterprising lot. They work harder than the Chinese community. Paradise Travels and Tours that open daily for business put up campaign banners promoting the inaugural flight of GMG Airlines to Kuala Lumpur from Dhaka on lamp posts as well as the advertisment banners of Indian Airlines and Royal Nepal Airlines' flights. One is unable to find such advertisments elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

I met my new Malaysian friend, PK Chai and it is a wonderful casual chat and trade with him from within his car to Mid-Valley MegaMall. He has shown me many facets of Kuala Lumpur lifestyle. One of the stops is Subang Airport, thanks to Chai. The control tower looks like Paya Lebar Airport control tower and the Terminal 3 building of Subang looks similar to the old building which housed DPD and DMO in Paya Lebar. I managed to see and take snapshots of Transmile Air cargo planes and the beautiful airport mosque. Airport mosques are landmarks in Selangor.

Kuala Lumpur is the city of Muslim and modern architecture. Even Jakarta pales in comparison with Kuala Lumpur. There is this mosque with a huge blue dome and the Kuala Lumpur Railway Station has smaller domes on its minaret pillars.

Kuala Lumpur is a reborn city catching up fast with Singapore and trying various ways to beat Singapore in the competition. On public holidays, it is easier to navigate by car, just like Jakarta and Batam but buses are fewer. One can experience the controlled pulse of city lifestyle that the 5 million Chinese Malaysians have injected.

Learn more about this author, Gan Yung Chyan Frontrich.

Add your voice
Know something about Travel destinations: Kuala Lumpur in 2007? We want to hear your view. Write now!