Krup-krup

En route from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, our van stopped over at Kampong Thom, a province two hours from Siem Reap. A stall on the sidewalk had crickets...

and beetles (or what I hoped were beetles and not roaches):

I don't really care about edible insects, I was more interested in the persimmons and pomegranates in the next stall.

Abet, however, wanted to get the crickets. He sampled some and liked them, so we bought a small plastic bag for 7,000 riel--around P80--for pulutan in our hotel room later that evening. They weren't too bad, actually. Perfect with beer.

Please excuse the girly fingernails--he's a guitarist.

Yum!

On the way back from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh (towards Vietnam), we passed by Kampong Thom again. This time, we bought a tarantula for 500 riel (P6). Neither of us ate it. We'll stick to the crickets next time.

An Afternoon in Malacca

Malacca or Melaka, two hours away by bus from Kuala Lumpur, is a vibrant little city teeming with history. It has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July of 2008. There are many interesting historical sites in Malacca because of its rich past, having been colonized by the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British.

We only had half a day in Malacca, and here were some of the sites we were able to visit:


Memorial Pengisytiharan Kemerdekaan

We didn't go inside the Memorial Pengisytiharan Kemerdekaan (Proclamation of Independence Memorial) because of time constraints, we just passed by, but here you'll be able to see exhibits about Malaysia's history from the time of the first sultanates leading up to the country's independence.


A Famosa is what remains of what used to be an old Portuguese fortress. The fort was destroyed during the Dutch invasion, all that's left are the walls. I can't believe we weren't able to take pictures of the cannons just in front of this entrance.


goofing around inside A Famosa

St. Paul's Church is just up the hill from A Famosa. The path to the church allows you to enjoy breathtaking panoramic views of the town.

St. Paul's Church, built by the Portuguese in 1521 was once the prayer house of the Portuguese Catholics and became a fortress in 1567. When the Dutch took over, it became a burial ground for their noble dead. Some of the tombstones are still along the walls inside the church.

A statue of St. Francis Xavier stands outside the church ruins (with one hand missing). He was buried here briefly in 1553 before his remains were transferred to Goa in India.

We went down Bukit St.Paul (St. Paul's Hill) towards the Red Square, and we saw that we were 10,632 kilometers away from London:


The Red Square is the beautiful square around Christ Church and Stadthuys, both red buildings, like most of the buildings in this area.



Abet inside the Stadthuys
(Don't ask me what he's doing there, I have no idea.)

The Christ Church was built by the Dutch from 1741 to 1753. This is the oldest Protestant church in Malaysia. We didn't go in, but inside are hand-made pews dating back to 200 years ago.

Also in the square is the Tang Beng Swee Clock Tower, built in 1886...

...and this fountain.


Trishaws, pedicabs decorated with bright plastic flowers and blasting pop music from speakers, are a common sight, each more gaudy and louder than the last.



The sign above points to the Eye on Malaysia, a 60-meter tall portable Ferris wheel that used to be in Kuala Lumpur but was transferred to Malacca just last November 2008. This is just one of the tourist attractions that we didn't get to visit because we didn't have the time, among them Bukit Cina, Hang Li Poh Well, and other churches, temples, forts and museums. Half a day in Malacca just isn't enough. Still, I'm glad that despite our limited time in this historic city, we were able to experience the very vibrant Jonker Walk that evening.

Jonker Walk post coming up next.

Fenix Inn, Malacca

Abet and I are King and Queen of Cheap Accommodation. The cheaper the hotel room, the better. We're out most of the time anyway, the room is is just a place to rest, shower, and leave our things, so as long as it's safe, clean, and in a good location, we're fine. I do have one additional requirement though: an ensuite bathroom. I like to take my sweet time inside the bathroom, and I have this habit of arranging all my toiletries in the bathroom as soon as we arrive and keeping them there until it's time to pack up, so no shared bathrooms for me, thank you.

This is why we ended up in Fenix Inn in Malacca. It was the least expensive room we found online which had its own bathroom: RM98 (P1,372) on weekdays and RM118 (P1,652) on weekends for a double room (we were there on a Friday night and paid the weekend rate). It was pricey for our backpackers' budget, but we really didn't have much choice.

The room was small but fully carpeted, and this was actually my favorite among the five rooms we stayed at during our trip for one good reason: the sheets. They were of high quality/high thread count and were soft as butter against my skin. There was also an extra pillow, a big plus.

Room comes with wired internet. Abet was able to connect when we arrived in the afternoon, but after we got back late in the evening, the internet connection was down. Abet was told by front desk that it would be down for a week.

Bathroom was nothing to complain about. I wish I could say the same for my photography skills.

Overall, I would recommend Fenix Inn to anyone travelling to Malacca, who, like me, insists on an ensuite bathroom. It's around 10-15 minutes away from Jonker Walk where all the action is, but it's near enough to the most popular attractions such as Christ Church, A Famosa, Stadthuys and St. Paul's Church. The rates are more expensive than the average backpackers' accommodation, but the bed was definitely worth the price. If you love good sheets like I do, you'll appreciate Fenix Inn.

--=-=--

Fenix Inn
156, Jalan Merdeka, Taman Melaka Raya,
75000 Melaka, Malaysia
http://www.fenixinn.com
reservation@fenixinn.com
606-281 5511

A Day in Kuala Lumpur

We started our first full day in Kuala Lumpur with a mad dash to the Petronas Tower in KLCC. We wanted to be in line for tickets by 7:30 so we can go up the Skybridge before lunch.


picture-picture at the train station

(My mother calls that my 'girl scout' dress. She hates it.)

We got to the ticketing center just before 8am, and there was already a long queue for the free tickets, even if ticket distribution wasn't until 8:30. We got tickets at around 9 am and were scheduled to go up at 11:15am. We hadn't had breakfast yet, so we had a quick meal at KFC in Suria KLCC, the sosy mall adjacent to the towers.


nasi lemak enak at KFC
I had nasi lemak enak with one-piece chicken. Nasi lemak or coconut milk rice is one of Malaysia's most popular dishes and is usually served with anchovies with sambal (chili paste), sliced cucumber, and peanuts (the one in KFC didn't have peanuts).

We still had time to spare after breakfast, so we went around the mall while I ogled the display windows of luxury shops: Chanel, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, Jimmy Choo... oooh la la! My eyes feasted over beautiful items I can't afford. We also checked out Kinokuniya, the Japanese mega-bookstore chain that we first experienced in Singapore, but we didn't buy any books yet.
We went back to the Petronas ticketing center 15 minutes before our scheduled time and browsed the gift shop while waiting for our visit.

Before we got to go up the Skybridge, we had to watch a short 3D video about Petronas Company and the towers and then had to go through a security check. We then took the high-speed elevator to the Skybridge on the 41st floor, 170 meters above street level. Visitors only have 10 minutes on the bridge.


There are interesting exhibits about the towers on the way out from the Skybridge visit. Afterwards, we window-shopped some more until it was time for lunch.

Lunch was at Nando's Peri-Peri Chicken. Nando's is a Portuguese restaurant chain whose specialty is chicken in either lemon and herb, medium, hot or extra hot peri-peri sauce, pero-peri being the humble siling labuyo. It's sad that the Philippines is not among the 26 countries in 5 contintents that Nando's has branches in, because the food was really good. Sigh.


1/2 chicken in lemon and herb sauce, corn, coleslaw

chicken kebabs in hot sauce, Mediterranean rice, and potato salad

I took home a bottle of one of their sauces. This is my best friend during my diet days when I eat nothing but boiled chicken. :D

Beside Nando's was Famous Amos, the cookie shop, and the smell wafting from its direction was just heavenly, we just had to buy some cookies.

free smells

After lunch, we were off to the KL Bird Park. On the way there, however, it rained. We had to cancel. I guess I'm not meant for bird parks. We had to cancel our trip to Jurong Bird Park at the last minute went we went to Singapore last year (we ended up on the Singapore Flyer) and now this. Drat. Anyway, look at the design of this train station, the Kuala Lumpur station on the KTM line. It's an attraction in itself:

Since we had no where else to go (the rest of the places in our itinerary were outdoors), we proceeded to Pavilion Mall in Bukit Bintang where we planned on having dinner anyway. We got some books at Times Bookstore.

We wandered around the mall (again, more designer stuff) until it was time for dinner. Ah, we waited to have dinner here for months, and it was one of the things we were most excited about with our backpacking trip: Carl's Jr!!! Yep, the burger chain that we sadly no longer have here in Manila. I'm such a fan of Carl's Jr back in college, I celebrated two birthdays here--including my 18th birthday! We were so excited to eat here that we didn't get to take any pictures of the food. This was after we wiped everything out (and we ordered a lot):


Dessert was at Baskin-Robbins, our first time, and I had another one of my "why-don't-we-have-this-in-Manila???" moments. We shared a bowl of Pralines 'n Cream, Jamoca® Almond Fudge and Rum Raisin:


My boyfriend was a happy, happy boy.

After dinner, we walked towards nearby Jalan Alor to buy more dried meat to take back home.

It was a good day, even if it wasn't exactly the day we had planned. We went back to our hotel happy and full and excited to read our books. Back in our room, we enjoyed our Famous Amos cookies, with beer for him (!) and with Yakult for me.

Afterwards, we got a good night's sleep to prepare ourselves for another adventure-filled day ahead.

Batu Caves

Batu Caves is in Gombak district, 13 kilometers north of Kuala Lumpur. These limestone caves is a sacred place for Hindus. Every January, up to 800,000 devotees and spectators gather here for the Thaipusam Festival:

Images above from http://www.malaysiasite.nl/thaipusameng.htm.

To get to the caves, you'd have to climb up 272 steps and get past macaques. A 42.7 meter statue of Lord Murugan, a Hindu deity, stands near the base of the steps.