It was the first time for my family to experience the KL Monorail. Every time we went to the city, my children will be fascinated by the passing of the monorail. They get excited. Oh well, I thought I will bring them to experience it.

Basically the monorail goes from Titiwangsa to KL Sentral. The fare isn’t too expensive it was RM2.50 from end to end. My children are free. I parked at Berjaya Times Square and went on from there. Parking in Berjaya Times Square burn a hole in my pocket, I should have park somewhere cheaper.

We went from Imbi station to Titiwangsa and back. It took us about 30 minutes in total. Verdict from my children, they want to ride it again. They think it is the same monorail from Genting.

You guys are good, yes it is Genting Highlands we had our family vacation. Wow that place has changed so much since I was there 7 years ago. We drove up, it takes 5 hours to drive up from Penang to Genting. We used the Batang Kali road. However it took us 8 hours to come back. I tell you why in the next post.

Theme Park Hotel

We stayed in Theme Park Hotel with a view. We had a family suite with 2 queen size bed, a TV area and a dinning area. I realize there wasn’t any air condition in the room. Hey who needs it? This is Genting we are talking about, natural air condition.

We had a good view of the theme park from the room. The bad is we can also hear people screaming from the theme park.

Thanks to my mother, we had it free because she had a lot of points (WP) to exchange for hotel, meals and theme park tickets. I don’t think you want to know how she gets those points.

Theme Park:

There are 2 main theme parks in Genting, outdoor and indoor. We preferred the indoor theme parks as most rides are more suitable for my children’s age. Family package cost RM246 (Normal) and RM264 (Peak) for 2 days. However we went there on Sunday which was peak, we decided to get the indoor package (RM95) on Sunday and outdoor package on Monday.(RM106).

There wasn’t any queue because we went there during weekdays. It was fun for my children as they can ride as many times as they want. Emily love the ride called “Ride De Paris” where there are different vehicles that go round and round, up and down. Vehicles like police car, ambulance, ice-cream truck, tractor and etc. She really got her money’s worth. Timothy was too tall for that ride.

Other attractions were Flying Coaster, Genting Sky Venture, SnowWorld, Ripley’s Believe It or Not and First World Cineplex. We didn’t go to any of those as it was not suitable for Tim & Em. We wanted to go to Snow World but both my children have runny nose so we decided to pass.

Disappointments

Tim was dying to ride the cable car but twice we went there, it was closed without any reasons.

There weren’t many rides in the outdoor theme park there were suited for younger children.

Weather was not on our side, it was raining and foggy.

There were a lot of smokers everywhere, indoor and outdoor.

Cantonese Joke From My Aunt

Genting Highland is famous for its casino, the one and only license casino.

Aunt: Here they only serve fruits like watermelon, papaya, honey dew and any melon you can think off. No pineapple. What soup are you drinking?

Me: Winter melon soup. *roll eyes*

Aunt:

Watermelon = Sai Kuah
Honey Dew = Mutt Kuah
Papaya = Muk Kuah
Winter melon = Tung Kuah
Bitter Goard = Fu Kuah

Kuah, kuah, kuah….Kuah in Cantonese means DIE which is not very good if you are gambling. They don’t serve any pineapple (Wong Lai). Wong Lai meaning prosperity come. No Wong Lai, all die.

Me: Nah, eat some sang choy (lettuce). :giggles:

Later, I got my aunt some pineapple and she said she strikes 2 mini jackpots. Not sure how true. I don’t gamble so eating any kuah doesn’t disturb me any bit.

I just got back from a 3D/2N vacation where 90% of the trip was free. Guess where I bought my family to? No, I didn’t use any PPP money to pay for the trip. It was a great trip though and my children enjoyed it.

Let me give you some hints, you can see snow there, it is a place where children love to go and a place where some adults like it too, I haven’t been there like ages. I think 7 years ago. I will put up the pictures in my next post. I need to clear all my emails before it explode and I am dead tired, as I just touch down from a 8 hours journey. It could have been shorter. Something interesting happen along the way.

As you know Penang started a new bus system with a batch of new big buses. I am not sure why it has taken so long for Penang to improve their bus system. Not to mention the cab taking a lot of advantage in charging people an exorbitant rate and not using the meter.

Rapid Penang is still new and it covered most of the places in Penang Island. If you want details of the bus route, click here. However, they didn’t publish the rates of the tickets. Tickets are priced at RM1-RM3.

I took the children to have fun sitting on the bus. They were excited. We took from Bayan Baru all the way to town and back. Funny the fare going was RM2 but the coming back trip was RM1.50. Nope, we go on where they drop us off.

The going trip was pleasant, the seats were leather but the return trip seat was hard plastic. It is tough to sit for a long time. My butt was really painful after the journey. The back seats of the flooring of the bus are quite high and the seats were raise up. My head almost touch the top of the bus when I sat there. It was difficult for some senior citizen to climb up and sit.

So when you are visiting Penang, remember to try Rapid Penang (nope it is not a white water rafting adventure). You can almost go round island trip with it.

Hard Plastic Chair – No No.

Gbay: China Toys Recall

London, another great city surrounded by beautiful buildings and the ever famous royalty palace called Buckingham Palace. Not forgetting, my children’s favorite song “London Bridge Is Falling Down”. London Bridge is just a normal kind of bridge, nothing special. It is the Tower Bridge that is spectacular. It is often being mix up as both are well know.

I took the BIG BUS Tour around London and it was worth it. I got a discount from buying the e-ticket. It has 3 walking tours and 1 cruise plus hop on and hop off buses. If you know the place around, you can also but a full day pass for train and bus for 5.70 pound. You have to buy ticket after 9:30am, after rush hour else it is very expensive.

2 complaints I have with London. First, the train system aka TUBE is chaotic and not very handicap friendly. Some stations do not have lifts but stairs. One station, I think it was Convent Garden Station, where I came out, there was 2 lifts but 1 wasn’t working. With a crowd of people waiting, I decided to climb stairs. Gosh, I regretted it, the stairs were never ending. When I was halfway, I was breathless. Lesson learnt, take the lifts if it exists.

Secondly, the airport is a mess too. First they only allow 1 hand carry, if you are holding a plastic bag, it is not allowed. I think they practice double standard, I saw a man with 2 bags. I overhead a conversation from a lady, she had to go around the shop to beg for a big plastic bag to put her second notebook hand carry. Oooh, if you bought anything from the airport, it is allowed. Don’t ask me why.

It was messy because as you enter, there is one station to check handcarry and another to check your shoes. Those guards are pretty rude, they treat everyone as criminals. As you enter the gate, to board your plane, there is another check. By the way, if your bag is detained, you have to remove everything. For those people who love to hand carry their luggage on flight will be a headache because the guard will take out piece by piece.

Lastly, one hour before boarding, they called for Gate Closing but when you reach the gate, people are still waiting. Sigh. Look at the picture below to see how messy it is, photo taken by my MIL on her prev trip.

Glasgow is Scotland largest city and like many other city, it has classical, old traditional and historical buildings in the surrounding. Not to mention, lots of cathedral churches too. I woke up early on a Sunday morning, sadly not to attend church but to tour around the Glasgow city.

I went with a couple of friends. We took a 30 minutes train there. We got off at Glasgow Queens St and went to the nearest tourist information. We have only 1 day to visit the entire Glasgow but we spend most of our time near the city. We went on a “hop on and hop off” city sightseeing tour for £9 Information here http://www.scotguide.com/city_tours.htm. We could see a lot of places with this.

There are 21 tourist spots to see like George Square, Glasgow Cathedral, Merchant City, Glasgow Green, St. Andrew Square, St Enoch (where the shopping places are), St Vincent Place, Science Center, IMAX Cinema, Tall Ship, Glasgow University, Byres Road, Museums, Kelvin Park (where the green is), Charring Cross, Willow Tearooms, Theatres and Royal Concert Hall.

You can
download the map here for details.

The bus has an open top for photo taking around the city. However it is not very good if it rains. There are many of these buses running every 20 mins. You can hop on and hop off at the designated bus stand. If you miss one, you wait for another 20 mins. It is pretty convenient.

We started the journey at George Square and took the bus to the museum. The museum displays all kinds of religion. It is very interesting walk. Let me tell you, everywhere I go, there is a museum so you see 1, you see it all. The one in Edinburgh is good and huge with more displays.

Cathedral Churches are everywhere and all of them have amazing hand painted ceiling and beautiful stain glass.

Historical statues are also everywhere to mark the history of the place. London especially has it everywhere in the city. Each has a story to tell if I only know what it is. History is not my strong field. Although I hated it when the education dept changed the history syllabus and focus on local history. It will be far more interesting to learn history of other nations.

George Square and City Chambers, the symbol of Glasgow political strength.

As I journey around, there are lots of classical buildings which bear a lot of history. It has a very low percentage of modern building like what we have here.

 

The funny looking building is Clyde Auditorium aka The Armadillo. Basically it is a concert hall.

Besides buildings, they have beautiful & huge parks for people to enjoy the sun. By the way it is cold especially when the wind blows. I rather stay inside. It is interesting how we always try to avoid the sun. When I was there, I wish the sun was there to warm me up. Now I understand why gwailo like the sun so much.

By the time, we finished the tour and wanted to do some shopping. Guess what, the shops closes at 6pm. Sigh. Although there is nothing to buy as everything is 7 times more expensive. Good for me. We also have a hard time hunting for food.

Next post, London but you have to wait awhile because I need to process the pictures. You all know I lost my camera. It will be a real waste to tour around London without a camera. I bum into a shop where they sell disposable cameras and it was buy 1 get 1 free for 4 pound, about RM14 per camera for 39 shots. I got 6 of them. I just took them to the printing shop to have it developed into negative and convert to digital. Technology, don’t you like it in moments like this.

The other day, we were sharing with the UK team, how Malaysia has so many public holidays. We were asking them, what holidays they have. Apparently there are not many in UK.

UK: You guys have a lot of public holidays.

MYS: Yeah we have Chinese New Year, Raya Holidays and Depavalli. We are a multi cultural country.

UK: Wow great to have that many holidays.

MYS: Independence Day is coming up too. You know Independence Day. Do you have it?

UK: Nope, we don’t.

MYS: Why not? US has it.

UK: Because never been conquered before.

MYS: *duh, slap forehead*

I got this info from a friend of mine, so if you are talking to the English, please do not repeat the same mistake. 😆

Source of the above map from: www.it-green.co.uk

Yeah I have arrived in Edinburgh UK, 14 hours flight. I must say that I have a pleasant flight with SIA. I was fortunate as I was given a very good seat. The seat next to me was empty given me some space. However the guy who sat near the aisle hardly went to the gents. I had to excuse myself 2 times as I drank lots of water.

Edinburgh is a very beautiful city with lots of old buildings. It reminds me of Sydney of Australia. You can hardly see any tall building here except the Cathedral Churches. It is freezing here with strong wind. I was almost blown off the street.

The strange thing in Edinburgh, the daylight is almost all day. It is still bright until 9pm and sun rises very early, 4am. When we go for dinner at 7pm, it looks like afternoon. I can say that I hardly in the dark. You can walk until late evening and still not feel it.

I am staying in a very nice apartment with a dinning hall and kitchen, just like a studio. I am traveling with 14 others colleagues and more to come. It is just like having a school excursion. I must say that I can see a strong team dynamics in them and everyone is friendly.

Here are the pictures:

The Edinburgh Castle on the second picture:

Love the house structure:

Lady Statue

Cathedral Church

Statue Came Alive:

A good place to find all your souvenirs and nice cheap Singaporean flavored bags are in Singapore Chinatown. To get there, you can take the MRT directly to Chinatown station. It is also a place to eat different types of food, of coz at a tourist price. I love the pork tripes, egg omelette with seafood and dim sum there.

It has lots of things to see and shop, like bags, dresses, skirts, deco stuff, cushion covers, watches and shoes. It is almost similar to Petaling Street but Petaling Street has more people and stores. There is one shop you should go, they sell all the nice samfu and cheong sam. It is mostly from China. There are some India clothing too.

I was quite pissed with one stall. It is the stall that makes bookmarks, table deco and stuff with bending steel. My son was just touching one of the display, children being children, they love to touch. The stall owner shouted, “Boy don’t bend the display”. He didn’t even bend it, just merely touch it. I said out loud “Lets go if that’s they way they treat customer, so rude”. If my boy did any damage to their display, I will pay for it. He doesn’t have to shout at my boy.

Don’t mess with my children, look here to see why….do they look like they are little FBI agents?

I got those glasses for them from Tangs with UV protections. Do not get those cheapo toys black glasses as it will spoil their eyes.

Another great place to visit is the Singapore Night Safari. However the entrance fee is a bit costly, $27 for adult and $13 for children (3-12 years old). I heard that there is a promotion starting from 25th May – 30th June that all Malaysian can get 50% off or pay in Ringgit. Bumma, I just missed that.

I need to apologize to Earthtone because I ffk (stood her up) because my family wanted to visit the Night Safari. Again sorry Earthtone, you didn’t get to meet my children.

There is a shuttle bus from the hotel to the Night Safari, 6:50pm and 7:50pm. The hotel was under renovation, we didn’t know where to wait. The hotel staff told us to wait at the bus stop in front of Far East Shopping Center, which we did. As we were waiting, we saw the shuttle on the other side of the road. We thought we waited at the wrong place. We made a wrong move by crossing over the other side. Half an hour later, we saw the same bus on the other side. :wall: Actually it stopped at both side of the road. We stayed put and took the 7:50pm instead. At that time, Orchard Rd was having traffic congestion and it took us a long time to get out of there. Fortunately I got some food for my children to eat while waiting. The second shuttle that came was a mini van instead of the bus.

The Night Safari has plenty of eating place, so food is not a worry. It is very near the entrance too. I guess by now, you know that we were very hungry. As we were having dinner, there was some hot performance (pun intended) going on.

After that, we hopped on to the tram around the zoo. I am impressed as we could see all the animals that we passed. As compare to Taiping zoo, either the animal went to bed or it was blocked by the tree. My children were very excited as they were spelling the animals when they saw the sign, as they passed. The tram ride took about 40 minutes. We didn’t spend a long time there as the children were tired. It is not a value for money trip…sigh. If you are there, do try out some of the interesting walking trails like Fishing Cat, Forest Giants & Leopard Trail. The zoo is properly lighted.

Sorry, no pictures taken as we are not allowed to use our flash and disturb the animals. We are an animal friendly family. :giggles: More information here.