I wished for many things during that six-hour bus ride: plump pillows, a seat with more legroom, not being 5 feet and 10 inches tall, legs that don’t cramp, a detachable head, a Calculus textbook so I could remove myself to dreamland despite my ostrich-in-a-matchbox pose. I ended up looking out the window for entertainment: truck stops, tollbooths, lampposts, a smattering of cars with insomniac drivers, the rest was just filler. There was solace in the fact that the fun (strolling on Sentosa Island and glitzy Orchard Road) was just across the border.
Hey wait, this writer is not a frog and you, dear readers, aren’t bunnies, so let’s not jump to the middle part of the trip. Not just yet.
I was part of Wintrex Travel Agency’s familiarization tour of Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, along with Philippine STAR photographer Fernan Nebres and reps from other dailies. Beth Pablico, president and general manager of Wintrex, acted as host, babysitter and doting mother for the journalists, as well as her clients who availed of the travel package for only P10,999. (The full package – including side trips to Singapore and Genting Highlands, KL’s casino capital – costs P16,000. Hmm…not bad.)
One must be forewarned, though, that the instant coffee metaphor Wintrex uses in its ads ("3-in-1 Summer Treat") was not accidental, because travelers must be lively, perky and pretty wide awake in order to enjoy all the sights offered in the three-destination tour, for they are legion. And tourists need loads of caffeine to keep up with the schedule.
We left for Subic on a Thursday evening via Mt. Samat Express Supercat. (I’m just not sure if it was the OK Ka Ferry boat.) The waters were unusually choppy and I nearly lost my lunch when we got to Orion, Bataan. From there it was an hour’s ride to Legenda Hotel at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.
Sprawling Legenda is the only five-star hotel in Subic. We had a dinner at Le Café, with Shirley Boey, assistant VP-international marketing, and Ronald Gomez, PR officer, of Legenda Hotel acting as gracious hosts.
Pablico talked to us about being able to reduce the cost of the tour (imagine, for less than P20,000 tourists get to visit two countries in five days), and how Kuala Lumpur is sadly overlooked as a tourist destination. But slowly she has been able to persuade clients who salivate over Hong Kong (and Hong Kong only) to mull over the KL/Singapore/Genting Highlands package. There were around 30 tourists with us on this particular trip, so I guess people are realizing how interesting the destinations are.
After midnight, we headed for the Subic International Airport and boarded the Air Asia plane to Kuala Lumpur at 2 a.m. If we were a little bit wary of this little known airline, we felt at ease upon boarding the 110-seater Boeing 737. Not much difference from its more expensive counterparts – less roomy, perhaps, but as convenient. What’s great is, by taking this route to KL you slash the airplane ticket price practically in half. Air Asia’s chartered flights shuffle in mostly casino players who are residents of Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong into Subic for some poker, Black Jack and tussles with the slot machine.
Before 7 a.m., the plane touched ground. Dee, our guide from Borneo Tours, met us at the airport, and as we traveled to the Grand Seasons Hotel, she shared bits and pieces about Kuala Lumpur.
We experienced a little bit of the dreaded KL traffic (Manila, it seemed I never left) before arriving at the Grand Seasons Hotel. Had breakfast. Entered room. Showered. Napped. Watched Wesley Snipes talk in Malay. Ate lunch. Then off the group went on a city tour. Total bedtime: two hours and change. For someone who hates sleeping during trips like me, this was nirvana. (Who wants to spend time in a hotel room, anyway, when there is a whole city to explore?)
Dee was visibly in love with Kuala Lumpur, raving about how gleaming, ultra-modern skyscrapers co-exist with colonial houses, a Chinatown, a Little India and other anachronisms. How ginger flowers and assorted greens punctuate the cemented jungle. She also told us about how Malays, Muslims, Chinese and Indians can live together in relative peace. Kuala Lumpur is a city of diversities…and paradoxes. It is foreign and familiar at the same time.
Two buses took the tourists around the city. We visited the 88-storey Petronas Towers – the tallest in the world at 452 meters tall. Since 9/11, security has been tightened at the twin towers. Only 10 people are allowed to enter each day, and one must have a damn good reason to be nodded in. Being Sean Connery (or Catherine Zeta-Jones) is a damn good reason. So, we gazed at the Petronas Towers a catapult-stone’s throw away. I have to admit, it had a silvery magnificence even at a distance.
Buses stopped at the King’s Palace for some souvenir photos; same with the Sultan Abdul Samad Building with its Moorish architectural flourishes, shiny copper dome and clock tower. We passed by Merdeka Square with a 100-meter-high flagpole marking the spot where the Malaysian flag was first hoisted. Dee pointed out an apartment building, which she called the "UN headquarters" because of the motley-colored clothes on terraces and clotheslines. Haha. The Ice Queen, it seemed, was capable of cracking jokes. (My first impressions were faulty; Dee turned out to be a really good-natured and friendly tour guide after all.)
We went to Bintang Walk, Malaysia’s version of Paris’ Champs Elysées. It’s where yuppies let their hair down, listen to diva Siti Nurhaliza (and most probably Eminem) and drink a few brewskis. Then, we went to a pewter factory (Tumasek Pewter) and a shop that sells bak-u-teh (Chinese herbal soup) and tongkat ali (an herb touted as an aphrodisiac).
Fernan and I walked back to the hotel but got sidetracked by a sudden downpour, so we decided to eat in a fried chicken joint. While eating, we watched the manager exchange tasty Malaysian expletives with a beggar over something we have no idea what about. It was still raining hard and the streets became flooded. We watched taxi drivers turn into prima donnas and ask for cutthroat fare. A commuter argued with a ballerina on wheels. The sad ballet reminded me so much of dear old Malabon.
That evening, we had dinner at Seasons Cafe with Yeow Hock Siew, general manager; Eric Tan, director of sales; and Ken Perreau, PR manager of Grand Seasons Hotel. Tan and Perreu took us on a tour. I really liked O’Las Western Restaurant with its purple and pink interiors, as well as the Kasbah Turkish Bar wherein guests could partake of a few bottles of Tiger beer and spicy Middle-Eastern cuisine. It’s interesting to note that the 800-room Grand Seasons is a four-star hotel offering five-star amenities – in terms of room size, service, function rooms, etc. It is Malaysia’s tallest hotel, so part of the selling point of the trip, according to Pablico, is that tourists get to spend three days/two nights at the world’s tallest hotel (Grand Seasons) and see the world’s tallest towers (Petronas).
That morning, at 1:30 a.m., the group headed off to Singapore.
We arrived at Singapore just in time for breakfast, heading straight to Sentosa Island Resort, a 500-hectare recreational playground that was once a fishing village. From the World Trade Center, we rode a five-minute ferry to the island. Visitors can get a splendid tour of Sentosa via bus (blue, yellow, red or green line), beach train or the monorail. These vehicles offer tourists a quick trip to attractions like the Underwater World, Dolphin Lagoon, Siloso Beach, the Merlion, etc.
Entrance to Sentosa is 29 Singapore dollars (P900) with access to several attractions. The first spot we visited was the Underwater World, which houses an impressive collection of fish, sharks, eels, and stingrays, among others. I rode the "travellator," which encircles an 83-ft. long fiberglass tunnel, and fell into a conversation with diver Jamie Lee. She said the kids’ favorite among the sea citizens is the sea cow or dugong. Runners-up include the Archer Fish, the Mudskipper, and those eerie blue jellyfish. (Hey, what got my attention were the otters and monitor lizards – they, too, love agua.)
Another interesting spot is the Butterfly Park and Insect Kingdom, which boasts 3,000 species on display. I walked around the outdoor observatory where one gets sprayed with water every 60 seconds, since the flora and fauna need moisture. There were large, colorful plates with slices of apples and oranges for the winged beauties – Monarchs, Painted Jezebels, Blue Spotted Crows, Peacock Royals, and various butterflies. They were really attractive, same with the fireflies in a glass box. I ended up becoming the official photographer of a beautiful Japanese tourist, and I liked it.
The group was late in arriving at the Dolphin Lagoon for the feeding of those lovely dolphins. In Singapore, when they say 11 a.m., they really mean 11 a.m., unlike in the Philippines where time is relative.
We had lunch on Orchard Road, and at around 4 p.m., the two buses made their way back to KL. (Two tourists were left behind because they didn’t make it back to the meeting place on time. They went searching for a fish called Flower Horn – also called the Hu Lor Han or Radpuank fish – reported to be a "lucky" fish. They were able to return to the hotel at 6 a.m., the next day, after a protracted and stressful trip. I guess the fish wasn’t lucky after all.)
As the bus journeyed to KL, I kept thinking of the ultimate movie to watch onboard – The Ten Commandments, perhaps. We’d arrive at the hotel just in time for the parting of the Red Sea. Or the ultimate book: the epitome of narcotic literature, Finnegan’s Wake, excellent for hissing zzz’s.
It took us 45 minutes to get to Genting Highlands, Malaysia’s version of Vegas. Genting, 51 km. north east of KL, is 2,000 meters above sea level along the Pahang/Selangor border on the Ulu Kali mountain range. It was amazing to see a "city of entertainment" carved on the sides of mountains. The 20-minute Genting Skyway cable-car ride offered a sweeping view of forests, craggy mountain surfaces and animal sculptures.
We went to the observatory of the Tetamu Hotel Sahaja and saw the Genting Theme Park. Each one of us would’ve wanted to check out the attractions, especially the Corkscrew and Cyclone rollercoasters; not to mention the other lures of Genting – golf, casino, skydiving, go-karting, the Turbo Drop, the Ripley’s tour, mountain climbing, shopping, dining, karaoke, etc. But we’re pressed for time. Heck, Sinbad 1001 Nights (featuring "The World’s Greatest Illusionist Loris Alessandro Togni") was showing at the Genting International Showroom, but we had to get to the KL international airport by 7 p.m. for our flight back to Subic.
Blame it on time and other thieves.
By 10:30 p.m., we were back in Subic for some much-needed snooze time at the Legenda Hotel. Beth Pablico was right about trips such as this: People who travel (eat, stroll, shop, experience infinite bus rides) together tend to grow closer. I really admire how cheerful some of the people on the tour were, and they include Pablico, Leovey Labrador of Wintrex, travelers Malou Guillergan, Weng Oliveros, Phuc Le and Jennie Salgados, among others. Even if I felt like sleep-deprived Syd Barret at some point in the trip, these people made the sights in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Genting Highlands even grander.
Ah, the astonishing joys of roadtrippin’.