Finding Lake Titiwangsa in Scorching KL

I had to visit that white washed church I see from Jalan Pudu. By 9:30AM, I was walking towards St. Anthony's Church. Unfortunately, it was closed and would only open during Sunday mass. From there, I walked towards Chinatown area. New places I have never walked before, so it was nice despite sweat trickling down my shirt so early in the day.

From Pasar Seni station, I went to KL Sentral and changed trains via KL Monorail, 6 stations til the last - Titiwangsa Station! I wasn't sure if I should really walk as suggested by some site in the net: 10-minutes walk or take bus 120! There was a Bus Terminal just beside the train station, but they were all headed to the Genting Highlands. So I didn't have a choice, but to walk. After several tries in various directions, I was finally headed to the right direction, all the time basing on instinct and intuition since most of the people I asked from the roadside didn't seem to hear of a Lake Titiwangsa! The reason: they know it more as Taman Tasik Titiwangsa!

The walk turned out to be an arduous one that took 30 minutes under the scorching sun! After several curves on the trail, I reached a highway where Istana Budaya stands proud and mighty. It is a beautiful building which hosts musicals and cultural events. I went inside - no shows at the moment! I was to learn that 300 meters from the road beside the istana is charming Lake Titiwangsa!

The place is a lot better than the KL Lake Gardens, and the park grounds is huge and boast of several sections - fountains, jogging/race track, a huge colorful children's playground, gigantic trees, an events hall where a wedding reception was taking place. I loved the place! If only it wasn't so hot! All this sun was dissipating my soul into vapors of exhaustion!

I braced myself for the walk back to Monorail's Titiwangsa Station. I stopped several times along the way, fully aware of how exhausted I am. The ride back to Imbi's Berjaya Times Square was heaven! Cool AC fumes wafting through my train seat. I decided to watch a Malay film, "V3 Samseng Jalanan" which is another derivative action-drama-comedy-racing flick. I didn't have the constitution to finish the horrible film. Must have 30 minutes left but I just couldn't it further. I remember this movie ad with an erroneous message, "Malaysia makes great movies, and it's not just Malaysians saying it." This was their anti-piracy pitch, but heck! - Malaysia makes TERRIBLE movies! Whoever says that Malaysia makes great ones is one heavily inebriated soul!

For the record, I believe that Malaysia has done almost everything right - economically, culturally, etc. But movie-making isn't their strong point. They are among the worst in the region, I wonder why!

This is the Eye in the Sky!

Update: (March 12, 2011)

The beauty of Lake Titiwangsa in photos here - http://eye-in-the-blue-sky.blogspot.com/2011/03/images-from-lake-titiwangsa-part-1.html

Avoiding a Scam in Rain-Drenched Kuching and Returning to KL

Kuching and KL, Malaysia - I realized I outsmarted a scam. Last night, I informed my hotel counter that I'd need a taxi that would take me to the airport. The lady by the counter told me that they lost the phone number of the taxi service that picked me up at the airport which charged only 26 ringgit. So instead of paying 26 ringgit (the same rate as the airport's prepaid taxi service), their new contact is asking for 35 ringgit! Now we are talking about a 20 minute taxi ride to the airport so I smelled the stench of garbage. If the same taxi were to take me to the Cat Museum by Siol Hill, they would charge me 60 ringgit, which is kind of ridiculous already. I said yes to the airport, no to Cat Museum. What's an additional 9 ringgit anyway - it's just the price of a movie ticket at Berjaya Times Square!

This morning, after having my breakfast, I proceeded to the riverbank to relish on my last few hours in Kuching, I decided I'd pack and wait for my taxi earlier than the scheduled pick-up with the 36-ringgit taxi. It was a different guy (Kevin) manning the hotel counter. I reminded him of my taxi booking but he said he would call for a taxi now. A real taxi - and not just some fly-by-night car who wanted to earn extra. What if the 35 ringgit taxi came too? Whoever would come 1st will get my ride!

An old man driving a real "yellow taxi" came. His charge - 26 ringgit! The hotel didn't lose their taxi contact's number, after all. I knew I was being had by the girl at the counter last night! What tipped me? Who would believe one could lose a taxi contact number in Kuching? Was there only one? It would have been easily more believable if she said the taxi service I hired earlier was not available; the driver took off to Pluto; or she had a previous date with Ellen Degeneres. But lost their number? There are mendicants and scammers wherever you go. God!

Kuching - the wettest city in all of Malaysia - cooperated during my visit. No rains at all. As my taxi pulls into the airport foyer, the rain started to fall and in minutes - it was blowing its fury!

Air Asia was delayed by 25 minutes... so our 1:55 PM departure became 2:20PM. I was back in KL by 4PM. The bus ride to Puduraya was relaxing. I dozed off. I don't exactly know what I will be doing all day tomorrow. I am out of ideas. I don't want anything stressful at all; maybe a DVD hunt, a movie, a new little place that I haven't visited somewhere in the city? I dunno. I wanna find Lake Titiwangsa but I am not sure how to go there. Taxi is out of the question. It's just too expensive taking cabs in this city.

"How to Train Your Dragon" was the only movie I could watch at Berjaya and I wanted something relaxing. It was more than that - it was such a delight! Dreamworks has succeeded in "taming" dragons and I love "Toothless" to pieces. Who could love a black and seemingly disfigured dragon? Trust Speilberg and company to work out the impossible. Most other foreign films showing didn't have english subtitle including a Malaysian actioner called "V3" and a Korean action adventure called "Tao" which looked interesting!

This is the Eye in the Sky!

Hits and Misses in Laidback Kuching

Kuching's Jalan India. This photo only courtesy of jpatokal.

Kuching, Borneo -Malaysia's wettest city, the "Cat City"; the capital city of the Sarawak State, is located in the island of Borneo. It is 1 hour and 45 minutes (by plane) from KL. I started my day rather leisurely. I wanted my last leg of travels to be relaxing, but it is hard to relax when the sun is harsh and perspiration bathes me at every block that I walk.

Kuching - for a tourist city - doesn't know exactly what to do with their tourists. There is no adequate public utility transportation. Sure they say there is a shuttle but you have to be patient to wait for one. Taxis charge astronomical fares. In this part of Malaysia, these idiots ( I refer to all taxi drivers the world over as "greedy idiots" ) never use meter. Imagine my taxi fare from the airport is 26 ringgit, then when I booked for my ride back to the airport, it has escalated to 35 ringgit! Were not even talking about a limousine car, but small cars I can probably lift with both my arms. Gosh, my cars back home are thrice their size and i'm not even being sarcastic! The point being, rates for tourists are inexplicably horrendous, I was shaking my head from dusk til dawn! LOL

Are you a budget backpacker who loves to roam around? Then this place isn't for you, honey! The city is lovely but you'd find yourself a very limited area to roam. Imagine how much they are charging me if I were to visit the Cat Museum (this is the Cat City, didn't I mention?) up Siol Hill which is just 10-15 minutes by car - 60 ringgit! We aren't talking about me visiting Paris' Louvre! Duh!

There are more than half a dozen museums in the city; the biggest and more important one - the Sarawak Museum aka Ethnology Museum - prides itself as being the "best in southeast asia" which I would beg to disagree. Let me just namedrop Jakarta's National Museum for this!

I love the riverside though, which they call Waterfront. You could see the Astana (Palace) from across Sarawak River; the State Parliament gleaming its gilded roof, and the dreamily "romantic" (read its history) Fort Margherita. I took a tambang (boat) - at 1 ringgit - to cross the river and walked to the Fort which was amazing. It is my favorite part of Kuching, to be honest.

I winded my day watching a Malaysian Film, "Evolusi: KL Drift 2" which was derivative at best, with horrible digital tech visuals. Aaron Aziz is a baddie here, I saw him in another film ("Pisau Cucur" or "Gold Diggers" where he played a James Bond-like character) just last November in KL.

Day in and day out, I was looking for local cuisine suggested by travel and tourist sites. They were always not available, especially "Midin". The ones I caught - the Kolo Mee - could very well be missed. Our Lucky Me instant noodles back home taste better. So much for gastronomic delights.

I went up the Station Mall, at the 9th floor, and saw Kuching from the top. Beautiful! Buildings rising over foliage, the Sarawak River snaking languidly all over the city. It is awe-inspiring from up above!

Kuching's Riverside. This photo only courtesy of www.ibanorum.netfirms.com.

This is the Eye in the Sky!