- travelrambles
- Dec 18, 2012
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 5, 2021
After Hong Kong, it was off to the "Truly Asia" country of Malaysia. We spent a couple of nights in Kuala Lumpur in the bustling area of Bukit Bintang and ventured out to the Cameron Highlands.
Updated 1/5/2021 Found these little notes:
KL (1.5 days):
Park Royal Kuala Lumpur
Jalan Sultan Ismail, Bukit Bintang, 50250 Kuala Lumpur (Bukit Bintang metro) 91 m from station
From Airport
28 minutes
35RM per person
5AM-1AM
KLIA to KL Sentral (take the train from LCCT to KLIA) (green) or take a bus from LCCT to Bubik Bintang (purple) [NOT RECOMMENDED, TAKE THE DAMN TAXI]
Day 1: (Sept 14)
1) Bukit Bintang
2) Petronas Twin Towers (KLCC green)
the tallest twin towers in the world. You can opt to walk across the Skybridge on the 47th floor (entrance is free and is on a first-come-first-serve basis; get there before 8am for the best chance of getting tickets).
3) Central Market (Pasar Seni – Green line)3
Jalan Hang Kasturi, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; (60-3) 2031 0399
Chinatown
Day 2: (Sept 15)
Batu Caves - Since renovated with colourful stairs. Worst climb of my young life (at the time)
Reality:
- The trip ended up being alot of shopping at the local glamorous malls.
- Local nightmaket was nothing in comparison to Taiwan
- 1 day is more than enough
Cameron Highlands (1days):
ETA: September 16 1130
ETD: September 17 1400
Hotel de la Ferns
Batu 39, Jalan Besar, , Cameron Highlands
Notes
206km away
2.5 hours
Monday Boh tea plantation closed
3 most famous plantations are:
Boh Tea Plantation
Cameron Highlands
Cameron Valley Tea Plantation
From KL:
By car
From North-South Expressway, exit the expressway at Tapah and then proceed via route 59 straight to the highlands. It takes about 1 hr 30 min to reach the first town of Ringlet.
Alternatively, you can exit the expressway at Simpang Pulai, Ipoh and proceed via route 145 to Cameron Highlands. It takes about 1 hr to reach the first town, Kampung Raja. Condition of this route is significantly better than Route 59 from Tapah.
Renting Car
- Went with Hertz. Went quite smooth
- Be prepared to drive on the opposite side of the road
- Driving was not as scary as we had originally thought . Highway driving was super boring. Drive up the mountain was quite scary (for me) / fun (for the boyfriend, now husband)
- International Driver licence was needed
- travelrambles
- Dec 17, 2012
- 2 min read
Updated: Dec 31, 2020
Given that my family is from Hong Kong, I've had the chance to visit several times in the past:
2004 or 2005? First time visiting with my mom who was very paranoid about "dirty food". So it was very sad for this foodie to not be able to try all the amazing street food available. Instead, my mother insisted on eating at "clean places" = overpriced. The irony of it all? I got major food poisoning anyways from a fancy place. At first the doctors couldn't understand what was wrong with me and with my less than proficient Cantonese, they thought I had intestinal infections and wanted to operate. Thank god they soon realized it was just food poisoning. Needless to say, my first trip back was not the most pleasant welcoming.
2007 part 1 - Visited again with my sister, mother and boyfriend at the time. I almost forgot about this one! Very similar to the first time around but without the food poisoning.
2007 part 2 - this time it was just the sister & I visiting a friend who had just moved back. We got to stay at a free apartment in Yau Ma Tei area in Kowloon. We had free reign to eat whatever we wanted, visit any area we desired and got to really experience the true HK. It was awesome.
2009 - My sister somehow convinced me to join her for a study abroad semester to HK instead of Seoul. So instead of learning Korean I was enrolled in a Cantonese class. After the first day, struggling to pronounce and spell the Cantonese words for "see-taw-bell-ly" (strawberry), I quickly switched to the Mandarin program. The 6 week summer program at CUHK (New Territories) gave us another opportunity to further explore new parts of HK. After the program wrapped up, a few friends flew in from Canada and we rented a tiny apartment in Tin Hau for the rest of the summer.
2012 - As part of my 2 month sabbatical from work, HK marked the rendez-vous point for my boyfriend and I. After a couple weeks in Japan, we met in Hong Kong to celebrate my 24th birthday. The highlight? He took me to the Steakhouse in the Intercontinental Hotel. The irony is that we both ordered Alberta steaks. So silly. Anyways, I was so happy to have the chance to show my boyfriend my favorite spots around HK.
Hong Kong is one special destination. It is a mix of Asia's cultural history and forward thinking Western styles. The first few times I visited, I could only really speak English and that was no problem. Top things to do will always be: enjoying the views at the Peak and Avenue of Stars (checking out HK's Skyline), shopping at Tsim Tsa Tsui and Mong Kok, and of course, eating eating eating.
On a last note, this was a really fun post for me. More pictures of myself than I like but it's fun to look back at how much a) my photos have changed and b) how I've physically changed over the years. My own virtual time capsule :)
- travelrambles
- Dec 16, 2012
- 1 min read
Updated: Dec 31, 2020
Rewind back to September 2012. After spending a month backpacking around Europe, I crossed the Atlantic Ocean and made my way back to Vancouver for a quick pit stop (and much needed laundry session). Within 24 hours it was back on the plane heading over the Pacific Ocean enroute to Japan. Well, it was first to Narita Airport then a quick connection to Kansai Airport in Osaka and a long bus ride to the final stop: Kyoto. Looking back, I do not know how I had the energy to do all of that traveling.
This trip marked my 3rd time in Japan but first in the Kansai Region. I was a bit disappointed with Tokyo in 2009, indifferent about Fukuoka in 2010 but really looked forward to Kyoto in 2012. The plan for the week was Kyoto, Osaka and Nara with my favorite being the City of Kyoto, a nice glimpse of the ancient Japan we all imagine.
