Skip to main content

Trip 05-06: Day 0 - Rush and away



Had been working busy lately. Busy until didn't have enough time to prepare the trip itinerary. Took a half day off on 30 Aug 06 and it was eve of national day. Had a quick lunch afer reached home. Then packed up all the necessary stuff. Just basic stuff. I've omitted those first aid kit stuff (hope nothing bad would happen). Then met up with SY to catch up the feeder bus. We were half an hour late from the initial schedule. Reached KL Sentral and proceeded to the bus to LCCT. To our surprise, there was another bus company (Aerobus) offered ride to KLCC and they charged RM9 for two ways. Surely it was a direct competitve to Skybus which cost RM9 per trip. Reached airport at 5pm. Checked in and waited for the departure time (6.20pm). The usual suspect: flight delayed.

Reached KK Terminal 2 around 9.15pm. The airport was small, which was ok for me. Stepped outside and there was construction at the front building. This made the airport a bit messy.

Reached KK town about 10pm after a long wait for cab. Headed to Borneo Backpacker Lodge. However, no occupancy. We went to the next door hostel - Lucy homestay - also recommended in Lonely Planet South East Asia edition. The place was a bit cramp. They had 2 domitory rooms. Charge: RM18 per head, inclusive breakfast. So we took up the offer.

Then we went out for a scroll. There was a night market in Gaya Street. I supposed it was held in conjunction of National Day. Lots of people roaming around. We were told that there would be firework display at midnite. So we headed back to our guesthouse after a while.

Midnite, 12am, 31 Aug 2006. Merdeka!
The sky was filled with fireworks. It was not the best one. Maybe because of budget constraint?
Then it was time to sleep.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Kaoshiung

I haven't finished recounting my journey in Sweden and Japan; I returned from Taiwan just two weeks ago. Here's a brief account of my recent visit there (although I still have unfinished tale from last year trip to Taiwan). My first stop was Kaoshiung. Spent a day and a half in the town, then I travelled to Tainan for a weekend symposium. I ended my journey in Taipei for another short hike. The weather in Kaohsiung was quite hot, comparatively. It's not my favorite weather for traveling. Perhaps I arrived there too early; had I come a few days later, the temperature would have been cooler. Since day time was hot, it would be wise to visit Pier 2 area during evening or night. Not many people / tourists in this town. It looked quiet.  The next day, I took a ferry to Cijin. The ride was short, about 5 minutes. Cijin Island is a fisherman's village. On the opposite side of the island, there's a beach. It was serene but scorching, to the extent that I couldn't walk m

Qixingshan trail

Had a chance to visit Taiwan again in last November. It was an invitation to attend a symposium in Taichung. So I decided to take a few days to explore Taipei before the conference. But this round I opted for hiking experience. Thus, the search for easy access of hiking venues around Taipei city. One particular blog has provided most of the useful information for my trip: www.nickkembel.com. I picked Qixingshan trail in Yangmingshan National Park as my first choice for the hiking. It's easily accessible with moderate difficulty level of the hiking route. To get to Yangmingshan, one can opt for the public transport right below Jiantan MRT station. The Taipei Performing Arts Center is just opposite the bus stop areas. I took the S15 mini bus which is bound for Lengshuikeng. Waited a few minutes, the bus came. There were many locals heading to the national park on that day. So I had to stand for almost the entire journey. Got off at Lengshuikeng Visitor Center (which is the last two s

Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route

Just came back from Japan last week. Went to Tokyo for conference and added side trip to Tateyama Alpine Route and Kanazawa. I must say that Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route was great. You can do the trip either from Nagano side or Toyama side. For us, we did it from the Nagano side. Took the Shinkansen to Nagano early morning. Then boarded the express bus to Ogizawa. From there, we boarded the tunnel electric bus to get to Kurobe Dam. From the dam, it was all the way up to the peak (almost). Murodo is the highlight of the route. This is the place where you get to see snow covered peak and lake. In spring, there's snow wall nearby Murodo station. From Murodo, we descended to Bijodaira and Tateyama Station to catch the local train back to Toyama. The fare for the entire route is not cheap, but it's worth it. A hike from Bijodaira to Murodo should be interesting, which can be considered in future. View from the tunnel electric bus, onward to Kurobe Dam Arrived at Kurobe Dam View of t