PASSPORT TO INDONESIA - JAKARTA

                                                    TRIP TO JAKARTA



The trip to Jakarta was quite an unexpected one. I boarded garuda airlines from Kuala lumpur KLIA airport. The flight was huge and I was impressed. In-flight entertainment, good food and beautiful airhostess.

The flight landed at soekarna hatta airport. There were taxis to take you to the city. My destination was South Jakarta. Soon I found an agency that helped me with the taxi service. He had 3 options for me.

Toyota innova for 2,78000 rupiah
Toyota Camry for 3,85000 rupiah
Mercedes Benz for 5,80000 rupiah

I took the cheaper one. It was a silver bird taxi. I remitted the whole amount at the airport office and boarded the taxi. After an hour I was dropped off at the hotel - best western hotel, mega kunnignan.

Mega kunningan is a posh area consisting of Expats and businessmen and there are lots of hotels in this area. The Marriot, Ritz Carlton, Somerset grand Citra, Manhattan hotel, Oakwood etc...
Best western hotel is situated near to ritz carlton. The rooms are small. Hardly any space , but great location to stay. The breakfast is ok. Staff are friendly and helpful

Evening i took a taxi to the mall near by. Amabssador mall which is connected with Carriefour with plenty of shops.

be sure to ask for BLUE BIRD taxi..the better one which is the most reliable among the current crop of taxis.

 look for the blue color and the logo of the flying bird.. that is blue bird for you. they have another sister concern called Pusaka...but this is better one.

Ambassador mall is walkable distance from Bestwestern and around 10000 rupiah if travelling by taxi. you can buy new sim from this mall.

Bukit tinggi - lesser known place near Kuala lumpur

One of the lesser known attractions near kuala lumpur is Bukit tinggi.
located around 50 kms from KL, bukit tinggi is a bustling small town hill village, filled with activities and tourists. Once you paid and entered, you will be able to access to the three main attractions in Bukit Tinggi. They are named the Rabbit Farms, Japanese Village and of course, Colmar Tropicale.

My friend and family suggested this place and we started early in the morning and reached there by 11 am.

the first visit was ofcourse the japanese gardens.

 the small water falls at the japanese gardens

some maintanence work going on at bukit tinggi

the fish park

 The entrance to the colmar tropical with french architecture designs.

 

the fountain inside the colmar

 

the picturesque colmar

 the childrens play house

 

the clock tower

 the horse-sculpture is definitely striking enough to attract the attention of most visitors at any time and day

 Colmar Tropicale, a French-themed village and resort inspired by the old town of Colmar in Alsace, France, which is known to be one of the most beautiful city in Europe.

Although we love the place very much, we were not interested to book ourselves a room and spend a night at Colmar Tropicale. It was mainly because we found that the cheapest room, which would cost about RM 250 per night was a bit overpriced.

from morning to evening thats bukit tinggi for you. nothing more than that!!

morib gold coast resort

My friend and family took me to the morib beach resort. certainly not to stay but just to enjoy the water park and have fun in the beach. it is about an hour and a half from kuala lumpur city, located at kuala langat near selangor.

 

the beach and the resort. you can see just puddles of water here and there .. this was  morning time..the sea was far couldnt see any water.:P

the crabs and the holes

the water slowly rising as the sun sets down

my friend evan posing as the water rises to foot level

 

selfie?

 

the water theme park good for kids..but a timepass for adults.

the restaurant located a few metres from the resort.

i have heard lot of negative reviews of this resort. probably might be true as it is not promoted as a tourist destination. mainly for the locals here. i dint stay here..came by morning left at 6 pm. just had fun in the water park and the beaches..beaches are not good to relax as such..

dont expect more. nothing much to do here..but i would recommend for travellers who wuld like to spend some hours here
just enjoy the plain ground in  the morning and see the sea rise up ..tat is worth a sight :P

PASSPORT TO MALAYSIA # KUALA LUMPUR

Budget travel at its best- that is Malaysia for you.
After Cambodia, my favorite destination is Malaysia.  The country has everything and lots to offer. From big cities to beaches this south East Asian country is truly Asia: P

I have been to Malaysia may be around 8 times and every single visit I enjoyed a lot. I travelled via agencies, via agoda, via just surfing, friends invitation... you get to see lot s of new places once you travel on your own. Malaysia is not just twin towers or genting highlands; there are more places to see if you have time.

I boarded my flight from Kochi, the only budget one to KL - # Airasia! and we landed at the terminal KLIA 2.

 (My prayers and condolences to all. Flight qz8501).

The new terminal is just awesome. With the entire latest infrastructure, shops and what not. I have posted some pic in the Cambodian blog. Ok after immigration you can take a taxi. There are taxi counters where you pay 1 ringgit and book the cab. You can hand over the cash to driver once you reach the destination. Of course the meter would be working. But not the same case if it is around midnight. I was ripped off...a 100 ringitt!!1 meter showed 60 ringgit and he demanded 100 and I gave in.

 There are buses and trains too...another option but you have to wait and they dont get you to the door of your hotel. :)

V la park...that was my hotel...buget: p 140 ringitt for 3 bed and break fast too... Location bukit bintang - heart of KL.

just fantastic.. with windows opening to the busy street full of restuarants and pubs.

this trip was with my friends.so i preferred this hotel. and i would recommend this to solo travellers and people who doesnt mind the noise..coz this is a busy street at night:P

PASSPORT TO CAMBODIA - phnom penh city

the royal palace

The palace has always been a popular tourist attraction in Phnom Penh. Visitors are able to wander around the Silver Pagoda compound and the central compound containing the Throne Hall and Chan Chhaya Pavilion. The King's living area, which actually takes up half of the total palace ground area, including Khemarin Palace, Villa Kantha Bopha, Serey Mongkol Pavilion, royal gardens, and a number of other buildings and pavilions, is closed to the public.

 the palace.

 palace exterior

 

silver pagoda

 a trickshaw driver taking a break

 

 

national museum

 

finally we say goodbye to cambodia. here seen with rith and his car that took care of us the whole trip.

cambodia is a place which would haunt you in your dreams and i hope i make a trip next time setting new destinations near the beach side and more temples.

so the real budget for the whole trip.( for ME)

flight tickets from kochi - kl -siemreap - phnompenh -kl - kochi - 283$

accomodation and breakfast 5n 6d - 48$

travel in cambodia - 60$

lunch/dinner/drinks etc - 72$

tickets/tips -60$

thats it folks..CAMBODIA....see ya next time with another destination!!

for any queries contact me :P

surajgnair@gmail.com

The killing fields Choeung Ek

"Pol Pot  and many other founders of the Khmer Rouge  were well-educated students who had lived in France . In 1968, they formed the Khmer Rouge  On April 17, 1975, two years after the U.S. pulled out of Vietnam, Phnom Penh fell to Khmer Rouge troops and U.S.-supported government forces surrendered"

after visiting the genocide museum, rith our cab driver took us to the killing fields of choeung ek which is one among many of those in cambodia..but the most famous one.

 the entrance to the killing fields..

 khmer children playing around.

 at  the main building.

Those being killed were often hit over the head with clubs in a bid to save bullets. there is a audio guided tour  which  gives you in depth knowledge about the killings been done here.

the skulls in cambodia exhibited in glass shelves.

 the bands -lucky bands or bhudist bands tied over the mass grave by visiting tourists.

 the mass grave where people were killed and buried

the tree where they killed small children by beating them against this tree.

the whole trip would give you a chill down your spine with the audio humming in your ears. we could feel innocent men, women and children crying for help, with pain, been killed.

moving on i remembered the bhudist prayer and recited it before leaving this so called killing field.

"Let us pray that all living beings realize that they are all brothers and sisters, all nourished from the same source of life"

Genocide Museum - Tol seung prison

the first thing we did after having break fast was to head to tol seung prison. we can hire a guide who will give us an idea, i mean pretty good info on the khmr regime and the torture that the people underwent in this prison - once a high school.

the high school

i would suggest you people to hire a guide, no fixed charge. you can give what ever you want at the end of the tour.
tickets are around 4 dollars . there are 14 tombstones outside the school in respect of the last 14 people who died there.they were found dead when the vietnam and cambodian army took over phnom penh. they are unknown people who as per our guide where the soldiers of Polpot whom he killed accusing of double crossing.

 this symbol can be seen on all doors. it says dont laugh..sounds funny...no one would leave  this compound with a smile..if you are human you will shed a drop of tear in this school of torture.

 the 10 rules the prisoners had to follow.

the last 14 victims who were found and buried here.

photos of all victims are show cased here. polpot had a photographer just for photographing his victims.around 17000 photos are here in this gallery. men,women children all of cambodian, vietnam, indian, pakistani and western orgins. there were some tourists too who were not spared..

a close up of a woman prisoner. it is assumed that this lady might be a khmer rouge cadre as her hair is cut short. the women soldiers had thier hair shortned. later she might have been accused of doublecrossing or whatever and tortured .

the torturing bed. here the prisoner was tied and tortured till he admited that he was CIA spy. the men who tortured were also in fear that if the prisoner dint admit he was the spy they would be in the torture bed. that was the way polpot administrated . his agenda was 'better to kill an innocent than let a guilty person go free'.

all the prisoners friends, his relatives were searched down and killed.

a torturing method drawn by Van nath - a survivor . van nath died in 2010.

 with Chum mey the oldest survivor of the remaining 3. his book is for sale for 10 dollars. he gets a small amount as pension from the government. he sits here all the day and goes back home..this is been his routine for the past 12 years.

Imtiaz with Bou meng one of the 3 survivors.

dont visit this place as if you are on a picnic. this place demands respect and much more than that. we have only heard of hitler, mao, stalin who have killed millions but such a place exsists in south east asia and our generation should know about the killing happened during 1977 - 80.