Experience of a life time

How can I describe my recent trip to Malaysia ? Words fail me. It was the experience of a life time in many sense. Let me take you through my journey day by day. It is one long post though. Get ready for it.

Day 1: Worked from home in the morning and started off to Kuantan in the afternoon. Landed in KN around 6.45. Had our dinner at Megha Curry House and checked in at Hyatt. My wife fell in love with Kuantan the minute she landed there.

Day 2: A day at office with a full day meeting. It was full of fun and action. In the evening Lawrence, our saviour in Malaysia took care of us.

Day 3:One more day at the office with Lawrence and me going around for a short tour to the nearby industrial area Gebeng. I was surprised to see the major MNCs setting up their plant in that area. BASF, BP were some of the biggies who had their plants in that area in Kuantan. Evening we had a tour of Kuantan when we visited the Ganpathy temple there.

Day 4: The real action starts now. The work at Kuantan was done and we started off for our trip to Langkawi. We came to KL and from there we got an Air Asia flight from the LCCT Terminal to Langkawi. Shuttle buses are available from the KL airport to reach the LCCT. The ride takes around 15-20 min. Beware of the customer service officers inside the KLIA who will recommend you to take the taxis. Dont take those unless you have less than 45 min to catch your flight from the LCCT. You can definitely save yourself the taxi fare as the bus costs just 1.5 RM per person. We ended up boarding the AK1307 to Langkawi. Man! I was impressed with what I saw. The Air Asia flights are so clean. The airline follows free seating and it is just left to the passengers to choose their seats. Food and drinks are sold at a nominal rate inside the aircraft. We ended up consuming the Veg noodles pack. I will definitely give Air Asia a thumbs-up for the service they offer at economical prices. They are true to their motto "Now Everyone can fly".

When we were getting ready for landing, I could see the islands of Langkawi from the air. It was a beautiful sight. I was impressed by the small & beautiful airport. Taxis are regulated with standard rates for any destination within the island. If you have your driving license you can rent a car or bike for your stay in the island. We took a taxi and landed in our Tanjung Sanctuary resort. Though the resort was not new, it had a different feel. Ours was a separate cottage/room facing the sea. It was well maintained and it had its own private beach. We arranged for the island hopping tour the next day with the Hotel authorities.

Later that day, we ventured out for the cable car in Langkawi. We had to wait 45 minutes to get into the car and it was really hot that day. We were cursing our luck but later realised the cable car ride was worth the wait. We went as far as 850 m above the sea level. The highlight of this ride was the curved suspension bridge connecting two mountains (this was the same bridge where the climax of Don-II was shot). This bridge was a sheer testimony for engineering brilliance. Words fail me to describe the feeling I felt. The view from that bridge .. oh my god...NBS folks, we should have gone together to this place. Alas we missed this. But never mind, there is always a next opportunity.

After this ride, we went to Pantai Cenang for some Indian food. On completion of the early dinner we went around the beach. There were a group of tourists from the middle east trying out parasailing. I then realised that this was the moment I had been longing for. I just could not stop myself and went ahead in paying 80RM for that 3 minutes of excitement. Wow.......wow... I just cant believe myself doing this. The feeling was undescribable. You just need to experience it yourself. The takeoff was quite smooth and the minutes I was on the sky were some of the finest. The landing was quite shabby though as I landed in the sea :P. But it did not matter.

Day 5: The next day we went for the island Hopping tour. The weather was really bad in the morning with heavy showers. The boat ride was really rough till we got to the first island (Dayang). The weather was great. We ended up scanning that island and I even tried swimming in the Lake. We hopped two more islands and came back. In the afternoon we went for the Underwater world. The surprise package was the Penguins. Not that great if you had seen the same in Singapore. In the evening, we roamed the private beach of the hotel. Enjoyed every moment of it.

Day 6: We realised that we had missed Eagle feeding, Snorkling and loads of activities when we had to leave. But we did not have time and left with a heavy heart. We left Langkawi and landed in KL around 2.30 PM.

How was it so far ? Bored.. Let us see some real action....

When we showed our passport to get our boarding passes at the SQ counter, I did not realise what was there in the offing for us. My wife's Multiple entry visa was valid till 1 June 2007. But she first entered Singapore with this visa on the 13th of May. When she entered SG, her passport got a stamp, that from the date of entry i.e. 13th May she can enter and remain in Singapore for the next 30 days. I assumed (yes I did make Ass of myself) that this is enough for her to return to Singapore as we were catching our flight on the 3rd of June. The SQ officer said that my assumption was incorrect and promptly rejected issuing the boarding pass for her. I was furious at him as I thought he was trying to bully us. But I did not have a chance as it was a Sunday and the Singapore High Commission was closed in KL. So with the help of our saviour friend Lawrence, I booked a Hotel in KL for our stay. It was Hotel Vistana in Titivangsa. Quite a nice hotel. Since it was the peak season, the rates were around 230RM. On Sunday evening it was flooding in KL literally. It was raining like hell and in spite of that, we went around in the LRT and had sumptuous Indian dinner at Masjid Jamek.

Day 7: Monday was the make or break day. We went to the High Commission and the officer ruled out all our claims. We just had to take a new Visa. We needed photographs, photocopies of important documents. To our surprise, there were some Desi folks, who operated a Photocopying shop in a car and they even had a makeshift studio to take Polaroid photos too. Thank God ! We finally applied for my wife's Visa. There was a confusion in this too. (My wife's DP (Dependent Pass) was approved. It was mentioned in the In Principle Approval letter that a single entry visa has been endorsed for her in that document itself. The Officer at the High Commission said that document will serve the purpose of the Visa iff it was submitted in Original at the Immigration Checkpoint, whereas I had only the scanned copy of the same. The Singaporean consultant with whom I liaise with said it does not matter and the scanned copy itself served the purpose of the Visa. It made sense to me to believe the officer in the High Commission than the consultant in Singapore and I went ahead applying for her Visa).

We went to the Batu Caves in the evening, where we prayed at the temple of Lord Subramanya. The caves were a treat to watch. Anybody planning a visit to KL, I would say this is a must visit. It was heartening to see people from all religions making a visit to this cave temple. The caves are a beauty. The formation and their shape were just unbelievable. I was blessed that I visited this place.

Day 7: We went around 10 AM in the morning to the embassy and to our relief, the Visa was ready. We grabbed it with both hands and started off for our journey to Singapore back. When we landed in Singapore (we had a hassle at the hands of SQ folks once again in the airport), it was such a big relief!

What a week it had been ! I had gone through all the emotions in this one week. But I was really happy at myself and my wife with the way we handled all these issues. We never lost our cool. We were disturbed, we very sad. But we never let stress take over. That was my dear friend, helped us to think clearly, identify the main issue, analyse various alternatives and finally choosing the best one ! (hee hee I am an MBA:P).