Singapore (Singapore) - Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
03 July - 06 July 2024
It hasn’t been that long since our last overseas
adventure—Vietnam, October '23 to be exact. But you know how it goes; the
middle months of this year have somehow stretched out like a never-ending
Netflix series. Weeks blending, with early mornings, late nights, juggling the
usual parental duties, all while finishing my fourth degree. Yeah, it’s
a bit much. It’s like life’s pressing the fast-forward button, but you’re stuck
in slow motion. And let's be real, I’m not alone in this. There are probably
millions of parents out there running on empty, fuelled by caffeine and sheer
willpower, all while doing battle with sleep deprivation like it’s their side
hustle.
Inga and I had cooked up the idea for a getaway at the start
of the year. Honestly, this trip to Penang could’ve been anywhere in our
tropical neighbourhood—Fiji, the Philippines, you name it. But in the end, the
battle for our destination was won by the most economical flights that could
whisk us away to sun, sand, and an endless supply of margaritas. So, a big
shoutout to the Hard Rock Hotel Penang! Victory was yours from the start.
Now for the challenges.
It always seems like the weeks leading up to any holiday are
just begging for chaos to strike. But for this trip, the universe really went
all out. It felt like one thing after another, each crisis barely averted, and
there were moments when I thought the only margaritas we’d be sipping would be
from the North Melbourne Guzman y Gomez.
First, we had the inevitable bouts of illness—nothing too
serious, but just enough to threaten our plans. Then, in a classic last-minute
twist, we discovered Aiden’s passport was a month or two past its expiration
date. And when did we find out? Five days before departure. Cue the express
passport scramble, complete with a $450 price tag and a lot of nail-biting.
Just to keep things interesting, I somehow managed to throw
out my back, which left me practically immobile for a few days. Picture me,
laid up like an invalid, right before we were supposed to travel. And because
that wasn’t enough, I had a showdown with the bank the night before we left,
which locked me out of my account. This little saga ended with me rushing into
the bank to prove my identity, a mere two hours before our Scoot flight to
Singapore was scheduled to take off.
Thankfully, with our collective will and wily wits,
we managed to get everything on the straight and narrow, all in time to make
our flight which had is sailing sweetly into the sky just after noon on a
Wednesday.
Budget Airlines
Budget airlines, they are what they are, and all things
considered, they’re not a disaster. Of course you miss in-flight entertainment,
some complimentary drinks and some other small things which aren’t so important
for me to consider enough to make an issue of. The price differential across
three passengers does enough to lower my care factor to something
infinitesimally minimal.
Singapore
On this occasion Singapore was
what ‘we in the game’ know as either an ‘extended transit’ or ‘long transit’,
approximately a day in duration, enough to make use of a hotel room, get a
decent night sleep and have a few drinks. For this stop we decided to bunk down
at the D’Resort Hotel@ Downtown East - https://www.dresort.com.sg/
- and borrowing directly from their website, ‘it’s a resort experience where
you can step into paradise, in one of Singapore’s finest nature inspired, all
inclusive staycation resorts, featuring an integrated Water Park experience
– located just 10 mins from Changi Airport’. How can you go past being 10 mins from
Changi, having a water park on your doorstep AND paying under $200SGD in
Singapore? That made a whole lot of sense to me!
Singapore is a fantastic place
and my prior experience here have always been pleasant but for this long
transit I didn’t think we needed much more than a bed….and a Water Park! Lol
https://www.wildwildwet.com/ - Wild
Wild Wet water park was literally right outside our hotel, making it the
perfect pre-flight adventure after breakfast. With a 5 PM flight out of Changi
to KL and the park opening at 12 PM, we squeezed every drop of fun out of those
2.5 hours. Then it was a mad dash back to the hotel for a quick change before
heading off to the airport, just in time for our flight. These days the ability
for online check-in, ride-hailing apps, contactless check-outs, it all works in
your favour to maximise your time and minimise unnecessary hassle. From memory
we left D’Resort Hotel at about 3:25pm, and we were already cruising through
duty free and being called to board at 4:15pm. Not bad.
Kuala Lumpur
KL remains a bit of a mystery to
me, much like Buenos Aires was during my first visit. I can sense—both
instinctively and intuitively—that there’s so much more to this city that I think
I’d like or find intriguing but each time I’ve been there, I’ve only scratched
the surface. There’s a depth to KL that I haven’t yet tapped into, and I have a
feeling it’s one of those hidden gems of Asia that, once I manage to break
through veneer, will draw me in completely, no questions asked.
Arriving in KL at night is a
treat. The lights of the skyline draw you in like moths to a flame, punctuated
by the almost mythical twin Petronas Towers. Standing brightly and boldly, head
and shoulders above the accompanying monuments to all things capitalism, these
gorgeous towers are something to behold. An iconic structure of not just KL but
Malaysia, which at one time in the early 90’s were identified as the tallest
structures on earth, are incredible structure of architecture &
engineering.
For the next few nights, we made
the Ascot Star KLCC our home. We stayed in a fantastic one-bedroom apartment on
the 25th floor, complete with a direct line of sight to the Petronas Towers—a
breath-taking view in a city full of towering skyscrapers. But the real
highlight was the rooftop pool on their so-called ‘Level 99.’ It felt like a
pool in the sky, an open invitation to take in the dramatic cityscape. We spent
about a couple of hours there immediately after arrival, soaking up the view
and the atmosphere, and somehow, the devilishly cold water that had me
shivering, even though the evening temperature was hovering nearly at the 30
degree mark. Of course, when you have a 5-yr old that’s water addicted then
there’s not much else you can do than ‘Do what he says’ and stay in the
pool to save him from his own ‘dives and bombs’ and shiver yourself senseless
into the evening.
For the remaining part of that
evening, which by now wasn’t very long at all, we made the pilgrimage down to
the Hard Rock Café – Kuala Lumpur.
Why the Hard Rock?
I get asked the question a lot.
What is it about the Hard Rock? Is it the food? Is the music? What’s the inevitable
magnetic pull that you feel when you identify an HRC café in any city?
….this is not a difficult
question for me to answer.
The HRC is a bit like a calling card,
an easy sort of verification that you’ve been somewhere, and you can get the
merchandise to prove it. What’s more, rock music is what I’ve grown up with and
it makes up about 80% of my playlist and about 95% of my live music choices. So
for me, and for us in fact, the music is on point, the memorabilia is kitsch
but still interesting, the food options a good and the drinks are great. Couple
with the fact that the service is usually very good and there are often live music
options at the venues, it makes it all very much ‘right up our alley’.
Our next day was effectively the only
full day we had in KL on this occasion. We
kicked off by taking a walk to the Petronas Towers and then through to KLCC
Park & Garden, such a wonderful oasis in this city of giants. Travel these
days for me is a little about reminiscing and a lot about trying enjoy the
experience through Aidens’ eyes. I’m tacitly aware that all these new memories
are going to shape, influence and be impactful, so I really want to make his
travel experience as fun and as memorable as possible.
Now, from a purely nostalgia
initiated perspective, I dragged Inga and Aiden to the Traders Hotel that front
onto KLCC park and had them come up to the Skybar for an early afternoon drink.
If you haven’t heard the story, then of course you can read about historic events
via this blog right here, https://hdbc2.blogspot.com/2010/04/berserker-httpen.html.
This place holds the ghost of 'Elisher past'—having rang in New Year’s Eve
2009-10 here with old friend Jet Frichot,
I had to some back to the ‘scene of the crime’. So whilst here I needed to show
the both of them where I made that ‘infamous dive’ into the pool whilst in the
earliest moments of 2010 and of course, retell the whole story regarding how daring
it was. Although the reality of it all is very different, time always add the
additional weight of the bold and outlandish within its own storytelling DNA.
Good memories never the less.
That evening we decided to head
down to Jalon Alor https://www.wonderfulmalaysia.com/food/jalan-alor-food-street.htm,
food street. As the website reference says, a ‘hustling, bustling, cacophony of
sights, smells, colours and food’. There are rows upon rows of hawkers stalls
serving up a myriad of delicacies, which makes it difficult not to get enticed
by all of them. Also, that dichotomy of
the new, sleek, capitalistic, urban jungle is nicely offset in this space. There’s
a street buzz of all things local which is as intoxicating as it is fascinating.
We settled in for a wonderful meal of a variety of chosen dishes, all absolutely
flavourful and relatively inexpensive.
Unfortunately this was all we
really go to experience of KL. I know that there’s more in this city, I can
feel it innately without pointing to anything specific that will confirm my suspicion.
I know that we’ll come back and I know that I need much more time here to
discover exactly what’s on offer.
The next day we bid farewell to
the Ascot Star & KL, heading to the domestic airport in order to catch our flight
to the island of Penang.
Thank you for being a great such
a great host.
