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G-BYGB

Destination : Kuala Lumpur

Date of Journey : 14th December, 2011

Airline : Malaysian Airlines

Flight no. : MH 193/192

Acft : B737-800

3 months ago, I had made up my mind to travel to some cool tourist destination in the Asia Pacific region.Though there are lot of places in India, I wanted to try something new.So I jotted down in a notepad the lists of prominent tourist destinations. They included Singapore, Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.

Finally, I decided to travel to Kuala Lumpur after taking into consideration, the number of days I wanted to spend, the cost factor, the important places to visit in that regon and I felt that was the ideal place to destress myself from hectic work.

Another reason was it was an unfinished trip. Why? Coz in December, 2003 I had a chance to travel to this place for the first time in my life. But then it was only for a day. I did'nt get an opportunity to tour that place.

So the day had finally arrived.That is 13th December, 2011. On Tuesday, wintry night, I left home at around 8 pm to BIAL. My parents also came to send me off. So I reached the airport 3 hrs prior to my departure to KUL. I checked-in immediately and got the boarding pass. I always like to get the window seat. So I got the seat no. 22 F on Y class.

In my last trip, I flew in A330-300, which is my favourite aircraft. But this time, MH had downgraded to B737-800. So I had to be contended with that.

After check-in, I went to the immigration counter. Since this was my first international trip from BIAL, I was hoping that the customs and immigration would not be constrained as it was in HAL. My immigration took only 15 mins. I also wanted to declare my belongings as I did not want to get into trouble once I returned to BLR. But then the customs official told me that I need to do this formalities, if my valuables were more than Rs.25 K.

Then I completed the security check. So I had another 2 hrs at my dispospal and wandered around the terminal.There were duty free shops for liquor, chocholets, books and other premium foreign products. I visited on of the stores and bought some books to read.There was also the Kingfisher lounge.

My flight was to depart from gate 9. Meanwhile, SQ was getting ready to depart from gate 13. It was a B777-200. At that point of time most of the domestic flights were on its return league, before they were parked at a remote bay. As far as Kingfisher Airlines was concerned, there was an A320 parked and there were not any departures or arrivals from the time I reached the airport at 9:30pm.I felt that it was a tough road ahead for this airline to recover.

There were other International carriers like Bangkok airways, TG and Air China yet to arrive.

They announced the boarding call for MH 193. I boarded the aircraft and sat down with plenty of space for my legs. Now most of you might have come across Y-Class having less leg room space as compared to the J- Class configuration. But in this flight MH had it more comfortable for the Y class passengers.

At 12:20 AM our flight left the terminal and taxied to runway 27 for the departure.The inflight crew consisted of 3 Malay nationals and 1 female Indin crew member.

Now, it is becoming a trend for all the cabin crews of both domestic and international airlines to announce in the local languages. Similarly, I have seen the crew of Indian origin wearing a saree. The best example is British Airways. It is a wonderful marketing strategy to localize with a particular market.

So at 12:30 am our flight departed. The IFE was good. They had different channels for adults and kids. I watched a movie starring Matt Daemon. Later, I listened to songs.As we were cruising at 35K feet above sea level, at 2 AM IST, the crew served us meal. I opted for veg. Initially, I was not inclined to have any meal at such a odd time. But then I wanted try them. Smile

The food was ok. They served bun, rice, a veg roll and a Indian gravy.

After the meal, I still listened to the music. We still had an hour and a half left before we touched down. My eyes was aching, so I dozed off. At around 6:20 am Malaysian time, we began to descend. The cabin crew took back the head phone and they submitted the Malaysian immigration form. The flight touched down at 6:40 am, 10 minutes ahead of scheduled arrival at 7:00 am. It was a good service.

Once after the arrival, I completed the immigration formalities and got the local currency from an exchange counter. Then I hoped on to the KLIA Bus and headed to my hotel.

Day 1 :

My bus had stopped at a central bus stand which was 10 kms from Grand Seasons Hotel, were I booked my room. So I took a local taxi and reached the hotel at 8:30 am local time. There was a slight delay in checking into my room. As per the hotel norms in Malaysia, you are supposed to check-in only at 12:45 pm.

But then, I had arrived early and the receptionist also said that my room will be cleared only at 3 pm because of the late check-out of another guest.

Finally, at 12 pm I heard the good news and checked in to the room. I was so happy as the view from my room was good. It was opposite to the Petronas twin towers and other beautiful sky-skrapers.The hotel was good as they had 4 complimentry breakfast coupon and one for the bar shop. As I was exhausted that day, I decided to take rest as I did not sleep well for 10 hours.

Note: For couple of days, it was raining heavily in KUL. As a result I was little disappointed Sad

as I did not get an opportunity to visit any place on the day of arrival.

Day 2:

I started my tour in the morning with 1 st stop to the iconic Petronas Tower. I had book the ticket for evening. So in the mean time, I did window shopping in the mall for 3 hrs. There was a KLCC Aquaria behind the tower.I went there and enjoyed the wonderful view of varities of marine species. Then I walked to the KL tower which was near to the Petronas tower. I still had time before I had to return to the tower at 5:15 pm when the next batch of visitors were allowed inside the twin towers. I could'nt go to the observation center of the KL Tower as I did;nt have enough time. So I was contended in watching it from outside.

Then I went to the twin tower and enjoyed the wonderful view of the city from the 83rd floor. Took lot of snaps. Afterwards, I headed back to the hotel.

Day 3 :

My next stop was to the Bathu caves. It had a local Indian flavour. It is one of the famous Hindu temple of Lord Muruga. After my prayer and spending time of 2 hours there, I headed to the Negara Zoo. It was a 10 Km drive from Bathu Caves. I spent the whole evening there and also attended their Mammal show at 3:30 pm. It was Awesome !!

Day 4 :

I wanted to visit the Genthing Highlands. It was a wonderful place which required a seperate stay for 2 days to complete the entire place. But
then my trip was already fixed for 5 days and I also booked the hotel room. So I went for a conducted tour to genthing highlands at 9:45 am. There were 8 of us, most of them Indian couples and I was traveling alone. So we reached the Genthing Highlands and went on the Cable Car.

Once we reached ther, we all went and did the window shopping and I went to the casino and the game parlour. It was a very crowded place. Then I took a ride on the roller coaster. I could'nt complete the entire place as I had to rush back to tour van as the guide instructed our group to reache there before 4:30pm.Otherwise, I had to arrange my own transportation.

Day 5:

As it was my last day of the trip, I still had to cover few other historical and important locations within the city. So I took another conducted city tour. After a fruitful visit to imprtant locations in KUL, it was time to head back to the airport.

I took the same airport bus and reached KLIA at 3:30 PM. After check-in, I had a quick bite at one of the coffee shop before I started taking snaps of the acfts.

I covered both the terminals. In the International terminals, there were KLM and Cathay Pacific B777-300s at one of the gates. They were getting ready to depart to their respective destinations. Earlier, KLM used to send B744 but now it seems they have down-graded. There were also couple of MH B744s parked there along with EY and EK.

To me KLIA, looked like a shopping mall as it had lots of duty free shopping centers there. After spending sufficient time touring the entire airport, I went back on the airport train to the other terminal were my flight was to depart. During that time, I read a book. The announcement came. I completed the security check and boarded the aircraft at 9:10 pm. It was again a B737-800.

The flight departed on time. On the return flight, they had served tiger beer and wine. I had a glass of wine. The IFE was good. Once again, our flight had arrived 10 minutes ahead of flight schedule.I took my luggage and cleared the Immigration and Customs and headed back home.

Remark: Overall, the trip was satisfactory. The hospitality was good. MH truely stands for Malaysian Hospitality. I enjoyed it. Very Happy

Malaysian Airlines staff were also great and courteous. I would rate them 9/10. It was really refreshing. I was little disappointed that I could'nt spend a little more time at the Genthing Highlands and some of the other historic locations in KUL.

I hope to cover Langkawi and Penang the next time. I still have a year left for my Multiple entry visa to Malaysia to expire.

Hope you guys enjoy reading it. Let me know your thoughts.

Cheers,
Sreenivas.S
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www.flickr.com/G-BYGB photos

jasepl · Member Joined: 26 Jul 2008 Posts: 4257 Location: bund-bay

Nice report, thanks for sharing.

And I found it interesting that they served a meal right after departure, instead of doing a breakfast before arrival?

There was only one meal, right? Or did I miss something?

justbala · Member Joined: 11 Jan 2007 Posts: 1898 Location: Bangalore

Good TR. Glad you enjoyed KL Smile

Pics would have been a gr8 addition.

The Indian national that you had on your flight was he/she Malaysian of Indian origin or an Indian citizen working for MH? MH has a good chunk of Tamil/Punjabi crew who are all Malay nationals.

Do the 738s have PTV and AVOD entertainment?

I havent taken this flight since they downgraded it to a 738. For some reason, everytime I have taken a flight on MH across the Bay, have always encountered some nasty turbulence of the stomach churning kind.

justbala · Member Joined: 11 Jan 2007 Posts: 1898 Location: Bangalore

G-BYGB · Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2012 8:19 am Post subject:

[quote="jasepl"]

The_Goat · Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2012 12:53 pm Post subject:

jasepl · Member Joined: 26 Jul 2008 Posts: 4257 Location: bund-bay

G-BYGB · Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 2:24 pm Post subject:

G-BYGB · Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 3:45 pm Post subject:

I also forgot to mention in my earlier posts that both MH flights were in new liveries.

Petronas Towers

DSC03607 by G-BYGB, on Flickr

Another picture of the famous twin towers taken during the night

DSC03877 by G-BYGB, on Flickr

KL Tower

DSC03692 by G-BYGB, on Flickr

Photos of the beautiful skyscrapers taken from the 83rd floor of Petronas twin towers

DSC03698 by G-BYGB, on Flickr

Another view of the KL Tower

DSC03722 by G-BYGB, on Flickr

DSC03612 by G-BYGB, on Flickr

Bathu Caves

DSC03745 by G-BYGB, on Flickr

DSC03759 by G-BYGB, on Flickr

Negara Zoo

DSC03762 by G-BYGB, on Flickr

There was mamal show organized by the Negara Zoo Authorities at 3:30 pm Malaysian Time. Here is a pic taken during the show.

DSC03770 by G-BYGB, on Flickr

Genthing Highlands

Taken from cable car

DSC03825 by G-BYGB, on Flickr

DSC03853 by G-BYGB, on Flickr

On 18th of December, 2011, the returning date to Bangalore, I reached KLIA early and had plenty of time take pics at the airport.

KLIA Tower

KLIA Tower by G-BYGB, on Flickr

KLM B-777-300 on push back for its return flight to Amsterdam

Untitled by G-BYGB, on Flickr

Untitled by G-BYGB, on Flickr

PH-BVF

Untitled by G-BYGB, on Flickr
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www.flickr.com/G-BYGB photos

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

A very nice report, Sreenivas, thank you! Very vivid descriptions of both the flight, as well as your travels around Kuala Lumpur. Ah - I am editing my remarks, since I guess you uploaded the second installment just as I keyed in my greedy request for pictures, and lots of descriptions to go with it!
Thanks, Sumantra.

G-BYGB · Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 10:42 pm Post subject:

G-BYGB · Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 11:22 pm Post subject:

Gulf Air A330 with the FI logo of Bahrain Gran Prix prepares for another long flight back to Muscat, while CX departs to HKG in the back ground.

DSC04038 by G-BYGB, on Flickr

Etihad Airways A330 REG - A6-EYL

DSC04033 by G-BYGB, on Flickr

DSC04042 by G-BYGB, on Flickr

Firefly.com B737-700 along with MH B737-800 seen at gate D

DSC04049 by G-BYGB, on Flickr

Untitled by G-BYGB, on Flickr

Lots of MH A333s parked at a remote bay before getting ready for night flights to various destinations.

DSC04003 by G-BYGB, on Flickr

MH A330-300 in new livery

Untitled by G-BYGB, on Flickr

CX B777W reg - B-KPW

Untitled by G-BYGB, on Flickr

While I was touring the entire KLIA, I came across these plane models at Terminal 1.

DSC04009 by G-BYGB, on Flickr
_________________
www.flickr.com/G-BYGB photos

abhijith16 · Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 4:57 pm Post subject:

G-BYGB · Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 6:57 pm Post subject: