Linchakin: Malaysia

Day 5 (28/9/2014): Kuala Lumpur

Link to other posts for this trip:

Day 1 & 2 Singapore to KL, KL to Penang
Day 3 Penang

Day 4 Penang

Day 5 & 6 KL, KL to Singapore

(Itinerary for this day)

0540 Arrival at KL Sentral station
0600 Checked in at hotel, and rested in the room.
1200-1215 Took taxi from hotel to Mid Valley Megamall
1215-1645 Lunch and Shopping at Mid Valley Megamall
1645-1700 Took taxi back to hotel
1700 onwards, relax at hotel room.

Even though I was hoping that our train will arrive at KL Sentral station late (because arriving at 0540am would be way too early for attractions/shops to be opened), I was surprised that the train actually arrived pretty much on schedule at KL Sentral station.

So, even though our hotel for the night (Aloft hotel) is conveniently located just opposite KL Sentral station, but with my past experiences with hotels is that most hotels usually don't allow check in that early.

Therefore, we were pleasantly surprised that we were able to check-in to our hotel room at around 6plus in the morning, even though it was a slightly cheaper room on a lower floor. By then, both of us were pretty tired due to not having a good sleep from the overnight train ride, so I happily agreed to the "downgrade" to a lower floor room (even though the room size is the same) in order for us to be able to immediately check-in as opposed to waiting for an available room located on a higher floor.

Mother-in-law loved the room, since the room was pretty spacious and the beds were really comfy.

I volunteered to go out and buy some breakfast back while she takes a shower.

Since it was only 6am plus, so only McDonald's was opened at KL Sentral station (since I assumed that the shops at NU Sentral shopping mall would still be closed) and that's what I got for our breakfast.

Had a relaxing time eating breakfast while watching tv in our room, and then we subsequently dozed off for a nap. lol. Even though she woke up around 10am, but she very thoughtfully let me continued to sleep since I was sleeping really soundly. It was nearly 12noon by the time I finally woke up.

I hurriedly went to change, and we head out to catch a short 10mins cab ride to Midvalley megamall to do some shopping as well has have our lunch.

First stop, lunch. Since mother-in-law didn't had any preference (and she knows I'm the fussy eater), so she let me choose where to eat. I chose Thai food. Had a nice and not too expensive Thai meal at a Thai cuisine restaurant at Midvalley megamall.

After a couple hours of shopping where I finally found a bag for myself as well as some souvenirs for my hubby and sister-in-law, we decided to head back to the hotel since we had already gotten our fill of shopping and eating for this trip already. KL was more of a stop for us to take a break rather than shopping and exploring.

So it was early evening when we took a cab back to our hotel. Bought some dinner from NU Sentral shopping mall back to our hotel room to eat, and then called it a night.

Day 6 (29/9/2014): Kuala Lumpur to Singapore

(Itinerary for this day)
1200-1300 Lunched at NU Sentral.
1300-1400 Collected our luggage, went to buy some snacks and lunch for the train ride.
1445 Train departed from KL Sentral station
Around 1600 Train stopped for nearly 4hrs due to engine problems.
Around 1950 Train resumed.
Around 0115 Arrival at Singapore's Woodlands checkpoint railway station (originally supposed to arrive around 9pm plus)

Had a good sleep, and woke up late morning to have early lunch at 1 of the restaurants at NU Sentral. Since I didn't really enjoyed the food, so I won't blog much about it.

After lunch, we went back to the hotel to collect our luggage and buy some snacks and food for our long train ride back to Singapore.

This train which we took was EXTREMELY COLD. Kinda like the one which we took from KL Sentral to Butterworth a couple days ago. My mother-in-law used 1 of the sofa seat covers which she bought in Penang to cover my arms while I was asleep as it looked like I was shivering (and I was wearing a cardigan as well!).

The premier seats carriage which I was in. Seems to be a newer one than the other Premier carriage on the same train.

My seat. The legroom was extremely spacious. My legs nearly couldn't reach the foot rests in front.

The other Premier carriage. Seems to be an older version since the seats looked worn. I think it is probably depends on luck as to whether your cabin is a new or old version. I wasn't able to see any indication of it when making my booking.

The regular (and cheaper) seats. Seems pretty comfy too.

toilets.

About 1 and half hours into the train journey (around 4pm), the train stopped. No one seems to know what's going on, as the train just stopped in the middle of nowhere. It was more than 1hr later then we heard from some staff that there was some issues with the engine, so they are waiting for another one to be sent from KL.

Stopped for 4hrs in the middle of nowhere while waiting for anther engine to be sent from KL.

Therefore, it was about 4hrs later at around 1950hr when the train finally started to move again.

In the end, it was about 1:15am when we arrived at Singapore, when we should have arrived around 9pm. That's a 4hrs delay.

All in all, had an enjoyable trip with my mother-in-law

. Link to other posts for this trip:

Day 1 & 2 Singapore to KL, KL to Penang
Day 3 Penang

Day 4 Penang

Day 5 & 6 KL, KL to Singapore

Day 3 (26/9/2014): Singapore to KL

Link to other posts for this trip:

Day 1 & 2 Singapore to KL, KL to Penang
Day 3 Penang

Day 4 Penang

Day 5 & 6 KL, KL to Singapore

(Itinerary for this day)

1000-1045 Had breakfast of Char Kway Teow (again) from the stall opposite hotel.
1100-1215 Mother-in-law had massage for her back
1230-1330 Visited Camera Museum
1400-1445 Had lunch at 1 of the coffeeshop along Jalan Penang
1445-1545 Explored Georgetown on foot.
1600-1730 Enjoyed air-con at Prangin Shopping mall
1730-1735 Took a taxi to Red Garden Food Center for dinner
1845-1900 Walked back to our hotel.

It's morning, finally I was able to take a clearer look at the hotel's surroundings since it was nearly midnight when we checked in the previous night.

The main reason I booked this hotel is because I wanted a stay at 1 of the restored shophouses instead of a regular hotel. There are many such hotels in Georgetown and eventually I chose to stay with Ren I Tang since it was located within Georgetown and somewhat near to the ferry terminal (about 10mins walk).

Here are some photos of the hotel's common areas.

Take the stairs to go up to our rooms. There is no elevators since it's an old building.

Hotel's free breakfast. But since we are already in Penang, I'd rather eat street food than cereals and bread for breakfast.

We were able to order from the Char Koay Teow stall opposite our hotel and request for them to deliver it to our hotel so we could eat at 1 of the tables as seen here. Plus, we took advantage of the free hot beverages which the hotel provide in the morning to go with our Char Koay Teow breakfast :) Of course, we then took our empty plates to return to the stall after we are done eating.

The Char Koay Teow Stall opposite our hotel

Char Koay Teow for breakfast. Pretty nice.

Our hotel (Ren I Tang) exterior

Since my mother-in-law has some issues with her back, so we went in search for a massage for her.

So after her 1hr massage, we headed out to walk around Georgetown to explore the area.

This place is really a lovely place for people who are keen in Photography to visit, because there are many street art, and old and retro buildings to take photos of. There's also a camera museum within Georgetown too!

Many street art scattered around Georgetown

Some random shophouse's entrance

1 of the many temples

Old buildings

After a short 10-15mins walk from our hotel, we arrived at the Camera Museum.

Camera museum's exterior

The shop within Camera museum

Camera Museum's display area. You'd have to pay admission fees to go up to this area.

Little cafe at Camera museum

There's a Cat cafe located just next to camera museum for those keen on cats.

Since it was already nearly 2pm, so we went in search of some coffeeshop to have our lunch.

Had our lunch here, and 1 of the coffeeshops along Jalan Penang (no, not the famous Joo Hooi, that's for the next day).

Char Koay Teow for me (again). You could probably tell my now what is my fav food. :)

Mother-in-law had this...think it's some sort of hor fun.

After lunch, we came across this shop selling herbs, and groceries...and I bought many packets of Hokkien Mee paste and instant Hokkien Mee noodles. Penang's Hokkien Mee is kinda like our Singapore's Prawn Noodles Soup...just much more flavourful and spicy.

What I bought.

Mother-in-law bought a set of these sofa covers for the seats. She says it is much cheaper here than what she could get in Singapore.

By now, we were both hot and sweaty and in desperate need for some air-con...and so we walked towards Prangin Shopping mall to spend the next hour (or 2) to cool down and relax.

Prangin Mall

Both of us loved the snow ice from 1 of the restaurant so much that we returned back again the next day.

Time to head out for dinner. For dinner, I planned to go to Red Garden food center along Jalan Penang since there are many different stalls there. It is also located just next to the Blue Mansion (which we didn't visit).