Country mouse: Malacca, Malaysia, 2006

The problem with Malacca was that we had gone to Ayuthaya the previous year.

Ayuthaya was the ancient capital of Siam. A majestic city with opulent palace grounds and ravaged monastries, carefully preserved for tourists, a day trip from Bangkok.

We gave a similar brief to our travel agent - day trip from KL, mind blowing history. The closest we could come up with was Malacca. So we headed to Malacca looking for another Ayuthaya.

Well, it was a day trip from Kl by bus, as Ayuthaya was from Bangkok. That's where the similarity ended.

No grand palace here. It was billed as a 'historical city' but there were very little attempts to bring alive this history. It struck one more like being an average a small town.

One must admit that there was the cultural diversity Malaysia (Truly Asia) is famous for. We saw a Chinese temple and ambled down the lanes of a Chinese village. A nice peaceful walk down the country but not comparable to the regal grandeur and history one got used to in neighbouring Thailand.

And it was not all about Chinese villages and Buddhist temples. We came across a red coloured church in the town square. But there was no one to tell us anything special about either the town or the Church. And we were with a fairly expensive day tour.

The red theme seemed quite common to Malacca. Later in the day we went up what seemed like an old fort. From there we could look down at the pier of what presumably was the Malaccan Streets. And in the distance were a number a red houses with red roofs. They painted quite a pretty picture.

You would have noticed that a couple of things were left to conjecture in the previous paragraph. That's because the Malaysians did not share the Thai knack of showcasing themselves for tourists. The guides in Malaysia were quite reticent compared to those in Thailand. And we were yet to discover Lonely Planet then.

All in all, Malacca was a nice break from the urban landscapes of KL. Thousand things to see before I die? Perhaps in the late 900s.

Of course, holidays are not just about what a place has to offer. Often memories are built beyond this.

Looking at our photos reminded me of two Oriental ladies who wanted to photograph themselves with Kainaz and me at the town square. And this was before Danny Boyle put us brown skins on the red carpet.

And then there were these guys with pythons to take photos with. Kainaz, who loves snakes, promptly got a picture taken with a yellow python. Then she pulled me against my better judgement to join her and her friend for a pic. I can't say that having the wet, slithery, weight around my neck was a high point of the trip! I am quite proud of my calm smile though.

Traveller's notes:

• Malacca is about a 3-4 hr bus ride from KL


• We went on an organised tour which picked us from the hotel


• We had a Chinese dinner at a restaurant there which was part of the package


• You are better taking a 'Lonely Planet' or equivalent because the tour guides are fairly basic

Kela? KL, Malaysia 2006

Someone had posted a query on facebook recently – “what can I do if I have six hours at KL?”

I must admit that I was a bit stumped by this question despite our trip to Malaysia couple of years back. I went there for a conference. Kainaz joined me after that and we spent a few days at KL followed by Langkawi in 2006.

The truth is that Kl’s left a blank spot in my mind. I think the KLCC Petronas Towers at KL sum it up – steel, chrome, modern, impressive but robotic.

KL isn’t a bad city. Don’t get me wrong. It is clean, has manicured roads, sparkling malls, it has a variety of restaurants and night clubs. The people are friendly and helpful and speak English

I guess we were a bit spoilt by our trip to Bangkok last year.

Bangkok had Sukhomvit which was very lively and full of character. KL’s Golden Triangle was quite empty by 9 PM. Bangkok had the majestic Royal Palace and the Buddha temples for sightseeing. KL’s sightseeing trip consisted of a national ‘museum’ which had stuff from 1960 or so, Merdeka square – a garden at the end of the day - and batik factories. And the guides were quite perfunctory compared to those at Thailand. Bangkok had lovely street shopping which one could do at Sukhumvit, the Sum Lum night market and the Chatuchaak weekend market. The shopping at KL was largely at malls. The prices were more expensive than India for the same stuff. Bangkok had Cabbages and Condoms and lovely street food. KL had food courts in malls which shut by 9 and the odd food court. Bangkok had Pat Pong. KL was famous for famous night clubs such as Zousk (?) but apparently that’s open only on certain days of the week. You can go to places such as Ayuthaya, Floating Market, River Kwai from Bangkok. You can only go to Genting if you like gambling or amusement parks or to the comparatively drab ‘historical city’ of Malacca from KL.

I don’t want to make this a KL versus Bangkok thing but the point I am trying to make is that going to KL could be like staying in a five star hotel assuming money’s not an issue. The experience is picture perfect but sterile. It is a place to go to if one wants a break. But it didn’t strike me as a place to go to collect memories.

A bit like the word ‘kela’ in Hindi or ‘kola’ in Bengali, this means banana, and is kid’s slang for 'very ordinary'.

Would love to know if you have a different take on KL

Traveller’s notes:

- avoid going during Ramzan, everything shuts early

- public transport such as the subway does not cover the entire city. So stay close to the Golden Triangle as the city is quiet dead for tourists outside this. We stayed in a hotel which was slightly away to save 10 USD per day. Ended up spending much more on cabs. The Tamil expat cabbies or notorious for not following the meter. So look for Chinese cabbies
- The malls have more variety than in India but everything is more expensive than here. Thailand is cheaper
- Liquor is duty free at Langkawi, so cheaper to buy booze there
- Everyone seemed to have seen Shahrukh Khan during the shooting of Don there!

Disclaimer - this article is not sponsored by the Thai ministry of tourism. The writer is open to offers of Bahts from the same though

Placing the wrong bets - Genting

What do you do at Genting if you don't gamble, if you are not into amusement parks, if you want to go to a hill station. You don't go!

We planned to cover a modern city and a sea resort by going to KL and Langkawi during our trip to Malaysia in 2006. We then added Genting to our itinerary as a day trip as we felt that we would get to go to a hill station too.

This is when our travel agents let us down. This was really sad as they had helped us chart out a lovely tour of Thailand last year. I would have expected them to know that artificial pleasures of malling, amusement parks, casinos are not our scene. They should have known that we are more into history, natural beauty and food. They should have told us not to go to Genting.

The beginning of the journey was fine as we stopped at chocolate 'factory', a tourist trap after our heart for a change. The cable car ride after the two hour drive was fun too.

The coin dropped when we reached Genting. We figured out that it is not a hill station. It is a complex of casino hotels and you are confined to these. We went into the casino to kill some time and came out soon. There was an amusement park which you had to pay to enter which didn't make sense as it was not our scene. We stepped out of the hotel and figured out that you could only go up to the parking lots. There were some pretty gardens there but that's it. And it was fairly chilly too.

So we went back in and spent time in the coffee shop till our time was over and our coach left for KL.

A precious eight hours wasted!

Traveler's notes:

• Genting is about 3 hrs away from KL
• Don't do an an overnight trip unless you are clear that you will be inside the hotel and will frequent the casino
• The amusement park is supposed to be good and would attract those with kids