Twenty- five Seven

Malaysian Interlude

November 23, 2014
So my trip to Malaysia was not only a much needed break for me but an eye opener in more ways than one.

To begin with I realised the power of Mr. Modis 1.25 billion Indians and how they are constantly on the move.

Honestly in the rarefied atmosphere of SOBO one is quite ignorant of the number of Indians who travel by air and how their profile has changed. Gone are the days when one spotted well suited travellers at the airport being sent off by beaming or anxious relatives.Today’s airport was teeming with passengers who trooped in unattended confidently waving goodbye to those coming to see them off at the main entrance of T2, Mumbai’s new International Airport even if they were first time travellers.

I had never before attended a sponsored trip so I was quite excited to be part of a contingent that was being shown the best of Malaysia by Tourism Malaysia. My co-travelers consisted of main stream journalists Vishnu who was representing the Navbharat times, Swati who was representing Pudhari and Sudipta who specialised in hospitality and travel at the Indian Express. Beinu who is the editor of an e-commerce website apnamoney.com is also a blogger. Our Team was led by Deepa who worked with Beehive, the PR agency for Tourism Malaysia.

The flight

Since our trip was sponsored by Tourism Malaysia it was natural that we travel by their national carrier Malaysia Airlines and it was equally natural that my friends and family were apprehensive about my trip given the tragic incidents that Malaysia Airlines had to face this year. However, we all know that lightening never strikes twice !

Our flight was uneventful and smooth and we landed in Kuala Lumpur early in the morning just after sunrise.

The airport

KLIA 2 is huge and we had to take an aerotrain from one terminal to the next where we had to clear immigration and collect our baggage.

As soon as we stepped out, we were welcomed by our guide Jeevan who sported a cheery Batik shirt and a wide welcoming smile.

He helped us with our SIM cards for those wanted to remain connected with home. Having had the terrible experience of being billed for a humoungous amount the last time I travelled overseas, I didn’t want to activate my International roaming but since I didn’t need to be connected with anyone at home at all times, I didn’t go for the DIGI SIM card that everyone bought. Sudipta, the seasoned traveller infact, told me that if we get free WiFi, there is no need to buy a local SIM as one can connect with What’sApp and email. Thanks Sudipta for this tip! The others bought a card for RM50 that helped them call home and which they could top up easily at any SIM card outlet.

KLIA 2 is a huge airport that is clean and easy to move around in thanks to the excellent signage. Taking every comfort of the passenger into account, the airport has travellators which make the long walk seem short and lots of toilets at regular intervals. There is also a Tourism Malaysia counter near the exit.

Getting to the city centre

Since Jeevan had a van waiting for us, we didn’t need to look for taxis to take us to the city centre as the airport is located an hour away from KL.

However, taxis and buses are aplenty but the easy and fastest way to travel , especially if you are more adventurous or better travelled, you could always go for the KL Express, for a half hour ride into town.
Duration & Fare

KL Sentral to KLIA – 28 minutes, RM35.00

KL Sentral to KLIA2 – 33 minutes, RM35.00

KLIA to KLIA2 – 3 minutes, RM2.00
The moment we got into the van, Jeevan began his traditional welcome which we were to hear many times that week :

Tuan Tuan and Puan Puan Selamat Detang
Malaysian Interlude – Here I come!

November 11, 2014

I’m off to the shop
With a skip and a hop
To buy a balloon
That won’t go pop.

I wonder how many of you remember this childhood rhyme?

Well I was reminded of it this morning because I am off to the shops not with a skip and a hop but on a big Malaysian Airlines plane come tomorrow night.

Yes! Finally the much awaited Malaysia Trip that I’d won through Blogadda’s MalaysiaJao contest is coming through. And the Year End Sale is the highlight of the trip that I’ll be on for the next few days.

Follow this blog for tips on what to see, where to shop, where to eat and what to not do in KL, Melaka and Johor Baru and a blow by blow account of this trip of a life time.

Thanks Blogadda and Malaysian Tourism for making this happen!

Pre-Trip

Ever since Tulika of Beehive told me about the Malaysia Trip, I was excited but was keeping my fingers crossed and my lips sealed till the trip actually came through.

Well, now I just have to let the whole world know that finally I’m going for a holiday to Malaysia a country I had visited almost thirty years ago and which will undoubtedly be a trip of a life time.

To start with, we were invited to a brief orientation by the Malaysian Tourism office at Mumbai where I met my co-travellers for the first time. They seem to be a pleasant bunch of women, some seasoned travellers and some not, but all enthusiastic to be going for the trip.

Life is always a learning experience and the first thing I learnt even before this trip was how to get a business card in under an hour!

Considering that it sometimes takes me all of an hour to just go down 500 m in a car in peak traffic, I was simply amazed that I could get 96 cards right from designing to printing in just an hour! Amazing….of course this is all thanks to DTP, Corel and the numerous Xerox shops that are dotting our commercial hubs.

The Malaysian Tourism Office in Jolly Maker Tower 2 at Nariman Point had its access road all dug up, and the nearby Xerox shops had stopped printing instantly unless they had the artwork approved. So they sent me along to ASIATIC opposite Churchgate station where I could manage to get my cards designed and printed there and then!

Yipee! Malaysia here I come.
On repairing a house.

November 9, 2014

It all started with a lock. A sticky lock that wouldn’t open and which resulted in it being broken.

That officially marked the beginning of a year of workmen crawling in and out of our house.

It was in March last year when we welcomed our new grandchild into the world and into our home that the scaffolding went up in the building. And since then we’ve had 100 odd men crawling all over the property. Brought on the job from Orissa, the men spoke a strange dialect which none of us could understand and often we resented their intrusion into our space. We’ve had to endure the inconvenience of just one lift while the second was reserved for them to use for transporting material and men.

Often we resented the noise they made, banging in the afternoon or transporting stuff at odd times in the day . Sometimes we’d find them chattering away like monkeys on platforms outside our flats or occasionally they’d break out into song, melodies we’d never heard of in sweet voices that contrasted with their rough and wild looks. I often felt sorry for these men who had left their homes in far off villages. They were young, some too young to be working at such risky jobs but they were untutored and had no better option than to wear a hard hat and chip away outside a tall building all through the day.

What did they think of us as they peeped into our homes? Will they return to their villages and families? Or will they remain just faceless people, part of a workforce always on the move?

With the external work done, for many of us it was time to see to internal issues as well a task made difficult with two octogenarians and a new born part of the household. But we did it all through the year taking a month for each job with a break in between . So we finished repairing the locks, replacing the doors and polishing the woodwork to a rich nutty brown. Then we replaced the old wiring to the safer copper option. With the walls ripped up to fix the wiring, our next job was to get the paint done. And now finally last week the upholsterers came in and the house is finally back to normal with the last table varnished and the floors gleaming clean.

Maintaining a house is a lot of hard work. Regular cleaning, replacing, repairing, odd jobs tht pile up simply because we keep putting it off till finally one day the sticky lock breaks and you have to address the paint peeling on the walls.