The first time I went to Kuala Lumpur was on the end of February 2001. My mother and I were following my father, who went there also for a business trip to attend a conference in Kuala Lumpur. We were quite enjoying our time there. We went to Suria KLCC, the most sophisticated shopping mall in KL, and also went to the Petronas Twin Towers, currently the highest office buildings in the world, which are just above the mall. We also often went to The Mall, a big shopping mall which is just next to the Legend Hotel where we were staying. We also went to the Menara Kuala Lumpur (Kuala Lumpur Tower), and had lunch in a revolving restaurant on top of the tower. And of course, we also took the opportunity to take the light rail train (LRT) system, KL's newest transportation system.

I also have been to Johor Bahru, which is just a stone's throw away from Singapore. I went there several times already. The first time we went there, we took the S-JB express bus from Queen St. bus terminal, near Bugis MRT station. Quite hectic on both checkpoints, we needed to get off the bus to proceed to Singapore immigration, and then re-boarded the bus. Approaching Malaysian immigration, again we needed to get off the bus. We also needed to fill in the Malaysian immigration form. From there, we decided not to catch the bus again, but instead we walked to the city centre, which is not too far from the causeway. We went to Johor Bahru City Square, a new and big shopping mall in Johor Bahru, and quite enjoying our time there, although overall the shopping mall is quite disappointing.

Going back to Singapore is worse. We didn't know how to catch the S-JB express bus there. We didn't want to take the SBS 170 bus, which actually can be boarded in front of the railway station opposite the City Square, because it was not air-conditioned at that time, and very crowded. So we took a cab to Larkin terminal, bought the ticket from the counter and boarded the bus there. Since it was Sunday evening, we faced traffic jam when we reached the city center. Again, we needed to get off the bus while approaching Malaysian immigration, which is actually only a stone's throw away from the JB City Square *sigh*, got our passport stamped and re-boarded the bus. After crossing the causeway, again we would need to get off the bus, went to the Singapore immigration and then get our things scanned by customs. After that, again we needed to re-board the bus to take us to Queen St terminal. Quite hectic, but we quite enjoyed the experience. :)

The second time I went there with my father, we didn't go to the Queen St terminal, instead we took the train to Kranji MRT station, and boarded the SBS 170 bus from the bus stop opposite the Kranji MRT station. The bus was not air-conditioned at that time, so you can imagine how hot was it inside the bus on Singapore's very hot weather. We followed the same procedure when we reached both checkpoints, but luckily my father had already prepared the Malaysian immigration forms and filled them out at home before we went, so we didn't need to fill in the forms again. Once after we cleared the Malaysian immigration and customs, my father decided to take the SBS bus 170 again, and we alight in front of Komtar, just after the City Square. I had chicken nuggets at McDonalds inside the JB City Square, bought some things for my mother from the Tops supermarket in the basement, and then went back to Singapore through the same route. We walked from City Square over the pedestrian bridge, passed the railway station all the way to the immigration checkpoint. After clearing Malaysian immigration, we boarded the SBS 170 bus, cleared Singapore immigration, re-board the SBS 170 bus again, and alight at Kranji MRT station. From there, we took the train back home.

The third time I went there with my father, once after we reach Johor Bahru, we took a cab to the Duty Free Zone, Stulang Laut. We were expecting a very big shopping mall with cheap prices since it's a duty free zone, but what we found is a big disappointment. Although the shopping mall is quite big, but it's empty. And when my father checked the Zon department store inside the shopping mall, the prices are even higher than downtown prices. We had a lunch at the food court inside the shopping mall, and then we took a bus back to Johor Bahru downtown. We decided to window-shop around the Johor Bahru City Square -- which is also quite a crap -- before heading back to Singapore.

I also have been to Melaka (some people called it Malacca). I went there with my father and some of my father's friends. There were two cars and eight people (including myself and my father) going at that time. Both my father and myself was going with Uncle Eric and his wife Natalia in their car. We took the second link via Tuas and Gelang Patah, and joined the North South Expressway towards Melaka.

We stayed at Hotel Orkid (literally means Orchid Hotel). First day in Melaka, after checked-in at the hotel, we went to Jonker Street (Jalan Hang Tuah) to have lunch at A Famosa Chicken Rice Ball, a famous chicken rice ball restaurant in Melaka. After having our lunch, we walked around Jonker Street to shop around and have Bubur Cha Cha as our dessert during tea time. We also visited the Stadthuys and Christ Church, which is just a stone's throw away from Jonker Street, opposite the Melaka river. With my father, I also had the chance to take the becak (trishaw) for our return journey to our hotel.

In the evening, I asked my father to take me out for a walk. We walked towards Jonker Street, and we found out that we could walk all the way from my hotel in Jalan Bendahara to Jonker Street. I was very tired already, so I fell asleep and didn't realize that my father took me to Baba House, a nice restaurant near the Jonker Street area to meet his friends to have dinner.

The second day in Melaka, again we went to the Christ Church area, and walked all the way up to Bukit St. Paul (St. Paul Hill), where we then found the ruins of the Gereja St. Paul (St. Paul Church). From there, we walked down towards Porta de Santiago, which is also known as A Famosa. We tried to find a trishaw or a cab to Taman Melaka, the place where we were supposed to have our lunch. However, it was very difficult to find a trishaw or a cab, so we walked down all the way from A Famosa to Taman Melaka. We met my father's friends there, and have our lunch at a nice peranakan (straits-born Chinese) restaurant called "Restoran Ole Sayang".

After having our lunch, we went to the Mahkota Parade shopping center, and have some window-shopping around. It's quite a big shopping mall, although we found out that there's nothing to buy there :). After that, then we headed back to Singapore via the same route.

I went again to Kuala Lumpur on early November 2002, with all my family and my maid. My father rented a car in Singapore, and we drove all the way to KL. We went to Mid Valley Mega Mall and Sunway Lagoon, and we stayed at MiCasa Hotel Apartment in KL. I was having a great time in Sunway Lagoon.

And early February 2003, again I went to Kuala Lumpur with my family for a short holiday. We were meeting my grandparents, who are on their holiday tour from Bangkok en route to Kuala Lumpur before they go back to Jakarta. My uncle, Arief, with his wife and son was visiting us in Singapore, and my father again rented a car in Singapore (this time it's a big MPV car, Mitsubishi Spacewagon) and my family and my uncle's family went together to Kuala Lumpur to meet my grandparents who have arrived in Kuala Lumpur earlier from Bangkok.

We stayed at Crown Regency Apartment, which is unfortunately not as good as MiCasa Apartment. However we really enjoyed our time there, visiting Suria KLCC and some other great places.

The last time we visited Malaysia was on July 2003, I went to Genting Highlands with my family and some of my father's colleagues from his office. We took the Super VIP coach from Golden Landmark Complex, Beach Road (Singapore) all the way to Genting Lower Skyway Station, with a short stop at Yong Peng and another stop along the North-South Expressway due to the bus' tyre puncture problem.

From Genting Lower Skyway Station, we took the skyway (cable car) ride up to the peak. We stayed at Resort Hotel, had a very nice time in the Outdoor Theme Park and the new Indoor Theme Park at First World Plaza.

The coach is indeed comfortable, but the journey is quite long and very tiring. On the way back, the bus made two stops at Batu Caves and Yong Peng respectively. It took about 7 to 8 hours for our journey up to Genting from Singapore, and around 6 to 7 hours for our journey back from Genting to Singapore.

I also have been to Bangkok, Thailand, end of January 2003. We were meeting my grandparents, who were on a holiday tour to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. We took the plane there, since bus or train journey from Singaopre all the way to Bangkok will be very very tiring. On our first two nights, we stayed at Baiyoke Suite Hotel in the Pratunam area, however on the last two nights, we stayed at the Imperial Queen's Park Hotel, next to the Benjasiri Park in Sukhumvit area. We visited the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaeo, Wat Pho and its Reclining Buddha, as well as Wat Arun. We also took the bumboat across the Chao Phrya River on our way from Wat Pho to Wat Arun. We really enjoyed our time there.

We also visited the Chatuchak weekend market, Pratunam market, as well as the Mah Boon Khrong shopping center and the Emporium shopping center.

On June 2002, we also went to Jakarta and Bandung, since my aunty Via was delivering a baby and there's some "syukuran" held in my grandfather's house in Bandung. Early December 2002, again we went to Jakarta to celebrate the Hari Raya Puasa. We also went to Bandung, and with my father, I went to Tasikmalaya to see my relatives there.

Jakarta is the capital city of Indonesia, and it is the city where I was born. Bandung is the capital city of the West Java province in Indonesia, a much smaller city (although it's still the fourth largest city in Indonesia), about 200km south-east of Bandung, and it's the city where my father was born. Tasikmalaya is a small and quiet town, further 120km south-east of Bandung, or around 320km south-east of Jakarta. It is the town where both my grandparents were born.

Once my father took me to Marina Bay area, as well as to East Coast Park. I've also been to Downtown East in Pasir Ris, and enjoyed my time at Escape Theme Park, a theme park there. My father also took me to Sentosa, we took the cable car to Mount Faber and back to Sentosa. We also took the monorail and saw Asian Village, Fountain Gardens and the Merlion. We even went to the top of the Merlion Tower, and have our picture taken there.