Kuala Lumpur (Day One - Part 1 of 2): From Singapore to Malaysia

This trip almost never happen as a 'kindred' escapade. I was ready to take the challenge of a vacation with just me and Casey. I am not so sure how I can pull that off although I am pretty sure it will still be a trip to remember. I am glad the husband changed his mind though or else I won't have this blog or the wonderful pictures with it. 

All photos are credited to the husband. 

Casey loves airplanes and plane rides. He is easily amazed with toy planes all the more riding one. He gets really excited at the mention of a plane ride. The sight of the airplanes just makes him stare in awe at such huge birds. Getting him to wake up early on a Saturday was really easy, I just mention airplane and he is up and about. 

7 in the morning at Changi Airport surprisingly is still quite crowded. Probably because T2 is now shared with all budget airlines. Nevertheless, we pretty much had a very smooth check in. We are taking Tiger Airlines, our tickets are on promo fares as in $14 one way. However, we still had to pay a considerable amount because infant fare is fixed $50 per way. Including taxes and excess luggage I chose to prepay our airfare tickets still ballooned to $300 plus. Of course, a 5 hour coach ride is still not an option for us so the price is still quite reasonable.

I am loving the convenience T2 has to offer especially for my son. I hope they'll really come up with a better budget terminal. I am not expecting something comparable to T2 but at least offers the same convenience. 

The boarding gates also offers a view of the airplanes so my son is super excited to see his beloved airplanes all in one place. He keeps repeating 'another airplane!' as there are a lot of planes landing in and flying off the airport. 

Eventually he got tired and hungry from running around so he asked for his milk, but this was short lived when he saw playmates. He literally jumped off, gave his bottle to me and started chasing after the little girl and following her wherever she went. In a way all that running worked for us as he preferred to sit all the way to KL in the plane even when the same girls were seated next to us.

He checks out the clouds from time to time so he takes a peak at the windows. My husband was very jealous we got the window seat. He ends up taking photos of us instead of the wonderful view we saw from up there. Casey enjoyed the view very much too. 

We practiced fastening seat belts on cab rides so it was nothing new to him when I fastened his seat belt. I am just glad the newly downloaded Mickey Mouse app kept him interested all flight through. Choosing the ASUS Padfone for a mobile phone finally served its purpose as I chose it primarily so Casey can have something to play with too. Of course now he has a name for my phone/tab. He calls it Maya. The narrator of  iStorybook, another app that basically reads a story to him through my phone/tab. 

Upon landing in KL's LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal), we had to walk the tarmac to the terminal gates. He was excited to be very near the airplanes but the heat took its toll and we never got him to smile for the camera. 

There's a good number of shops and food stalls at LCCT now. Safe to say that traveling through with kids is not so bad. Travelers will be spoilt for options to get to the city. There are buses, taxis, and now a train! I never had the chance to try KL's railway system on my visits so I dragged my family along. It was a pretty good decision as going by train is fast and cheap! We basically paid RM12.50 (around SGD6) for our bus ride to the train terminal inclusive of train fare. The buses were quite new and comfortable. They go by every 15-20 minutes and is located in bus terminal 3 in front of Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. You pay before boarding the bus and the in charge will give you a ticket that you will use to swipe in the train tollways. The bus ride is around 10-15 minutes from LCCT to the train terminal and the train ride to the city is just 28 minutes as advertised! The train comes every 10-15 minutes as well and is very clean and spacious. Cheaper, Better, Faster! :)

From the train you can get a glimpse of Putrajaya and of course the famous Twin towers. The whole trip going to KL kept Casey very excited as he knows every mode of transportation he was in. From the taxi ride from the house to  the airport, the plane ride to KL, the bus ride to the train station and finally the train ride to the city. It definitely kept him excited the entire trip.

The train brings you all the way to KL Sentral. It is a major transit hub in the middle of the city. That being said it is very easy to get anywhere from there. We booked a taxi from KL sentral to our hotel for RM13. Of course like most transit hub it was vibrant, a bit crowded and busy place. Getting transportation anywhere is easy although you have to read through signs to go around and get to the right location. Suffice to say that you have to know where you are going to be able to go around the place. 

Pretty much with prepaid taxi fares and how the hotel advice guests on hotel fares says so much about how a tourist taxi experience may affect the tourism of the place. As much as they can try to control the fare they would. In fact, I was quite disappointed with the lady cab driver who took us to our hotel as she asked for an extra RM2 for our luggage on top of our prepaid fare. We didn't want to start our vacation with issues so I just gave her what she wants. 

There are a lot of this signs in cabs and trains. The no kissing (indecent behavior) caught my attention. I am in a Muslim country after all. 

I booked Hotel Istana through Booking.com on a very good bargain. We stay in a club room as when i looked into reviews the club suites have the best comments and my husband requested for a hotel with the view of the twin towers. Istana basically means palace in malay and I have to say we were really treated like royalty from arrival until the day we left.

As club suite guests we had exclusive place to check in called the Club Lounge. It was fast, comfortable and classy. Apart from exclusive check in and check out we also get breakfast, afternoon tea and evening cocktails served daily. There are refreshments and cookies served all day as well. Internet in guest room and club lounge, use of a meeting room, late check out as well as complimentary pressing of garments are our perks as club suite guests!

The very first thing I did when we got to our room was open the windows to look for the twin towers, my husband took photos while my son climbed the bed! He loved the bed so much! I taught him something on the first day that sticked the whole time we stayed at the Istana. 

I go 'woohoo' and jump to the bed he followed suit. After that everytime we go back to the room the first thing we have to do was such. Casey would go 'woohoo, Mommy! Daddy also!' and we all jump to bed.

Our bathroom and tub was clean and made for royalty. I love it! :)

and of course, the reason why the Istana came on my search for hotels. The view of the twin towers in our windows.