Naviagate for Vacation 2008
Guess it's about time I got around to posting this.
Day 1 - July 5th, 2008
Woke up at about 4AM, barely getting any sleep that night due to converting video and transfering them to my PSP to watch on the flight. Mom sent me and Ling to the airport and we reached there at about 5.30AM and immediately went to check in. Unfortunately the check in process was delayed due to some family having trouble with their flight bookings, but we eventually checked in an made a bee-line to the departure hall and got on the plane. Should note I met a work associate at the airport, but he was drunk off his ass.
So we had breakfast on the plane, and I watched Kenta Kobashi & KENTA VS Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima on my PSP on the flight to KL. We touched down, made the long walk to the arrival hall, collected our baggage and caught a cab to our hotel in KL. OF course we expected our room not to be ready when we get there, but after calling up the agent, it turns out they were sending us to a different hotel all together! WTF? So we went to this other hotel which was accross the street from our original hotel, and they weren't ready to receive us yet either. So we left our bags there and went out to Times Square Mall.
Spent the morning there and I found the fabled XL-Shop, which I have frequently been ordering stuff from since discovering it last year. I even met up with my buddy, Joe Greatness. We had lunch at Sushi King, and talked about the wrestling business in general, from puro to WWE to MMA and even lucha libre for a change! Joe is definitely the best guy I know to have a good pro-wrestling conversation with.
Our hotel room was finally ready, and it was good to know it would be at our original hotel. Just finding the entrance was a task in itself since the building was under renovation. Turns out it was an apartment hotel and we would be getting an apartment room at a low discount price thanks to these coupons from Ling's brother. The service from the staff left much to be desired for though, but the room had a good view and we finally got some rest after settling in.
That evening we caught the LRT to KLCC, and upon reaching the station we found both a Burger King and a Dunkin' Donuts at the same spot! We had dinner at Burger King (someone seriously needs to bring this franchaise back to Miri!), then proceeded to KLCC where we looked around and bought back some donuts from DD. Back to the hotel and rested up for our trip to Genting the next morning.
DAY 2
Woke up and had a breakfast of donuts. We had a quick walk around Time Square again, and had lunch at a small pizzaria in the basement selling pizza slices. We then checked out and caught the LRT to Titiwangsa and caught the bus to Genting. We arrived there at about 3PM, but had to wait in line as usual to check it, and the place was packed! Get this, the number I drew was 1024, but the now serving number was 710! So Ling went to the shopping complex while I sat and waited in the lobby for about 2 hours before we finally checked in. We got to our room, and it was rather small, but had a good view of the theme park. We rested up and went out for dinner at Kenny Roger's Roasters. First time I ever ate there believe it or not, and found the value for money to be quite reasonable. After that we caught the DREAMZ show, which was included in our hotel package. Good stage show that mixed rock opera with acrobatics and magic. We've seen all the magic tricks done by magicians like David Copperfield and Criss Angel on TV, but it's fun watching stuff like that live. We also had our picture taken with the white tiger and white lion featured in the show. It was already late after the show, so we walked around a bit before heading back to our room and calling it a night.
DAY 3
Started off the morning with breakfast at the hotel restaurant. It was pretty lousy as far as hotel meals go, but I guess you got to sacrifice some quality when you have to prepare meals for over a thousand people like the hotel is doing. After breakfast we walked around for a bit then proceeded to the theme park. We bought the day pass to the park and spent a good portion of the morning there. We didn't take any of the big roller-coaster thrill rides, but we wanted to try the superman roller coaster, but wouldn't you know it would be closed today of all days?!? We did ride the go karts though, except mine was rather slow despite the fact I was flooring it.
We spent the rest of the day at the mall and that evening we went to watch the movie Hancock at the cineplex, which was really comfortable compared to the Star Cineplex in Miri. Quick movie review: Everything you've read about the movie on the internet where they say the first half was fun and the second half not as good is all TRUE. After the movie it was back to the room for a good night's sleep.
DAY 4
We skipped breakfast at the hotel after experiancing it the previous day, and we had donuts with us anyway. Spent the morning making a quick run through the mall before returning to our hotel room and checking out and catching the bus back to KL. We didn't ride any of the roller coasters at the theme park the previous day, but this bus ride down hill with all the twist and turns sure felt like a roller coaster ride!
Arriving back in KL, we caught the LRT back to Times Square Hotel, and had to go through the troubling process of checking in. You see, the rooms we rented aren't directly under the hotel, rather a seperate company that bought out a few of the apartment rooms and rent them out for their own profit. Needless to say these people know nothing about running a hotel business and selling rooms for them is like any other business transaction. Heck, the initial room they gave us wasn't even cleaned properly, and they said we were upgraded! They sent us back to a normal room after that which felt a lot better than their suite room.
After resting up, we went out that evening to Sungei Wang Plaza and went looking around. Not a lot has changed from when I was last there, but what has changed mostly effected the places I liked to go to, like the arcade. I met up with Joe again there, though it was only for a short while cause it was already evening time. I finally managed to find a pair of pants that fit at Parkson too, though those were more out of desperation since I'd checked all over the place and couldn't find anything in my size. It's discrimination that they wouldn't make clothes to size to fit the big guys like me! And I'm just a junior-heavyweight! Anywayz, back to the hotel after purchasing my pants and we called it a night after a quick sushi supper.
DAY 5
We spent all day at Times Square again. I've been around the whole place several times already, but Ling being a girl of course would take her time and hadn't been around the whole place yet despite all the hours we've spent there. Made another stop at XL-Shop to pick up some stuff, though I really would have liked to have gotten more, but of course I was on a budget. One high point though was I scored a copy of the Wrestlecrap Death of WCW book for just 20 bucks at Borders book shop! I bought together with the Wrestlecrap Book of Lists, and there might have been a problem with the scanner when the clerk ran it up on the register, but I just paid the amount stated and high-tailed it out of there before the guy said anything.
That evening Ling's sister picked us up from the hotel and we visited her place before going out with her family for dinner. We went around the local mall she brought us to and I picked up a few gashapons at the arcade and an issue of Metal Hammer at a book store. On the way back, we went to the night market to pick up some stuff for my parents before heading back to the hotel and calling it a night.
DAY 6
Got up early to go to the frozen market at the basement of Times Square to get some pork bacon to bring back to Miri. Yup, we can't find that at home either. Checked out from the hotel and caught a taxi to the airport at 11AM. Reached there, checked in then proceeded to have one last Burger King meal at the airport. We also bought a take away to bring home with us. Again, someone re-open the Burger King chain in Miri! Quite flight, and it was evening by the time we made it home.
Overall, as with all vacations, it could have been better and longer, but hey, there's always next year!
Day 1 - July 5th, 2008
Woke up at about 4AM, barely getting any sleep that night due to converting video and transfering them to my PSP to watch on the flight. Mom sent me and Ling to the airport and we reached there at about 5.30AM and immediately went to check in. Unfortunately the check in process was delayed due to some family having trouble with their flight bookings, but we eventually checked in an made a bee-line to the departure hall and got on the plane. Should note I met a work associate at the airport, but he was drunk off his ass.
So we had breakfast on the plane, and I watched Kenta Kobashi & KENTA VS Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima on my PSP on the flight to KL. We touched down, made the long walk to the arrival hall, collected our baggage and caught a cab to our hotel in KL. OF course we expected our room not to be ready when we get there, but after calling up the agent, it turns out they were sending us to a different hotel all together! WTF? So we went to this other hotel which was accross the street from our original hotel, and they weren't ready to receive us yet either. So we left our bags there and went out to Times Square Mall.
Spent the morning there and I found the fabled XL-Shop, which I have frequently been ordering stuff from since discovering it last year. I even met up with my buddy, Joe Greatness. We had lunch at Sushi King, and talked about the wrestling business in general, from puro to WWE to MMA and even lucha libre for a change! Joe is definitely the best guy I know to have a good pro-wrestling conversation with.
Our hotel room was finally ready, and it was good to know it would be at our original hotel. Just finding the entrance was a task in itself since the building was under renovation. Turns out it was an apartment hotel and we would be getting an apartment room at a low discount price thanks to these coupons from Ling's brother. The service from the staff left much to be desired for though, but the room had a good view and we finally got some rest after settling in.
That evening we caught the LRT to KLCC, and upon reaching the station we found both a Burger King and a Dunkin' Donuts at the same spot! We had dinner at Burger King (someone seriously needs to bring this franchaise back to Miri!), then proceeded to KLCC where we looked around and bought back some donuts from DD. Back to the hotel and rested up for our trip to Genting the next morning.
DAY 2
Woke up and had a breakfast of donuts. We had a quick walk around Time Square again, and had lunch at a small pizzaria in the basement selling pizza slices. We then checked out and caught the LRT to Titiwangsa and caught the bus to Genting. We arrived there at about 3PM, but had to wait in line as usual to check it, and the place was packed! Get this, the number I drew was 1024, but the now serving number was 710! So Ling went to the shopping complex while I sat and waited in the lobby for about 2 hours before we finally checked in. We got to our room, and it was rather small, but had a good view of the theme park. We rested up and went out for dinner at Kenny Roger's Roasters. First time I ever ate there believe it or not, and found the value for money to be quite reasonable. After that we caught the DREAMZ show, which was included in our hotel package. Good stage show that mixed rock opera with acrobatics and magic. We've seen all the magic tricks done by magicians like David Copperfield and Criss Angel on TV, but it's fun watching stuff like that live. We also had our picture taken with the white tiger and white lion featured in the show. It was already late after the show, so we walked around a bit before heading back to our room and calling it a night.
DAY 3
Started off the morning with breakfast at the hotel restaurant. It was pretty lousy as far as hotel meals go, but I guess you got to sacrifice some quality when you have to prepare meals for over a thousand people like the hotel is doing. After breakfast we walked around for a bit then proceeded to the theme park. We bought the day pass to the park and spent a good portion of the morning there. We didn't take any of the big roller-coaster thrill rides, but we wanted to try the superman roller coaster, but wouldn't you know it would be closed today of all days?!? We did ride the go karts though, except mine was rather slow despite the fact I was flooring it.
We spent the rest of the day at the mall and that evening we went to watch the movie Hancock at the cineplex, which was really comfortable compared to the Star Cineplex in Miri. Quick movie review: Everything you've read about the movie on the internet where they say the first half was fun and the second half not as good is all TRUE. After the movie it was back to the room for a good night's sleep.
DAY 4
We skipped breakfast at the hotel after experiancing it the previous day, and we had donuts with us anyway. Spent the morning making a quick run through the mall before returning to our hotel room and checking out and catching the bus back to KL. We didn't ride any of the roller coasters at the theme park the previous day, but this bus ride down hill with all the twist and turns sure felt like a roller coaster ride!
Arriving back in KL, we caught the LRT back to Times Square Hotel, and had to go through the troubling process of checking in. You see, the rooms we rented aren't directly under the hotel, rather a seperate company that bought out a few of the apartment rooms and rent them out for their own profit. Needless to say these people know nothing about running a hotel business and selling rooms for them is like any other business transaction. Heck, the initial room they gave us wasn't even cleaned properly, and they said we were upgraded! They sent us back to a normal room after that which felt a lot better than their suite room.
After resting up, we went out that evening to Sungei Wang Plaza and went looking around. Not a lot has changed from when I was last there, but what has changed mostly effected the places I liked to go to, like the arcade. I met up with Joe again there, though it was only for a short while cause it was already evening time. I finally managed to find a pair of pants that fit at Parkson too, though those were more out of desperation since I'd checked all over the place and couldn't find anything in my size. It's discrimination that they wouldn't make clothes to size to fit the big guys like me! And I'm just a junior-heavyweight! Anywayz, back to the hotel after purchasing my pants and we called it a night after a quick sushi supper.
DAY 5
We spent all day at Times Square again. I've been around the whole place several times already, but Ling being a girl of course would take her time and hadn't been around the whole place yet despite all the hours we've spent there. Made another stop at XL-Shop to pick up some stuff, though I really would have liked to have gotten more, but of course I was on a budget. One high point though was I scored a copy of the Wrestlecrap Death of WCW book for just 20 bucks at Borders book shop! I bought together with the Wrestlecrap Book of Lists, and there might have been a problem with the scanner when the clerk ran it up on the register, but I just paid the amount stated and high-tailed it out of there before the guy said anything.
That evening Ling's sister picked us up from the hotel and we visited her place before going out with her family for dinner. We went around the local mall she brought us to and I picked up a few gashapons at the arcade and an issue of Metal Hammer at a book store. On the way back, we went to the night market to pick up some stuff for my parents before heading back to the hotel and calling it a night.
DAY 6
Got up early to go to the frozen market at the basement of Times Square to get some pork bacon to bring back to Miri. Yup, we can't find that at home either. Checked out from the hotel and caught a taxi to the airport at 11AM. Reached there, checked in then proceeded to have one last Burger King meal at the airport. We also bought a take away to bring home with us. Again, someone re-open the Burger King chain in Miri! Quite flight, and it was evening by the time we made it home.
Overall, as with all vacations, it could have been better and longer, but hey, there's always next year!