5-Day Trip to Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi Islands

Malaysia is an amazing place to visit with Kuala Lumpur (a.k.a. KL) being its largest and most developed city. KL is the commercial hub of Malaysia and presents both merchants and travelers with enormous opportunities to explore the rich cultural heritage of Malaysia and have a taste of a hi-tech futuristic city. Its sky scraping towers, excellent public transport, and well maintained roads and tourist spots make your stay memorable. KL is also a favorite destination for shopaholics. It's night market is sure to make you go crazy. With so many marvelous places to visit, it often becomes difficult for a traveler on a short duration to check on the places he MUST visit and the ones he can COMPROMISE. To help you with this dilemma, I have chalked out a five day trip to Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi Islands, two favorite holiday destinations in Malaysia.

Take a low cost airline (Tiger Airways, Air India Express, Air Asia, Jet Star, etc.) to Kuala Lumpur or Singapore. From Singapore there is direct overnight train connectivity to Kuala Lumpur. It is advisable to start your journey on Saturday evening and reach Kuala Lumpur by Sunday morning.

Day 1: It is best to book your hotel near KL tower, the centre of the city, and start your day by 10 AM. Get yourself a cab either from the hotel reservation desk or from outside and head straight towards Batu Caves which is 13 KMs from the city centre and 100 Meters above sea level. There are three main caves and few small caves . It is worth mentioning here that the way towards the entrance of the caves has 272 steps to climb. If you are travelling with elderly people you need to ensure if you can actually take them ahead. The place has a nice Hindu temple and if you have time, you can trek to reach there as well. Do not forget to get a click with the Iguana. From Batu caves, move on to Genting Highland which is 50 KMs from KL and at a height of 2000 Meters above the sea level. It's famous for three things-- Theme parks, Casinos and High end resorts. If you have kids, they will have a gala time in the theme park else it's fun to visit the Casinos and try and make some money with a nice drink. You might be lucky enough to get your tour expenses reimbursed! At around 3 PM after lunch go straight to Putrajaya. It is 25 KMs from KL and is going to be the administrative capital of Malaysia. It's entirely a man-made place on Marshland and has things like man-made lakes, nice buildings, mosques and roads. After Putrajaya come back in the evening to go to KL tower. There is a nice but expensive revolving restaurant at the top. KL tower has a number of view points from where you can see the entire KL.

Day 2: Next day being a Monday you will not be able to get tickets for Petronas tower. Tickets for Petronas Tower are given in the morning at 8.30 AM . Normally people don’t get tickets because there is always rush and you have to queue up from 6 AM if you really wish to get inside. Please don’t pay anyone to buy tickets because it is actually free. They take you to the 41^st floor bridge, which is again not that worth if you had already spent the previous evening in KL tower. However, there is a shopping mall in the entrance of the building which is nice and does not require any tickets for entry. You can have a walk in the market place and have a visit to the aquaria just next to Petronas. It houses thousands of species of fish. Post lunch get on to a Monorail and take a ride of the entire city. In the evening come back to Hotel and catch the Langkawi Express Train at 8:30 PM to Arau which will cost you around 97 RM for a decent airconditioned sleeper coach and can be booked online. Arau is a 12 hr journey from KL.

Day 3: The train reaches Arau at 8:30 AM. From Arau take a ferry to Langkawi. The first ferry leaves at 9 AM and takes 60 mins to reach island. There is one ferry every one hour. It's best to catch the 9 AM ferry so that you can start your sightseeing in Langkawi ASAP. The best place to stay in Langkawi is either Pantai Cenang or Pantai Tengah. From the Jetty itself you can hire a self driven car which will cost you around 138 RM per day. International driving license would be required for that. By the time you reach the hotel and freshen up it will be afternoon. You can take a tour to the Oriental Village in the upper northwest of Langkawi Island near Pantai Kok and catch a cable car. The magnificient view of the rain forest from the heights of the cable car is a breathtaking experience. Spend time there and come back in the evening to enjoy a sumptuous dinner by the sea shore. If traveling with your partner, you can have an extremely romantic candle lit dinner overhearing the gentle sound of the sea waves.

Day 4: Start your day by 9 AM and make sure you reach Tanjung Rhu by 10 AM for the mangrove ride and cave adventure. It is expensive but is really worth paying. Make sure you reach by 10 AM because later due to high tide the boats cannot go in. In the caves you will find colony of bats which is an amazing and thrilling experience. If kids are along with you they will have real fun. From there go to Crocodile park and then move onto Kuah, the commercial capital of the district. Visit the Eagle square and the yatch club, have a late lunch and then move back to Pantai Cenang to go to the Underwater world. In the evening come back to the Hotel. Relax and then go to the beach side to have some beer and nice sea food.

Day 5: Have a lazy morning. Relax and go to the beach to enjoy some water sports. Come back in the afternoon to have your bath and lunch. Start your return journey for Arau by 3 PM which means you have to leave the hotel by 1:30 PM to be on time to catch the 3 PM Jetty. The train for KL leaves at 5:30 PM so you have to be there by 4:30 PM at the station. You reach KL by 5:30 AM in the morning. If you have a late flight, you can either deposit your luggage at the station cloak room or take it with you and get onto a Hop-on Hop-off bus and take a taste of the lovely KL public transport and have a ride of the city before you head towards the airport. Please note that the airport is a one hour drive from KL city centre. So hop-off the bus on time!

Selamat tinggal Malaysia!

Smart Travel Tips for the Budget Traveller

Travel is my passion and have travelled to many places since I staretd my professional life. Thankfully, my wife also shares the same passion and we both make trips every two or three months. Initially, we did a lot of misakes and ended up spending huge chunks. But now with experience and more research I have known the tricks and tips a budget traveller should always keep in mind. So here I am sharing some tips and tricks which worked for me.

1. Always use credit cards in International Travel , otherwise you end up spending a lot in money exchange

2. Never go for expensive hotels as you spend only the night in the room as you are always out on tour.

3. Never start local shopping from the first day of your tour.

4. Keep your shopping for the last two days of your tour. Also, prior to the trip do a thorough search on internet for the best places to shop in that particular country or place.

5. Always plan your trip 6 months in advance to take advantage of the lowest air fares.

6. If the air fare is high always try and find the nearest airport which has low cost carier connectivity

7. Please read about the place in advance so that you dont end up spending unnecesarily visiting places which doesn't interest you

8.Avoid taking personal cabs for local sight seeing. Use local tourist bus services; you will save a lot on that. Also, before leaving the hotel premises, always ask the hotel boys the appropriate fare to reach any place. This saves you from the chances of being cheated.

9. There is a real true mantra of life "less luguage more comfort"; only exception is wife and kids......just kiding :)

10.If you enjoy drinking and smoking, then buying stuff at the airport duty free shop is advisable...

These are from my personal experience....what are your travel tips and tricks??

Welcome fellow travellers...

A very warm welcome to all my traveller friends. I have just started this blog to help the budget traveller with smart, easy and cheap travelling plans. I don't call myself an expert but being also a budget traveller and having a passion for travel, I have started this blog to offer my free services to all my traveller friends out there who also share the same travelling passion but fail to perceive their plans due to budget issues. Share with me your travel plans and I shall chalk out a smart, easy and affordable trip for you and your loved ones. Keep visiting.....There's more to come!!