Lakad Pilipinas

We went the wrong way and it took us a while to realize it. From the Apple Hotel in Jalan Alor, we saw a map plastered on one of its wall on how to get to the KL Tower—yup, Kuala Lumpur has another tower up its sleeve beside the celebrated Petronas Towers—we followed it and thought we were on the right road until we asked a local; we were directed to the opposite direction. Ugh.

Can we walk all the way there? We asked. The two girls we asked looked at each other and giggled. Definitely not! They replied.

Kuala Lumpur’s KL Tower has been the city’s icon until the Petronas Towers came along and stole its thunder. After almost four years of construction, it started gracing the shimmering skyline of the city by the mid-nineties. It stands 1,381 feet high, a hundred and one feet short against the twin towers of Petronas.

But the tower is still quite impressive and has even attracted numerous events like the annual race to its top, pitting contestants against its 22 levels with a total of 2,058 whopping steps. Let me take the elevator now, please.

The suite has a massive living room, a very inviting king-sized bed, floor to ceiling glass windows and an enormous flat-screen satellite television. I padded over the richly carpeted floor and positioned myself in one of the room’s corner, half-squatted and took a picture. This room was not where we’re gonna stay, but it was close enough.

We were at the StarPoints Hotel in Kuala Lumpur and I liked what I was seeing. Located at Jalan Masjid India, the city’s Little India, it’s one of the largest hotels I’ve stayed at during the numerous lay-over I’ve had in Malaysia in a short span of time.

Everything skewered I can think of was probably skewered on a stick at one of the stalls we stopped by at the Chinatown area of Kuala Lumpur. Squids, sausages, prawns, chicken bits, hotdogs, squid balls, shrimp balls, tofu cubes, octopus, corns, mushrooms, heck they even have eggplants and broccolis!

It was such an overwhelming sight that we were unable to pick even one stick to barbecue.
After landing at Kuala Lumpur for a connecting flight to Siem Reap, food was the first order of the day. Once our bags were laid down and we got to freshen up a bit at Ceria Hotel in Bukit Bintang, we immediately headed to KL’s Chinatown, which we thought to be a good place as any to check the local street food scene.
On our way there, we passed a street food alley near McDonald’s and Starbucks near Chinatown where we got our first taste of what KL has to offer when it comes to cheap street fare. We were not quite sure what the fried goodies we ordered were, we just pointed and they gave.

My favorite among the bunch was the deep-fried tofu thing with bean sprouts and all sorts of veggies inside. The locals call it taufu sumbat or stuffed tau fu. It was freakin’ delicious that we ordered a few more before going our merry way.

Location is one of the foremost things we consider when booking for a place to stay when out traveling. We want a lodging close enough to the tourist spots, the food places and the night life. During our lay-over in Kuala Lumpur en route to Penang, we found such hotel in the heart of the city; the Apple Hotel in Bukit Bintang.

Apple Hotel is a chain of boutique hotel in Malaysia. It was easy enough to locate it. From the airport, we boarded a bus to Kuala Lumpur then took another bus from China Town, the Go KL purple bus (which is free by the way), and walked a hundred strides before we reach the hotel in the lively Jalan Alor street in Bukit Bintang.

Twilight was upon us. The twin giants of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia shone and towered thousands of feet to the electric blue heavens above. Below sat a menagerie of people, watching the fountains sway and undulate over music, gazing up at the sky once in a while to the twinkling spires of the architectural marvel that is the Petronas Towers.

The scene was how I imagined it all to be, and more.

Coming from the Ceria Hotel in Bukit Bintang, we walked along the fading afternoon light before boarding the free Go KL green bus which passes through the KLCC—one of the largest shopping center in Kuala Lumpur. That said shopping haven is located right inside the Petronas Towers; but we’re not really there to shop though, we went there to gawk at the once tallest building in the world.

I’ve never been to Malaysia before last year.

Arriving from a four-hour flight from Manila to the now defunct LCCT airport and taking a one-hour bus to Kuala Lumpur, I was immediately seized with a mild case of a culture shock. I’ve never been out of the country that much and it’s quite unsettling to travel to a place where people don’t speak the same language as you do.

It was such a relief then that the hotel we booked for an overnight lay-over in Kuala Lumpur has a welcoming feel and a staff that can communicate clearly with us. Ceria Hotel was our first stop in the city. Its name translates to happy, cheerful and warm; and I immediately felt that as we entered its lobby.

The Philippines like most countries has budget travel whether it is to one of our many islands or to neighboring Asian countries—there’s usually a multitude of offers out there if you look hard enough. But if you’re a keen reader of travel blogs, you’ll know that not all these wonderful budget deals are what they are made out to be.

Many people each year get caught out with travel deals that at first glimpse seem inexpensive only to be hit with a raft of extra charges on top of their initial ticket price. So, what should we look out for when buying budget flights?

Unfortunately because these budget airlines operate on thin profit margins, many try and subsidize these meager profit margins with extras. You should be wary of these when using internal flights to our various islands because they do exist.
Philstar recently published an article documenting that many low-cost airlines will be charging passengers fuel surcharges for new domestic and international routes. They also said Cebu Pacific (a low-cost airline) said it intends to fly to Narita where it intends to impose a fuel surcharge of $71 per passenger as well as Taipei where passengers would be charged $34 from Cebu.

However, these aren’t the most alarming charges that unsuspecting customers might incur. Charges for exceeding your baggage allowance are one of the more common variables that many fall foul of when traveling with budget airlines. And it’s not just in the Philippines, Parking4Less reported that Easyjet announced in 2013 that they were reducing their guaranteed cabin baggage allowance by 37%. Many unsuspecting customers upon arrival to airports throughout Europe incurred charges because they were unaware of this announcement. Which reiterates why it’s important to read the airline’s website before embarking on your trip to the airport to make sure you are up to date with all their rules and regulations.

Other things to look out for are possible hurdles such as having to print your own boarding passes off before arriving at the airport. One low-cost airline hit the news around the world when they charged passengers for failure to print their boarding passes according to American news channel CNBC. Although, this isn’t something that Filipino airlines have ever employed, don’t rule it out in the future.

And finally, there is the possibility of infant charges for those people who travel with young families. For the majority of airlines, they won’t charge for infants up to 24-months old. But this isn’t always the case; some charge inflated fees and these fees can be imposed on the day of your arrival at your respective airport when checking in.

Hopefully this article has imparted some tips on how to avoid airline charges. But if you take anything from this article, make sure to always read up on the airline you are travelling with to be on the safe side.

Excuse me for a moment, I told my companions after looking through one of the floor to ceiling windows of Seda Hotel Nuvali’s Club Lounge. The sun has set without fanfare but I was still itching to shoot one of the most handsome structures that have recently mushroomed at the Nuvali Complex. I quickly raced down, hoping to capture it during the blue hour. The weather has been quite erratic the whole day and as I set my tripod near the hotel’s pool area, it started to drizzle.

Seda Nuvali is a four-star, 150-room hotel situated at the heart of Nuvali, an eco-city complex in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. It sits right beside a man-made lagoon and is bordered by numerous trees, art installations, restaurants and shops.

The complex has been around for quite a while now, but this is actually the first time I’ve visited it.