Petronas Towers glow in Kuala Lumpur’s night scene.
Photo by Bong Lacson
(1st of 2 parts)
JUNE 9: short, crisp, inspiring remarks – by Clark International Airport Corp. top honcho Victor Jose Luciano and Philippines’ AirAsia CEO Maan Hontiveros – delivered, with some shirt-flashing – CRK-KL-2X, and flag-waving crew providing festive flair, Flight PQ7455 departed – at exactly 3:15 p.m. from the Clark International Airport to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Complementing Malaysia AirAsia’s morning flights along the same route since 2005, the new daily flights seek, according to Ms. Hontiveros, to “enable our guests especially Filipinos to have access to Malaysia’s awesome tourist destinations but more important, we want to draw tourists from Malaysia to our amazing beaches and natural wonders in Puerto Princesa, Kalibo, Davao and here in Central Luzon.”
Enabled with this maiden flight, this writer, along with a dozen others, had only thoughts of accessing Malaysia’s awesome destination, if only in the capital KL.
“This is your captain speaking, we have just landed at the Kuala Lumpur low cost carrier terminal, 20 minutes ahead of schedule.” Much applause there.
Yes, Philippines’ AirAsia yet affirmed its ahead-of-schedule promptness, established in its flights to Davao, Puerto Princesa and Kalibo. All seamless, pleasurable, journeys too.
Now hear this, no disembarkation card to file at the immigration counters. Just present your passport and do two-forefinger scanning, a barcode gets pasted on the visa page, stamped “visit pass” for 30 days. Easy breeze-through, no matter the long queue. Tourism Malaysia taking good care of us from there.
An hour or so from the LCCT, emerged the KL’s nightscape, dominated but of course by the sparkling silvery Petronas Towers.
Destination though on the first night was Menara Kuala Lumpur (KL Tower), a telecommunications tower rising to the height of 421 meters.
Sumptuous Malaysian fare, spiced up by a cultural show, at the tower’s mega view banquet hall – 288 meters above street level – made a most fulfilling welcome dinner.
The mega view is no overstatement, the hall’s large glass panels provide a 360-degree panorama of the city.
Lie down on the glass and make as though one floated above the lights of KL; on the western side, the Petronas Towers make a spectacular photo backdrop.
Checked-in at the five-star Grand Millenium, right at Jalan Bukit Bintang, the epicenter of shopping in KL. Room 0944: soft, yet firm bed, pillows just as soft, onto dreamland before midnight.
JUNE 10. Breakfast at 6:30 a.m. – continental, Malay, and Indian – at Level 1 of Grand Millenium. Assembly at the lobby, exactly at 8 a.m., sub-grouped to four destinations:
KL city tour and Putrajaya; Kidzania and Sunway Lagoon; Genting Highlands and Batu Caves; and Melaka. Been there, done all that. But it was Melaka to where I’d long desired to be back. Alas, to Kidzania, my name was attached.
Anyways, Petronas Towers made the first agenda of the day. Photo shoots at ground level while awaiting the 9 a.m. slot. Spared of the long queue to the ticket booth, Tourism Malaysia’s staff having secured our tickets ahead.
Zoomed in the elevator to the 83rd floor. Transferred to another lift to the 86th floor observation deck. Lo and behold the whole of KL on one’s feet. Impressive.
Towering edifices in various hues reaching for their own places in the sky, ribbons of roads and expressways, small lagoons and waterways, pockets of green all over.
The works of man, wonders of nature in synergy. Simply impressive.
Down at the 41st floor skybridge, felt like the Carpenters gushing: “I’m on the top of the world looking/down on creation/And the only explanation I can find/Is the love that I’ve found/ever since you’ve been around/Your love’s put me at the top of the world…”
Indeed, it was colleague Ashley Manabat, editor of the debuting Headline: Gitnang Luzon, though that found some Canadian loving.
Back on the ground. No, Melaka, I won’t be denied. Where I had the will, Tourism Malaysia’s Zuhairah Abas found the way. Two seats at the Bas Pesiaran to Melaka made available for me and Businessweek’s Peter Alagos.
Two hours and 30 minutes by expressways through palm oil plantations and housing developments thereafter, Bukit China – centuries-old burial ground for the early Chinese migrants and settlers made our first sight of Melaka, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where European powers – the Portuguese and then the Dutch – made their first toehold in Malaysia, .
After a quick Chinese lunch, off to the heritage center of Melaka, predominantly in old rose: the Stadthuys which served as the residence of the Dutch governor, Christ Church and the clock tower, rows of buildings now servings as museums and antique shops.
The body spent in the hike up a hill under the scorching past noon sun, the spirit renewed at the ruins of St. Paul’s Church where the body of the “Apostle to the East,” St. Francis Xavier, was temporarily buried before it was finally interred in Goa, India.
The marble statue of the saint in front of the ruins had a story of its own. Right after it was erected in the 1950s, so Tourism Malaysia’s Simon Chong narrated, a tree branch fell upon it and severed its right hand. Not long after it was re-attached, the hand was cut again in some freak accident.
Then it was discovered that the interred body of St. Francis did not have a right hand as it was taken as some kind of a holy relic. Thence, the statue remained without it.
Propped at the inside walls of the ruins of St. Paul are large slabs of tombstones marking the graves of some Dutch noblemen.
Downhill from St. Paul’s is what remains of Fort A Famosa, the Porto Santiago gate that is eerily similar to our own Fort Santiago in Intramuros.
Gaily decorated trishaws made the best transport through Melaka’s heritage district, passing by the baba nyonya houses, the Kampong Kling Mosque, stopping at the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple, reputedly the oldest functioning temple in Malaysia and the grandest temple in Melaka.
Prayers renewed the spirit anew, the body refreshed too. Onto Jonker Street, exploring its shops for antiques, both genuine and reproduced.
(to be concluded)
