Malaysia Not So Truly Asia (Day 4)
Trip Start
Jul 21, 2009
1
6
7
Trip End
Jul 24, 2009
Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Friday, July 24, 2009
The last day perhaps was the least interesting among the others. Nevertheless, it's my mission to deliver the conclusion for the whole trip. So, starting with the breakfast at around 7.30 AM, we found that Capitol Hotel dining room quite crowded since the place also appeared unsuitable for dining. Why? The space was like a tight narrow long corridor filled with tables, chairs, and foods. It's just not like those bigger hotels with special place for breakfast. At the very least, from what I saw, they do provide better food than the previous hotels but then again, I CAN'T HAVE MY SCRAMBLE EGGS WITH CHEESE OR THE REAL CHILI SAUCE! Arrrrrrghhhhhhh!!
Yeah, whatever, it's not like I'm staying for months and having this dementia caused by lacked of Indomie or Indonesian chili sauce. Anyway, I wasn't particularly interested in having a walk again around the neighborhood, so I was just packing my things and enjoying my last minutes in the nice hotel room before heading out again. The guides will pick us up around 11 PM. Some of the moms though, they're still wandering around with their children scavenging the last minutes in KL.
We bailed out of KL for good after loading up again our goods to the cars. Off we go now to Sunway Lagoon and IKEA. So first we went to Petaling Jaya vicinity to see this first pride of Malaysia. The weather was pleasantly sunny that day though it's a bit packed at some points since it's still a working day after all. I amused myself by taking pictures of commercial boards along the highways, not to mention the even the traffic signs amused me a lot in Malaysia. Why's that? Because of our same language roots! We may be still in the same terms and understanding ages ago, but now the deviation is getting worse. You can only see it funny when you learn more either Indonesian or Malaysian and then compare it. You gonna giggle even just a bit for sure!
By the way, we arrived at last at Sunway Lagoon. To my surprise, we didn't even had the chance to play inside. A theme park like this will take a whole day and the entrance fee also expensive. This could've been put into test only if we had like two or three days fully just to stroll around KL and its satellite cities. The fact was that we gotta fly tonight, we need to go to IKEA next and spend some time on the road to reach it, plus it's also gonna take many hours also to feel the splendor of it. This tour program really doesn't suit me, but for the moms.. well.. it may be the best since we can get to know more about places of interest without really having to experience it. As long as you got the adventurer spirit inside of you, trust me, you can do this anytime and travel on you own, plan it, ask the locals, and do whatever you wanna do. You know the ups and downs of traveling by your own right? So this time, I gotta give in and head for the next destination.
After dealing with some traffic, we arrived in another KL's satellite city of Damansara. Indonesians could compare these cities like Petaling Jaya or Damansara like those in the circle of the so-called BODETABEK (Bogor-Depok-Tangerang-Bekasi). But let's just compare Damansara with Cibubur instead as the quite equal counterpart on its role towards the capital. People keeps on coming to Damansara for a few years and the government has reshaped the city neatly plus there's already so many real estates and apartments around there. Not to mention also IKEA! The traffic that time was not a problem at all. People drove their personal cars to the station and continue to KL by train. The train station was also seem sufficient and so KL's transportation too!
On the contrary, Cibubur who used to boast the cool air and as one of the best possible residential area outside the city has unleashed hell within itself. It's not precisely planned, people keeps on coming, permits given to everyone who owns the money to build real estates, no apartments from as far as I know, roads seem to be at the limit, and the worse thing would be no sufficient train station and that atrocities also apply to everywhere around Jakarta.
Anyway, I know this was meant to be a blog related to tourism, but I feel that this also can be applied as an easy comparison study (on my own budget of course, unlike those who ask for the budget, compares it, and then return with the answer 'Impossible to be applied' after wasting the taxpayers money for the overseas survey), plus this could serve as a note from a concern citizen of Indonesia.
Enough with politics for now, let's go shopping at IKEA! We arrived shortly after sightseeing Damansara. IKEA is located within a shopping arcade complex. So it's actually easy if you need something else. Even so, the mall's not that sophisticated as in KL and surprisingly not that crowded except for IKEA but still you can breath though. I don't know if it's weekend. Will it be like Cibubur Junction? The only place to escape for Cibuburians who can't go anywhere else because of the traffic. But you'd best avoid weekends for this kind of place. Why? Because everybody loves IKEA!
For those who don't know IKEA yet, especially from countries which haven't been conquered by it, you gonna fall in love with it from the first time you set your eyes on it. IKEA is a furniture seller. That's it? Not at all! They pioneered the ready-to-built furnitures and the concept they offer in their stores are so interesting. They make samples of living room, bed room, kitchen, or even homes that they have refurbished and you can experience it by yourself. The models, the way they feel compact with your home, the modern touch, and they combine them all with affordable price. What more can you expect?!
Aside from those, they also sell everything for you home & living things plus the cool canteen they have! Their Swedish meatballs or the salmon are just perfect and very affordable also. One of the reasons why it's so cheap but delicious is because we also help to bring our used dishes to the trays they provided. That way, we reduce the cost needed to be spent according to their calculations. At any rate, you gonna love it there!
For this part, I would like to dedicate something for our guides. They had been very faithful and helpful to us, we thanked them a lot and a few months later they came to Indonesia also and in return, we took them out for a treat. Being a guide can be a very interesting occupation, despite the facts that they spend most of their times on the road and should maintain their health good all the time, they also receive the invaluable experience of getting to know places of interests and people in particular, especially their customers so that one day, they can contact them when around and us for example, will accompany them in return gladly.
We arrived back at LCCT around 5.30 PM and we checked in for the flight home around 8.30 PM. Goodbye Malaysia for now. I might return again in the near future for more. Ain't gonna be my priority though, but then again, thank you!
