Dubai, Abu Dhabi & Sharjah trip- A throwback

Had an opportunity to visit Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah recently. All three are part of United Arab Emirates. Dubai is in the center point; while Abu Dhabi is 2 hour drive by road, Sharjah is hardly 45 minutes drive. From Chennai CS Shankar Venkatraman, Mr Srikanth and self went together to all these places. 

Sharing some info about these 3 cities :

 

Dubai

Dubai is the beautiful and happening city & not to be missed. Climate is extremely hot and only from November to February (4 months) the climate will be good. When we visited in Sep, it was still hot; Chennai heat is far better as wind settles in the afternoon in Chennai; though there are many beaches in UAE, the coolness cannot be felt as humidity is extremely high. Every place including the walking paths to Metros/ Tram/ Monorail are airconditioned.

 
Burj Khalifa- is the largest building in the world- visited the mall and the fountain show which happens here every evening & it was a wonderful experience. Pl do not miss ! 

When you visit Burj Khalifa, please remember to have Pistachio Latte, a famous drinks at “Tim Hortons” shop. Delicious drink; we had it in other place as well, but it was best here in Tim Hortons.

We travelled in all the modes in Dubai- Metro train (similar to our Metro)/ Tram – which passes through the bus route in the center of the road and Mono rail (Small in size- but otherwise similar to metro). Local taxis- Uber and Careem are the apps used to book car; But taking a cab without booking through app directly standing in the road will be better. All Taxis put Meter and collect exact fare and return the balance including the coins.

Atlantis- a famous hotel and some good water games are there- while going to this place in Metro/ Tram we get the full feel of Dubai.

We visited Gold Souk; Dubai is very famous for Gold jewellery and lot of people buy gold here; Quality will be very good- cost may be slightly lesser. 

We have to buy jewels which one can wear like Bangles, Chain etc and not Gold coins as we will be charged customs duty at Chennai airport.

We also visited Deira Waterfront , Fish market, Vegetable market and Abra grand old Souk ( We can do a boat ride here )

 

Things to purchase: Dates is very famous and in very good quality; Electronic items including iphone is cheap and lot of people buy them when they visit Dubai. And perfumes too !

                                                Having lunch at a Park in Dubai...


We were there during Ganesh Chaturthi ; we were happy to see & dine at Madras Veg Restaurant at Dubai ( they have 3 branches in Dubai); we ate Very good Idly, Dosa, Pongal and Kozhukattai here and were very happy.

Every hotel and most of the apartments will have both Gym and swimming pool. People can really take care of their health in their premises itself.

Cars.. cars and Cars.. We get a feeling that whether these cities have more cars than human beings. You can see all kinds of cars in the roads and parking.

We had a wonderful friend Sadiq who was with us through out our stay at Dubai and Sharjah and took us to each and every place. Without him we would not have had all these unique experiences.

Sharjah

Though situated very close to Dubai, Sharjah is comparatively quiet and buildings are not as tall as Dubai.

 

Al Heera beach, Sharjah was very beautiful. Somehow it reminded me both Besant Nagar beach and Pondichery beach.

Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi is a quiet place compared to Dubai and has many Government offices. The Dargah here is huge and the Carpet is the longest in the world. The paintings were wonderful.CS Friend Nishan took me to the Dargah; he was the one who took us from Abu Dhabi to Dubai in his car and shared lot of info about UAE.

Abu Dhabi Mosque with Nishan

Both Abu Dhabi and Dubai has around 10 to 12 % locals only; remaining are foreigners. Among them Indians will constitute more than 30 %;  out of these 30 %, majority will be friends from Kerala; People from other countries are also there.

Abu Dhabi and Dubai are few of the safest places in the world to live and are in the top 5 list of safest cities in the world ! There is no Income tax for individuals ! Corporate Tax is also around 8 %

Entire country is developed right from the scratch in the last few decades and they have kept the tax laws simple inviting corporates and individuals to come and do business and work in UAE.

    

 

Mostly they work for 5 days a week (Till Friday) and weekends are holidays; The hobby for most will be going to Malls because – you really cant go to any open places due to heat.

Visiting Dubai and Abu Dhabi gave lot of insights and new friends.

Probably we may visit again with family after a few years – in Dec- Feb period !

An enjoyable Stay at Marutham resort, Mahabalipuram, Chennai

We recently went for short trip to Marutham village resort which is 100 KM from Chennai (close to Mahabalipuram) & enjoyed it thoroughly.

 

Sharing a brief summary:

Check in is around 2 PM.

The biggest attraction is the 2 borewell sets; they have built a reasonably big tank (“Thotti”). Both borewells were having some minor difference and we took bath in each one on different days and enjoyed. Borewell bath is available from 6 AM to 6 PM. They allocate a staff for all the activities – for us it was one Mr Alagar; he normally allocates you 30 min slot once we speak to him. 

Do not miss the bore well bath- we can even have twice on the first day (once immediately on arrival and again in the evening) and one on the next day. Atleast once on both days is certainly recommended.

The food is really good- slightly higher price, but taste is really nice; breakfast is complimentary & you have regular South Indian foods- Idly; very tasty Chutney/ sambar; Pongal (Good!), Poori- Masal (Hot and was good); Bread- corn flakes; Raagi Halwa; Fruits/ vegetables, Neer aagaram with Mor milagai (Wow!) and a wonderful coffee. Since they have lot of cows here and coffee/ Tea is made directly out of cow milk, both coffee and tea are very good.

There are many activities which keeps us engaged throughout our stay:

Badminton: They have rackets/ cork and a nice court where paddy fields are one side and the rooms on the other side. We played Badminton on both days.

Poi Kaal kuthirai dance: It was a fun filled activity to dance with Poi kal kuthirai; They play apt songs in the background); it was a fun filled activity and we enjoyed it much.

Pottery- they make small pots/ flower wash using clay and help us to do it; wife who has interest in it liked it.

Pambaram- something which 70s kids like us enjoyed during our school days- was able to play after so many years.

They have other games like Pallanguzhi, Paramapadham etc- we did not play them as they take more time. For small kids they have some more games suitable to them.

Apart from the most attractive bore well bath, they do have a mini artificial water falls; the force is more & falling from a good height, it gives a good massage to our back. Only thing is chlorine is more and those who are allergic to chlorine can avoid.

    

Swimming pool: They have swimming pool artistically designed exactly like a Temple Kulam; depth is around 4-5 feet only and kids also enjoy this pool very much. This is adjacent to waterfalls and I took bath in both one after the other on the 2nd day.

The activities place and falls/ kulam is very near; they played 80s Ilayaraja songs when we were there; it gave an apt atmosphere to the place.

Evening they had Thallu vandi kind of shops for preparing Coffee/ Tea and Snacks. Cost is slightly more – Tea is Rs 65 and coffee is Rs 75- but the taste is so good and it is worth ! The same Thallu vandi they have for night also if there is no rain. For dinner – either you can have it in Thallu vandi or inside the restaurant.

Archery/ Gun shooting: They give 3 chances for both archery and gun shooting; another small archery game is there- which we can play ourself too. Table tennis is also nearby.

They have Cows/ Duck/ Vaan kozhi/ Goat : These are kept in one place– they take milk from the cow in the morning and evening; we can go and see this process. They gave fresh/raw milk taken from the cow and it was a different experience.

Lake walk; 2nd day morning – they take interested people for a walk around 7 AM- they have taken a lake for lease and show us this place and there are lots of trees near this place.

Rooms- all their single room (For 2 people) cost around 7000 on week days and 8000 on week end; they have around 32 rooms; there are 3 BHK and 4BHK as well- which can be used by bigger families. All these rooms are with Athangudi tiles and built in typical Karaikkudi style. You have Mutram and lot of old vessels used in the earlier generation.

    There are 2 rooms (both in half kilo meter distance) inside the paddy fields & we stayed in one of them ; This cost 7200. Harvest was over few days ago and we were not able to see the paddy crops when we stayed; But most of the time, it could be there as they cultivate paddy crops 3 times in a year. Our room was bang opposite to borewell and it suited as we can go and take bath whenever it was free.

The rooms were neat and clean; the service was really good; each and every staff moved very courteously. All are staying closer to the resort in some villages and few stay in the resort itself.

One very good development:

They are now allowing day time visits: Ie: Without staying: So one can come in the morning; enjoy all activities; have lunch here and leave in the late evening; for this they charge per person around 2000- 2500; Currently they are not putting it and advertising in their site and allowing on demand. But they are constructing some rooms for these guests to go and stay and take some rest in the day time itself; we were told that this construction will be completed in a month or two and then they will put this in their website itself.

This is a 3 year old resort and has become popular already; around 15 families stayed on the week day when we went; From Friday to Sunday – it is normally getting sold out and one needs to book it in advance.

We enjoyed the one and half days we stayed here fully and might come back again with our extended family!

Trip to Kashmir: All you want to know

1. How many days trip will be sufficient for Kashmir? 

Minimum of 5 days is required for exploring Kashmir reasonably well. It can go upto 7 days also if possible. 

2. Are there direct flights available from Chennai? What about train facilities? 

There are no direct flights from Chennai; interestingly there are direct flights available to Kashmir from Hyderabad ! We went upto Delhi and then from Delhi to Kashmir. There are various flights in both these direction- ie: Chennai to Delhi  and Delhi to Kashmir; minimum of 10 to 15 flights are there on both these routes. We selected the same carrier (Indigo) as the luggage will directly come upto Kashmir and we need not take it again during lay over; We preferred Indigo as Vistara schedules had some disruption in April 2024. Otherwise Vistara will be very good too. 

There is a direct train available from Chennai to Kashmir- but it takes 2 full days to reach; 4 days will be spent (To and Fro) in travel alone.

3. How did we plan our trip? Who helped with the travel plan?

Since its May,  we decided to go for a Hill station and Kashmir was in our bucket list for many years. 

If its South India we can plan hotels. etc ourselves. Being a completely new place, we decided to engage a travel agent. Daughter found out SK Vacations (Contact: 8608384027) from Internet and I was bowled over reading about them in the Google reviews; Every one had highly praised about them. We spoke to them few times and felt the genuineness with them. This agency is run by a husband and wife - both their first letters are S and K. We dealt with Mrs. Kalai only right from the beginning and she planned the entire trip- including hotel bookings, car travel and Rope car travel. 

4. Is it possible to plan ourself or booking through a travel agent is a must?

Photo taken during one of our morning walk

This is the first time we went through a travel agency and it really relieved us from spending so much time for reading about each hotel, plan the places, look for cab, etc. May be the travel agent may have their own margin, but we save a lot of time and there was no chaos. 

5. What is the ideal time to visit Kashmir?

March to September is the ideal time to visit Kashmir and climate in many places will  be manageable for most of us. 

A bridge en route to Phahalgam

There are people who go specifically during Dec or Jan to enjoy complete snowfall in all the places. October and November is said to be the lean season in Kashmir and less tourists come during this time. March mid to April mid - the Tuplip garden will be open and you can see them only during this one month window. 

6. What are the must visit places in Srinagar? 

Srinagar - Summer capital is a must visit place. Mostly you will get down here; It is a beautiful city surrounded by lovely mountains. Climate is cool and tourist places are not very crowded . (Roads have high traffic with many cars !!!). You can see apple and pine trees in many places (In May you can see the trees only and not the fruits)

Dal lake is the most iconic place and the famous Shikara ride happens in Dal lake. One can take 1 hour or two hour Shikara ride and most of the tourists take this ride & do not miss it. 

                                                      

Lot of vendors will come and sell many things while you are going for boating- you can simply ignore most of them. There is a big market in the lake itself- you can see the beauty of it- we did not do any purchase in the Dal lake ride, except taking photo in Kashmiri dress. (Next day we found that every place we go in Srinagar, we have this Kashmiri dress and photos)

Sun sets very very late in Kashmir and only 7.30 to 8 PM it becomes dark, when we visited in May 1st week. We took the Shikara ride from 5.45 to 7.45 PM so that we enjoyed both sun light and to see the Dal lake under lights. It was a beautiful ride; we had Tamil songs from our phone for 2 hours and relaxed. 

Elders tour - all are 60 to 80 years .. They were having a great fun !

There are many gardens in Srinagar; in our view, if you visit Botanical garden, you can see almost all the flowers there; in other places, the same flowers are there again. And Botanical garden is huge and very lush in green.

Pari Mahal in Srinagar is a must visit place. 

View from Pari Mahal

Its a fort which was built by a Mugal king; it has 3 layers - Ground floor, First floor and second floor; Surrounded by lake and mountains. Very scenic and spending an hour or two is a must for any tourist. 

7. What are the other places to visit in Kashmir? 

Gulmarg ! You cannot miss it; This is fully surrounded by snow. 

There is a cable car ride here to reach the Snow games place and one need to book this ticket 2-3 weeks in advance. 

Cable car ride..

Our tour operator spent several hours to book our ticket online 2 weeks before our travel. There are 2 phases in cable car trip - we went for 1st phase only; 2nd phase tickets are very limited and we did not get it. We were told that it is in a very high altitude and few get breathing trouble once they reach it. 

The trip in the cable car (they call it Gondola) itself is breath taking; we will see snow every where during this cable car travel. 

There are 3 games - Snow biking, Sledging and Skiing; 

Snow biking; there will be driver who will be driving it; we will sit in Pillion; if we request he will give us for ride for short period

Sledging

Skiing

Snow biking and sledging are really good and one must certainly do both of them- atleast Snow biking.

 For snow biking, Government has fixed Rs 1000 per head for a short trip of 20 minutes. If we give some tips to the driver, they will guide us how to drive the bike in snow and give us the bike to drive. It was a wonderful experience !

Sledging- they pull us in snow and take to few places including the Snow biking point; We paid 1500 for two people for sledging. 

We spent almost half day in the snow games place and surprisingly the Sun was out brightly & it was hot. We did not feel much cold there. 

Gulmarg is slightly in a higher terrain and it take 1.5 hours to 2 hours to reach Gulmarg; most of the people go from Srinagar and return on the same day; very few stay near Gulmarg and hotels there are costly as only few are there.  

If one has motion sickness, better to take a vomitting tablet in the morning itself while going to Gulmarg. (Not very steep and has few hairpin bends only- but still its better to be cautious for those who has this issue)

Pehalgam is another place- this is almost 2 to 2.5 hours journey from Srinagar and this was the coldest place among all the places we went. 

We stayed here for 1 day. 

Horse ride @Phahalgam

Phahalgam.. coldest place

There are 3 places to cover here- Aaru Valley, Bethab valley and Chandan wari (ABC)

Aaru valley is in a particular direction ; Bethab valley and Chandan wari together are in a different direction. These two are just a few kilo meter away from one another and normally people go to Bethab valley and Chandan wari together.

Aaru valley and Bethab valley are greeneries/ sight seeing places and even during May its extremely cold in the day time too ! 

Aaru valley

Bethab valley.. it got this name because of a Hindi movie Bethab, a song of which was shot here..

We visit these places for enjoying the climate and to take some photos behind beautiful snow filled mountains. 

Chandan wari : This is slightly in a higher altitute and most of the times it will be filled with snow fully and we can enjoy some snow games also (Not like Motor bike- but smaller games like Sledging etc) ;

Chandan Wari

Those who cannot go to Gulmarg (Getting cable car ticket there is the biggest task !) can enjoy the Snow in Chandan wari.

All these 3 places are in Phahalgam; While we go there in our own car, we are not supposed to use the car that we take from Srinagar; we need to use the local taxi from Phahalgam (they call it Union Taxi); the cost for covering all these 2 places in the Union Taxi is around 2,200 ( It was included by our travel agent in the overall budget- we did not pay it separately)

We also visited Dhooth Patri- it is a small hill station, less explored; 

Climate was good and there are some beautiful landscape and mountains in the background.

With a local @ Dhoodh Patri

8. How much it will cost for the trip? 

For 5 days - hotel,  transport- Local car, Union Taxi, Shikara ride for 2 hours, House boat stay, Morning and night - 2 times - food - for 2 people the travel agent charges around 48,000. Snow games + Gondola travel cost at actual, Tips for drivers and games people if any and lunch charges we need to bear; most other cost is covered in the cost we pay to the travel agent. 

Flight charges are separate; agent can help you to book or you can book it on your own.

9. How is the food at Kashmir? 

Having Tea at a local shop in Pehalgam

Mostly we get Chapathi, Naan, Roti, Poha and some curry (Mixed veg, Panneer) every where; we also have rice and dhall; also chicken gravy in all the places. We did not see biriyani, Mutton gravi or Fish in any of the  hotels. There will be a sweet (Invariably some Payasam); rice did not suit us much; we almost had Chapathi / gravy and sweet only in most places. But these are good in all the hotels. 

10. Is it safe to travel around Kashmir? 

We found it like any other city in India and did not see any threat; of course you can see Police people standing in some prominent places like Markets, etc in Srinagar and few other places. 

But Kashmir is not fully explored and embraced by most people. Except places like Gulmarg which is well crowded, other places are not much crowded like any other Indian hill station.

11. What should we take while going for the Kashmir trip?

Kashmir is exactly opposite to Chennai; Chennai weather - is- Hot - Hotter- Hottest. Kashmir is Cold- Colder- Coldest. So take jackets, gloves, Thermal wear, Cap (Kulla) etc as many as possible. In some places like Phahlagam, it is worth putting 2 kinds of jackets also; we took many sweaters/ overcoats/ gloves and used almost everything there. Nothing was unused. Shoes are must ( Snow places - mandatorily we need to hire Bigger shoes (Boots) in the nearby shops for rental- they charge Rs 100); similarly there are track pants which can absorb water- these are must for places covered with snow. 

With Shakib, our driver in a Mustard garden

Also one should carry umbrella as it may rain occasionally. 

Please note that Prepaid sim cards do not work in Kashmir; so most of our sim cards will not work there (Not even incoming !); we need to get some postpaid sim once we reach there (Our driver gave his 2nd sim; we just paid the recharge amount of Rs 200 to him).

12. Things to buy?

Cricket bats are made from Kashmir willow and its very cheap and of good quality; 

Chitra is standing before the tree from which Cricket willows are made.. 

We did not know how to carry bat in flight and whether they will allow as a hand luggage- hence did not buy. If the bigger bag can accomodate it, we can buy it.

Kashmiri carpets are very famous - mostly made out of hand work- will start from 15,000 & will go upto a lakh- but compared to other places - it will be cheaper

Dry fruits - you can certainly buy from here- quality is very good- much better than we get in Chennai and cheaper also.

Saffron is quite famous here and most of the tourist buy it; Kashmiri Tea "Kawa"- this is completely different from what we drink here- its a different experience- we can buy this 'Kawa" Tea for our home

Shawl and Stoll - these are good too 

We visited Lal Chowk - a famous market in Srinagar just to have a feel of it- 

Before the Iconic Tower clock @ Lal Chowk Market

Could not spend much time and spent hardly an hour and did limited purchase

Most places you need to bargain- you can easily ask for half price and can close the negotiation with 60 to 70 % in many cases.

Finally..

Kashmir is certainly worth visiting- for wonderful climate, fantastic greenery, snow filled mountains and a not much crowded hill station !

A trip to Malaysia- A must visit place: Info & Tips for your visit

Recently had an opportunity to visit Malaysia; Travelled around Kaula Lampur, Genting and Melaka.

Malysia attracted me immensely - particularly, the infrastructure- the roads were fabulous; Not only the main road... being a traveller, I walked almost on all days - morning and evening to many innner parts of Kaula Lampur and never could see a broken road in interior parts also. 

Cars, cars and more cars !

An interesting thing is- the main roads are full of cars (they say every home here has 3-4 cars; every one in the house will have a separate car); there were very few two wheelers and it is hard to see any people walking on the path way in the main road; I am not talking about Highways- think about our Mount road, ECR road or OMR Road- you will see people walking on the roads - its hard to see there; We can see people walking in malls or other shopping areas only; One of the reason for more cars is that Petrol is very cheap- hardly 35 to 40 rupees in Indian currency !

The Tall buildings !

Malaysia is famous for tall buildings - we visited the Petromax Twin Towers and were spellbound. Due to time constraints, we did not go to the top- if time permits, one must go.

We also saw another huge Tower (KL Tower)- which was the older/ previous one to Petromax Towers.

Then we also visited the longest tower in Malaysia (Second tallest in the world); this is in finishing stage.

Most of these tall buildings are commercial shops or office premises or combination of both.

 

Unique characteristics of Malaysia

Compared to the neighbouring Singapore (its few  hours travel by road !), Malaysia is very liberal and restrictions are very few; Another thing which distinguishes Malaysia from Singapore is its natural beauty; the greeneries and landscapes catch our eyes and is pleasing wherever we go ( We were told that Singapore is full of concrete & made artificially); one of my friend who lived for many years in Singapore told me that during weekends they will come to Malaysia and hang out. They will see movies, do shopping (including purchasing vegetables, etc as most things are cheaper here than Singapore) and most importantly according to him, visiting Malaysia and staying in the nature was a big stress buster. 

When we stayed there, it rained almost on all days- but it is not for a longer duration or disturbing; driver said it is the normal practice that there will be both rain and sunshine on all days- all season. 

Their English is very comical and different; they write English as we speak; For eg - Taxi is written as -Teksi, Clinic is written as Kilinik ☺️

They have so many big buildings but they protect & preserve old Buildings also

No dogs are seen there  in any of the place; may be few may have at their home as pet- but no street dogs !

I could not see people walking or jogging mostly- understand they seldom do physical activity; but most are not fat – it was a puzzle for me – may be genetic !

Left side driving is practiced similar to India; so you will not find it hard or different.

Malaysia has a Hindu population of 6.5 percent. Guess majoirty are from Tamil Nadu. In all places we are able to hear Tamil voice.

Schools work Half day only. Teachers also attend half day only ; for certain classes, the sessions are in the morning and few others, its in the afternoon. 

No tips in restarurants. A Token number is kept in our table. Need to give after having food at the bill counter. They will give bill & we can pay directly there. 

Mostly, they have Nuclear family; after marriage people come out and have their own family; they meet parents at intervals; they say it helps to have more responsibility. 

Cinemas are there in malls. there are separate theaters also like Calesium theatre; lot of Tamil and Hindi movies run in theaters; And there are Malay movies also !

EB wiring is completely in underground. We can see no EB wires in the road; also the drainage system is superb; there is no damage to the road or water logging, though it rains on almost all days. 

The Tamil connect 

We understand that Kaula Lampur has 600 Tamil schools. Science etc is taught in Tamil only in these schools ! We were told that Govt recognises Tamils as they died in Japan ruling and Tamils played a great part in creating the infrastructure of Malaysia. In fact, we saw a road by name " Saamivel road" who was a famous Tamilian from Malaysia.  

They also have Tamil TV channel & Tamil FM Radio- we got to know this on the last day only and heard the Tamil FM there for sometime. 

They have the temple with very tall Murugan - its located in Batu caves; we visited there and had a very good time.

There are two areas where Indians (Mostly Tamilians) reside much; one place is Masjid India and the other one is : Brickfield. Little India. We will have hotels like Adyar Ananda Bhavan, Saravana Bhavan, Sangeetha in these areas; We can eat Malaysian food once or twice - but cannot eat it regularly; so these Ananda Bhavans helped us immensely. 

It is better to stay in these areas as they are centrally located and easy to travel across the city.

Metro star hotel which is located in Masjid India is a good budget hotel. For 2 bed, we get room at about 2500 per day which is very reasonable. 

Except restaurants where we eat - water is not free here- including the hotel where we stay; they give you a few half liter water bottle and then charge if we need more; better to buy slightly bigger water bottles from Super markets - it works very cheap. 

There is Haniffa stores which is in the same building as that of Metro Star hotel; Its quite popular and lot of Tamilians come and purchase provisions here; I purchased water bottles and chocolates for bringing home here. 

Masjid India has lot of gold shops. They say Quality will be good here and less making charges unlike India.

Shops are closed around Night 8.30 to 9. During Weekend, they are open a little more

Palm oil export is one of the main business of Malaysia.

Chandrakala suryakaka look alike food is sold in many places; if we go there and ask if it is a sweet, we get to know that its not sweet - inside they have chicken or mutton.

Work !

Offices start very early - Working hours 8 to 4 or 9 to 5 ! Evening if people work beyond the office hours they are being paid overtime; Else they return home by 5 or 5.30 PM and spend time with the family. 

Sun comes out slightly late here - only around 7 am; but by 7 or 7.30 AM many are ready to go to schools and offices and are on the roads. 

All Govt offices and banks work for 5 days only. Pvt offices, almost like Chennai- few are holidays on Saturdays and few are half day working.  Being a Muslim country...Friday 12 to 2 all offices are closed for prayer.

Saturday is the day of shopping and outing mostly ! Sunday atleast half of them take rest and the roads are fairly trafficless. 

Govt job - they retire at 55 , as regards private Companies, there is no retirement ; one can work till they want; Most prefer working in their late age also as it keeps them busy. 

When both men and women work, mostly they eat outside; in the morning hours in the roadside hotel, decent people stand in queue, collect their breakfast before reaching to their office (They will have breakfast after reaching the office). We were told that Women are treated very well and both men- women cook at home. Similarly if the husband gives torture, wife can get divorce and can easily move on- she can marry another person and start a new life. 

People of Malaysia are ready to do any work - they do not think any work as inferior; During Lockdown in 2020, a pilot who did not have work, started car cleaning service along with his wife. It is  doing very well now ! They do some business and come up very well. 

Because of this business sense , there is no pressure for studies. If the students study well themselves, its fine; else they take up some business or work. 

Government is providing 24 hours water supply and electricity.  No power cut or "water not coming today" issues are there. When they do any maintenance, they inform in advance and ask people to store water. People do not put borewell here and depend on water supply from Government only. 

Their Regular food

Similar to our Idly, they eat this food- Naasilamma most of the days morning. It is Rice mixed with coconut (Sweet in taste). They will have Chicken gravy or any other gravy for this.

They are fond of rice items & eat it all the three times. 

Corruption...???

While you are driving if documents are ok they will simply allow you to go.  If slight deviation, they say very few accept bribe, but most of them don't accept it.

A politician by name Najim, Minister and his wife were recently arrested for corruption and are in prison for 12 yrs !

Transport 

There are various transports available – particularly train alone – similar to Chennai, metro, rapid, etc are there. I travelled once in a Metro train- the modalities for travel in Metro is ditto like India like buying a token as ticket and using it for access.

There are free shuttle of buses available. Travelled in one such bus for reaching a metro. Fully air conditioned buses ! Free buses are not for short trip alone; they cover a long distance !

Autos are not seen; they were used earlier and now they are banned.

We hardly saw any Police on the roads; but the driver kept telling us that they watch everything in CCTV & even if there is a small issue in the road, they will arrive in a few minutes. 

Most of the roads are one ways (Similar to Bengaluru) as the traffic is more - sometimes we need to travel a few kilo meter to reach a place which is few hundred meters by walk. 

Similar to our Ola and Uber, they use Grab app for travelling; we downloaded and used it as well; it was very good; only issue is once they arrive, if they cannot see us in that place they will simply cancel and go (Charges will not be added); not sure why they are not calling us in our phone- may be drivers may not have ISD call facility- but they can atleast make whats app call. Cancellation happened only when we select the wrong starting point and stand in a different place. 

Shopping : 

Central market of Kuala Lampur

This is the oldest market in Malaysia; Lots of good shops at very reasonable price. Did some shopping here for family.

China town

Dresses and other materials from China are sold here; cheaper market. We can bargain even half the price. Mainly dresses for both men and women and accessories for women are sold here. 

Night market Jallan alloor

We heard that Jallan Alloor is the night market and it functions till late night 2 AM on Weekends; could not visit there. 

THEA HEU CHINESE TEMPLE

Thea Heu Chinese Temple is located in Kaula Lampur and worth visiting for seeing a different culture. When we went we were able to see some marriages happening in the temple which was a different experience for us.  .

OTHER AREAS WORTH VISITING IN MALAYSIA

Melaka

This is two hour drive from Kaula Lampur; similar to our Pondicherry with old buildings and a river cruise. The river cruise experience was very good, seeing the entire town and buildings. 

We walked in the street where many unique/ traditional- old buildings are there. 

Few stay in Melaka for a night as they say seeing the river in the night is a different experience 

Genting

We go to Genting in rope car, which is one of the largest rope car travel and enjoyable. We were having a plan to go to Genting and stay there for a day; 

It has the worlds's largest hotel with the maximum number of rooms and unfortunately there were no rooms available there. 

Once we get down, it was full of fun games and restaurants in a VERY BIG MALL; you need to ideally spend a day in Genting, catch rope car in the evening and come back.

We went without planning our proper stay there; thought we will go out and stay for a day; but we could not go out of the mall at all; spent few hours and then decided to spend some time there itself and return.

If you are going to Genting, please plan to spend the day in the mall itself, explore fully and return. If you are planning to stay in Genting, book in advance in the same hotel in the mall and then go. 

While returning from Genting, we visited this Chinese temple which was in a picturesque location. 

Putra Jaya

This is a place about 2 hours drive from Airport; so we can see this place as the last one and then can catch our flight. 

All Govt offices are in Puthra Jaya and their staff also stay in Puthra jaya only. 

There is a cruise in the river and they also have cycling; you can take cycle and roam around the city; I took cycle and enjoyed the city for a few hours. 

Some caution/ care to be taken 

When we travel to Malaysia, we need to mandatorily activate our International roaming by buying a pack when in India or we can buy local sim once we land there. Similarly if you want to use Credit card, need to activate international purchases; I was under the impression that it will be done automatically- but I could not purchase anything using credit card; then realized I should have activated it while in India. Mostly cash is being used in Malaysia in many places.

I was also carrying my Debit card with the thought we can withdraw money - but none of the Indian banks like HDFC, ICICI are seen there- only local banks are there !

Print out of E visa: While in Chennai, they saw the E Visa in Mobile and allowed, after landing in Kaula Lampur, for immigration, they insisted the print out copy; I had to find a place for print out. It took so much of time for finding and printing and I was exhausted; So kindly remember to print the E Visa and your ticket in physical copy while going to Malaysia ! 

While it is almost easy and free to roam around all through the day, better to avoid returning by night walk – particularly by walking. Abandoned youngsters attack and rob walkers during night.

Contact people:

Metro star Hotel- Mr. Raja +60 14-764 2887

Driver- Mr. Syed Noor: +60 16-297 5075

Both are Tamil speaking people and extremely helpful !