Sorry for the long absence, but things took a while to settle down after I got married. To add to it, there was a lot of additional work that had come in, which kept me longer in the office. Thankfully CF was there to look over the blog, add posts and reply to the comments :)
Anyway, my wife and I had gone on a 8 day trip to Malaysia for out honeymoon, which was generously sponsored by my sister's husband, who had promised my wife (then girlfriend) a honeymoon whenever we decided to tie the knot!
Before I go further, I have to say the people we encountered in Malaysia were quite friendly, which is a big plus while one's on vacation. Even while bargaining (which is something I'm not comfortable with, but my wife, being a true Indian, loves doing!), it was always pleasant and fun. So I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who's thinking of making a trip there.
My watch for the trip was the Omega Seamaster 'Great White'. I had planned on spending a lot of time in the pool or on the beach and possibly diving (in Langkawi), so I needed something made for jumping into the pool and general swimming. The choice was between the Orange Monster and the Seamaster, but I chose the Omega over the Seiko since the OM had accompanied me on my trip to Thailand in Feb, this year (for my bachelor party) and it was only fair that I owed a trip to the Omega.
KL was next after Langkawi and fortunately, we were staying in a hotel (Prince Hotel) which was a 10 min walk from the famous Petronas Twin Towers. It was also very close to 'Bukit Bintang' which is a great place to bar hop since the street is lined with pubs on either side.
The first day in KL, we visited the Suria Kuala Lumpur City Center or KLCC, which is a large mall at the base of the Petronas and houses a lot of luxury brands like Loius Vuitton, Bulgari, Cartier, Rolex, Piaget, etc. Although most of the stuff is high end and expensive, it was a nice place to visit and plus the food court was quite decent. It also gave me a chance to take some photographs of the watch showrooms!: (Apologies for the crappy pics, but I had just an old point and shoot with me at the time and the quality isn't the best)
(Strangely, there wasn't an Omega showroom. I was hoping to check it out)
We had planned on visiting the twin towers the next day and found out that the tickets go on sale everyday at precisely 8:30am.
While in Langkawi, we had got chatting with a friendly British couple who, apart from buying us a free round of drinks, had just been to KL and advised us to get up really early if we ever planned on visiting the Petrona towers. Keeping that in mind I had decided to get to the ticketing window an hour in advance so that I could beat the rush. Little did I know what was in store. I reached the ticketing office at 7:40am, only to find a long beeline to the counter already. Apparently, the best time to reach the counter is between 6:30, which I found out only after I reached the counter, to be told that the passes to the observation deck (86th floor) were already sold out and only the sky bridge passes were available (41st floor). Although I wasn't very pleased, I decided to get the sky bridge passes (10 Ringgit each).
While in Langkawi, we had got chatting with a friendly British couple who, apart from buying us a free round of drinks, had just been to KL and advised us to get up really early if we ever planned on visiting the Petrona towers. Keeping that in mind I had decided to get to the ticketing window an hour in advance so that I could beat the rush. Little did I know what was in store. I reached the ticketing office at 7:40am, only to find a long beeline to the counter already. Apparently, the best time to reach the counter is between 6:30, which I found out only after I reached the counter, to be told that the passes to the observation deck (86th floor) were already sold out and only the sky bridge passes were available (41st floor). Although I wasn't very pleased, I decided to get the sky bridge passes (10 Ringgit each).
Here are a quick wrist shot while I was up there:
Genting Highlands was the last destination in Malaysia. We were there for 2 nights and were at the Casino floor both nights. The Casinos are quite large and have separate section for non-smokers, which was a huge relief since the smoke in the other areas was really starting to hurt my eyes. We were lucky overall, with a combined winning of 2000 Ringgits or Rs30,800 ($666) which enabled us to shop for my family at the airport dutyfree! I was also able to buy a nice wallet for my dad (Mont Blanc) which I knew he'd really like, but couldn't ever bring himself to spending so much on a wallet. Every time I see him enjoying his new wallet, makes it more than worthwhile :)
Overall the trip was fantastic and we had a great time together! I'm just waiting for the next occasion I get some time off from work (probably close to October) so that I can take another vacation and post another trip report ;)
Genting Highlands was the last destination in Malaysia. We were there for 2 nights and were at the Casino floor both nights. The Casinos are quite large and have separate section for non-smokers, which was a huge relief since the smoke in the other areas was really starting to hurt my eyes. We were lucky overall, with a combined winning of 2000 Ringgits or Rs30,800 ($666) which enabled us to shop for my family at the airport dutyfree! I was also able to buy a nice wallet for my dad (Mont Blanc) which I knew he'd really like, but couldn't ever bring himself to spending so much on a wallet. Every time I see him enjoying his new wallet, makes it more than worthwhile :)
Overall the trip was fantastic and we had a great time together! I'm just waiting for the next occasion I get some time off from work (probably close to October) so that I can take another vacation and post another trip report ;)
