(Travelogue) Oriental Outings Day 17: From Kuala Lumpur's LRT to Colombo's Tuk-Tuk

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Kuala Lumpur International Airport

It was even before dawn when we left Umair’s home. We had to catch the morning flight to Colombo from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). The challenge was to make it through public transport, i.e. without using a taxi, first from Wangsa Maju to KL Sentral, from where the airport bus/train leaves, through LRT and then to the airport by bus. And that proved to be quite a challenge!

Yet to open: Wansga Maju LRT station

Peeking into it

Another guy waiting

Finally it opened

Morning Walk
We were among the first ones to enter into Wangsa Maju LRT station – as soon as it opened around 6 –after a long walk from Umair’s apartment to the train station. The otherwise easy stroll turned into a strenuous morning exercise partly because of the slope and mainly because of the added luggage, an obvious consequence of yesterday’s shopping!

Long walk

The porter!

(70 km out of) KL-International Airport!
By the time we reached the ticket kiosk outside KL Sentral, the 6:30 skybus had already departed. The next bus had to leave at 7. Keeping in view that KLIA is ~ 70 km away from KL city center; we were left with a thin margin for the 9:10 international flight! With little choice, I started looking for a cab. While I was haggling with one of the taxis, Urooba screamed standing outside the ticket booth!

What I could see from the road that the bus kiosk is surrounded by 4-5 men with Urooba waving her hands crazily. I hurried back only to know that the bus company had decided to operate another bus at 6:45! Good news!

Business Secrets
On the way to the airport, I was pondering why the company bothered to run another bus for 7-8 commuters, maybe to cut on the tax business? More importantly, Urooba’s alertness saved us some decent money and the self-pledge to not using a taxi during the trip.

Yawning!

(Outside) Colombo Airport

The usual one hour journey took only 45 minutes because of the off-peak hours. So we managed to make it to Sri Lankan Airlines counter around 7:45! Rest of the journey – till Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo – was uneventful except that we gained a few hours because of the change in the time zone.

Ask for the front seat

And give the baby some comfort

Getting Connected

Immigration at Colombo airport was swift and within half an hour we were out of the airport. First, I purchased some local currency from one of the bank booths outside the arrival area. Rate was decent and the service was quick. There were also a couple of stall selling prepaid mobile cards. But that was more of a tourist trap because of the exorbitant price; LKR 2,000! The actual price of the SIM was ~50-100 and the rest was the credit in the chip which was too much for our 3 nights stay. So I postponed that until we reach to the town.

Landing at Colmobo Airport

Local Experience

From the airport we had to make it to Pita Kotte, a neighborhood in Colombo, where we would stay with a Sinhalese Buddhist family for the next couple of days.

Do As Locals Do
Encouraged from the morning experience, we decided to give the public transport another try! First we took the old white bus, which they call airport shuttle, to the airport bus depot where we transferred to the coaster style bus heading towards Pettah, the main transport junction of Colombo. Airport shuttle was free of cost while we paid LKR 400 for the air-conditioned coaster, much higher than what they charge from locals. The higher bus fare also accounted for our luggage which was occupying another seat! Anyhow, that was not a big deal for the one hour – ~ 35km – journey.

Saddar, Saddar!!
It was around noon when we reached Pettah, the open-air KL Sentral of Colombo! The ambiance was much like Saddar, the busy transportation hub of Karachi. We tried to catch a public bus to our destination, Pita Kotte, but none of the buses stopped for us mainly due to the baggage!

Of Tuk-Tuks!
Amid the heat and the humidity, and with the empty stomach, we had no choice but to give up our no-taxi solemn oath! With the support of a local guy, who was waiting for his bus, we struck a deal with one of the tuk-tuks for LKR 600! The price included all the luggage plus two enroute stops, one for the meal and the other for the mobile SIM!

The rickshaw driver kept on increasing the fare, citing different reasons, from prolonged enroute stops to the ambiguity in the address. By the time we reached our destination, near Ananda Balika Mawatha, means Girls College, the quote had gone up to LKR 1300! We felt a bit generous on making it safe and sound and settled that for 900!

It was a tough day today but that gave us an authentic feel of the city and the courage to use public buses in the coming days.  

Meeting Dharsana
Dahrsana, our host, gave us a warm welcome and helped us in settling our luggage in the lounge. I had an introductory chitchat with Dharsana, who now works as a freelance cartoonist and journalist, while we had our meal. Unfortunately, we could not meet his wife, Chinta, as she was abroad for a work related assignment.

Though it was not too late for us to go out, but since it was already a long day, we settled for an easy amble around Pita Kotte.

Whats Tomorrow?
Before calling it a day, Dharsana shared with us the photographs of the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, which he visited with a surfer recently, and some valuable tips to visit the place within budget.

(Travelogue) Oriental Outings Day 16: A Day in Kuala Lumpur

March 16, 2011

After the Labour Day yesterday, it was impossible for me to wake up early this morning. Misha and Urooba also looked tired due to back to back journeys – first from Cameron Highlands down to Penang and then to Kuala Lumpur. It was two out of last three days that we had to travel from one city to another and the next day we had to move back to Colombo, making that three out of five.

A view from inside the city train

Two Lessons Learned

Spending a couple of nights at one place means you are spending – or wasting – much of your precious time on the road, or in the ‘thin’ air for that matter. Three nights are a bare minimum; especially if you are a family.


In short, we would have been better off spending all four nights either in Penang or in Kuala Lumpur or in Langkawi rather than packing/unpacking the luggage every other day.

Second lesson was about traveling light. Not that we were carrying the entire bedroom! Actually, the extra stuff – which we took not knowing if we find a laundry – kept irritating us throughout the whole trip. So the lighter the better! Lesson Learned!

Lahori Hospitality in Kuala Lumpur

Umair – our Couchsurfing host – and his wife belong to Lahore; which is not only famous for its history but also for the hospitality. And in Lahore, hospitality and food go hand in hand. Keeping up to the tradition, Umair’s wife prepared us a quite lavish breakfast, ignoring all our protest, and made sure that we got ‘stuffed till our necks’, as they say in Urdu. Now we are waiting for them in Karachi to take the revenge!

The Malay Hospitality

Sheherezad – a kind VTer – not only responded to my travel queries patiently while planning the trip but also invited us for lunch when we reached KL! Rather than ‘seeing’ another tourist sight we also decided to meet a local and have an ‘authentic’ experience.  So after the breakfast, we had to ‘rush’ to catch the lunch!

Sheherezad suggested us to first take LRT till Bangsar – past KL Sentral – and then the feeder bus to Mid Valley Megamall, where she was waiting for us, to save us from the interchanging hassle.

Buying LRT ticket

Train coming

Getting into the underground station

As a newbie, it was still challenging for us to cope up with the extensive KL public transport system. City’s mass transit is a combination of intra-city trains – which itself consists of multiple systems and owned by different companies – and buses. Intersections are not as easy as we found in Singapore, especially when it comes to transferring from one company’s train to another’s.

Bourne Tactics
It was after reaching Mid Valley that I realized that it is impossible to recognize somebody you are meeting the first time amid a busy crowd! So I dialed her cell number while keeping an eye, and an ear, who’s mobile rang first!!

The meeting was happening and revealing!

The humble sounding Malay traveler turned out to be a doctorate in genetics and a senior professor! Urooba was all impressed!

Food Again!
She showed us around one of the biggest shopping malls of KL before taking us to her favourite restaurant. The eatery was famous for Kelantanese food (Kelantan: an East Coast province of Malaysia famous for its natural beauty and Islamic jurisprudence).

Food in the making

A Kelantanese speciality

Lemon Grass

Sheherezad in good mood

Shopping Starts
We enjoyed the food – and listening to Sheherezad’s travel stories – which was rich in taste and colour. The lemon grass drink was also very refreshing; wish if we could find one in Karachi! We then tried a couple of local delights made from Malay fruits. Afterwards, we took another round of the shopping mall; this time we did a bit more than window shopping. The food frenzy did not stop as we also tried doughnuts with some unconventional flavours.

Recommended

For low sugar levels

Back to KL Sentral

I wanted to stay more as her stories were taking new and revealing turns, but since both the ladies had business pending – one had to resume her pedagogic assignment while the other had to tick away the shopping list – we said goodbye to our host and headed back to KL Sentral. 

Going to Imbi

Changing to Monorail

From KL Sentral, we changed to monorail to reach to Imbi, near Bukit Bintang, one of the main retail hubs of KL and a shoppers’ paradise.

Consumerism
It was like a tsunami of consumables; from spacious chain stores to narrow lanes crap full of cubicle style shops, everyone has got business there. From DSLR cameras to Batik prints, from metallic souvenirs to rustic classics, from kindergarten toys to bedroom comforters, from cheap copies to high end brands, every item has got its customers. Supply was plentiful and demand was unending.  

The shopping frenzy continued until I got dried up of all the currency! But that was a lame excuse for the better half so I had to search for the nearby money exchange. And obviously there was one!

Back Home
Loaded like a packed rickshaw, as you can see in Karachi, we – and Misha’s buggy – reached back to Wangsa Maju at around 9 pm, had a quick meal at a roadside food court and finally ended up at Umair’s place.

The next morning we had to catch our flight back to Colombo to watch Cricket World Cup live between Pakistan and Australia!

(Travelogue) Oriental Outings Day 15: Penang to Kuala Lumpur

March 15, 2011

Twin Towers in the evening

That was almost the end of our short – two night – stand with Penang and also the start of a similar thing with Kuala Lumpur.

We were again late for the ‘Best of Penang’ breakfast; however, we had enough time to have a chat with the University troupe, before catching the 11 hrs KL bus, we met yesterday, and their group leader who volunteered in Pakistan after the earthquake of 2005.

She was speaking very high of Pakistani hospitality and the entire group– some of which may know the country through CNN – were listening with all their ears. It was awe-inspiring the way she explained the natural beauty of our gifted homeland.

Scope of the discussion started widening, from life in America to the differences between Western and Eastern cultures. Before it would have got unending and we would miss our bus, we said goodbye to them after exchanging our email addresses.

The Labour Day
We had to take the bus from outside the Prangin Mall, close to the famous Komtar building, which was walking distance from where we were staying. But that was not an easy walk with the heavy rucksack on my back, a loaded stroller in the front, and a hot sun over the head. For Urooba also, it was hard to hold Misha who refused to keep stuck in her pram due to humid weather. I got dehydrated and even started fumbling.

Thankfully, we reached to the bus stop well within time and without any major happening. Taking the time advantage we did some quick haggling inside the shopping mall.

Yet Another Bus Journey
The Mesra Liner Express first took us to Sungai Nibong, the main bus station of Penang, before tracking back to join the Penang bridge, which connects the island to the mainland. Rest of the journey was uneventful except for two brief stops, first somewhere midway to have a quick snack-cum-lunch, and then at a local bus station in KL to offload some passengers. It was around 4 pm when we reached KL Sentral, the trademark transportation hub of the capital city.

Long sot of Penang Bridge from inside the bus

Misha in good mood

Spacious seating of 2x1 buses

Umair of Lahore
Unlike Penang, we did have clues where to stay in Kuala Lumpur! Umair Rafiq, a Pakistani expatriate – and a Couchsurfing member – was kind enough to spare a bedroom of his cozy flat located in Wangsa Maju, one of KL’s residential neighborhoods.

As per Umair’s instructions, we first took LRT – Light Rail Transit – from KL Sentral to Wangsa Maju and then walked a couple of furlongs, with all the luggage, to finally find our couch.

March 15 will be remembers as a labour day in mozumbus’ history!

Back to Work
It was around 6ish when I received a phone call from Saad, a Travel Buddy member from Karachi who was also visiting KL at the same time to attend a youth conference, informing that he and his colleagues are planning to visit the city center, referred to as KLCC in the local jargon, and that we could join them too.

We did not waste much time and, after setting our bags in the room and getting a bit refreshed, made it back to KLCC, again through LRT, this time without the heavy luggage. Our tummies could not afford any further socializing, so we chose to have dinner first.

While we were discussing if the food taste’s differently as compared to what it does in Nando’s Karachi outlets, Saad managed to spot us. Actually, it was our first meeting, and that too in a foreign land, while we share the same suburban town!

Saad et all
The group with Saad was multicultural; one from Thailand, one from Indonesia, a couple of guys from Malaysia, and one from Bangladesh. Xxx guided us to the popular showground to take some night snaps of world famous Twin Towers!

From inside LRT

Roof of KLCC

Twin Towers

It was past midnight when we got back home and had a brief chat with our host Umair – a young software engineer who grew up in Lahore and Dubai before settling in KL with his equally welcoming family.

A long shot from Wangsa Maju



Misha and Umair's son Rayan

 

A decorated mosque from Umair's window



(Travelogue) Oriental Outings Day 9: Journey to the High Ground

March 9, 2011

Goodbye Bali

Those six nights in Bali passed like a whiff of the cool ocean breeze; like an early morning dream which one wishes to come true, like a fairytale grandmother used to narrate before going to bed: “Aren’t you getting late?”, asked the soft Putu in an unusual louder tone, bringing us back to the reality. He had to wake up early too in order to drop us to the airport for the morning flight to Kuala Lumpur and was rightly worried by our casual attitude. “It’s Air Asia; and they don’t wait”, his words made Urooba sense the urgency who was preparing Misha’s food while I was trying to placate the little traveler who was livid on getting disturbed in the wee hours.

Murphy's Law

“I have lost my cell phone”, said Urooba. “When and where?” I asked; “It might have slipped under the bed”, she replied while ignoring my questions. Murphy’s Law started working! Putu – realizing our anxiety – used his experience and found that sooner to avert the infamous Murphy power and to stop us repeating the Singapore blunder where we forgot the cybershot and some other gerunds at Jeffery’s place!

Morning!

It was already 6:30 when we finally managed to leave the guesthouse; a little late for the 8:30 flight keeping in view that we had to pass through the immigration also. Nevertheless, Putu made sure that we didn’t miss our flight; knowing that we were under Bali’s spell and could avail every opportunity to prolong our stay! Before making our way into the departure lounge, I paid Putu a modest gratuity which he might not be expecting from tightfisted us, frankly speaking!

Putu setting our luggage

Departure area of Denpasar Airport

"Hurry up! you are getting late"

Who Cares

A long queue was waiting for us in front of the Air Asia counter; that was the cost of getting late, and that too with a cheap ticket for a three hour flight. This time it was even cheaper than what we got earlier for Singapore-Bali flight: USD 123 (~ PKR 10,500) for the whole family! So, we didn’t mind standing few extra minutes in the queue, in fact who would?

Queue at Air Asia counter

More queue at Air Asia counter

Does it start from outside the airport !?

The Extortion!

In the normal course, you move to the immigration counter after getting your boarding passes. However, this is not the case in Bali, and in Indonesia for that matter, where one has to pass through a cash counter to pay a departure tax of IDR 150,000 per passport! This eerie practice shocks many travelers, and at times embarrasses them too as they usually had exhausted most of the local currency before taking exit. The Australian couple, standing before us in the queue, was also caught in surprise; they tried their best to do away with the “extortion”, in their own words, but to no avail. Finally, they had to pay 20$ each to compensate for that, significantly more than the equivalent of the actual tax when converted in the local currency. That resolved my curiosity as if why don’t they incorporate the tax in the ticket price? Bureaucracy knows how to feed itself, no matter where in the world!

Luckily, I was forewarned by a Virtual Tourist friend about this drama, so I made sure to keep IDR 450,000 handy with me without Urooba knowing about that who did not spare a single penny during last night’s shopping frenzy.

Encouraged by the Aussies’ experience, I haggled with the officer and to my surprise he happily waived off the toll for Misha’s passport! Hurray, we saved IDR 150,000!!

Finally we joined the unending queue again, this time the immigration one. Suddenly, Urooba spotted an officer contemplating to open a new counter; by the time others would have realized the development we ditched our queue and made it to the yellow line. Phew!

Shhh. Cameras are not allowed

Now, the immigiration queue

Rest was uneventful till we landed at Kuala Lumpur Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) except for some in-flight shopping thanks to the generous immigration officer!

Our Malaysia expedition has started!

Malaysia, Truly Asia! Really??

After landing at LCCT I wanted to make it to the Cameron Highlands the same day without actually knowing much about the logistics. I was under the influence of aggressive tourism marketing of the palm country, which ultimately proved disappointing especially from the perspective of an Independent Traveler. After clearing immigration, which was quick, I headed straight to the Tourist Information Center which was crap full of tourism guides, travel magazines, and marketing brochures. To my utter disbelief, both of the ladies at the counter were unaware of the transportation options to the Cameron Highlands.

The best they could do was to provide us with the telephone numbers of a few bus operators, none of which actually worked, from a handwritten register dumped deep in the cabinet. I later found out that the main intercity bus station of Kuala Lumpur – Puduraya – was closed for renovation; reason why those phone numbers were not working!

The Yoyo Experience

It took me more than one hour, a couple of changed decisions, and more than a couple of reprimands from Urooba that I finally figured out that it was better to first take a bus to Ipoh and then catch another to continue up the hills. The alternate, or actually the more conventional, way would have been to first make it to Kuala Lumpur Central bus station and then take a direct bus to Cameron Highland via Tapah. However, I was confused where to get the up-north bus so we decided to take the longer but more certain route.

View Larger Map
The route we taken: LCCT-Ipoh-Tanah Rata

View Larger Map
The conventional route: LCCT-KL Sentral-Tanah Rata

Bus tickets are available at the end of the arrival area where the salespersons in the tiny kiosks try to make sure that you don’t go to their rival company. For Ipoh, we found two choices – Star Shuttle and Yoyo – of apparently similar service quality and fares. We chose the latter just because of its comparably early departure. After locating the Yoyo bus outside the arrival area, we headed to the food court to take care of our crying bellies!

Urooba was not ready to take any risk and quickly settled for the broasted chicken while I felt spoiled for choices for our first meal in the Malay land. After peeking into different stalls, I decided to start with the traditional Malay food right away, and I did not regret. The modus operandi was similar to what we found in the Bali Makaan, i.e. you first select rice and then add curries of your choice from the displayed range, and the price depends on how many and which type of curries you select. In a fix, what to select, I asked the vendor to make me a meal similar to what the lady before me chose for!

Of Buses and Bus Stations

Following the fulfilling meal, we boarded on the bus after reconfirming from the driver that they will drop us at the bus station where we could find the onward bus. Contrary to this reassurance, they dropped us in the city center – taking advantage of the language barrier – with the excuse that the bus is going to the different terminal, i.e. Medan Gopeng, and we should instead go to Medan Kidd. No surprise, after experiencing the response level of the Tourist Information Center, that we later came to know both the terminals serve the highlands! All these initial happening were confirming the observations of a friend, Junaid, who spent some time in Malaysia for work.

So, we had no choice but to take the taxi from the city center to Medan Kidd which gave us the opportunity to see the glimpse of the peaceful colonial city. The talkative taxi driver belonged to the South Indian descendents who have been living in the peninsula for quite some decades and in good numbers. He also tried to make us believe that the bus ride is not reliable and he could drive us all the way to Tanah Rata, the main town of Cameron Highlands, in just two hours!

With no mood of taking any more risks, I thanked the cabdriver, only after confirming that Kinta Omnibus is leaving within an hour. The bus station was worn down, so were we; people were sitting on rusty benches waiting for their transport to arrive, Indian oldies selling traditional snacks – nimco – on make shift stalls, a block of more settled shops selling items from fruits to mobile cards, an exhibition of a half a dozen decapitated buses in the adjacent junkyard, and most importantly a fragile public toilet! In short, the ambiance was similar to what it would have been at any intercity bus stations in Pakistan!

Since Misha was feeling uneasy, Urooba decided to change her nappy using the ladies portion of those antique toilets. After she came back, making incomprehensible faces, I recharged the Digi mobile SIM, which I borrowed from Junaid, from one of the shops to reconnect to the cellular network. That ended my electromagnetic liberty!

In general, we found intercity buses in Malaysia reliable, economical, and comfortable, especially for medium distances, say 4-5 hours. However, there is a range of services, from the simple economy class to the lavish exclusive class, depending upon how much you want to pay. For around 100 km Ipoh to Cameron Highland ride we paid approx USD 6 per person, which is quite reasonable, keeping in view the journey had to end up at a height of 5,000 feet.

In fact, bus is the transportation of choice among locals unless one wants to go the other part of Malaysia, called Borneo, across the sea. I found http://www.journeymalaysia.com/bus.htm a good resource to plan bus trips.

On the other hand low cost airlines are gaining rapid popularity in the country which has now become a regional hub of the budget airlines. Air Asia, Fire Fly, and Tiger Airways – to name a few – are literally competing with bus companies in terms of fares. Book early, six to eight weeks, and you may get a fare as low as 5 USD! The traveling landscape has changed so much so that even for Kuala Lumpur to Penang, ~ 350 km, there is now a discussion whether it is better to fly!

The Scenic Journey

The journey to Tanah Rate, the main town of Cameron Highlands, was scenic and refreshing; hilly forests on both sides of the road, low altitude clouds, twisting roads with sharp turns, and slow cool breeze. Temperature also started falling down with the increasing height and then it started raining gently pushing the mercury further down. It was a welcome change after having a good course of tropical heat during the past few days!

We made it to Tanah Rata at around 9 in the evening completing the journey from the low lands to the high ones in 15 hours! It was the sense of achievement that made up for all the exhaustion of this long voyage. While the pick up from KRS Pines hotel had to arrive, I got some dinner packed from the nearby market, which we had after settling down in our room.

"It was a long journey, Abbu!"

A refreshing view from the lobby!

Good for us that Misha was in good shape, even after this long traveling; she could even recognize the change, both of the temperature and of the place, and started crawling excitedly on the bed. She was so thrilled that we had to put our luggage besides the bed, to avoid her from falling over, before going to a deep sleep!

(Planning Notes - 2) Oriental Outings: Secrets of Air Ticketing

Technology Bonus! After I narrowed down the destination list, the next step was to design an optimum itinerary, which can fly me the maximum miles in minimum amount of money and time. Before going to the travel agent, I referred to the efficient matrix.itasoftware.com to compare flights. That saved me multiple telephone calls and visits to the busy looking travel agent who would take a full day only to tell me that the desired dates are either unavailable or ridiculously expensive!

Three+ Countries in Single Airfare! And the outcome of the web search is an Open Jaw from Sri Lankan Airlines. Open Jaw? A type of air ticket which allows you to fly into one destination, say A, and then fly out of another, say B, unlike a simple return ticket, ergo saving backtracking costs and hassles, with nominal charge over the simple return ticket. So, I am doing three countries, i.e. Singapore, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka, in single airfare. Not enough? You can also add Thailand in the itinerary without adding anything to your airfare!

Fare Fares! I was feeling lucky after locking in the fare for a cheap Rs. 39,000 per person until a friend told me that he is doing the same route for Rs. 36,000! This is called the gimmick of fare classes: Y, Q, B, W, and so on. Finding: the cheaper fare of the two, i.e. the Y class, does not accommodate infants without a seat. So, no use for me!

For apple to apple comparison, also watch out if there is any built-in, so-called complimentary, insurance cost added to the airfare. You may always ask for insurance details from your travel agent and switch to a (family) package suitable to your needs substituting the built-in rip-off. Also, ticket with stopover, and not the layover, in Colombo will cost Rs. 1,700 more than to the one without the stay.

Layover Blues! With all this excitement I was about to overlook long layovers peculiar to connecting flights. Karachi – Kuala Lumpur, through Sri Lankan Airlines, is minimum 20 hours with a scorching 14 hours layover at Colombo! Luckily, there is a way out; the layover is much shorter, about two hours, for Karachi – Singapore flight, so doing the city state in the beginning of the trip makes sense.

What if Singapore is not in the itinerary at all? Then take a stopover, rather than a layover, at Colombo and do Sri Lanka first thing in the trip. And what if both Singapore and Sri Lanka are not in the itinerary? Then either stop dreaming about the cheap ticket or be ready for long layovers!

For Kuala Lumpur – Colombo either take the direct flight in the morning or the one that runs a little late in the day via Singapore. The earlier one connects to Karachi with the shortest layover and suits best if one wants to circumvent Sri Lanka on their way back. While the later flight is good for lazy honeymooners who also wish to have a couple of days stay in Sri Lanka!

Out of the Box! If you are also a victim of the out-of-the-box-thinking-syndrome and Malaysia-Singapore-Thailand-Sri Lanka is too cliché for you then adding any of the unconventional places, like Cambodia, Bali, Vietnam, etc, to the itinerary will help you in standing tall in the crowd! Don’t assume that this can be added to your return ticket let alone without a cost. You have to buy separate tickets to fancy your travel ego! And if you want to do it without breaking your pocket then do Air Asia, a no-frill airline based in Kuala Lumpur. To avail low air fares book at least 8 weeks in advance. I have already booked Singapore – Bali and Bali – Kuala Lumpur for three of us for around Rs. 30,000, all inclusive!

In total, I am paying around Rs. 120,000 for airlines tickets which will take us to four countries: Rs. 10,000 per person per country!