Schwarzkopf Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 I took a little trip to South East Asia for an end of exams/birthday sort of thing. Rough outline: Day 1: Singapore - Beach and Chinese Gardens Day 2: Singapore - Chinatown and RAIN Day 3: Singapore - Universal Studios Singapore Day 4: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Cosmo's World Day 5: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Petronas Towers & KL Tower Day 6: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Sunway Lagoon and Batu Caves Day 7: Genting Highlands, Malaysia - Genting Theme Park and First World Plaza Day 8 was spent on a coach and day 9 on a plane, so I won't bother including them as there were no photos . Day 1: I First full day after arriving late the night before. Luckily, I managed to avoid jetlag, however kept getting up really early... although this was a blessing in disguise as i'm usually AWFUL at waking up (just ask Vadge ) Walking down the street... I see a wheel! It's called the Singapore flyer. It's currently the tallest in the world but is getting spited by Beijing soon... Phunky bridge and phunky building: The bridge had cute little observation points with a view of the CBD... Singapore is famous for being clean and safe, due to harsh punishments for relatively minor offenses (huge fines for littering and lashes for graffiti/vandalism). More fabness It was a nice day, and Universal Studios was sold out, so I bought tickets for another day and headed to the beach. The nicest beaches in Singapore are on Sentosa, the same island as Universal (only a short monorail ride from the main island). Cable cars... The beach was nicer than I expected from Singapore. Although you could see ships in the distance (hundreds of them), they were well hidden by the small islands directly opposite. There was a bridge (and a zipline coming from a hill behind) over to one of the small islands. The water was boiling! They had a flow rider <3 After the beach I got the MRT (mass rapid transit) to the Chinese gardens, as it was still sunny and I wanted to cram in as much as possible. On the MRT they had these fab stickers on the windows <3 What a FINE city. ...and at the Chinese/Japanese gardens, more fines! At least it was clean... I won't bother captioning these as there isn't much to say.... The dragons were paticularly fabulous <3 Turtles <3 They had a huge pagoda in the middle, which I went through the effort of walking up just to get these photos, so be greatful The steps were putrid in the humidity ///3 One last photo of a tree on the way out to conclude the photos for today! Part 2 to follow soonish. x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groteslurf Posted June 27, 2010 Share Posted June 27, 2010 I love the pictures. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. That phunky building, it has a 150 meters long swimmingpool on the platform on top of the building. It really is phunky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwarzkopf Posted June 27, 2010 Author Share Posted June 27, 2010 Day 2 I woke up to horrendus rain, so waited until it had calmed down a bit before I braved going outside. I opted for Chinatown for no apparent reason . Rain. Fab temple <3 Chinatown shop bit... I then wandered around and took some crappy urban photos. My camera hates dark conditions... New buildings in the Marine Front development; They were near the fab boat building. CBD from a weird angle... I went on a date with a girl from my hostel This is the area our hostel was in... red light district <3 Random shop As the sky was starting to clear by nightfall, we headed to the CBD to see what it was like at night. It was gorgeous! FIN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwarzkopf Posted June 27, 2010 Author Share Posted June 27, 2010 I'll do day 3 now as it's about time some credz were featured! Day 3 - Universal Studios Singapore Firstly, I had to get the monorail back to Sentosa from 'mainland' Singapore; Again, the park was sold out. However, i'd pre-booked this time so it was all systems go! A photo of this has to be included really... The queue to get in 3 Mappage %5Bimg%5Dhttp%3A//sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs160.snc4/37345_10150228335500054_743580053_13365807_3657649_n.jpg As it rains a lot in the region, lots of parts (not just in the park, but in the whole city) were covered like this: I knew battlestar galactica was closed (as it has been since march) due to the major fault, so headed straight for the shrek area for my kiddie cred, 'Enchanted Airways' To get to the shrek land you walked through Madagascar... which had a few cafe's and a few kiddie rides. More Madagascar with the Shrek castle in the distance So, onto Shrek land and my first cred of the trip. Obviously it's just a rollerskater, but as usual with Universal it ran 2 trains and has some decent theming. Despite the park hitting capacity, the queue was only 15 minutes (generally the park didn't feel THAT busy... perhaps they're stricter with capacity laws in Singapore?). I know those photos are a bit repetative, but meh, might as well post them all! General photos of the Shrek land... There was a 4D show in the castle which I didn't bother with, as I hate 4D shows... Terrible photo of the castle 3 More nice theming, which will lead onto photos of Battlestar Galactica. Even though it was closed and I was bitter, I was nice and got some photos to share The areas were REALLY close together as the park is tiny (you can see mummy theming right next to it on the other side... Sci Fi city and Egypt just blended together carelessly... I'd have liked the transition to be more subtle but heh. So... as you guessed... Revenge of the Mummy! As Universal Studios Japan doesn't have a Mummy, i've now ridden all of them (Florida, Cali and Singapore) and Singapore's is my favourite of the three. I'm not going to spoil for anyone, but It took my favourite bits of both Florida's and Cali's and mixed them together. Having said that, I loved Cali's whereas most people hate it... so maybe don't trust me so much. It's definately better than Cali's though ! Last up was the Jurassic park area, with the third and final cred. Canopy Flyer. This Jurassic park area was bizzare, as it had many rides (rather than just the chute ride). Not much to say about this ride really... it's just a batflyer on crack. However, it did fit in really well with the area. The cars were fab, and very colourful. Plus, the op is loving life <3 A twist on the other Universal parks is having a rapids ride instead of a boat-chute ride as the 'Jurassic Park Tour' sort of attraction. I'm in two minds about this because: Good - It makes the observation bit more interesting, rather than just floating around Bad - As the boats are spinning, it's a real effort to actually look at the dinosours without straining your neck, lol. Overall I think I prefer it. As you can see, there is a drop at the end, but i'm not going to do an ollie and spoil anything. It's quite predictable, but really well done. If you want to know just ask me! Random theming... After that I got the monorail back to the mainland and got pissed with Suze. On the whole I think USS is a good park. However, it's very small and there isn't actually that much to do. With Battlestar Galactica it would be a LOT better, but a park shouldn't have to rely on just one ride. Also, I'd have liked more dark rides (such as Men in Black, ET, Twister etc). As, as you can see, there is a severe lack of them. Hopefully as the park matures more additions will be made, although where they'll find room I don't know! Fin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldJJman Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 Loving the pictures! Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwarzkopf Posted June 28, 2010 Author Share Posted June 28, 2010 Day 4. The cheapest way to travel between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur is by bus. I paid £15 each way for the 5 (but 7 hours with immigration checks, rest stops and general bus faff) hour journey. There were cheaper buses, but I got the more luxury ones as I didn't want a long journey with no aircon or leg room! After getting off the bus twice for immigration (leaving Singapore and entering Malaysia) you are greeted by this sign: Jungleness taken from the bus: 6 hours or so later I was in Kuala Lumpur. I was tired and it was about 6pm so I thought i'd get Cosmo's World done and dusted (it's open till late). I used the KL Monorail to get around quite a lot, although the trains aren't nearly long enough for the amount of people that use them (even though the platforms could clearly accomodate longer trains...) After getting lost in the gigantic berjeya times square shopping center......... .....I eventually heard screaming and stumbled across this! I'll post a load of photos of the coaster (Supersonic Odyssey) and then write a very small review... (This transition was fab!) ^ As some lifts are right next to the ride, I attempted to get some exclusive shots from inside them It isn't top ten breaking (obviously), but for an indoor coaster it's incredible! I like ride interaction, so loved how it snaked around the shopping area during the prelift. Like colossus, it was rather rattley, but MUCH more pleasant than Colossus (even with the older trains). It was short, but long for an indoor coaster, and had some pretty intense moments (such as the turn through the mouth after the loop). Photos of other rides... I'll post this again as you can see the tower ride and mini top spin thing in it... They also had bumper cars and a double inverter style ride, but I failed to take photographs! The theming throughout the park was pretty crazy/drug-induced; I then got the monorail heading towards TITIWANGSA (hehe) and headed home for some food, wifi and an early night Fin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Looty Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 Awesome report! I am quite jealous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwarzkopf Posted June 29, 2010 Author Share Posted June 29, 2010 Thanks for the comments so far! Some of you may find this the most boring section of the TR, but i'm really into my skyscrapers and views so this was one of my favourite days. Plus, i've always had a secret obsession with the Petronas towers . Day 5 I was supposed to visit Sunway Lagoon and the Caves on this day, but I massivley overslept so figured an afternoon/evening wandering around the city was a good idea. I'll also throw any random KL city photos from other days in here to pad it out a bit . I got RapidKL (the metro) to KLCC (which I assume stands for Kuala Lumpur City Center, although the transport system here was confusing and poorly designed IMO, but I won't go into that!). You are greeted by a cute park... ... then you turn round... <3 <3 <3 It was BOILING so I couldn't hang around to take many photos, and planned to return in the evening. From here, the KL Tower is visible, although the walk seemed like miles in the heat. I opted for the 'nature walk' way of getting to the tower, which was on a hill (rather than the free shuttle bus). Monkeyssss... but more of them in the next part So, to fill the awkward moment of me being the only person waiting for the lift up the tower the guy started telling me about how this glass was from Iran... 'it's not crystal or anything, just normal glass' way to excite me and pimp up where you work... LOL The lift took under a minute to get up 1,000-odd-ft, resulting in popped ears. Petronas towers from an angle (the building which looks like twin towers but are connected lower down is Times Square, where Cosmo's World is). By the time I got back to my hotel it had started to get dark, so I had just enough time to freshen up for some night-time petronas time. Expecto Petronas! moooooooonbridgeee (not pig) Fin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmicha Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 ^Great pictures. I've always wanted to visit this part of the world and will hopefully get to someday. I've always liked the overall design of the Petronas Towers, especially the way they handled the skybridge, but the materials used kill it for me. Cesar Pelli and I don't have similar tastes in materials, but I would still love to see these buildings in person. And the 'phunky' building in Singapore is a project I've been following for a while, and although the design of the three towers is a little uninspired, the pool on the Skypark more than makes up for it. Nothing like swimming in an infinity pool hundreds of feet above the ground. Thanks for this view of an awesome part of the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solid Gold Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 Photo report of places usually unseen: Winner winner chicken dinner. Is the Shrek castle at Universal Singapore the biggest theme park castle in the world, other than parks with real ones? It looks massive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troll Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 ^ It's certainly bigger than the one at Disneyland Seriously though, I think it's probably either that castle or Hogwarts Castle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwarzkopf Posted June 30, 2010 Author Share Posted June 30, 2010 ^ I have no idea, but thinking about it it is pretty huge... but a bit bland. Although it is in shrek i guess... Part 6 I was meant to do this the day before but overslept, so, here it is. Sunway Lagoon is about 30 minutes from where I was staying in central Kuala Lumpur, and because taxis in Malaysia are so cheap, and it was hot, I was lazy and got a 30 minute taxi ride . It was less than a fiver, on the meter, although you have to ask for the meter or you'll get ripped off (even though there is a sign on every taxi saying that haggling is prohibited). Sunway Lagoon is a giant resort including hotels, casino's, a large shopping mall, an amusement park, a water park and a wildlife park. Of course, I headed for the amusement park, to my annoyance that I had to purchase a ticket for all 3 'parks'... it was about £15 though so i'll survive! You have to get a giant escalator down to the entrance, but have to go back up on the other side to get to the creds... The scenery and theming was pretty good here, although it was pretty run down in places. I gave the inverting ship a miss... First cred (because the other wasn't open yet) here was the powered coaster, which of course was distinctly average and doesn't need a review ... the log flume looked pants too... Map-porn The map specifically for the amusement park I then proceeded to the other cred, which had opened. Soquet <3 It's american adventure all over again... It was dodgy but FAB Strange supports that don't touch the track... It ACTUALLY had some quite fab airtime! Good but run down theming Exclusive-taken-without-permission-but-they-don't-care-here photo: Photo of a carousel with post spite... I got bored of the amusement park and headed for the wildlife park, seeing as i'd paid for it and all... I want one <3 Exoticness I especially like the next two plants... Everyone says this is nice, but I think it's REALLY tacky: Across the lake, more run-down-but-good-once-upon-a-time stuff... This isn't cruel/irrelevant whatsoever; After an hour or so i'd had enough and headed to the batu caves, and took a couple of pics of the waterpark on the way out. This slide looked cool... I PROMISE I don't take photos around semi naked children very often! I walked through the mall on the way out. Naturally, I walked through the M <3 Ice Rink ...and the most pointless ferris wheel EVER View from the carpark/smoking area: As the park was on the very south of the suburbs and the Batu caves were just outside the city, but the north, the taxi ride was nearly an hour, and only cost about a tenner! If taxis were that cheap here my life would be complete... According to the taxi driver this is the parliament building... not very impressive. The caves look great as soon as you step out the cab/bus/limo/caravan or whatever else you may be travelling in. As monkeys like food, and tourists have food, the steps were littered with crazy wild monkeys that would do anything in their power to gain ownership of whatever you had on you (I even saw someone get attacked for a bottle of water ). Thus, I made sure I had nothing interesting on me as I don't want diseases... (don't ask what that white stuff is... i'm not into beastiality so have no idea!) baby monkey <3 From behind. (your minds are filthy, these caves are religious!) I then did a bit of caving myself... religion On the way out I managed to capture action photos of a monkey LUNGING at some people <3 It's looking... they're looking... Attack! You can see them almost crapping themselves too <3 I'll end this part with the view from the top of the steps, looking towards KL Fin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwarzkopf Posted July 1, 2010 Author Share Posted July 1, 2010 Part 7 This was my last proper day in Malaysia, and it was being spent at the Genting Highlands resort. I had already booked my bus/park entry for an amazing £10. The bus took about an hour, and went from KL Central The bus drops you off at the foot of the gondola lift called 'Genting Skyway', which is neaely 4km long! This sign was chilling out in the station; Every time you reach the top of a hill more and more just appears... it lasted about 15 minutes. Once at the top, I appeared to be in a cloud. The pattern of being able to see fine and not being able to see more than a few feet changed throughout the day... more of that later. I'll start with Flying Dragon, which was closed all day spite. It didn't look hopeful. They gave it a colonic and it still wouldn't budge! Shame, as it looked fab in a messed up way... Nearly in tears from missing a cred, I cheered myself up on the Volare, which was an upcharge (the outrage!) of about £2. Naturally, it was HORRIBLE. Although, it broke down shortly after me riding and was closed for the rest of the day, so I'm lucky in a twisted, perverted way... What's that coming over the hill, is it a vekoma? is it a vekoma? Again, it was putrid. Next up was the Pinfari. I think it might have been the first cred in malaysia or something? Then suddenly... clouds passed through and I couldn't see any of the creds! Once it had cleared and I could see again, I grabbed my mine train cred, which was actually pretty cool. Although, the park was designed badly and I had to walk through a shopping center to get to it! I had all the creds from the outdoor park, so headed into the indoor park. The theming was actually REALLY good in here, and was themed to various global cities. London Paris Venice In this one I can spot New York amongst other things... The coaster was called 'euro express', and oddly enough goes around the european section. They had their own petronas towers! Near the coasters entrance area there were big windows with views across the park; Time for some random park photos... ^(do you think energizer batteries are a sponsor, by any chance?) Dark ride, which I didn't bother with, although it's probably fab... Entrance plaza It started pissing it down, so I got the cable car back down to earth, which was TERRIFYING. I then spent the last night in my hotel (which I stayed in after checking out of the hostel after one night, as it was foul)... the view: After a good lie in, the whole day was spent on a bus back to Singapore, for my flight back to Heathrow the following day. It was quite luxorious for a coach <3 COMING HOME My a380 <3 The route So in all... this trip was amazing. It's the first time i've travelled on my own, and I was slightly anxious beforehand, but it really isn't difficult at all. There are moments where you want to talk to someone, but if you stay in hostels you are free to natter away and go off with people if you want to, but also have some 'me' time if you're not in the mood. Note: Singapore is a great place to start in Asia, as the british influences prevent it from being overwhelming. It really isn't that different, but it is at the same time... <3. Thanks for reading! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Looty Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Fantastic report! Thank you so much for sharing this. I would absolutely love to visit that part of the world someday. I have travelled alone before too but I think I would be WAY too intimidated to travel to Singapore & Malaysia by myself...props to you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superman2 Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Great report and brilliant photos. Any news when battlestar galactica might open? Was in Malaysia a few years back, really loved the place. Thanks for bringing back some grat memories Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Em-Z Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 Great report and pictures! I would love to go on a tour of Asia someday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solid Gold Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 Genting kind of looks like maybe the crappiest coaster collection pound for pound I can think of. Lovely photos though, I love seeing places like these, the jungles are really a whole different world from anywhere I've been. Must go soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noxegon Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 Genting's coasters are fairly putrid right enough, but they're made up for by Cosmo's World and Sunway. Malaysia is cool, an easy long weekend trip from Europe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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