Status: INVADED!

What I haven’t invaded? My blow-by-blow account of the invasion with the Difficults! 


Malaysia, here we go!

Our Malaysian tour was a product of excel and research, in short D.I.Y. Maybe that’s one focal ingredient that made it 1forgetable.

The game plan was to start the tour in Legoland, Johor Bahru (but this is for another roll) and enjoy the succeeding in Kuala Lumpur. After our LEGOxiting and LEGOtastic day in Johor Bahru, we braced ourselves for a truly Asian treat!

Last 24 hours

We started our day with a hefty breakfast in Areena Diner. Our plateful (of thick and stuffy pancakes, tasty patty and eggs) was all we need for a 272 step-climb in Batu Caves.
 
areena diner kuala lumpur travel diary
One Malaysian energizer at Areena Diner.

Instead of going by train to Batu Caves, we commissioned a taxi in KL Sentral which costs RM 110 (Malaysian Ringgit). From the city, Batu Caves is just 30 minutes away.

The steps seemed unassuming; we were enthralled by the golden Hindu (or maybe our tummies were yet full) that we thought it’s going to be an average walk in the park. But of course, 272 is 272. Along the way, monkeys play, eat or pester guests that nonetheless, added to the thrill. I kept on looking at how far we've gone; how in the middle of the city, there’s something as breathtaking as Batu Caves. When we reached the summit, our friend Grace bought flavored water and to her surprise she saw a snake meddling with business affairs, nice.

Upstairs was a vast temple, we walked through it and found (to our surprise and dismay) another staircase with more statues. What’s remarkable about it was the open-air ceiling, like this inside the cave:

batu caves kuala lumpur malaysia

As I don’t know how to describe this nature’s feast.

 It was easier going down, of course and only then did we appreciate the birds owning the ground.



batu caves kuala lumpur malaysia blog
Our memento in Batu Caves

We didn’t have a hard time going to our next stop, Genting Highlands, because our taxi was waiting for us. The ride going to the Highlands was thrilling. We were literally scraping the mountain. From Batu Caves, it’s about an hour's ride.

We were dropped of at Highlands Station. From there, we took a cable car to the peak (2-way, RM 12). Forgive me for repeating but the cable car ride was so thrilling! Naïve to it, we screamed our up up and away. We had 15-minutes of 360 bird’s eye-view feast of Genting tropical forest.

Although at the top, we were kind of at the loss where to go but we did wandered in Resorts World (too bad most of us donned shorts, we weren't allowed to look inside the casino) and Genting Theme Park. We quite spent a considerable amount in Legoland that, it might have broken the heart of my friends, but they have to let pass this ride:

genting higlands malaysia


According to Cha: the ride that got away

As consolation (not me, never mind the ride), we bought ourselves sweets from Baskin Robbins because it's not yet in Manila. Yum yum!

baskin robbins malaysia
I screeeeeeeeeam!

We didn't stay long in Genting Highlands because we already booked a 1:30pm trip back to the city. (Next time, I’ll make sure to see the Chinese temple and strawberry farm).

genting highlands cable car ride
WHOAH!

We only had drinks and sweets in Genting that famished, we went back to the city. We had our super late lunch in a Chinese Restaurant (I forgot to mentally take note of the name of the resto and foods) near Petaling Street. We rate the yummy foods three thumbs up!

We had:

petaling st kuala lumpur food trip
The best noodles ever! It’s served as a pancit but it’s the tastiest. It was stir-fried to perfection I hope I get to eat this again soon. So yummy I'll never forget how so taken I was!

petaling st kuala lumpur food trip malaysia
This is Squid with salted egg. The ingredients sound ordinary but what a calamari this is! This made us conclude that dishes in this part of the globe are fusing with flavor.
 
malaysian chicken curry
What is Malaysia without a curry? This is just way hot for my taste buds, but definitely for the spicy goers, this is a good dish.

Our tummies were once again full. Since it’s still early to rest, we tried a tour-around the city via a hop-on hop-off concept. We started our course in Petaling Street since we were already there:

kuala lumpur hop-on hop-off concept
Our KL Hop-on-Hop Off map

This bus takes anyone to 23 major tourist spots in the city. That we started late, some parks were already closed by 6pm (but the ticket is good for 24 hours & can be used again the next day).

kuala lumpur city gallery

We found this bigger than life I <3 KL in Kuala Lumpur City Gallery when we went down for Merdeka Square and so this cute back-drop where we posed:


kuala lumpur city gallery city tour
Mik & I in Kuala Lumpur City Gallery

The tour ended in the famous Petronas Twin Towers. And at night, it's truly a sight to behold.
 
petronas tower kuala lumpur malaysia
My favorite shot of the twin towers

At the back of Petronas was Suria KLCC. We had our dinner in the peri-famous for peri-hot meals, Nando’s.
 
nando's peri-peri suria klcc kuala lumpur malaysia
Choose your own adventure in Nando’s

Since not all of us are hot & spicy fans, we opted for the safe level: Lemon & Herb. We enjoyed the meal, but we were bashed for being cowards. :D 

nando's peri-peri chicken suria klcc

nando's peri-peri chicken suria klcc not so brave
  Notes from our meal: Not so brave!

But we braved our adventures and misadventures in Malaysia. Especially our Amazing Race going back to the Philippines. In hindsight, we laugh about it now and we banked it already on experience but for those giddy-travelers like us, a piece of advice: tickets are in military time. 1:25 H is not after lunch, but before dawn or else the plane will take off without you :P 
A premio is what drives you after a fully loaded week. It’s a trophy waiting to be claimed.

It’s not necessarily a new gadget, or shopping galore or a ‘pamper-me’ day. For as long as we stumble upon restaurants that will satisfy our cravings, it is good enough treat for us.

We found our February prize at the first floor of Best Western F1 Hotel in Bonifacio Global City: PREMIO.

Well Premio's a tad pricey for yuppies like us (and out of place maybe). But here’s when deal sites come in handy. After buying ours, fine dining here we come!

Here’s what we ate in the posh cellar-like resto:


premio bcg f1 hotel review

Animal Fries (Php 240) will pass for sumptuous pasta! Never mind why it’s called animal, it’s just oh so good one shouldn’t get out of Premio without tasting this.

premio bcg f1 hotel prok belly kare kare

Pork Belly Kare-Kare (Php 580) is sinful and we can’t be blamed. Cheers to the flavorful peanut sauce made from scratch!

premio bcg f1 hotel chicken karaage



Chicken Karaage (Php 290) and we said yaaaaaaaaah in approval. The combination mayo is good-good!

premio bcg f1 hotel buffalo wings

Some of us aren't fans of spicy food but Premio’s Buffalo Wings (Php 290) is tolerable. Liked its goat’s milk ranch dressing. Yum!

premio bcg f1 hotel corned beef brisket

Corned Beef Brisket (Php 420) is a corned beef with a twist. The combination of mustard potatoes, red slaw, and horseradish gave its flavor a pleasant surprise.

premio bcg f1 hotel prawn sinigang



We didn’t give much attention to the Prawns Sinigang (Php 390) already as we were busy munching new to the eyes and taste foods. Maybe because it's too small? 

For dessert, we enjoyed:

premio bcg f1 hotel panna cotta

Goat’s Milk Panna Cotta (Php 210) is a fare of goat’s milk, vanilla beans and triple berry topping.

premio bcg f1 hotel flourless chocolate cake

The yummy Flourless Chocolate Cake (Php 210)! It’s one of the best cakes! Coupled with a la mode with vanilla ice cream and peanut butter polvoron, it’s truly a treat!

We burped and enjoyed our Premio experience. Although less attention was given to us (probably due to our discount), we’d love to visit Premio again and we’d still bring with us coupons! :)


PREMIO is located at:
32nd St., Ground floor,
F1 City Center, Fort Bonifacio Global City
Taguig