Malaysia- Day 2

Day 2 in the City was the most interesting. Our course was to start at 8.30 and since it was thefirst day, we decided to get there at 8! That was the only day that we reached there so

early :)

We were joined there, by three more trainees, from different Oil companies. We had a short session of introductions and our Coach seemed to be a very experienced man with great knowledge on the subject. Having come from a different background altogether, I had a lot of doubts, most of which I had encountered while working on the project back home. I was looking forward to coming to terms with them.

Training day 1 went fine. We had

a delicious lunch at the hotel, and the best part of it was the dessert. Lined there were at least 4 types of pastries, a number of ice cream flavors to choose from, fit for king souffle and scrumptious fruits. But this indeed wasn't the highlight of the day!

We set out to reach the top of the Menara, KL, and because one can see it from just about any place in KL, we thought it could not be too far. So we started walking, but we realized later on, we were in the wrong direction! We walked along the street from Concorde Hotel, and then were joined by the tea time rainfall which made us wait in the shades, wherever we found any. We walked till we turned into a road,

went a little uphill and entered a gate, which was actually some sort of a wildlife/forest path. We

kept walking up, in the rain, because we did not want the amount we had already walked to go down the drain. There were no people to be seen where we were treading, but finally a man, rigorously jogging down the hill, reaffirmed that we were on the right path.

After a good 45 minutes walk, we reached the top.The elevator took us 278m high in 50 seconds, which was very quick. The atmospheric pressure heavily pressing down on our ears. The top was a great view. The best part of this was that we could see the Petronas from here too, which would not have been possible had we been on the top of the Petronas!

It had been a very tiring journey up to the top of the Menara, but we still managed to pose for the pics. We took a ride back to our hotel, and made plans to hit the top of the Petronas next.

Malaysia- Day 1

I knew I should have started blogging while I was in Kuala Lumpur, but I did not get any time to do so. But now that I am back and at ease, I think I should put down the experiences which I had there.

We started in a group of 5, all set to attend our first ever international course on Reservoir Engineering, and we were not half as excited to attend the course as we were to explore the place and enjoy or getaway from office.

The date will go down in history as the 27th of February, 2011. Thats the day we boarded the flight to KL from Bangalore Airport. The start was not as good as we had thought it would be. We entered the executive lounge, the attendant there, scrutinized our tickets first, to confirm, cause it was a matter of disbelief for him that we were flying in the business class! We assumed it was because we looked younger than the other people who were seated there! :)

We went on in expectation of a great business class experience. But to our disappointment it wasn't. We had stuffed ourselves in the lounge and had no appetite to eat more, but I still tried the most recommended, Malaysian Satay. It was decently cooked but I wasn't sure about the meat that was used, so I did not finish it.

We landed in KL, at 7am, pepped up, awaiting the pick up cars, and only one of them had arrived! So we booked one by ourselves, and reached Sheraton Imperial on Jalan Ismail, (Jalan is road in English), and checked into our rooms. 21st floor was bliss. I could see the Petronas Towers and the KL Tower from my room (in picture above), I would have got anything else too, if I had asked for it, probably one of the millions of Lamborghinis which were all over the roads of KL! :)

The journey was good and I was looking forward to much more. A great Sunday. So while I was waiting to meet up with some of my other friends in KL, Ishan and I set out in the city on foot. The sun wasn't kind to us, the weather there was very

very humid (and I believe it is generally like that in KL). We walked till we reached the Petronas Towers, and it was breath taking. So tall! An expected adrenaline rush.

Our friends joined us for lunch, and then we left for the flee market of KL, China town. We took the Monorail to the market, a smaller version of or own Metro Rail and probably something we expect to have in Bangalore soon. Its a fast ride and connects the important places in KL, and it was the mode of transport we used most frequently during our stay there, or else would just have been stuck in the traffic that KL is characterized by.

China market was jam packed, well I think thats an under statement too! we did not have place to walk two in a row, to save ourselves from rubbing into the others. To my surprise the shopkeepers there (I use shop due to the lack of any other word to describe the little outlets they were selling their stuff at) are very high headed. They understand the importance of demand and supply, and stick to their prices. Bargaining works, only if one talks to them nicely, the moment you sound needy they stop obliging. So I successfully bought a bag, bringing it down from 95 RM to 25 RM. A good purchase. :)

There are rows and rows of fake merchandise all over the place and frantic shoppers juggling between shops to get the best buy. From fake Prada to fake Adidas, you get everything there.

We got home that day, really tired, the humidity was getting onto us. And we slept off early, in anticipation of what would follow the next day, as we started off in our first training session.