Kuala Lumpur - Fusion blend of ethnic Malay with Indian, Chinese and other imports. Liberal with the right spirit of tolerance for an Islamic country. Beautiful lush green is seen everywhere. Although the tropical climate and the 3m of rainfall a year helps, Malaysia does take in every effort from citizens to remain clean and beautiful.
Getting there - Bengaluru - KL convenient flights from IndiGo, AirAsia and others. We took an IndiGo flight. Booked though https://www.makemytrip.com
Visa - eVisa or e-NTRI visa for Indians. Applied though portal: https://www.malaysiavisa.com.my submitted scanned PDF versions of Passport, Birth certificate for kids, Travel tickets and hotel confirmation. Payment is online. Visa was processed in 2 days and PDF document of the e-Visa was sent to the registered email address.
SIM card - Grab one from the airport itself. Maxis and Digi are options. We went with Digi and they had a 7 day plan which worked perfect for us. It was quite good. There is no registration, no ask for any KYC etc, configuration is super quick and you have a local Malaysian number in no time. This is a MUST have.
Grab Taxi - Download the app, its a super Uber and its very very convenient and cost effective. https://www.grab.com/my/download/
Attractions that we visited.
Aquaria KLCC - an underground aquarium on multiple levels. Freshwater tanks, planted tanks, reef setups, saltwater, brackish, terrariums and palaudriums, this place has it all. The best first place to visit on this tour that the kids enjoyed so much and we also had a lot of fun.
KL Tower - This is in the KLCC area and since we stayed at the Grand Hyatt it was just a 5 min Grab ride. There are 2 tour options when you get there a visit to the observatory on the lower level or observatory plus sky deck visit on the top level. Take the combined ticket it is worth it. We visited the tower when it was already dark and the city scapes were well lit.
Batu Caves and Shrines - First stop on a day trip. The shrines on the ground level followed by trek up the long and coloured flight of stairs and visit to the shrine on the top. Was a hot and humid day, get blessed and find your way back to the transport to continue the journey.
Genting Highlands - After Batu caves the day trip took us to Genting. Fun ride in the cable car to the resort and mall on the top. Day excursion, the water theme park was unfortunately closed for renovation but shopping, indoor kids theme park and food was welcome and made up the good part of the day. Fun place but pricey.
KL Bird Park - Short Taxi ride away from KLCC. This is a bird park where visitors enter into enclosures with birds.
Petronas Towers and Suria KLCC Mall
Malacca City Tour - Another Day tour that we booked from the Hotel's concierge desk. Churches, Museums, Religious harmony, city walks and the river side are main attractions. There is enough to do in Malacca that once can spend about 2 days in this place. We got a taste of the Baba Nyonya cuisine.
