From our hotel we got a grab ride back to the train station in Seremban at 11ish. There was a Kommuter train just before 12pm that we wanted to get as it meant we could check in by the time we got there. The train was slow and gave us both a headache, arriving into KL Sentral just before 2pm. We had originally booked a nice hotel in a different part of KL but due to me having to go to Singapore whilst we were staying here and needing to get to the airport super early we moved as public transportation to the station didn’t start until 6am. Instead we had booked in to Easy Hotel which was just a short walk through Nu Sentral mall. The room was clean and fine for a couple of nights but the window looked straight out onto the steps of the Monorail so meant we couldn’t really pull the curtains and let in natural light. I was flying to Singapore as it was the closest place where there was a visa application centre. Me and Dave had our NZ working holiday visas that were put in pre-covid approved recently. However mine was in my maiden name and on my old passport number. This meant the only way I could apply to get it transferred to my new name and passport was to submit the documents through a VAC. Luckily my parents were able to ship my old passport and marriage certificate out to us in Malaysia so I could take them along to the appointment. Unfortunately there wasn’t one in KL!
After dumping our things in the room we went and bought tickets for me for the KLIA transit to the airport for the next day (55MYR one way) and also wanted to find some food. In Nu Sentral we found the Quizinn food court which had quite a good few cheap options for food. One place stood out to us though- there was a Japanese curry stall. So we ended up both getting chicken cutlet japanese curries with rice and lots of cabbage (14 MYR each). It was as good as we wanted it to be and it was nice to have a different type of cuisine. Now full of food we went back to the room to tackle sorting all the paperwork I needed for the next day and to generally make sure I was ready for my day trip to Singapore on my own. After a while in the room though we both still had bad headaches so went for a wander in the fresh air and then stopped at a family mart having a brown sugar milk tea outside in their seating area (8.90 MYR each). We also did a dry run of where I needed to walk in the morning to get to KL Sentral as the mall wouldn’t be open for me to cut though. Then we chilled out in the room for a few hours. In the evening we headed across the road to Aroi Thai- a thai tapas bar where we ordered 8 different small thai dishes- it was nice to have lots of different things to try and it was surprisingly tasty (each dish 3.16 MYR). After that it was back to chill out and get an early night.
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The following day we got up at 4.30am so I could get ready and walk around to KL Sentral for the train at 5.20am. Dave dropped me off at the barrier, where he then went back to bed and I waited on the platform. The train was late but eventually came and I got to KLIA at 6ish. Due to Covid despite checking in online, I still had to go to the counter to get my boarding pass. My flight to Singapore was with Malindo air (Batik air) and the queues for their check in counters were bonkers. The counters weren’t by flight, just generally for all their flights. It took me 40 minutes to get to the front where they literally looked at my passport and printed my boarding pass- didn’t need to see anything related to Covid anyway!
After check in I made my way through immigration, checking out of Malaysia and had to scan my luggage through customs which was all quick. I found my gate which wasn’t open yet and really needed a coffee so found a coffee shop to grab a flat white (14 MYR). By the time I got back to my gate (only 5 minutes away) the gate had opened and I had to go through full security at the gate. This meant I had to chug my coffee and water to get through! Then when I was through and taking a picture of the plane, I turned back around and everyone had gone to board the plane- there had been no announcement or anything! As soon as I sat down on the plane I was desperate for the toilet but the seat belt sign was on. Annoyingly we were stuck not going anywhere for 15 minutes whilst they waited to be towed and then it was the longest taxi ever to get to the runway. I was so grateful when we were finally in the air and the seatbelt sign turned off! The flight itself was easy, with it only being 45 minutes to Singapore.
Photos: plane to singapore and photo on plane
Once we landed in Singapore I swapped sims, quickly, went through passport control and had arrived in Singapore! I admired various installations as I walked past them in the airport before making my way through to the MRT. From the airport the MRT goes to Tanah Merah on the East West line where I could then change onto the full East West line. It was smooth and efficient and I was soon at my stop at Tanjong Pagar. In the train station I spotted some good looking baked goods so I purchased some to have later as I still hadn’t had any breakfast. My first stop was to walk and find the visa building. This was easier than anticipated with the VFS application centre being in the Philippine Airlines building and clearly labelled as being on the 8F inside the lobby. As my appointment wasn’t until 1.30pm I walked to a nearby food court to walk around before heading to the Marina to admire the Marina Sands building. This is always a nice view in Singapore and I stopped and enjoyed my snacks here while taking in the view.
Soon it was time to wander back for my appointment. It was still a little early but I thought I would try to go in and see if I could just get it done. Arriving on the 8th floor I had to wait in a queue and be let in by security. My appointment letter was scanned and my bag and I had to be checked. Then I was given a little ticket that was my allocated number slot. I didn’t have to wait long and soon my number was called for me to go up to the NZ counter. I handed over my application form, passports and marriage certificate. There was a tense moment where I was told they also needed a photocopy of my new passport which I didn’t have. The lady directed me to a photocopier in the back of the office but I could not make that work at all and rushed back to her saying it wasn’t working. Thankfully she said she would just do it for me, and after paying 48 SPD for them to basically just say they have seen my documents and send them to NZ immigration that was it! In and out in 10 minutes, all done before my appointment was even supposed to have been.
As it was still early I headed back to the food court and treated mysefl to a chicken burrito (11SPD) which was very tasty! Then it was time to head back to the airport. An hour on the MRT, the airport train to Terminal 1, a self service check in counter to get my boarding pass from Scoot and then an electronic immigration gate to leave Singapore and get to departures. This left me with a few hours to wander around Terminal 1 looking at the shops, the cactus garden and the water lily pond- all the standard things you expect in an airport! Then secuirty at the gate and another 45 minute flight back to Malaysia. Thankfully this time immigration in Malaysia didn’t take too long and I was back in the country. I was planning on trying to take the bus back to KL sentral as it is much cheaper but the next one wasn’t for another 2 hours and I wanted to be back so I hopped back on the KLIA transit and got back to meet Dave at 8pm. I was shattered. It had been a very long day. Dave had had a busy day too shopping in Bukit Bintang area to replace recent things that had broken and pick up some bits (sunglasses, game controller, flight aerial extenders). So we went straight for dinner, grabbing a Banh Mi at Caphe Cong (13 MYR each). After this we just headed back to the room to crash and sleep.
That was basically our time up in KL/ Malaysia and the next day we would start our travels to get to Jeju Island, in South Korea- all coming up in the next blog!
Thanks
Alex
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