Shiny colorful light at Bukit Bintang

If you like to go for shopping and eating, Bukit Bintang in downtown Kuala Lumpur is the correct place to go. I was staying in Novotel KLCC, at 2 Jalan Kia Peng - 50450 Kuala Lumpur, Phone: (+60)3/21470888 in Sep 09. The hotel location is quite convenience, it's just a walking distance to Bukit Bintang area, it's strategically located within the heart of Kuala Lumpur's Golden Triangle.


Across the street is Pavilion Bukit Bintang, the world-class shopping center which was launched last 20th Sep 07. It's a shopping paradise for the people who loves branded stuffs. You could find famous designer brands like Aigner, Club Monaco, Coach, Ermenegildo Zegna, Hermes, Hugo Boss, Prada and Versace, etc. There are also many restaurants to visit providing from Malay food, Japanese food, Chinese food, Western Food, and still more variety of foreign foods are available.


From Novotel I crossed the bridge, I entered at the street-level directly to the 3rd floor of Pavilion, it's welcoming ambience with large airy premises framed with high ceilings and wide corridor pavements is complemented by an exciting tenant mix. It also have many leisure outlets such as GSC Cinemas, RedBox Plus or Times The Bookshop.

Too many restaurants made me confused to explore, lucky there was a map directory signage for restaurant that could guide me to the one that I wanted. I selected Madam Kwan's restaurant at the 1st floor that provided Malay food, I wanted to eat Nasi Lemak, the waitress was very welcome and helpful. The waiter who served me, said that Nasi Lemak is spicy, he suggested me to select Nasi Bojari which's contained of a red rice with a very huge roasted chicken, shrimp and boiled egg, then I ordered a very yummy ice kacang as the dessert. The food portion here is quite big. It made me very full, so I decided to go for a walk for sight seeing.

I went back upstairs to the 3rd floor heading towards Bukit Bintang entrance. The signage was quite clear, so you wouldn't get lost. Anyway if you need to ask for direction, so many security officers around the area would be happy to show you the way. In front of Pavilion there was a beautiful colorful fountain, most people stopped by to take pictures which I also did it :-) I offered a couple to take their picture, so he could take my picture. That's the disadvantage to go alone, your friend could not help you to take pictures he..he..

Bukit Bintang area was quite crowded with vehicles and people. It's very bright and colorful suitable as the shopping and entertainment district in Kuala Lumpur. There were many shops, restaurants, cafes, hotels and also souvenir stalls. Bukit Bintang has always been popular and fashionable however in the last few years has undergone gentrification and come away as both historical and chic at the same time. Whether you fancy haute cuisine or hawker stalls, brand name fashion or quirky local boutiques it’s all available in Bukit Bintang.

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Surprise Cave at Halong Bay

In the shiny morning, after a very mini breakfast with one croissant and a glass of juice we were ready for exploring a cave. Sung Sot or Surprise Grotto is on Bo Hon Island, and is one of the finest and widest grottoes of Halong Bay. To go there we had to go by a small boat again, passing a small floating village. We passed a wooden bridge with some boat sellers on the side of the bridge.


Some paved stone blocks have been built to make guests easier to reach the cave entrance. It’s still heavy for me who seldom does exercise :-). I was sweaty although the way was covered by trees. The scenery to Halong Bay was very beautiful seeing from the steps when reaching the cave. Many times I stopped to take beautiful pictures of the bay, although I’m not a professional photographer, the scenery itself could create a magnificent picture. Lucky that it’s not too high, there were many visitors came to the cave from different junks, so we had to be patient queuing.

In the cave, so many stalactites hang from the high ceiling and stalagmites created a beautiful sculpture as if carving by God. Colorful lights were installed to create more stunning environment. The cave is quite large, we felt such as in different world. It is partitioned into two chambers; the first one being similar to a wide theatre hall. The guide shows us a sculpture looked like a camel, Budha, Kwan Im, a horse, dragon head and tail, etc. The cave could be captured by camera without using flash, unfortunately I didn’t bring any tripot, my hand was not steady enough, so that most pictures were blurred.

We should go through a narrow passage to the second rooms, where a flow of light meets visitors, the chamber is so spacious. At the deepest point of the grotto, a "royal garden" appeared with a clear pond and a seemingly fascinating landscape of mountains. In the middle of the cave, there was a stalagmite such as giant turtle, where people threw coins there to wish for a good luck. On the way out of the cave, I still got a chance to take pictures with colorful stalactites and stalagmites as background.

All of us were tired, on the exit cave there was a bench to take a rest with pretty Halong Bay scenery as the background. If you like shopping, there was also a small shop selling pearl and some Vietnam souvenirs. It’s windy, with beautiful scenery, I felt that I didn’t want to go back to the ship, I wanted to stay longer, unfortunately we could not do it. All our friends from the same junk have been returned to the boat, they were waiting for us.

We had to rush to step down the stairs, but I still had a chance to take some more beautiful pictures. After finishing the stairs, we had to cross a long bridge where there was some Vietnamese selling snacks, water, etc on the boat. This scenery were completed the scenery, the ethnic situation was very high and made people love to see it. The visit to the cave is quite worthy, beside seeing the beautiful of God creation, it’s also healthy because you did exercise by climbing the stairs

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