Sibi & Vanathy: MYSIN Trip 6 - Legoland and back

One of the joys of traveling for me is the chance to sample the different fares of food that is available in those places. Be it Goa or Shimoga or whatever place we've been to, I make it a point to find some local places and try it out. As it turned out, I was not alone here in that.

That is one of the reasons why we endlessly searched for the local stalls or places we can sample the local food than going for the more fancier fare or the fast food.

Viva Food Haven, Tanjung Bungah

Sibi learns to eat with Chopsticks

When we walked down the road in Tanjung Bungah, looking for some place to sample the Penang cuisine, we had absolutely no idea where we were going. It was raining so lightly, the roads were deserted, it was beautiful to just walk around. That's how we ended up in the Viva food haven, a local hawker stalls area with a multitude of shops to sample all we want for a fair price.

Thus we ended up eating through thin, crispy Apoms, the delicious Penang Laksa, Mee Goreng mamak, the local Fried rice, a make-your-own Tom Yum shop and much more. The Apoms are nothing but our own Appams but more thinner and crispier and sweeter. No need to add any coconut milk or sugar, you can eat six in one go (for 3RM!). Mani Annan, who was making it here also offers some local insights at free of cost as well. The Laksa lady was charming, helpfully explaining the ingredients and the Tom Yum had some fancier items in it as well.

Mee Goreng

Of course, the most reliable part of Malay Cuisine for the Indian palate is the Roti Canai and Nasi Lemak with Sambal. We had them in the breakfasts in the hotel and in a local food stall in KL Brickfields, where the owner helpfully made some pooris for Vanathy as well.

It is a little tougher to find the stalls in Singapore, distance and that we were constantly running around the city made it a little difficult. But we managed to do some sampling. The Food republic in the City square mall is an excellent place. Kimchis and Bee Hoon were excellent here.

Claypot Rice

The Malaysian food street in Sentosa is a must visit place. We ran through some excellent Clay pot rice, Char kway teow and soups. It's a pity that the Korean food street is yet to open. The anniversary dinner in the SukhoThai restaurant threw up some interesting Thai food, including an excellent Tom Yum soup with little purple Octopus arms and squids.

Lunch!!

As it tuned out, Sibi became my partner in searching for these places and also in trying out the various dishes around.

Day 8

There are places you go with low expectation and they turn out alright. We decided to go to Legoland only because of the kids fascination with all things Lego. I had no idea what was in store but it turned out to be a charming little park.

Racing..

Though it has its own rides around, where Legoland differentiates is the activity areas it has. There is the Imaginarium, the different academies, all of which were super fun for the kids, the Miniland which was another interesting place and the Build and test areas were all activity areas, which combine expertly learning and fun together.

Robotics Class..

Imaginarium with its program and build activity was the most fun for the kids (and the wife!). Its simple programming combined with a little robotics to ensure that it is fun and also a little learning on the basics of the programming.

Build & Test

The Doctor!

There was less crowd, being a weekday and so there was barely any queues at all and it suited us well. It ensured that we covered all the rides and could come out on time. Since the Legoland closes by 6PM it becomes a little tight to ensure that all the places are covered.

Miniland

Driving School

After a tiring ride back to the hotel, we flew back to KL the next day. This is the final day of the trip and we were tired and Chennai was calling. We had one more place to go.

Batu caves has been the place I've visited every time I was in KL but has never seen. Though I've been to Batu, I never felt the urge to take the stairs to the cave. This time I wanted to fix that.

KTM Komuter

The brand-new KTM Komuter service to Batu is the cheapest way to get here. and the large Muruga statue looks at you intently once you get out of the train. The 300 stairs to the cave were real steep and small. With the kids running fast, we climbed to the cave pretty fast and then into the cave system.

The temple in the cave itself is small and after giving thanks for making the trip fun and success, we checked around the caves. There were unruly monkeys all around, the caves look like some artificial movie set in the mountains. It does give the same feel as visiting any Muruga temple here with the road side shops all around which sells trinkets for a premium and look for the culpable tourists.