Transport between Singapore & KL

This ones for all the frequent or not so frequent travellers between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia. There are 3 options available Road, Rail & Air.. well 4th can be Sea but that is something which usually will be rare like Star Cruise and stuff:).

Coming back to 3 options. Rail is the cheapest but the longest time taking.. yeah you heard me right "longest" since the train travels from all the states of Malaysia it takes a lot of time & ideally when it should take about 8-10 hours sometimes it might take more than that. Maybe this is the reason the Rail is always at night time & one has options of booking Chaircar seat & sleeper. One can obviously guess which is the comfortable of the two. One can book the Train tickets at Tanjong Pagar Railway station in Singapore while Kuala Lumpur one can do it at KL sentral station. One can get all the related information from this link - Keratapi Tanah Melayu (KTM), www.ktmb.com.my (train times, fares, booking) Map of train routes in Southeast Asia.

Moving to option via Air - well obviously the journey by Air is to save time and its the costliest of the options available, usually preferred by business users. Both Singapore Airlines and Malaysian Airlines offer frequent shuttle flights to and from Singapore and K.L. Tickets are on a first come first serve basis. Alternatively, you could book a seat and pay the regular price. For both Malaysian Airlines and Singapore Airlines, the one-way shuttle service from Singapore to K.L. costs S$115, whilst a booked ticket would cost S$152.
A cheaper way to fly would be to take Air Asia from Johor's Senai Airport instead. The one-way fare from J.B. and K.L. is about RM70 (roughly about S$35). Air Asia flies to many other destinations in Malaysia, like Kota Bharu (gateway to the Pulau Perhentian) and Kota Kinabalu (Borneo). Check www.airasia.com for details.

Another way to fly would be to take Malaysian Airlines from Johor's Senai Airport. The one-way fare from J.B. and K.L. is RM141. To get to the Senai airport, Malaysian Airlines has a bus service which runs from Copthorne Orchid Hotel along Dunearn Road (not far by public bus from our Hostel) to the airport. The bus fare to Senai Airport is S$12 and the bus ride is approximately 2 hours. You have to call Malaysian Airlines at 6336 6777 to book a seat on the bus. For the flight and corresponding bus schedules, check Malaysian Airlines' Singapore website at www.malaysiaairlines.com.sg. A Singapore website with airfares for various destinations from Singapore would be www.airfares.com.sg. But things depend on the time and effort required for doing things like traveling by Bus and then take flights. Well it could work well for families, where one saves quite a lot, but again depends if kids are accompanied it could be taxing for them.

Coming to Bus travel: Lot of bus companies are available for traveling to and from Singapore to Malaysia. One of the best known for timely arrivals and departures are Aeroline, Nice, Transtar, Transnasional to name a few. All these bus companies maintain websites and some of them do also give you an option for booking online at the comforts of your notebooks or desktops. Here are the website details.
www.aeroline.com.sg
www.transtar.com.sg
www.airebus.net
http://www.plusliner.com/ - You can only the bus schedules but no e-ticketing - although in Kuala Lumpur they offer delivery service at RM 8/-.
http://www.nadi.com.my/transportation_services_express.asp
Other than this there are popular terminals both in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur - Golden Mile complex at Beach Road(closest MRT Bugis there is also one booking agent near Novena MRT) and Pudu Raya (central location in Kuala Lumpur) respectively which have n number of companies offering bus travel for transport between KL & Singapore & other popular locations. They are economical & usually could help you get tickets for urgent or unplanned needs.
You can get some more detailed information on the following link:
http://www.journeymalaysia.com/ptasingkl.htm

Hope this is useful to have a few options for bookings.

Happy traveling....

Merry Christmas

In Malaysia and Singapore numerous festivals are celebrated throughout the course of the year.. This is where you will truly see multiculture at work. Christmas is round the corner and it sure can be experience by the streets & shops & even business entrances where one can see Christmas tree ornamented with golden balls & lovely lights.

Although malaysia has majorly Muslim community everyone participates for the christmas and it is a time for shopping & having lovely time during this time. Usually people look at visiting their home towns out of KL. Singapore has the biggest shocase around Orchard Road, unless of course Vivocity shall outdo the decorations here.

I still remember while i was in india, we use to go to our aunt's place who was from mum's school and a good friend & have sweets and have a lovely time at their place eating and having fun. Well I am sure my kid will soon start asking me what is christmas and why do people celebrate. Here is what Christmas all about...

Christmas is an annual holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus. Christmas festivities often combine the commemoration of Jesus' birth with various secular customs, many of which have been influenced by earlier winter festivals. In most places around the world, Christmas Day is celebrated on December 25. Christmas Eve is the preceding day, December 24.

The word Christmas originated as a contraction of "Christ's mass". In early Greek versions of the New Testament, the letter Χ (chi), is the first letter of Christ. Since the mid-16th century Χ, or the similar Roman letter X, was used as an abbreviation for Christ.[2] Hence, "Xmas" is often used as an abbreviation for Christmas.

Modern traditions have come to include the display of Nativity scenes, Holly and Christmas trees, the exchange of gifts and cards, and the arrival of Father Christmas or Santa Claus on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. Popular Christmas themes include the promotion of goodwill and peace.

So lets pray to god for the same & pray that our children get a better place to live on this wonderful place we call Earth, and work towards making a better world.

Going on Drive....

After long time of about 6 + years... I got to get back to driving my own car.. which I recently got in Malaysia where I started working recently.. Its really exciting to first of all drive and then again in another country other than India which has lovely roads where you are driving within the city itself at about 60 Kmph on an average..

Its been a little emotional thing for me and my family.. since staying in a foreign country limits lot of things.. and specially driving.. if you are in country like Singapore where it is always better to take public transport and driving or owning a car is a super luxury.. At first I was a bit scared to even to start again with driving a car since I was out of touch for quite some time.. I would usually drive only when i go back to India for holidays.

The good thing about driving in India is that the car used to be serviced and kept all ready during my visit to india.. here it is totally different.. I have to take care of my own car.. look for daily, weekly & monthly schedules for routine checkups and maitenance.. else I could end up having a break down while i am off to an important meeting or something.. So that's again something new after having the habit of having someone at home.. to look after these things or have your familiar "anna" the mechanic in india who will come to pick your vehicle if it is broken down & help you get it back on road..

anyway here I got myself a Service from an agency called AAM - Automotive Association of Malaysia which is dealing with towing services, breakdown maintenance services etc... with RM 100 nominal charges this service is a must for any car on the road, else getting someone to come and tow the vehicle and do the necessary things is high costing :)

anyway I am getting used to doing my chores for the car on the weekends... so that I have a smooth ride during the rest of the week..

today we went to one of the Big malls called IOI mall which is about 15Kms from our home.. although the shopping experience was not too good.. I enjoyed driving and specially with my wife and kid around it is fun to roam around in the city with them.. in the comforts of your own car... and secondly aadi my son really enjoys cars and a die hard fan of the movie "cars" so he is very keen on going on a drive anytime and everytime....

although i haven't gone to some nice place in the car, but whenever I shall i will surely take lot of pictures and post them here.. till then..