Weekend Prep for Kuala Lumpur & Negeri Sembilan

The invitation to explore Malaysia beyond Kuala Lumpur was a welcome opportunity. The offer just came in time since the travel period was immediately after our academic finals week. Moreover, I am excited to be part of Zest Air‘s historic Airbus A320 aircraft maiden flight to Kuala Lumpur.

Even with a crazy schedule among other things, I was able to find time to allot October 22 to 25 for this trip. Good thing it happily coincided with the semestral break.

The Blogger Challenge

I would be joined by 10 other bloggers including my girlfriend Marjorie. The catch is, we are not exactly all travelling together as Tourism Malaysia is hosting a blog contest with the objective of sharing our experiences incorporated into this activity.

We are to spread equally among 7 different highlight states of Malaysia namely: Kedah, Perak, Johor, Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, and Negeri Sembilan. Their objective was to show the world that there is more to Malaysia than Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Melaka, and other usual tourist destinations in Malaysia. I hope we can have similar programs in the Philippines for travel bloggers.

Negeri Sembilan Here We come

I got the slot for the state of Negeri Sembilan, and fortunately, so did Marjorie. However, we will be exploring our own different itineraries, but I expect to bump into her from time to time.

It came to me that this is somewhat similar to the Philippine media backpacker challenge (2010) and Kota Kinabalu media backpacker challenge (2011) which I also joined.

This would be interesting as I haven’t been to Negeri Sembilan. Incidentally, I was just in Kuala Lumpur last month for the Legoland Malaysia opening in Johor. In contrast to that ‘fun‘ theme-park experience, I am expecting a more culturally-inspired and nature-trek exploration for Malaysia’s west coast. Stay tuned in the following days for Let’s Go Sago updates on this adventure.

Weekend Preparation

Right now, I am finishing all my deliverable and work-related task for the whole of next week. By tonight, I expect to finish my usual light-packing and travel essentials, since we have to be at the airport by 11:30am. Our Zest Air Airbus A320 maiden flight to Kuala Lumpur will be about 2:25pm and we expect to be in Kuala Lumpur International Airport past 6:05pm.

I myself am not yet familiar with the whole Kuala Lumpur so when I was researching my possible route last night with the help of Google Maps, I got this interesting route.

The route I charted appears inefficient and impractical because I am going in the opposite direction of the Negeri Sembilan state. However, all participating bloggers would have to be back at the KL Sentral Sattion either at the evening of the 24th or before lunch of the 25th.

I would like to familiarize myself with the backward route so I think the extra time spent would be worth it. The KL Sentral Sattion is like the starting point where Phil Keoghan gives the go signal if this was the Amazing Race. 🙂

Hopefully, my gadgets cooperate and I get a decent internet connection where I’d be staying in Negeri Sembilan. If all goes well, follow my Twitter @LetsGoSago & @JonelUy with #ZestAirMalaysia hashtag. Check out my Facebook pages Lets Go Sago and JonelUy ; and of course this blog.

Check out Tourism Malaysia at http://www.facebook.com/taranasamalaysia and Zest Air at http://flyzest.com/. For now, I’m back to researching about Malaysia’s Negeri Sembilan and learning more Bahasa Malaysia!