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This year, the author visited three destinations in Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur, Desaru, and Johor Bahru. In Kuala Lumpur, they celebrated their wife’s birthday with a stay at the Hotel Majestic, a fine-dining experience featuring local flavors, and a visit to the awe-inspiring Batu Caves. Desaru offered a relaxing weekend with stays at both Westin and Amara hotels, each with unique perks—Westin being cost-effective and beach-accessible, while Amara offered exclusivity and activities like open-air cinema. Finally, Johor Bahru presented challenges like traffic jams, confusing navigation, and an encounter with traffic police, yet highlights included an exhilarating go-karting experience and discovering a delightful dim sum restaurant. Despite some hiccups, each trip brought memorable moments and enjoyable experiences.

Kuala Lumpur

It was my wife’s birthday, and she wanted to spend time in KL, so who am I to refuse her? We got a flight to KL this time with Air Asia, and after reviewing available options decided to stick with our usual choice - Hotel Majestic. I always consider it as a cheaper version of Raffles. The hotel was majestic as usual, so I won’t deep-dive into how great it is. If you’ll be searching for a place to stay in KL, I’ll strongly recommend that place.

On the birthday day, we visited a nice restaurant with an amazing view of the entire city. This time we decided to get dinner with a vine-pairing, which this time was pretty decent. The place was nice, and I definitely would recommend you to try it out as it’s fine dining with local ingredients and flavors.

Lastly, during the trip, we went to Batu Caves as somehow my wife hadn’t been there. The place is astonishing as usual, the cave’s size is incomprehensible and indescribable, you just have to see it. It’s also very special to see Hindu temples inside the cave as it’s quite an unusual thing. Lastly, it’s an awesome view from the stairs, so I was genuinely happy to return back here.

Obviously, it was a lot of visiting various shopping malls, but I don’t remember any of them, but I very much enjoyed CNY decorations.

Desaru Coast

This time we decided to go to Desaru for two main reasons: to buy a set of bed sheets and to chill over the weekend. The idea was simple, to cross the border on Thursday night, and spend a night at Johor Bahru. My wife and I took a half day leave on Friday, but we still have to work for the second, morning half. So, we spent the morning handling work matters in JB. We decided to try a different hotel this time - Capri, and I think that’s the best choice for JB. After that, we headed to the Johor Premium outlet for some shopping, and it’s cheaper than in Singapore.

After that, we headed straight to our hotel in Desaru. After about an hour, we arrived at Westin. Last time we stayed at Amara, so let’s quickly compare both hotels. Firstly, Westin feels more commercialized when Amara more focuses on you, e.g. Westing has more rooms, fewer facilities, etc. Amara is more exclusive with a couple of nice bars and restaurants on the hotel’s territory. Even during our stay at Westin, we drove to Amara’s sky bar for a night refreshment. Also, I personally very much enjoyed Amara’s way of transportation around the hotel - bicycles. Lastly, Amara had a couple of very unique events, e.g. an open-air cinema watching.

On the other hand, Westin was a couple of hundred dollars cheaper and still pretty decent. It had a great pool, a lovely lobby bar with decent wine and snacks, and, obviously, access to the beach. Thus, it’s a hard choice to pick, but if I had the money, I’d pick Amara.

Johor Bahru

As Malaysia extended VEP deadlines, we impromptu decided to spend a weekend there. This time our hotel choice was the Holiday Inn, and I didn’t like it at all. Only one elevator was working, it was pretty unobvious where to park (partially, due to the mess in JB’s city center), and the room was just okay. Secondly, as I mentioned before, the city center was in a huge mess due to the construction of a railroad between JB and Singapore. It was extremely difficult to navigate. Thus, the overall driving experience was quite unpleasant. Ah, I almost forgot the famous Jams! We spent about 2 hours driving from Midwalley to our hotel (the driving time is 20-30 mins).

Due to traffic complications, during one of our rides, I made a wrong turn by mistake, and it led to a stop by the traffic police. The officers almost immediately start talking some gibberish, which is an immediate signal that the conversation should be somehow smoothed up. And, no surprise, the best lubricant is a “small contribution to a police fund”. Thus, it was my first time improving the well-being of Malaysian police (300 RM).

Despite all these difficulties, it was a great trip. Firstly, we tried a local go-kart, which was great. I very much enjoyed the experience as cart dynamics are completely different from a car. Also, it’s very much fun to feel the acceleration and inertia of this tiny machine.

Secondly, my wife discovered a completely astonishing dim sum restaurant. Actually, on the way to this restaurant, we got “fined”. The place is very similar to Singapore’s Red Start, but with its own, unique set of dumplings, with a nice ambiance and vibe. Lastly, the queue moved very quickly and the final bill wasn’t too big.

On the way back, we crossed the bridge in Woodlands without a delay (it was about 11 AM), and the overall waiting time didn’t exceed half an hour, which was truly a miracle.