Thoughts worth sharing ....: Malaysia is one of the most sought after travel destinations ... how far is it true?

I always thought vacation within Malaysia is an advantage. Not until we experienced it ourselves...

Bukit Merah Laketown Resort (BMLR) has been chosen as the family's annual vacation. The kids were excited looking forward for the water and theme park of coz. But not the parents actually.... My nieces and nephews are 'crazy' when it comes to water. We, parents always have a very tough time to persuade them to come out from the pool.

So we decided to have 'an educational vacation' for them this time round. We reached Suria Aptm, BMLR around 2.00 pm. It was a 'ritual' for the kids to first deep themselves in the pool. The pool was convenient. I took Amir to the 'adult' pool as the cousins were there and did not want him to miss all the fun.

That night, after maghrib, we traveled from BMLR heading to Taiping Night Safari. Car park was charged at RM2.00. For 9 adults and 6 kids, we had to pay around RM200 for the entry tickets. Surprisingly, the visitors (most of them are locals; noticed from the faces and language conversed). There were nearly 300 ppl when we arrived. We waited about an hour... nothing happened. We the got to know that they provide 6 trams and each tram can merely occupy 24 pax. But since we have been in the queue, we had to follow the flow and We wait for another 1 1/2 hour to be in the tram.

And can you just imagine, after a long 'sweet' waiting in the queue (about to board the tram)... a group of people from the entrance walked to 'our tram' ... looks like they were in the midst of hijacking our tram! My brother then gave a big 'shout' - barely a connotation "hello... we have been waiting like crazy.. what the f*** are you ppl jumping the queue". At this point, ppl along my queue were also yelling and shouting at that group.... Finally, that group was 'advised' by the mgmt ofc to wait for their turn....

We were in the tram for 40 minutes. The tigers, lions, rhinos and many others were 'cageless'... No camera with flash was allowed as this might distract the animals. I think the night safari is a good initiative. It would be good also to have other breeds of animals kept in the zoo. A good tourist point. Perhaps that night was a bit special not only for the kids but also to us .... I would suggest the relevant dept or ministry to upgrade the services especially to provide more trams... During school holidays this kinda place is attacked by the tourists locally and internationally. So as to have convenient kiosks selling food and drinks...
The kids had fun that night despite the 'never ending' waiting...

The next morning, we decided to go to Maxwell Hill. I couldn't remember if I have ever been to Maxwell Hill. Even though we reached early in the morning, we were 'deprived' to be on top of the hill. Reason being, all drivers were on leave and no one was able to drive the Pajero. Is this a norm? The front office at Maxwell Hill greeted us with an expression "Do not disturb, Please find your own way to get on top"....

The relevant Ministry should take this incident seriously. Are the international tourists facing similar experience? While some people is running high and low to ensure that Malaysia is listed as one of the top tourism spots internationally, some ppl perhaps do not 'aware' that they are ruining all the efforts ...

We then took a combo package to Orang Utan Island, Eco Park and Reptile Farm. The Orang Utan Island was actually a rehabilitation centre for orang utans - an initiative of Emkay Land to safeguard these species. We were 'introduced' to Adam, Sonia, Nafsiah and Mike ; the eldest. This is almost like a csr initiative of Emkay... a good deed though!

All in all the vacation was really good. It was the moments spent with parents, siblings, spouse and children treasured the most. But come to think of the 'incidents' that we encountered at the Night Safari and Maxwell Hill, I was a bit bewildered. I read everywhere that Malaysia is one of the most sought after travel destinations... that Malaysia is full of warm ppl... they greet you with smile... they are kind people... Unfortunately some of them are not! Nicely written on articles but to some extend not in actual fact...

The relevant Ministry is putting their heads together to think tank into promoting the country.
Monies were spent and channeled to the relevant parties to increase the number of tourists' arrival.. and this is what they got in return! (Sighhhhh....)

Some pictures taken during the vacation