KL City Tour

After staying a while in KL, we decided to have a KL City Tour by our own hehe :)

We picked up the place that tourist will visits, so that we also feel as tourists. Started the tourby visiting the famous "Batu Cave" place. What do we do here? My son play with the pigeons and we took pictures as the prove that we've been to this place.

-Chasing the pigeons-

-The Famous Statue-

Batu Cave is located at the Gombak District. Only 13km north from Kuala Lumpur and only around 17km from my house, Damansara. So it was not time consuming at all to come to this place.  

In this place actually there are not so much to do if you are not willing to take the stairs. But if you're that eager to go up, than you can get the Dark Cave Tour. From what I heard, in this tour you will find the bats, muds, and of course experiencing the cave itself. Since we are not prepare for the muddy session and bring along together my son won't be good for us also, so we decided not to go up and take the tour.

Next stop is the Sultan Abdul Samad Building. It is located right in front of the Dataran Merdeka at Jalan Raja Kuala Lumpur. We find this place when we pass through every time we wants to go back from KLCC. The buildings in this area is very nice, old style but looks like been taken care a lot by the government. I don't have a good picture to share it with you, because it is difficult to take picture that time while there are so many car parks in that area. I found the Wikipedia link for this place..Sultan Abdul Samad Building. 

The next stop should be the Ampang Lookout Point, from here we can see KLCC and KL Tower and whole KL itself. But seems like something happened there, that place closed for some reason. Lately I read that the place was shutted down because of illegal operations. They do not submit the proper documentation, and might caused incidents. So, we went down and go back home.

So this is how we made ourself not to feel bored all along the weekend, by act like we are not the residence. :) 

Driving License Conversion Process

My driving license from Indonesia is about to expired..March 2013. I can't go back either to Jakarta or Medan only for this reason..then, this is the time for me to explore another rule practiced in Malaysia. I don't know why, but somehow I am so happy if by any chance I can understand what's the rules and how they practice it here.

Acknowledgment Letter

So, for Indonesian, actually we do not need to convert our driving license (SIM) to Malaysian driving license. We can just use or current driving license with an acknowledgment letter from Indonesian Embassy. To get this letter, we need to bring along :

- Original Passport
- Original Driving License (SIM)

Pay the fee, which I forgot the amount (around RM20-RM30). It is not expensive anyway, then we will received the letter. The expiry of this letter will be same as the driving license itself. 
Then, in my case now, I have to choose whether I go back to Indonesia and go to the embassy once again to get this kind of letter, or should I just follow the conversion rules here? I decided to convert it, since for me that would be easier, I think :p


To be converted, there are 2 stages.
Stage 1
Documentation needed :

1. Form B2 – JPJL2 ( Filled and Signed)

2. Original Passport and Copy of the Passport

3. Original Employment Pass / Work Permit / Dependant's Pass

4. Original  Driver's License and Copy of the Driver’s Licence

5. Letter from the Embassy or Local Road Transport authority attesting that the licence is a true document   (validation of the document) – applies since June 2011

As per information received, the 1st stage will take around 4 - 6 weeks for the approval. Should we received the approval, then only we can go through the 2nd stage.

Stage 2

1. Form JPJL1 (Signed)

2. Original Passport and Copy of the Passport

3. Original Employment Pass / Work Permit / Dependant's Pass and Copy

4. Original Driver's License and Copy

5. Coloured photograph x 1 (25mm x 32mm) on blue background  - to specify to photo studio that it is for Driver's License

The stage 2 process should not take a long time, since we already have the approval, then it's only the license making process. 

Oh ya.. This process only can be done if the current license already been held for over than 2 years. 

Here is the link to all the forms needed, got from and the official website of JPJ.

Now, I am crossing my finger, because my application is still in the 1st stage. So wish me luck :)

Opening Bank Account - Dependent Pass

Opening Bank Account using a single name with a Dependent Pass is not so easy here. I actually don't know what's the main reason, but some of my friends is having that difficulties. So most of my friends here only have the joint account with their husband. 

Unlike them, I only spend half hour in opening the Bank account process. Now, I have two accounts, from 2 two different banks. Maybe I can share some tips for you, so that you will not have any difficulties to do the process :

1. First, read about the account that you needed, whether it's the local currency account only, or the one that also have the foreign currency. Read all the terms and condition carefully, because it might be totally different with your origin country rules. 
2. Before come to the respective Bank, please contact them and explain the conditions. They will required you to submit several documents. So better prepare the documents before you reach the Bank.
3. I opened my account in CIMB Bank and MayBank. Both of this Bank need the prove that you're staying here, they will required you to submit the : 

• Copy of your Passport + the Pass 
• Copy of your Husband Passport includes the EP 
• Copy of your Husband Offer Letter from the Company
• Copy of your Marriage Certificate
• Prove that you're paying bills here (that time I gave them copy of our condo rent agreement

For Indonesian's no need to worry if you want to send your money using RM to your local Bank in Indonesia. Since there're lots of Indonesian's worker here, our local Bank such as Bank Mandiri, Bank Muamalat, and BNI have their remittance services here. We can send the money, directly to our Bank Account or someone else's in Indonesia and in a same day service. Only, you have to follow the Bank Notes Exchange Rate, sometimes good but sometimes will be lower than the market. Don't forget they will be the charge for this services ya..

Mandiri International Remittance Sdn. Bhd.
Wisma MEPRO
Ground & Mezzanine Floor
29 & 31 Jalan Ipoh Chow Kit
51200 Kuala Lumpur
Phone : +603-4045 4988, +603-4045 8988
Facsimilie : +603-4043 7988
Email address : mandiri4u@mandiriremittance.com.my

PT. Bank Muamalat Indonesia TBK  G23, Ground Floor, Kompleks Antarabangsa

Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur. 
Phone : +603-2711 0807

Islamic Art Museum

There is a place that I always recommend my relatives to take a visit in KL, the place called Islamic Art Museum. Located in Jalan Lembah Perdana, Kuala Lumpur, Islamic Art Museum, is also within a walking distance from National Mosque, Planetarium, KL Bird Park and Al Hijrah TV Station.

I checked the website before we went to this place. The website was very informative, we can see clearly what we are going to find in the place. This is also one thing that I love about this country, the government site, the private site very well prepared. The website itself represent the place, even though sometimes it looks way too good compared to the original place, but it attracts people to visit.

Ok, come back to museum. When we reached this place, the place is very quite and looks like nobody is here to visit. I start to worried, is this place that one of kind that only good in website. Haha, but it's ok since we've already here. 

The entrance fee is just cheap, 

• Adult : RM 12
• Students : RM 6
• Senior Citizens : RM 6
• Child : under 6 is free

In this place almost all the wall, even the elevator wall was designed with the Islamic Art Museum Logo. Which is nice :) So, we went up using elevator. Stop at the 1st floor, and wow!! I'm amazed with the first thing I saw that time. This 1st section contains of the famous Mosque from around the world in the mini size. It was a beauty!

I don't took all the Mosque photo, because it's hard to take it since all of it covered with the glass box. Also, I forgot to take note the mosque's name.. Hahaha..

= a beauty =

very detail

After that, I found the Qur'an manuscript section. Of course the museum also have the Qur'an Miniature :) Very cute..

how to read?

Then the next section is more about the Islamic Cultural History, also jewellery, textile, ceramic, coin, and metalwork from Islamic area in several Islamic Country. I also remember that, this museum somehow manage to have one of the original the Ka'Bah door cover. Very huge one..

Not only the showroom, this museum also got the restaurant and the museum shop. Haha..next pit stop is the museum shop. Spend almost an hour in this shop, for me, wherever museum I went to, I need to buy the signature of the place. And this museum shop is awesome, things that they sell here was using the good materials, like the book, the bookmarks, cup, calligraphy, even the t-shirt design also good. My husband bought the Kiblah compass and a T-Shirt, my son bought T-shirt and I like usual, bought the bookmark and pin.
We do not try the restaurant that time, so I can not give the food review.

In front of the museum - complete team

Malacca Visit

This is my belated visit to Malacca, a very short visit one. Malacca is located in the southern region of the Malay

Peninsula, it took about 2 hours driving from Kuala Lumpur. 

Our trip that time was on January 2012, this is my big family short vacation. As I said it was my big family vacation, so it involves my parents, my brothers and my future sister in law. That was a sudden visit, so I was not prepared like usual. Usually I would checked all the best place to visits and have that places on my list. But that time, we only manage 3 hours to go around Malacca City, before dark. 

So there's not much that I can tell, we only visit the Christ Church, Dutch Square, and tried the "Venice of The East" cruising the Malacca River.

the famous Christ Church

= the beauty  dutch square =

Here is the short movie taken from the cruise..Hehe, please don't mind our beautiful faces :p

Living Cost in KL - 2013

Before we decided to move to Kuala Lumpur, we did do a lot of research. One of it is the living cost in Kuala Lumpur. I search thru Google and found some websites that is writing about the living cost.
Here is some updates from what I have to pay in average per month, while living in Kuala Lumpur :

personal finance - funtimeguids prop

Rental Fee
The rental fee is very various, and depend on the area that we choose. If you are about to choose a nice Condo in KL nearby the KLCC area or Mont Kiara area, it will be around RM 2,500 to RM 4,000. 
Damansara, where I live now, the Condo Rent slightly cheaper than all of that area, around RM 2,000 to RM 3,500, but still it depends on the type of the condo itself, fully furnished, partly furnished or non furnished.

Electricity
The average bills that I paid is around RM 200 - RM 300 per month. Electricity usage in this country is still subsidized by the government. The biggest contributor for my electricity bill is the water heater, kettle and the vacuum cleaner. If using the dryer it will cost you more. 

Water
The water bill is very cheap, the highest that I paid is RM 50 for 2 months bill. So, it is only around RM 25 per month. This water usage also still subsidized by the government, even in some area, the government do  not charge for the water.

Internet
This service is the one that I loved the most, RM 150 for an unlimited services internet 24 hours using wifi, with a very fast and good connection. I never had this kind of connection before in Jakarta. I use the services from TM, the UNIFI one. Actually Unifi is a package of internet connection, phone and tv cable. But the internet is the best, the channel of the TV cable is not that much. 

TV Cable
TV Cable provider here is monopoly by Astro company. I just tried Astro this month, so I don't have the exact information about it. The rate that you have to pay is depend on the channel that you subscribe. Go to Astro.

Mobile Phone
This one is also very cheap. Me and My husband only spend RM 100 for both of our Blackberry, RM 50 each. So the complete Blackberry Services is RM 25, and the rest is for the calling purpose. There are lots of providers here, such as Digi, Celcom, Maxis, U-Mobile and Tune Card.

Groceries
This one must be different for each person. For my little family I usually spend around RM 500 - RM 600 for monthly groceries shopping. Please note that I am still buying the expensive milk for my son, the Pediasure 1.9 kg here is RM 160 something, so the rest is for family purpose. Other than that, I still spend around RM 150 for weekly groceries, contains of fruit, fish and vegetables.

Parking and Toll Fee  
In some area like KLCC or the heart of Kuala Lumpur, the parking fee is very expensive. RM 4 hourly !! I, once paid RM 22 only for parking..Hahaha.. But like Damansara area, RM 2 for the first 4 hours Totally different right.
Then the toll fee is still reasonable, RM 1 - RM 2,5. Sometimes the toll gave discount for the public holiday.

Petrol
Here the petrol price is controlled by the government, also still subsidized. The retail price for RON 97 is RM 2.60 per liter and the one that being subsidized RON 95 is RM 1.90 per liter. For my Petrol expense, I usually paid around RM 250 per month.

I think that's all that you need to know about the living cost in Kuala Lumpur. I may add some details if you needed more. 

Enjoying Parks in KL - Taman Tasik Perdana

Visited Taman Tasik Perdana today, our family uncounted visits :) Taman Tasik Perdana named with "Tasik" because in this park we can find a huge Lake, in some terms people usually called this place as Perdana Botanical Garden. Located along Jalan Perdana or Venning Road. It is located near the National Monument of Malaysia. The closest LRT station is Pasar Seni (Central Market) and KL Central. 

Sign Board - Taman Tasik Perdana

Within this Lake Garden area, we can find :


1. Wet Land
2. Deer Park
3. Herbs Garden
4. Lake
5. Waterfall
6. Children Playground
7. Ornament Garden
8. Conservatory




I think there're other than I mentioned above, but I forgot the name hehe :)

1st visit as a tourist

The park also provided trams to go around this area. Forgot is it RM 1 or more to ride on this tram, but it is still worth it to explore the beauty of this area. This is a very huge area, so without transport, don't think that we can reach all the place. 











Speaking of the tram, here you go..My boys from the backside, and that's the tram :p

Actually within this Perdana Botanical Garden, there are also several other parks to visit. 

Orchid Garden

KL Bird Park, claimed as the biggest covered bird park. Never been in here, but I read the entrance fee for adult is RM42 and RM32 for children. The cost may be different if using My Kad.

KL Orchid Garden. By the time I went there, we can come in for free. The management put the big FREE sticker to cover the fee board. When we came inside, not so many orchid can be found, maybe it's still in the growing phase. 

Butterfly Park. Also never been there before, but read about the entrance fee, is around RM20 something for adult. 

Other than these parks and gardens above, we also can find Police Museum, Islamic Art Museum, Tun Abdul Razak Memorial Place, Planetarium, and others.
This is a very recommended place not only for local to spend their weekend, but also for tourists. I think the Hop On Hop Off Bus, also got a stop in this area. Only please, use your comfortable outfit to explore this area, because even though the trees covered this place, but using the comfortable one, might made you enjoy the exploration. 

Note : It is not easy to find a proper cafe or restaurant around here, bring the snacks along with you might be helpful for the hunger :)  ENJOY!!

Enjoying Parks in KL - Taman Bukit Kiara

It's been a while since we moved here. Sometimes we feel like we are local people, easily get bored with routines and having difficulties to spend the weekend. That's why, now me and my husband decided to spend either our Saturday or Sunday by exploring parks and gardens in KL.

So far, we already checked in to several parks, like Taman Tasik Perdana or known as KL Botanical Garden and Taman TTDI or Taman Bukit Kiara and the other one is Rimba Bukit Kiara. 

This very first time I would like to write about the Taman Bukit Kiara and Rimba Bukit Kiara. Actually this place is really close to my son's school. It is in a walking distance like 300 meter and we never even realise there is one until my friend told me. Placed in TTDI area, nearby the TTDI Mosque, for the exact place here is the link. 

There is also a funny story behind finding this place. So, Taman Bukit Kiara and Rimba Bukit Kiara actually is in one location, only got different entrance. We park our car, and come inside this area. 

At first we thought we found the Taman Bukit Kiara (never know that Rimba Bukit Kiara is even exist, until we experienced this). We become suspicious whether the place is correct or not, since it is totally different with what my friend told me. This Bukit Kiara place should have a lake, a little river, and some animals in there. But when we arrived, the place is just like a "Rimba" or Jungle..

Instead of those things mentioned above, we find a hilly path with the abyss on our right side, and on the left side, there is a tracking way for the bikers. Hahaha.. In the middle of the way, we found someone an asked him which way to go to the park, because after lots of intersection we still could not find it. Very exhausted..I feel like wanna sit in the car, go back home and sleep, but don't want to walk anymore :'(  But, then we heard a "crichy" sound..water flow sound.. and we found this :

waterflow - Rimba Bukit Kiara

I am so amazed when we find this waterflow, I asked my son to come nearby and fell the water. He's also excited about it. Long story short, we got back to our car. Then...when we are on our way back home, we found another entrance. Lots of cars, and also people..Hahaha..we found the correct one..the Taman Bukit Kiara, not the Rimba one..

Taman Bukit Kiara

Since at that time we're way too tired for another walk, we stop to see the place and back home. But then my son found this place, and refused to go home :

cold and natural river

This below picture was taken from our next visit, and still happy to go there :) Oh ya, what make this place nice is the river of course, we can play water and sand, and the monkeys..Hehe..For a note, please don't show that you have food to the monkey, they will bring all their relatives to meet you :p 

bridge - with a do not cross sign

Culture Shock - Jakarta vs Kuala Lumpur (Feb 2012)

Actually I've wrote this in my previous blog. The comparison that I made is only based on very personal point of view. Only wants to explain how my life after 5 months living in KL.

So here it is :

1. In Jakarta I had 2 maids..yes TWO. So typical Jakarta people who got 1 child and both of the parents are working. But here, I got no one..I do things by myself.. Hehe, Thank God now, after a year passed by, i got a reliable part time maid. For 3 times a week, half a day, we can paid half time maid around RM 400 - 450.
2. I lived in a house before when I was in Jakarta, so I got my very own car park, only in front of my door house. Here, I live in a Condo and the car park is way too far for me :p Way too far refers to, down 6 floor using elevator, walk 100m, and 3 stairs with 10 steps each. Hahaha..
3. Usually in Jakarta after the groceries shopping, I can just park my car and call my 2 maids to pick all the things from the car and put it in the right place. Now, welcome..I need to lift it all up by myself from that far faraway parking lot, and keep all the things to the place by myself. 
4. In Jakarta, me and my husband suffered for two hours driving every single day, on the way to our house to the office, and another two hours to get back home. Here in KL, we decide to choose the very closest condo from my husband's office, only 5 minutes by car..10 minutes if calculating the walking time from our door unit to the car park :p Or around 20-30 minutes walking distance.
5. Since we already saved that 4 hours we usually used in facing traffic jam in Jakarta, now we got a plenty quality family time. We still can do lots of things before or after my husband back from office.
6. In Jakarta, we totally served by people, here, everything seems to be done by machine. Water dispenser machine, autopay parking system, highway touch n go and smart tag reader, and else.
7. Well, driving car in Jakarta, using a horn is very common, here is different..Somebody will only use their horn if they got very disturbed or angry at you. And Malaysian driver..oh my god, they drive like there's no tomorrow..superfast, lack of using the signing light, but they did stop at every intersection, don't care how fast they drive before.
8. Indonesian smile and service that's what I missed the most that time. It's different here, people who actually work to served people like at the department store, groceries store, rarely smile while helping us, or say thanks after we buy something from them. 
9. The mass transportation is much much better than Jakarta. When we haven't bought our car, we usually use the bus, MRT and LRT to go to places..It's just very convenience. But not for the taxi, I prefer to use taxi in Jakarta then here, because here the taxi is owned by the driver, so sometimes they doesn't want to use the meter. 
10. I've been through taking care of some documentation here, such as preparing the name changes for my car.  I can't compare this one with the one that Indonesia have, here it's just way sooo easy, no need to pay for extra fee. 

I'll update in the next posting, if there's any I can found about the culture shock :) 

KL - Singapore (December 2011)

This is our very first time vacation after this moving thing. We decided to go to Singapore. It's very easy to find the transportation when you want to go to Singapore from KL. There're lots of ways. At that time, we want to try something new, so we decided to take the Bus. It took about 4-5 hours, and you can choose what kind of bus do you want to, start from the very cheap one up to the executive double deck bus. 

Actually near from the place we live (Bandar Utama), there're also several buses, with lots of schedules also. But, since it's December and weekend, we couldn't get the seats using that buses. Here are the buses that can ride you to Singapore from Bandar Utama, they come from different company, rate and also services. You can choose either one that suit you :

• First Coach cost you around RM 50-78 for adult and half of that price for child
• Aeroline this one might cost a little bit higher, but you'll feel that you're in the airplane by using this bus. They got a stewardess to serve you, they serve proper meal, a good entertainment and a very comfortable seat. We tried this bus on our way back from Singapore to KL, my son loves this bus so much.. Hehehe..
• FiveStar, so sorry I can find the exact link, but some of my friends told me that this bus also good.

Ok, since we need the bus to go to Singapore at that day, we search for other bus station, and we found Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (TBS). TBS is a very nice bus station I'ved ever seen. The place is huge, we can find many lockets to buy the ticket, to all destination in Malaysia and Singapore. It looks like an airport, so after bought the ticket, checked in, we waited for the bus to come in the gate stated at the ticket. The bus station well air-contioned, clean, proper and in place direction and information. Don't have any idea where I can find this kind of bus station in Jakarta :)

TBS - Waiting for the Bus to come

    









As I mentioned before, lots of way to reach Singapore from KL. Other than using bus, you can also use airplane, almost all of the airplane company will have their schedule to Singapore in daily basis. Or you can use train, only using train take you almost 8 hours to arrived, so it will be good if you choose to travel at night and arrived in the morning. I found this blog from escapetraveler might be very useful for you to get the full information about traveling using train.

Several photos taken while we're in Singapore :) Enjoying the Holiday!!

Easy Evening

Boat-ing Inside MBS

Om Takut - USS

To Leave Jakarta

This is my first time in doing such a moving abroad..Lot of things need to be prepared. That's why me and my husband agreed to separate the things we need to do. Hehe, of course I took care the little things, but a lot, and my husband got the big part but only a few things.

So here the list goes..





Husband :

• Find our place to live in KL. We can get the info about house or condo rent using this website : http://www.iproperty.com.my/ , http://www.mudah.my/ , http://www.propwall.my/
• All things we need in KL such as car, internet connection, handphone sim card, and else. (He's a very good googler, so I rely on him about our new life there).
• Sell the Motorcycle and the Car

Me (exhale and inhale) :

• Make sure all the Internet Banking access is working, and can be use in KL
• Have all the Medical + Vaccination Report  and translated in English
• Settle all the outstanding credit card bill, close the card and keep one of the card, just in case we need some extra money in the new country. Please note that it's not easy for a foreigner to apply a credit card here in KL, they need a min RM 10,000 as your monthly income.
• Prepare Leaving Certificate from school, if you're about to move with child/ren.
• Do the homework, I separate the thing that I want to sell, bring along with me, and the thing that will be given to other. For the thing that I want to bring along with me, I do separate into which one that I will bring together by plane and which one will be carried by the moving company.

I think that's the list that I can remember. Actually I have the book, but I don't know where it is now.. Haha, I'll update the list when I found it, ok :)

What To Prepare - Documentation

Step one about moving abroad is about the documentation. In this case, we received so many help from my husband's company. So the documentation done by them, we only need to prepare for the supporting documents.

Moving to different country, might need you to have a different kind of pass also. For my husband as the Expat, he need to obtain the Employment Pass (Working Permit) and for me and my son, we need to have the Dependent Pass.

So, at that time, to have the related pass, these are the documents needed :

Employment Pass :

- One set of the application

- Passport

- Offering Letter from company

- Passport Size Photograph

- Employment CV

- Medical Test Result (this one usually provided by company) 

Then for the Dependent Pass :

- Passport

- Marriage Certificate

- Birth Certificate

- Passport Size Photograph

All of Dependent Pass document, need to be submitted together with the Expatriate's document, and all supporting documents must be in English. At that time somehow we already have the English version for our document, but sadly, it must be translated by the translator in Malaysian Embassy, Jakarta.The translation process itself took about 2 weeks. 

So 2 weeks for the translation process, and after that all of the document submitted to the Malaysian Immigration office at KL and took almost one and a half month to get the Single Entry Visa and the letter from Malaysian Immigration to chance the Single Entry Visa to the real Employment and Dependent Pass.

This Single Entry Pass only valid for 3 months, so first thing to do after departure, is to contact your company, or you yourself report yourself and bring the letter to the Malaysian Immigration Office at Putrajaya, so that they only can process your visa.

The official Malaysian Immigration Website is http://www.imi.gov.my, you may find complete information there :)

  

Starting a New Journey - July 2011

Here we go..

First, I started this blog a little bit late, my family have been living in KL for almost one and a half year now. 
But, still I think some of this maybe still be useful for Indonesian's who's planning to move to KL as an expat worker.

We received the information to move to KL from my husband's company only 3 months before we actually need to leave. It was very surprising for both us, very immediate indeed. It was not easy though, we never move abroad before. Even though I was living in Penang back then when I was a kid, still, this time is different. This time I have so many things to let go.. Which one of that was my comfort zone.

So I resigned from my latest job, with the big decision to follow my husband. Still have no idea, what will I do there, but for me is fine as long as we stay together as a family :)

My Farewell Party

So by the time we knew that we have to moved, we do lot of research about living in KL. Thank God, it's very easy to find the source, first is of course my younger brother who's been living in KL for almost 6 years. Then, the rest of it is thanks to Google..