A TRIP TO FT LABUAN

(Our memories)

Planning

We planned to go on a holiday to the Federal Territory Labuan. This is a follow-up after our last two holidays to Ipoh, Perak and Alor Setar, Kedah. I have been to Labuan when I was working with a federal government agency. My wife, who is still working in a federal ministry, used to travel on official duties to almost every state in Malaysia, including a few remote towns along the Sungai Rajang in Sarawak but did not have a chance to visit Labuan. That was the reason why we chose Labuan this coming holiday. I started to collect information for this trip as early as July 2012. I prefer to prepare myself much earlier so that I would be able to overcome any obstacles early, and to make sure the plan would run smoothly.

Hotel Bookings

I browsed the internet searching for a reasonable hotel in the Labuan town area. It’s a bit surprise that about 90% of all the hotels in Labuan did not have their own website or even an email address to contact. Most of the booking for these hotels were done through a third party. It’s a bit difficult for us to get more info except by phone. We can have the phone numbers of some of the hotels through the Malaysian Yellow Pages.

The Hotel

Browsing the internet, I happened to come across a few websites of hotels in Labuan. I sent emails to inquire further on room rates and other information from these hotels which I feel it is reasonable and economical enough to stay. Only one of my emails was replied and I hold-on to book until I have finalised my flight.

Flight Bookings

There are daily direct flights from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to Labuan. The Low-Cost Airline (Air-Asia) offers a flight to Labuan too early in the morning and we may not be able to catch the flight in time. One of the daily flights offered by the Malaysian Airline System (MAS) departs from KLIA at 9.00 am and expected to arrive in Labuan at 11.30 am. We chose this flight as the other flights would either depart a bit late in the afternoon or that would stop over at Kota Kinabalu to arrive at Labuan late in the evening.

We hope to be able to reach KLIA before 8.00 am to catch our flight. We have to hire a taxi from our home in Taman Seri Gombak (TSG) to Kuala Lumpur Sentral – Transit Hub (KL Sentral) in the earliest hour. We would check-in at the Kuala Lumpur City Air Terminal (KL CAT) before 7.00 am, and then travel to KLIA by the Express Rail Link (ERL). We would then have ample time to have our breakfast at the KLIA or, maybe we can have our breakfast during the flight. Our return journey would not be a problem as the daily scheduled flight departed from Labuan at 5.20 pm to arrive at KLIA at 7.40 pm.

I used to travel to Sibu and Kuching, Sarawak when I was attached to a private company after my retirement from the government service. During those days, booking a flight was a straight forward matter. I went to the MAS office counter, inquire about the flight, fares and any discount for a senior citizen like me, usually 50% on domestic air fares, pay up and got the tickets. Nowadays, this system is history, even the MAS office I used to go to has moved to other location. That shows that I have not travelled by air for quite sometime.

My wife and I went to the nearest MAS counter at the KL Sentral. The customer service was very patient with me and I thank her for the time she took to bear with my curiosity. I was advised to book my tickets online by the internet as this is already a trend nowadays. I was told that the fares would be much less than that at the counter and that there aren’t anymore direct discounts for senior citizens.

Whether I like it or not, I have to book our tickets online. This is my first experience and I have to be very careful so as not to make any mistakes. I have to browse the airline webpage many times to understand all the features and get all the online help to understand how it should be done. It looks easy enough.

For two (2) days I tried to book my tickets three (3) times but it seems does not work. My booking was not approved. I called the airline customer service and I was told there was nothing wrong with the way I did my booking only that it does not reached the approval stage. I kept wondering where I did wrong during my transactions.

It was then I decided to call my credit card provider to inquire if there is any problem with my card. They told me I have to activate a feature in the credit card website for my account to enable me to use the credit card for any internet transactions. Walla! (French for “Here it is”) That was the only problem and after I activated the “Secure Code” I was able to do my internet transaction without any hassle. The fares were reasonable and I received my E-ticket by email a few minutes after I completed the transaction.  I felt relaxed, at least I have done what I wanted to accomplish. That was on 15 August 2012, and it was too early before our trip scheduled for 29 September 2012.

So, for those who intended to use your credit card for any internet transactions and for the very first time, inquire from your credit card provider for all these details. I still have a lot more to learn!

I sent an email to the hotel in Labuan to confirm of our arrival and departure to enable them to reserve a room for our holiday.

The Trip

A day before our departure, I called the hotel in Labuan to check on the status of my booking and other relevant matters. Everything seems to go on as planned.

I called a few taxi services to fetch us from our home to the KL Sentral early in the morning. I did make a good decision as to which would give me a better service and charge for the trip. The first wanted to charge me exorbitantly while the other did not. These are legitimate services but it’s up to us to make our choice.

I was sleepless the whole night worrying if the taxi did not come and that we would have a problem to rush to the airport. We were relaxed when the taxi came much earlier, and at 6.00 am on September 29^th, we started our trip to KL Sentral. We want to make sure we won’t be late to catch our flight. As planned, we checked-in at the KL CAT and then took the ERL to KLIA arriving at about 7.15 am. We have our breakfast at a fast-food outlet in KLIA.

My favourite pancakes for my breakfast at KLIA

Smiling all the way to Labuan

Welcome to Labuan

We arrived at Labuan Airport at about 11.30 am. We took a taxi and checked-in the hotel which is situated in the town and it is an easy access to the many places around.  It’s time to pose for our collections, using only our mobile phones cameras.

Posing ... Posing ... eh
In Flight - Top Left: A happy couple; Right: Life MUST go on"
On Arrival - Bottom Left: Arriving by car?; Right: Welcomed by Marlin of Labuan

We have our lunch at a restaurant nearby which served local delicacies that satisfies our taste. After lunch we walked around the area where they were preparing for the Sunday market. The Labuan Walk is beautiful scenery but the surrounding area was not. These photos say a thousand words!

This photo (Left) shows how beautiful this Labuan Walk is; but the photo on the right says otherwise.
These photos were taken on the same day at about the same time.

Enjoying our breakfast; as usual, the baked beans; the hot-dogs are once a favourite of someone.

The next day, after breakfast we walked to the dry market looking for anything that could not be found in our hometown, be it anything that we could carry and take home. At the dry market, we bought some rice which was brought from Bario, Sarawak besides a few types of local cookies, such as “kueh cincin”, “sotoku”, to name a few.

At the dry market looking for something that never exists elsewhere?

I remembered, when I was a young kampong boy, I used to buy some sweetmeat made from sago, in the form of “powdered” and packed in a cylindrical plastic and called it as “sesagun”. I found this at a stall and the seller introduced us on how to enjoy this delicacy with bananas. We tried it and it’s just awesome. We also found a new snack and we just call it “Pulut” as we have forgotten the actual name given by the seller at the open market. This snack is made of cooked glutinous rice wrapped with either pandan or coconut leaves.

The newly introduced local delicasies
Left: "Sesagun" with bananas; Right: "Pulut"

Nearby the dry market are rows of bazaars that sell dresses, clothes, and accessories. My wife was looking for a headdress to go along with her dress, and when she could not find any that suits her taste, she turned to look for accessories instead.

The right accessories for the right dress.

On our way back to the hotel, we passed by this signage “Siswazah Corner” or should it be “Sudut Siswazah”?. We were wondering as to why that particular area was named as such; is it that the area, with a few stalls and food kiosks were maintained and run by the “siswazah”; or is it that area are where the “siswazah” sat and discussed their studies or preparing their thesis? We asked around but no one could give us a good reasonable answers.

The only "Graduate's Corner in Malaysia

We went to the Financial Park that has become the main attraction in Labuan for the local and tourists alike. During lunch, we met a few new students from the Peninsula who recently enrolled to study at the Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Labuan. We wish them success in their studies.

The Financial Park, Labuan

At one of the stalls selling various kinds of dresses and headdress, my wife found what she have been looking for, at least she had something to bring home. At this stall, the owner was not surprise to see us. She said she saw us in the morning, most probably during our walk to the bazaar looking for the headdress. We asked her why, and she told us that she’s touched to see us walking hand-in-hand as a very romantic and loving couple. My wife smiled and thanked her for the comment.

Labuan is a Duty Free island and we went around for window shopping. There are quite a number of shops selling chocolates and sweets. We bought some sweets and this would always remind us not to take a lot of sugars, or else, maybe someone would end wearing this Extremely-Extra Large Size pair of Jeans.

The chocolates may end you to this Extra Large pair of Jeans

There is a ferry service for those who wish to travel to the Sabah mainland or to Brunei Darussalam. For the local or those from the mainland Sabah or even from Brunei Darussalam this service is their favourite mode of transportation to visit friends, relatives or shopping in Labuan.

Going somewhere?

The drivers in Labuan are very considerate lot, no matter what they drive. They are willing to stop just to let us or anyone to cross the road, anywhere in the town. The town is a small busy town, you won’t get lost! But if we were to do the same in Kuala Lumpur, I am sure we’ll be honked by the drivers behind us persuading us to move on. We may not be able to try this hospitality in Kuala Lumpur. That’s the beauty of Labuan, among others.

Around the town area, there are rest areas where they build shades and chairs for the town folks to rest and chat. The greens which are well kept would be a good shade and cooling from the heat of the afternoon sun. No doubt, Labuan is a small island but it has a lot to offer to visitors.

The History of Labuan (Middle) and the rest areas in the town center.

The Return Journey

We enjoyed our stay in Labuan. We plan to visit Labuan again, but we would like to go by way of Kuching, Sarawak and then to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. From there on, we would take the Ferry, either from Kota Kinabalu that would take 2½ hours or from Menumbok, Sabah that will take 1½ hours to reach Labuan. Actually, this plan was discussed sometime ago, and hopes to realise it when the time comes. It would be a memorable holiday for us then. How’s that? Whatever!

We kept ourselves busy during this holiday, thus forgetting “whatever” problems that have been haunting us all these while. We do hope this holiday will give us some peace of mind when we return home, leaving the pain and frustrations behind on this island.

We left Labuan on the 2^nd October 2012. We have to check-out of the hotel by noon, sent to the airport with the compliments of the hotel’s management. We check-in for our flight scheduled at 5.20 pm to KLIA and have to wait for few more hours. My wife has her chance buying a dress that she had longed for from a boutique at the airport which she found out to be much cheaper than in Kuala Lumpur.

Our trip back home. Top: Waiting for the flight; Bottom: Travel by ERL to KL Sentral

We reached our home at about 10.00 pm, tired but happy. Anyway, we are a bit unlucky when we board a pre-paid taxi from KL Sentral. It was driven by a young driver who started “campaigning” from the moment we board his taxi until we reached our home. That would add more tiredness on us.

It’s good to be back at “home, sweet home” and nothing better than to get a good rest.

The smiles of happiness

Note: Something to ponder!

Whenever we travel by air, we were instructed to switch-off our cell phones, hand-phones, smart-phones, tablets, notebooks or whatever we call it that are all categorised as “phones” and electronic devices. We were not allowed to switch on these items during the flight as it may interrupt with the flight system. Fair enough!

We saw a lot of passengers did not abide by the rules. The smart-phones and tablets are still being used during the flights and enjoyed by some. What are the differences between these items if we were to categorise them as “electronic devices”? If “smart phones” does not comes with the category stated, it’s a bit odd as “smart phones” are “cell phones” or “hand phones” too, and it has no difference in usage, to make calls, play games or even snaps a few photos. From www.webopedia.com it explained that “A smart-phone is considered to be the combination of the traditional PDA and cellular phone, with a bigger focus on the cellular phone part”.

There should be a full explanation as to why we cannot use our cell phone or mobile phone during flights? Some phone owners may not want to make calls, but merely for using the phone camera. Just wondering … Browsing through the internet, there are a few countries that have already allowed the usage of these devices during their flights.