A Short Holiday at Shah Alam

SATURDAY – MAY 4, 2013

It was 6:40 PM already when we arrived at Shah Alam Bus Station (by Transnasional Bus from Melaka Sentral Bus Station, departed 4:30 PM). We took a taxi (RM 10.00) to i-City Boutique Hotel (http://www.agoda.com/asia/malaysia/shah_alam/i_city_hotel.html), which was located right in the middle of The City of Digital Lights (http://www.malaysia-traveller.com/i-City.html).

After checked in, shower and few minutes of rest, we got dinner at Nasi Kandar.

Later Alif had fun at Trick Art Museum (tickets = RM 5.00 per person), 4D Cinema (tickets = RM 10.00 per person), Pirate Ship (tickets = RM 5.00 per person), and Spacewalk (RM 20.00 per cable car  which can hold two people).

The park was beautifully decorated with lights.

Some of our photos at Trick Art Museum:

SUNDAY – MAY 5, 2013

It was Malaysia’s 13th National Election Day, glad that Alif and I still could get a taxi (RM 8.00) to take us from i-City to a great mosque  which was called as Masjid Negeri (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultan_Salahuddin_Abdul_Aziz_Mosque). The taxi driver, Pak Kamal, was orginally from Kelantan State but he still worked at Shah Alam (instead of traveled back to his hometown to participate on the election) on that day because “my vote wouldn’t change anything anyway”.

The Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Mosque (construction began in 1982 and finished on 11 March 1988) was the country’s largest mosque and also the second largest mosque in Southeast Asia after Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The large blue and silver dome was astonishing even from far, it measures 51.2 m in diameter and reaches 106.7 m above ground level. The four minarets were listed in the Guinness World Records as tallest in the world before being supplanted by Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, Morocco, in August 1993. The Blue Mosque does however still maintain the distinction of having the world’s tallest group of minarets as the set of four each stand at 142.3 m above ground level. The mosque has the capacity to accommodate 24,000 worshippers at any one time and is large enough that on clear day it can be seen from some vantage points in Kuala Lumpur.

View of the dome from entrance to main pray hall:

From the mosque, we took a taxi back to i-City (RM 9.00) for Alif’s main interest: SnoWalk (http://www.tripadvisor.co.id/Attraction_Review-g298316-d2226692-Reviews-SnoWalk-Shah_Alam_Petaling_District_Selangor.html).

Entrance tickets = RM 35.00 (adult) + RM 30.00 (child), included winter jackets rent (but Alif and I got our own). It was not allowed to bring any bags into the venue, then we paid additional RM 2.00 for the locker.

Alif enjoyed it so much. First time in his life the he experienced the feel of living inside a giant freezer.

Too bad that Alif and I were first visitors, no other persons to play football with Alif.

Back to the hotel, we said our goodbyes because David and Jenny would join their friends while Alif and I were going to our next destination: The capital city of Malaysia…KUALA LUMPUR!