Malaysia and Thailand

My trip was from 2nd April 2026 to 12th April 2026. I had to go to a wedding in Pune on 25th and 26th April, so I decided to take a detour via Bangalore, and then decided to take a detour from Bangalore to Malaysia and Thailand because why not.

So my overall trip ended up being these 7 flights:

31st March: Jaipur to Bangalore
2nd April: Bangalore to Kuala Lumpur
6th April: Kuala Lumpur to Phuket
8th April: Phuket to Bangkok
12th April: Bangkok to Bangalore
23rd April: Bangalore to Pune
29th April: Pune to Kishangarh

Anyway, this page is gonna focus only on the Malaysia and Thailand parts of the above trip.

How much cash I took

I took the following amounts in cash:

650 MYR @ 24.02
22000 THB @ 2.955
- Thailand apparently had a rule for 20k THB per person.
300 USD @ 94.70
- Took some USD since anyway I have a US trip planned for June, and INR keeps depreciating against USD.

I got the currency exchange done from Orient Exchange in Bengaluru: https://maps.app.goo.gl/yuFzvNXDMBZ5eagv9

MDAC and TDAC

Malaysia and Thailand are visa free for Indians but require you to fill their respective digital arrival cards within 72 hours before reaching there. The 72 hour restriction is more so about the date range that the website allows you to pick from.

I filled MDAC on 31st March, and TDAC on 4th April.

Day 1 (2nd April, 2026)

Me and my friend reached Kuala Lumpur at 9 PM local time.

We got Maxim SIM for 35 MYR at the airport with valid data pack for 15 days, which should work in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam (which did end up working in Thailand, so all went good).

Our stay in Kuala Lumpur was at Perdana Kuala Lumpur City Centre (https://maps.app.goo.gl/8FVTsiLjxvxyKX9Z7) for 4 days. We had to pay 100 MYR security deposit, and 40 MYR government tax at the time of check-in. We got the 100 MYR deposit back when we checked out on 6th April.

Perdana had 39 floors. We stayed in room number 1510.

We had dinner at Bombay Grand Indian Cuisine - KLCC Branch (https://maps.app.goo.gl/fEcQrmzXwCmFp5K78). Most other options were closed, even these guys were closing but they were kind enough to take our order. The food was amazing! (not sure how much of it was attributed to us being tired af). It was a bit expensive though, cost INR 1500 per person, but we were told that it's because we're in the KLCC area.

Day 2 (3rd April, 2026)

Went to Suria KLCC mall.

Came to Petronas Twin Towers, booked 2 tickets for Sunday 6:15 PM slot, total cost 314 MYR.
1. We had previously booked them on Headout, but then they kept saying "Booking in progress". We kept on waiting like idiots for Headout to give us Petronas Twin tower tickets for 4th April 4 PM. They kept saying "give us xyz hours", and then kept delaying it, so it was difficult to trust them. We ended up going to the Twin Towers and booking the Sunday tickets just in the off-chance we don't get Headout tickets. The Headout tickets did arrive (causing our Sunday tickets to go to waste) eventually, but the whole experience was extremely shitty. There were also a LOT of Reddit posts about Headout ruining their travel plans, so it was really difficult to rely on them. The customer support was useless as well, and kept delaying the "you'll get the tickets in xyz hours" thing.
2. Petronas Twin Towers fountain show is apparently from 8 to 10 PM.
3. Junglehouse honey drinks were dope af in Suria KLCC mall. REALLY GOOD, I went again in the night!
Walked in KLCC Park. It was a good area, good vibes.
Came to 7-Eleven inside Petronas Twin Towers. Bought a protein drink and coffee latte, was good.
Then booked a Grab from KLCC Ramlee exit of the Suria Mall to KL Tower.
Came to KL Tower.
1. Tower walk has been permanently closed.
2. Sky terrace + Observation deck tickets are for 180 MYR per person (in a combo, 220 MYR if bought separately). And we could buy them when we came. Timings were till 10 PM, but last entry was at 9 PM. Can be closed if it's raining or lightning.
3. Glass box was for 10 MYR per person and had to be bought adhoc when you're at the observation deck. Glass box entry was also till 9 PM.
4. We decided to come back to KL Tower later in the evening. We ended up having something in Luckin Coffee inside KL Tower (we had coconut latte and souffle latte, cost around 33 MYR for 2 people). Luckin Coffee was great!
Came from KL Tower to Eyeslab optical shop: https://maps.app.goo.gl/uEmRxdoX5gDQN2bVA. It's in Sungei Wang Plaza. Took frame and lens there. Frame was 99 MYR, lens was 320 MYR.
Went to have lunch at some Indian restaurant in Bukit Bintang area itself.
Went back after an hour to collect the spectacles.
Then came back to Perdana to leave luggage there.
Went to KL Tower. Did KL Tower sky deck and glass box and observation deck. Took physical album of 2 photos + all digital photos, cost 120 MYR. The overall experience was decent, nothing too crazy, but also not bad.

Learned "Thank you" in Malay (and also Indonesian apparently, just learned this while writing this): "Terima kasih", pronounced as tuh-ree-mah kah-sih (I was pronouncing it like "teri ma ka suh", close enough).

Day 3 (4th April, 2026)

Filled in TDAC, and also booked Phi Phi Island tour for 12388 INR for 2 people for 7th April.
Went to Merdeka 118, the 2nd tallest building in the world right now. But the building was empty currently, it'll get populated by end of 2026 or later 2027. Observation decks etc are apparently supposed to start from end of 2026. The overall experience was still great though as it was kinda unique architecturally.
From Merdeka 118, we came to Petronas Twin Towers (on the Headout booking) for the 4 PM slot.
Petronas Twin Towers was great. I didn't like that it was a "timed" thing. We were taken in batches, told that we have 10 minutes on the glass bridge thing on the 41st floor, and then 30-40 minutes in the observation deck on the 86th floor.
Bought 5 t-shirts (two 3XL, one 4XL, two 2XL) for 279.40 MYR. Got physical album with 2 photos + all digital photos for 200 MYR.
Came downstairs. Since I had done shopping of more than 200 MYR, I was given the chance to claim some mystery ball gift. I did that, and won a bottle worth 60 MYR.
Then we came home and slept for a couple of hours. Then went out for dinner but couldn't find any good place to sit. Came home and ordered mango sticky rice for around 18 MYR. It was good stuff!

Day 4 (5th April, 2026)

Came from hotel to Mixue - Ampang Park (https://maps.app.goo.gl/RZGCbMVZZcyQDCFZ9) in Grab. I tried Super Boba Sundae there, that was awesome! I also tried Mango Brulee but unfortunately that wasn't as good.
Went from Mixue to Immersify KL (https://maps.app.goo.gl/k5nC8qFNUBK3zKgB8) in Grab. Immersify KL was like the Team Labs Borderless Tokyo thingy. Was good overall.
Came to Four Seasons Vege Cafe for lunch. Had a hard time finding it, but the food was really good.
We planned to go to Merdeka Square in the evening via Monorail/metro thingy. We went to Imbi Monorail station, took token for Hang Tuah station (we were supposed to change lines there for Merdeka Square). But we couldn't figure it out, and we were super exhausted with the heat and humidity, so we exited on Hang Tuah station itself and just sat there outside waiting for the rain to stop. Then we went back to hotel to rest.
Came to see Petronas Twin Towers fountain show in the evening.
Sound and light show happens every 30 minutes for 10 minutes.
We saw the one at 8:30 PM, it played 2 songs - Sapphire and Counting Stars. Overall it was good, but it would've been great if the volume was louder.
Then also saw the 9 PM show. First song was idk some other language, second song was a Hindi song.
Then we went to Merdeka Square. The cab driver said that the Twin Towers color light show happens on Saturday (all shows on Saturday) and on special occasions. We missed it lol, next time. The cab driver was a final year mechanical engineering student, a bright guy (who kept calling himself lucky XD).
Merdeka Square was kinda nice. I wasn't sure if visiting a "garden" in the night time would be a good idea, but actually it turned out to be great. I would recommend visiting it in the night time only, after all the heat of the daytime.

A few random notes about Kuala Lumpur:

We couldn't fit in Batu Caves, Genting Highlands, Selangor, etc in this trip. Next time!
Most people spoke English. A cab driver said that they teach English or Chinese in schools alongside Malay. Also there's 60% Chinese people in Malaysia.
A couple of cab drivers we met were in their final semester of their final year in college. Also the final year seems to start and end in October. Also they have internships in the middle of their semesters, unlike us where we have them at the end of our semesters.

Day 5 (6th April, 2026)

We had an early morning flight from Kuala Lumpur to Phuket. Batik Air flight from Kuala Lumpur to Phuket was really comfortable. Good comfortable seats, decent leg room. Much better than Indigo.
Immigration queue in Phuket was insane. It took us 1.5 hours.
We stayed in Blu Monkey Hub & Hotel (https://maps.app.goo.gl/UPRg1uaE4i1mxx366). First impression was not good. We didn't have the outdoor bathtub thing that was shown in the photos while booking. It was a zostel, literally a zostel.
First reaction in Thailand was the sheer amount of massage centers LITERALLY EVERYWHERE! Just stand anywhere on the road and you'll have 10 massage centers in the 360 view there.
Did a Back + Shoulders massage at Kim's Massage & Spa 5 Phuket Old Town (https://maps.app.goo.gl/fuAzPvByWfpF4x2P9). It cost 600 THB.
Random exploration in the evening..

Oh also, my friend lost his Sony WH1000-XM5, and the theories were that either he left them at the immigration counter when entering Phuket, or in the Grab from Phuket Airport to Blu Monkey hotel. I filed a support ticket with Grab, and we got response from them that the headphones were indeed left in the car. We were able to get back those headphones on 7th April 11 PM, the cab driver lady came to drop them off, I think she asked for 600 THB for it.

Oh also, learned a couple of phrases:

"Thank you" in Thai: "khop khun", pronounced as kop-koon (I was pronouncing it like "cop kun", close enough).
"Hello" (or goodbye) in Thai: "Sawatdee"

Day 6 (7th April, 2026)

Went to Boat Ramp Pier early in the morning for Phi Phi Island tour:

We were "upgraded" from speedboat to "premium" speed catamaran. Lol.
We paid 800 THB national park fee per person at the Boat Ramp Pier.

Phi Phi Island tour:

Jack was our captain of the tour, Captain Jack Sparrow was the group name. Lol.
The speed catamaran was bad. It wasn't premium in the slightest.
First, we went to Bamboo Beach. I got reminded all over again of how much I hate beaches.
Then we stopped at a place where folks did snorkeling, I just sat in the boat.
Then we went to monkey beach, looked at it from a distance. I was annoyed af with the "premium"-ness of the boat, and the hot and humid weather, I was just sweating all over. So I didn't even go to the deck to see that. The open deck didn't have good-height-railings for me anyway.
Then we went to Phi Phi Don island for lunch. I asked Jack if I could just stay in the boat and skip lunch, but they didn't let me do that, lol. I had to step out, and did lunch. Was meh.
As you can probably tell, the whole day had been meh so far.
After Phi Phi Don, we went to Phi Phi Ley (lagoon island) where we (me and my friend) did the longtail boat ride for 40 minutes. It cost us 1500 THB each since we took private tour. It was AWESOME!
Then we went to Maya Bay. I wasn't in the mood to step onto the beach, so I just stayed on the concrete route and gazed at the views. The views were nice but the weather just ruined my entire mood, so meh.
Then we returned to Boat Ramp pier by 5 PM or so.
Then we went to hotel, rested for a bit.

Went to Sansabai Massage 2 (https://maps.app.goo.gl/M4s9R1ESTKTSa6ir9):

I took manicure for 400 THB, and foot massage for another 400 THB. Manicure was a good/different/new experience so I ended up adding pedicure also for another 400 THB. Was a good experience overall.
Had a good long chat with the foot massage guy using Google Translate.
The guy had worked in Oman, Dubai, Kuwait, China, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and now Thailand.
He liked China the most because street food was awesome there.
How did he learn all the languages? - he didn't, he knew Chinese a little bit because Thailand school teaches Chinese, but all other places he used Google Translate.

I asked the foot massage guy random questions, the takeaways of which are:

1 hour massage earns him 160 THB.
He does 3-5 massages per day.
Is every masseuse for a specific massage? - Yes, for a subset of massages. That guy did the foot massage and 4-5 other massage types.
Mango sticky rice recommendation from him: Suvarnabhumi Airport has mango sticky rice on the 3rd floor.
What is the ideal mango sticky rice supposed to be: The rice shouldn't be too hot and the mango shouldn't be too cold; that would be perfect.
He was from Chiang Mai, and his parents live in Chiang Mai, which is why he was planning to settle down in Thailand now.
He lived in South Korea for 3 years 4 months, China for 2 years, Dubai for 6 months, Oman for 2 years, Malaysia for 6 months, Singapore for 2 years, etc.
He worked in Dubai at two different jobs: one in/near Dubai Mall, and another at Global Village.

Day 7 (8th April, 2026)

Went to Phuket Airport:

Went to airport in a BYD Atto 3 for 726 THB.
Flight got delayed by 4 hours to 1 PM, stupid shit.
Thai Vietjet Air had worse legroom than Indigo.
I had a running joke with my friend that Thai Vietjet Air isn't a real airline lmao.

Took 2 tickets from Suvarnabhumi airport to Ratchaprarop via City Line for 40 THB each.

Bangkok City Line vs Express Line:

The Bangkok Airport Rail Link (ARL) City Line is currently the only active service running from Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK), offering a ~30-minute commute to Phaya Thai station for 15-45 THB. The Express Line was historically a faster 15-minute, non-stop service to Makkasan, but it has been discontinued, and its carriages are no longer in operation.

We stayed in Baiyoke Sky Hotel (https://maps.app.goo.gl/6TXx8FiQ5bVJLN8H9).

We reached Baiyoke Sky Hotel by 4 PM, upgraded the 4th day to "space zone" as well (basically the rooms on the highest possible floors), paid 2000 THB security deposit, got room on 71st floor (space zone was till 74th floor).
The hotel was near metro, but in a very busy street which was FULL of Indian restaurants (and a lot of South Indian ones at that).
The hotel also had a revolving view point on the 84th floor, which was AWESOME. I went there one day at the night time, and walked in circles for like a couple of hours, gazing at the superb view and being greeted with cool gusts of wind. We had complimentary access to it being guests of Baiyoke Sky Hotel.

Went to Asiatique The Riverfront. Walked a bit. I sat on the bean bag looking at the stars and an amusement ride (just realised it's called SkyFlyers - https://maps.app.goo.gl/JaqeXqbCyqxKfAFg9), talking to my friend.

Then we went to Watson's in the same place. I bought 2-3 sunscreens of famous brands (Biore and MizuMi), and a lot of herbal balms.

Then we went to have dinner at some place in Asiatique The Riverfront itself. I ate mango sticky rice and mango smoothie. Mango sticky rice was great, this was my first time eating mango sticky rice directly at a shop/restaurant. It was much better than eating it via Grab food delivery.

Day 8 (9th April, 2026)

Went to ICONSIAM Mall (https://maps.app.goo.gl/5KGppo3MQvaa2x317):

ChaTraMue (https://maps.app.goo.gl/u1TLaCRT8RdTVvC76) was AWESOME! I tried the gold iced tea thingy for 50 THB per person, it was the best tea I've ever had. Just superb! ❤️
Iconsiam and ICS are connected via a M floor (Mezzanine floor). ChaTraMue was in ICS.
Went to Gucci store just for experience, price range was from 14k THB to 40k THB.
Went to Apple store. Used MacBook Neo for the first time here!
Went to Dear Tummy supermarket on ground floor for shopping. Bought a lot of dried mango of a couple of brands, as well as lychee etc dried fruit packets from there. Insane stuff!
I forgot to go back to the wooden watch shop in ICONSIAM ground floor, that was quite cool and different and unique as well.
ICONSIAM ground floor had Sook Siam (the floating market).

Iconsiam is the BEST MALL I've ever been to. Ground floor was DOPE AF vibes and environment.

Random link: https://www.iconsiam.com/en/stories/thai-souvenirs-2025

Went to Mahanakhon (https://maps.app.goo.gl/Mq8ZXjQ31gNZn37U6):

I-tilt was on 74th floor, I couldn't do it lmao, it wasn't on a glass surface, it was on ropes, wasn't allowed to wear my spectacles, meh. I couldn't do it, it was the same feeling as the one I had in the Edge Walk in Dubai. My friend did it but only till 10-15 degrees and scared throughout, which is understandable.
Then we went up to the 78th floor for the sky walk thingy.
Went to the 4th floor for the Sky Verse thingy (it was similar experience as Immersify KL, so we rushed through it) and the digital photos. Bought a t-shirt on the 4th floor for 660 THB.

Day 9 (10th April, 2026)

Went to The Grand Palace (https://maps.app.goo.gl/qDHiTDBYMe6fWTXg7):

We found a local English-speaking guide lady at the entrance. It cost us 300 THB for The Grand Palace guide, was totally worth it.
The Grand Palace was decent. The heat was too much.
The Grand Palace had 10 temples for 10 kings, and then the palace itself.

Goosebumps moment: Songkran is Thai New Year, similar to Sankrant in India. Songkran Water festival is like Holi (just without any colors). Goosebumps lmao.

Went to Terminal 21 Rama 3, Pier 2 for 7:30 PM cruise:

We got 27R seats (window seats) on the lower deck. Previously we were given 27RRR seats which were the middle seats (the triple seats), I got it changed to window seats.
It was a GREAT experience. The lady that was singing live for some parts of the duration was the annoying part. Otherwise it was great. We were also able to go to the upper deck (open air deck), which was fun as well.

Day 10 (11th April, 2026)

Went to The Ancient City: https://maps.app.goo.gl/qGeV3TizH4Gnjyoz8, https://www.muangboranmuseum.com/en/

It was a decent experience.
We took the tram, which was a bit annoying as we had to find the tram and cater our plan based on the tram's designated locations.
The better option would've been to take a caddy, but I guess it would've required an International Driving Permit which I don't have.

It was a different experience, a unique one.

Went to Once Upon A Thai Spa (Phrom Phong) - https://maps.app.goo.gl/X8ANHSvQJGK1Uxnh8:

I was planning to get Traditional Thai Herbal Balm Massage for 2 hours for 1500 THB. This wasn't available, all slots were full. Ended up getting the Traditional Deep Tissue Massage (Muscle Relief) for 60 minutes for 2800 THB.
Before the massage, we were asked to fill a form to specify our personal details, and then our massage preferences (what body part to avoid, what body part to concentrate on, etc). Then I was also given 3 oils to choose from by smelling them, I chose the lemon one.
The massage itself was fine I guess. My upper back was hurting a lot by whatever the masseuse lady was doing. After the massage, my upper back was still paining for a couple of days, which idk is maybe expected.
Took a shower after the massage in the same room.
Then came downstairs. Was provided with the dessert I had chosen earlier - mango sticky rice. It was awesome lmao, the best mango sticky rice I've ever had.

Day 11 (12th April, 2026)

Took early morning cab to the airport. Had random discussion with the cab driver:

Suvarnabhumi airport has no terminals, it's one big area. Gates 1, 2, 3 are domestic, 4-10 gates are international.
Savasdee vs savatdee - Cab driver said it's savatdee. Also, ladies use kha, males use khap particle suffix at the end. So, I would say "Sawatdee khap" or "Khop Khun khap".

Bangkok airport security check was asking to put only iPad and laptop in the tray, rest keep everything including mobile and passport and boarding pass in the bag. And there was a Leidos scan check thingy that did the scan. Pretty cool!

Weather Scenes

Weather in Kuala Lumpur was hot and humid.
Weather in Phuket was hot and humid.
Weather in Bangkok was hot, but not that humid.

The weather wasn't the best throughout the trip but unfortunately this was still the best time to visit these places weather-wise. This is as good as it gets.

Traffic Scenes

Traffic in Kuala Lumpur was non-existent. It was a breeze to go from one place to another in Kuala Lumpur via Grab.
Traffic in Phuket was fine, wasn't an issue, although I don't have a lot of data points to speak about it.
Traffic in Bangkok was bad, like really really bad. It felt like traveling in Mumbai. Lots of 2 wheelers, lots of chaos. 2 wheelers passed through the gaps of the traffic but 4 wheelers were stuck.

Overall, Kuala Lumpur had the least traffic. It was a breeze to reach anywhere from anywhere via Grab car in Kuala Lumpur.

Random information about Thai greetings

Some info on Thai greeting: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWd6ZgITXk-/?igsh=dDhkYzRrbnRrZnpo

Sawatdee kha:

Sawatdee kha (สวัสดีค่ะ) is a polite Thai greeting used by women to say "hello" or "goodbye". It is frequently accompanied by a wai (slight bow with palms pressed together) to show respect. It is the female equivalent to "sawatdee khrap" (used by men).

Our lift music in Baiyoke Sky Hotel also had this "sawatdee kha" tune.

Sawasdee versus Sawatdee:

Both Sawasdee and Sawatdee are acceptable Romanized spellings of the Thai greeting สวัสดี, which means "hello" or "goodbye". Sawatdee is often considered closer to the actual pronunciation (sa-wat-dee), while Sawasdee is a very common alternative spelling used in tourism.

FTI TTP

I had filled in the form for FTI TTP sometime mid-March. I submitted the biometrics for the same in Bangalore airport on 2nd April. It was a seamless process. I got a mail on 6th April that I have been successfully enrolled in FTI TTP, and that I can use it the next time I leave/enter India.

So I tried FTI TTP on 12th April when entering India. I had to scan my boarding pass and my passport, and then look at the camera and scan my index finger of right hand. Was super quick!

Random other notes

Overall it was a good trip. The entire trip cost me around 1.5L INR.

Dumping some more random notes here:

Waze isn't good compared to Google Maps.
Grab ETA is messed up. It doesn't update traffic in realtime. It might be using Waze behind the scenes.
Songkran is for 3 days.
As per the cab driver that took me to Bangkok airport, Pattaya songkran is the best. Central world, ICS, ICONSIAM, Asiatique songkran are also really good.
Bangkok has 3 days Songkran from 13th April to 15th April.
Pattaya has 1 day Songkran on 19th April. Big festival in Pattaya for Songkran on that day, huge traffic.
No bidet in Phuket airport as well as Suvarnabhumi airport washrooms? WTF?
I got a clear tan line on both my arms lmao, too much travel in the heat I guess.

The entire set of apps that I downloaded were the following:

Out of these, I used the following primarily:

Grab for booking rides and ordering food.
Klook for booking attraction tickets.
Trip.com for booking The Ancient City tickets.
Splitwise since it wasn't a solo trip.
Malay Phrasebook and Thai Phrasebook. This developer has a lot of such apps for a lot of countries, I really liked these apps, very minimal and to the point: https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=5800637004211800732

Random song recommendations

Songkran song: https://open.spotify.com/track/37aUJo54oNAJUo9m7om2pi?si=hKdu24N6RO2gt1gmczgiAA
Learned from my friend that a lot of Hindi songs are originally from South India or English. For example: 500 Miles is the original song from which "Jab Koi Baat Bigad Jaye" came. I listened to this song quite a lot and still do!