Legoland Johor Bahru

No doubt, Legoland is a must visit place in Malaysia. Legoland has been a strong magnet that attracted us to visit Johor Bahru for the second time, even though we were not big fans of Lego toys. That is the first Legoland in Asia. The Miniland alone was built with more than 30 millions of Lego bricks. Seven fun packed themed area with more than 40 rides, attractions, and shows. All these magical statistics have lures massive crowd into the park.

The entrance fee for adult (12-60 year old) is RM 140 (USD 47), and RM 110 (USD 37) for child and senior citizen. Online ticket is available with 25% off but booking has to be done 7 days in advance. So, why not book the ticket online? Click here for more ticketing information. We stepped into the Legoland around 10:50 am and had stayed until 6 pm.

Hot and humid. That's the price to pay in order to get some fun, besides the entrance fee. Hat, umbrella, comfortable clothes and footwear, small towels, sunblock, extra clothes, enough drinking water (or enough money to buy drinks inside the theme park), we brought all of them. We advise that you bring at least a few of them, if not all. An umbrella, at least. The theme park just started its operation few months ago, the trees and the shrubs were not grown big enough to provide shades. There were limited shelters as well. So, an umbrella is necessary to protect ourselves from blasting UV or soaking rain.

Now, we would like to walk through the Legoland with our photos. In clockwise direction, the areas that we visited in were The Beginning, Lego Technics, Lego Kingdoms, Imagination, Land of Adventure, Lego City, and Miniland.

This is the main entrance of Legoland 10 a.m. in the morning. As you can see, massive crowd is fluxing into the park.

Long queue formed in front of ticketing counter (upper left), with many of them have to wait under the hot sun for their turn to buy the tickets.

The beginning in fact is a small square right after the entrance, with several shops selling food, souvenirs, and providing other services.

 We visited Lego Technics as our first station.  Mindstorms and Lego Academy are two attractions for the kids (not for us). Other than that, three rides and a cafe. There was a giant red octopus fighting with several Lego heros at the middle of area (upper left). The entrance of Mindstorms and Lego Academy is marked by a huge Einstein sculpture, made by Lego (lower left). Two robots were standing in front of the cafe (lower right).

The photos showed two of the rides that we took- Technic Twister (upper left) and Project X. Project X is the roller coaster with 4-passenger cars (lower left). We queued for almost one hour for just a ride- the longest waiting time in Legoland.

 

This signage on hill from Lego Technic area (this photo was edited with Photoshop).

Legoland Kingdoms is a medieval themed area.

Lego Kingdoms is well decorated with different Lego characters. The area housed two roller coasters- Dragon Apprentice and Dragon. We took a ride on Dragon Apprentice, which is a junior roller coaster (upper right). We left Dragon, which is more intense and thrill packed aside.

The royal castle at the deepest side of Kingdoms.

The Lego Castle doesn't host Sleeping Beauty, but serves as an entrance to Dragon roller coaster.

Lego Imagination was the third area that we visited, where we went for 4D movie (lower right). We missed the observation tower as the ride was closed due to the technical problem.

  Musical fountain at Lego Imagination area.

Next to Lego Imagination is Lego Adventure. The Lost Kingdom Adventure (inside the building with Pharaoh's sculpture, upper right) is the ride that we would recommend to all.

Lego characters on the Dino Island in Adventureland.

Dino Island ride is somewhere that you will get wet.

Lego City is designed for kids. This photo was taken from The Beginning, showing a scene of Boating School.

 Legoland Express offers a five minutes ride around Legoland. However, we couldn't really see much nice view along the ride.

The Market Restaurant is the most interesting eatery in the theme park. It was decorated by many cute Lego chefs, busy preparing food for the customers.

The last area in Legoland- Miniland was built with more than 200 millions Lego bricks. Can you imagine they actually built the mini Putrajaya with Lego bricks?

Mini Kuala Lumpur. The streets were decorated in details with little Legoland citizens and cars.

These are the models of the attractions in China (upper left), Cambodia (upper right), Indonesia (lower right), and Brunei (lower left).

Clarke Quay Singapore. Photo taken with miniature mode.

We stopped for a while at Castle Games booth, tried the shooting game, and smiled all the way out with this big cute sheep.

Legoland is definitely a must visit place in Johor Bahru. There is still room for improvement, and we really hope that the park will get better in future. For instance, starting from 10 am sharp, we joined about 60 others in the ticketing queue. We should give more chance for the newly established theme park to improve. However, we really felt that, as an international theme park, wasn't 45 minutes too long for them to serve a crowd of 60? The car park is very much exposed but we think, the condition will get better when the shrubs and trees grow bigger. Revisit? Yes, of course. But hopefully, with some of our family and friends. 

Map, detail about ticketing and entrance fees, operational days and hours, and other information about Legoland is available at Legoland official page. We will write more JB's food in our next post. Stay with us.

Our older post about Johor Bahru is available at Southern Tip of Peninsular- Johor Bahru. Or click here to go to all our destinations.

[Nice Food in Johor Bahru] [Southern Tip of Peninsular- Johor Bahru]
[All Our Destinations]

A Trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Chaotic traffic, unstable electricity supply, and unsafe street with beggars and street children roaming around in mobs. That was Phnom Penh through our reading. However, after we stepped into the city by our own, we realized that the city was not as terrible as the hearsay.

We spent 4 days 3 nights at Phnom Penh. As we ventured into the city, these are what we have learned about the capital of the Land of Wonders. First, the street was safe. We strolled around with backpack and sling bag across the city without losing anything (however, that doesn't mean that we don't have to stay alert and take care of our own safety). Our night walk, from Landscape Hotel to whole area beside the river front, from Central Market (Psar Thmey) down Street 63, we met none but the peaceful and polite locals, gathered at the stalls by the roadside to enjoy their time after a long working day. Several of them had tried their very best to help us with the direction, with their very limited English.

City blends with modern and traditional architectures. The construction of high rises are eye catching in the middle of existing lower buildings.

River front at 6 pm. The busy Preah Sisowath Quay is a strong contrast to leisure and relaxing river front.

We encountered beggars and street children only once in a while. They left us alone after a polite rejection. We were advised by Travelfish.org not to give them money, as the blind Samaritan deed would encourage them stay in poverty for the rest of their life. Several short term of electricity breakdowns occurred daily, without much effecting us.

The traffic however, was in total anarchy. That was true. Vehicles in all sizes might turn to any direction, without any signals. Bikes stopped in the middle of the road, blocking half of the traffic, just to wait for the chance to sneak across the road. Heavy vehicles parked and blocked half of the street and paralyzed the traffic. These were just a few real case that we had seen. We took time to adapt ourselves to the traffic condition there, on a tut-tut. Accident? Nope, as long as we could see. Maybe they have their own "hidden rules" to keep themselves from knocking down someone else.

During our stay in Phnom Penh, we were surprised by flash flood during our visit to the Royal Palace. A nearly one hour downpour turned the palace compound into one feet deep swimming pool. We were forced giving up our plan to visit the national museum, which is located just a few hundred meters away. Well,  besides the traffic, the unpredictable flash flood should be the next thing that we should keep an eye on.

A scene from tut-tut.

Shopping around night market with motorbike is nothing new for locals. So, we have to get used to this new shopping experience.

During our stay, we visited infamous Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and Choeung Ek Killing Field, followed by the majestic Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, and Angkorian themed National Museum. Walking along the water front by the junction where great Tonle Sap meets Mekong River was an unforgettable experience. Delighting food (both Western and Khmer styles) and warm service offered by Daughter of Cambodia and Romdeng were great. We spent some time shopping at busy Central Market, Suriya Shopping Centre and night market. We were a little bit disappointed by predominant "Made in China" labels.

 Infamous interrogation room in Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.

Now, the best part of Phnom Penh- the leisure atmosphere and the people. Unlike many cities, people here were living with a slower rhythm. In late afternoon, many people gathered at the parks around the city, talking, walking, jogging, playing around with football or badminton, or even dancing together. Many  gathered at the temples and shrines as well.  People we met were polite and kind. They always smile. We couldn't really catch the hardship that they had experienced on their face. That's what we need to learn from the people in Phnom Penh- smile, even in hard time.

This photo explained much about friendliness of Cambodians. As we waved, these workers waved back with big smiles on their face.  Photo taken at river front.

English is not a common language in Phnom Penh. Even many police could only communicate in extremely simple English. Body language helped a bit, but not much. The best way to cross the language barrier- get a tut-tut driver as a translator. Most of the tut-tut drivers speak simple English, and were willing to translate for free. Mass public transports were next to zero there. Getting a taxi was hard as well. Tut-tut was the most convenient transport that we could find in the city.

Daily expenses can be low in Phnom Penh. If you are willing to take tut-tut, the fare is around USD 0.75 - 1.5 per trip within the city, depends on the distance. If you don't mind to sit under a fan squeezing with the locals, then you can enjoy a Khmer style meal within USD 2 - 3. From what we could know at Tripadvisor, top 30 hotels in Phnom Penh had offered 4 stars' service to their customers. So, we had a variety of choices there.

Tut-tut is everywhere in Phnom Penh.

Next, we will share our experience at Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and Choeung Ek Killing Field. Follow us now.


[A Trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia]  [Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and Cheoung Ek Killing Field] [Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda, and National Museum] [Food in Phnom Penh]  [Shopping and Accommodation in Phnom Penh] [All Our Destinations]
You might like to read about our sharing on our Siem Reap trip too.

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and Choeung Ek Killing Field

We need to visit Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and Choeung Ek Killing Field to understand the dark history of Phnom Penh. Tuol Sleng Museum was formerly served as a detention and interrogation center, where terrible torture was carried out to force confession from the innocent people, before they were killed at Cheoung Ek Killing Field. We decided to visit both places together.

A little bit of history. Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum was previously schools (Tuol Sleng Primary School and Tuol Svay Prey High School), before Pol Pot came into power and turned it into Security Prison 21 (S-21) in 1975. How horrible was that place? The statistics answered. Out of 10519 documented prisoners, only 7 came out alive. Some believed that S-21 held up to a total of 20000 prisoners.

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum was initially built as schools. Hanging on the wall, the blackboard once served as educational tool was then used to list the prison's rules and regulation by Khmer Rouge guards. This photo was taken at block A of the prison.

The classroom at the ground floor was partitioned into smaller interrogation room, with the prisoner chained on this metal bed. The interrogation was carried out with all the windows shut tightly that even the shout and cry couldn't escape.

Most of the early victims were the scholars, professionals, teachers, politicians, singers, artists, plus everyone with spectacles. These literates, or believed to be literates were declared as the enemy of the state. Pol Pot believed that they would threaten his ideal communism. The victims were later being extended to almost everyone else, including monks, priests, factory workers, and even Pol Pot's own people. We can learn more about Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge (Red Khmer) at Wikipedia. A brief overview is available at Mtholyoke.edu.

The entrance of Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is located at the junction of Street 113 and Street 350. The entrance fee of the museum is USD3 per person. We need to pay another USD3 per person to hire a tour guide. The museum opens everyday from 8 am - 5 pm, including public holiday. The museum is divided into 4 blocks, named Block A, B, C, and D respectively. We arrived at the museum at around 12 noon, and spent about 1 hour and a half in the museum. From our experience, hiring a tour guide is essential in order to learn more about the background of the museum, as well as giving us deeper knowledge about the history and brutality of Pol Pot's regime.

Maly, our tour guide was 13 during the fallen of Phnom Penh. The city was emptied within only three days. She was sent to a remote area of Cambodia, and forced to work as labor with minimum ratio of food. She saw many people died and lost two of her family members. She survived the ordeal, and she told us many of her painful experience.

This shovel was found right inside the room. Different from most of the shovels we have, it hacked on flesh.

One of the bodies of last 14 victims found in the prison. This photo was originally taken by Vietnamese combat photographers, led by Ho Van Tay, after the combined force of Vietnamese and Kampuchean Front of National Salvation liberated Phnom Penh in 1979.

All 14 victims were buried right in front of block A.

Block B served as an exhibition hall, where we can find thousands of victim's photos, taken by the prison's guard to keep as record. Although some said that the soldiers of Khmer Rouge seldom involved in sexual violence, but the latest report from Cambodia Daily stated otherwise.

Block C displays the net of barb wires which once webbed all the blocks in the prison. The purpose, to prevent the prisoners from commit suicide by jumping off the building.

The classroom was partitioned to hold male prisoners. This photo was taken at Block C.

 Cells at Block C.

Block D showed many of the documentary photos of what Khmer Rouge had done, not only to the prisoners of S-21, but to whole Phnom Penh.

On the way from Block B to Block C, we met with one of the 7 survivors of Tuol Sleng.

 Photo on upper left reveals the usage of the wooden scaffold and the large ceramic vat on upper right. Shackles collected from the prison were the evidence of crime against humanity (lower left). Another equipment of torture with slanted platform.

Block B (left), Block C (middle, right behind the building with red roof) and Block D (far right) of the prison. This photo was taken from the third floor of Block A.

Block A of the prison from third floor of Block B.

Cheoung Ek Killing Field, or now called Choeung Ek Genocidal Center is quite far away from the city center. By tut-tut, it took us around 40 minutes of smoke and dust to reach the killing field from Tuol Sleng. It is the most well-known killing field in Cambodia under Pol Pot's regime. More than 300 were identified, and many more are yet to be found. It is believed that around 17,000 victims had been executed at Cheoung Ek, where 8895 bodies were exhumed from 86 of a total of 129 mass graveyards there. The rest of the graveyards left untouched.

This is the smoke and dust that we faced on our way to Choeung Ek Genocidal Center. Far from being comfortable, but close to being a local. Be sure that you have a mask ready if you wish to tut-tut your way to Choeung Ek during the dry season. Or else, rent a car or taxi might be a better idea.

We reached Cheoung Ek killing field around 3 pm and had spent about 2 hours there. The admission fee was USD3, with additional USD2 for the audio guide per person. The audio guide contains the narration of a Cambodian who had suffered and survived the brutality of Khmer Rouge's regime. The overwhelming information described how Cambodia fell into Pol Pot's hand, how he turned to be the enemy of humanity, the killing process, to the defeat of the fanatic dictator and finally, the building of the genocidal center. The podcast contains several testimonies from the survivors, as well as ex-executioners of Pol Pot's regime. Without the audio guide, the killing field is not more than a small memorial park in the middle the forest.  

None of the original buildings survived the crisis after Pol Pot's defeat. The villagers, who were short of food and shelters teared down the buildings in the killing field as the material for their own houses. What we could see from the field now is the Buddhist stupa. As a resting place for more than 5000 skulls and bones, the stupa commemorates the victims of the brutality.

The entrance of Choeung Ek Genocidal Center.

The stupa with vivid roof top is the heart of the center. Served as the resting place for more than 5000 victims, the stupa is decorated with the sculptures of Garuda and Naga, two feuding characters in Buddhist mythology, a symbol of peace.

We were provided with audio guide, which we need to press the designated number to listen to the podcast. At this stop, we are required to press two to listen how the victims from Tuol Sleng Prison being brought by trucks to the killing field. The stop number 2 was once the parking place for the trucks.
 

Photo on the upper left shows the audio guide with earphone connected. Choeung Ek was once Chinese cemetery, which some of the graves can still be found within the field (lower left). The clothes and the pieces of bones are still emerging from the ground, especially during rainy season. These clothes (upper right) and bones (lower right) have been collected for display.

The chain marks the area with frequent emergence of human bones and clothes. The wooden structure at the back marked one of the excavated mass graveyards.

This is how the mass graveyard looks like in the wooden structure.

Different types of bands were hanging around the fence of the mass graveyards. This might be a symbol of blessing, prayer, or showing a connection between the living and the dead.

This tree is growing right behind the stupa, which once served as the place for the executioners to smash the children. That was the best way they could come out with to kill without bullets (cost saving).

Few steps away from the killing tree stands the magic tree. The tree however showed no pleasant tricks. It was the place where a loudspeaker was hang, to produce sound of political speeches and songs that was loud enough to cover screams and cries. That's why the neighboring dwellers didn't realize the presence of killing field till the fled of Khmer Rouge's army.

After a very long journey, we went back to our hotel for a rest. We paid our tut-tut driver USD15 for a day tour to Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and Cheoung Ek Genocide Center. One the following days, we visited several interesting places within the city area. Follow us to the Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda, and National Museum of Cambodia now.

[A Trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia]  [Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and Cheoung Ek Killing Field] [Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda, and National Museum] [Food in Phnom Penh] [Shopping and Accommodation in Phnom Penh] [All Our Destinations]
You might like to read about our sharing on our Siem Reap trip too.