Mr Aijaz (The Entertainer)

Mr Ankit (The Cool Guy)

Mr Faraaz (The Crazy One)

Mr Adam (The Young Gun)

Mr Muawiya (The Guide)

---

“Good company on a journey makes the way seem shorter.“

The journey begins on 22nd April 2025.

After exchanging goodbyes with our loved ones in Lucknow, we reached Lucknow Airport via Airport Metro to catch our flight to Kuala Lumpur. We arrived at the airport from different locations and settled before check-in and adjusted and weighed our luggage, as we were allowed to carry limited luggage. After hustling through the bags, we finally moved towards the counter and checked in. We were all well prepared with all the documents intact and properly placed.

Everyone was excited, especially Ankit and Adam, as they were traveling internationally for the first time. I still remember the giggling of Ankit, as his excitement was clearly visible on his face.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (23rd April 2025)

We landed in Malaysia early morning around 5 am. After going through immigration, we booked a cab and went straight to our stay in the center of Kuala Lumpur near Petronas Tower.

Everyone was tired but excited as we landed early morning. We went to our apartment, and to our surprise, the password to unlock the door was not working. There was some confusion at the host’s end, which he resolved within 10 minutes. The apartment was big enough for 6 of us, with a kitchen and utensils provided, along with the fridge and oven.

We took a rest for a few hours, as it was the need of the hour. The view from our room window was soothing and calm. After a few hours, we woke up and freshened up. We made the tea and had snacks and left for a day tour to BATU CAVES, one of the most visited places near Kuala Lumpur.

It was humid and hot that day; after a little shower, we were exhausted and thirsty after climbing the 272 steps to reach the Batu Caves area. As we descended, we went straight to the Naariyal paani stall on the opposite side and had the best chilled naariyal paani of our lifetime. It was too good. We sat down inside the restaurant and had some sweet roti as well.

After a refreshing treat, we went back to the city center. There is a mosque called Masjid India surrounded by various Indian and Pakistani stores and restaurants. There are lots of Indian jewelers, especially from the south, and then there is a JAKEL mall, one of the biggest cloth wholesale showrooms in Kuala Lumpur. After hunting for the burqa there, we visited the central market of Kuala Lumpur near Masjid Jamek. It’s one one of the oldest and unique kind of markets, with beautiful souvenirs shops and handicraft products, there are several stalls filled with portrait artists who draw You can find many food and drink stalls along with the restaurant around the back exit of the central masjid, and we had spicy chicken broast and cool drinks, and then we strolled our way back to the masjid and offered namaaz.

It was almost night, and as we had only a day in Kuala Lumpur, we, with full excitement, went to the Petronas Towers, also called the Twin Towers, for a customary photoshoot.

Penang, Malaysia (24th April 2025)

We woke up early, as we had a train to catch. This was the first time traveling in Kuala Lumpur on a long-distance train. We went to the KL Central station as we made our way to Butterworth (on our way to Georgetown, Penang). Our train was on time; we left KL around 9:10 am as scheduled. The train was sparklingly clean, and so was the station. We had a good time during the journey.

We reached Butterworth station on time as well and made our way to the ferry terminal to ride a ferry to reach Georgetown, Penang—one of the most beautiful islands of Malaysia. Our ferry ride was quite a surprise for some of the guests, as they were not expecting such a beautiful ride to the island. On top of that, the weather was beautiful, with a cool breeze making its mark on our faces; it was a 20-minute ride from Butterworth to Georgetown.

As we disembarked the ferry, we took a cab and marked our arrival in the town of Penang.

Our apartment was located in one of the most urban areas of the town; even the name of the building was Urban Suites. We had booked a 3-bedroom apartment equipped with all the amenities one needs, though we had a short stay only. We rested for some time and ordered burgers via an online app, and after relaxing and refreshing ourselves, we left to explore the island. Three of us had only a few hours to explore, as we had a flight to Hong Kong the same night; the other three had a day more, as they had a flight the next day to Shenzhen—actually, their PAR was rejected, and they were denied entry to Hong Kong.

The best way to explore an island is to rent a bike. I have rented a lot of times in my previous journeys, so I know how easy it is. We googled our way to the rent shop and met Happy Ken, the old, haggard man in his 80s. His name was Ken, and people nearby call him Happy Ken, though our convo didn’t go well, as he seemed drunk or on drugs, but when it came to dealing, he was on point. He explained everything in detail, even the details that we didn’t need. After some questions and answers and some cuss words, we finally rented the bikes.

And we hopped on our bikes and moved towards the beautiful beach of Batu Feringhi. It was quite a ride, beautiful and serene, with perfect roads to ride. We set our location on the map and reached the destination in half an hour.

Every one of us enjoyed the evening, alhamdulillah. The beach was beautiful and peaceful, and Subhan-Allah, the sunset was just outstanding; it was one of the most beautiful sunsets I had ever witnessed. This is the perk of traveling: you learn different cultures and are blessed to see nature and creations of the Almighty. There was a beautiful mosque just across the road; we offered Salah and thanked for the blessings.

As the night approached, we took a rest at one of the open-air beach restaurants and had some snacks and drinks, and then after offering Maghrib, we started our journey back to the hotel, as three of us had a flight at night. We reached our hotel and had some tea before our departure. We said goodbye to Faraz, Ankit, and Adam, as they were staying another night in Penang.

We (Aijaz, Sagheer, and I) reached Hong Kong early morning the next day. We were in constant touch with the other three online as they explored Penang the next day and enjoyed their stay at the hotel.

Hong Kong—(25th April 2025)

Aijaz, Sagheer and I reached Hongkong early morning around Fajr , took a bus and reached the Kowloon area of Hongkong – Nathan road, most happening area , we didn’t book the hotel as were planning to leave Hong kong and enter Shenzen, China at night , we has planned to keep our luggage at LEFT luggage facility and roam around Hongkong during the day time , as we our bus reached the stop we made our way to left luggage facility but we must always remember that Allah plan is always better than what you plan , we were approached by a man named Raju bhai just outside one of the building at nathan road, he was an agent of a hotel, he was offering a good price and we bargained for more so after few exchange of words we agreed on a very reasonable amount, booking the hotel was a better idea as we can rest for few hours as well and we were not expecting such kind of agent in Honkong speaking our local language and offering such a reasonable price , finally we went inside the building, it was very old building , beautiful from outside but very rusty from inside, to our surprise the whole building seems like a business hub for the subcontinent , there were Pakistanis, Indians, Bangladeshi , Srilankans in every alley inside the building , multiple restaurants, shops selling all kind of DESI stuff ,it was chaotically attractive.We had Biryani at one of the shops for only Rs 800 (that’s cheap as per HK standards), but it was enough for 3 of us.

Hong Kong always fascinates me. I have been a couple of times before, but every time it looks better. We stayed at the hotel for a while, took a nap, and then after showering, went to the beautiful Kowloon Mosque of Hong Kong. As it was Friday, it was special.

We had a full day post-Jumaa to explore, so we decided to visit Victoria Harbour on foot as it was nearby. I had a bleak memory from my past trip about the place and how to reach it, but I was not aware of how fast HK changes. We strolled for an hour or so and even used the Google Map, but somehow we couldn’t reach the harbor, so we decided not to waste time. We took a cab and made our way to one of the top attractions of HK—Victoria Peak—via tram car.

We booked tickets online and made our way to Victoria Peak. It was raining, and there were lots of clouds all around, so we lost some hope, as it is the view that matters when you reach the peak, but alhamdulillah, after half an hour, the clouds cleared, and we could see the beautiful HK. It’s surreal, alhamdulillah, for such a sight.

After spending an hour or so at the peak, we took a metro and got back to Nathan Road. We still had time to once again look out for Victoria Peak, so after offering Isha Prayer, we asked one of the locals, and he guided us and told us to just cross the park, which was nearby the mosque, and you will reach Victoria Harbour, so we followed his advice, and after 15 minutes, we were at the viewpoint of the harbor—Subhanallah—beautiful.

After spending some quiet time at the harbor, we came back to the hotel. We have already extended the time of our train ticket to Shenzhen, China, as we do not want to rush, and also so that we can get enough time to visit the Pakistani restaurant again for dinner before leaving HK. We left HK around 10:30 pm to catch our train to enter China from Kowloon station.

Shenzen-China ( 26th April 2025)

Welcome to the Land of China—we arrived at around 11:30 PM, took a cab, and went to hotel that we had booked, but there was a problem, as in China nothing works unless you use a VPN – means no Google, FB , Translations, YouTube, etc. Every useful app that we rely upon is banned, and people hardly knows English, so so it becomes tough to communicate. I know a little bit, but not enough to understand them properly. We showed the cab driver the address of the hotel, which was handy and was in Chinese, so he dropped us just outside the building, but we were unable to locate the hotel, as we were not aware that the hotel is actually inside the building on the 15th floor. This is the norm in China; everything they make is so huge that you can find not one but multiple hotels inside the same building on different floors, so after hustling through the photos online and speaking to the host , somehow we finally found out that the hotel is actually on the 15th floor. We went up, checked in, and entered our room at last.

The other three from the group were scheduled to arrive at 2am from Penang. I had no other option but to wait for them before I could sleep. they arrived at airport on time, took the cab, and then the real fun r, to say, to say, the The driver couldn’t understand the address. They tried to tell him in all the ways possible, even using sign language, but he kept laughing and going round and round nearby the hotel only, with the intention of running the meter.I was waiting outside the building at 2 am and tried my level best to communicate and guide them but nothing worked at google map was not working properly even after using the VPN , atlast around 3 am they reached hotel exchausted.We had picked up biryani from HK for them as we thought they would be hungry by the time they will reach.