Kuala Lumpur Day 1

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I had to be up at 615 to get my flight, I got a wake up call from the front desk at 610 and slowly arose. I had a knock on the door about 5 minutes later and thought ok, I got the call, GO AWAY. I am not a morning person to say the least. I opened the door and they brought me breakfast on a tray. Coffee, Tang, toast, roast chicken, rice, mixed vege and a soup, odd combo but thanks it was the thought that counts right..

So I had a ride arranged to the airport at 645 and was in the car by 7. The airport was no biggie, but the flight was delayed by an hour so it kind of sucked waiting around. I waited as long as I could to go into the international departure area as there was noting there but too many people and too little seats.

I paid my RP100,000 departure tax ($10.50) and finally made the move. I talked to a guy for a while from KL who lived in Nashville, TN during his studies, so he was keen to share his experiences there with me.

Finally we boarded the plane and an hour later we took off. I slept a bit, caught up on some of my podcasts I downloaded before I left and had a snack. We finally landed and I swear people rush to the front of the plane for no reason. This happened all over indonesia, the second the exit the plane they take their time and its like after all that pushing what was the fucking point.

So anyway I cleared customs got my bus ticket, changed cash found the ATM and headed into the city, my days of being an Indonesian millionaire were now officially over.

There is such a high that you get entering a country you have never been to before. You observe how people are dressed, advertisements, the landscape its complete sensory overload. As we landed I noticed forests of palm trees almost like they were being farmed but as the bus took off I realized this was the landscape. Very lush and cool. As we got closer to the city I could see the skyline and the Petronas towers which were the tallest buildings in the world before Taipei 101. We arrived at KL Sental Station and I decided to venture and figure out how to get to my hotel via the subway. It was pretty easy and dirt cheap about 40 cents each let.

I finally arrived at my station and unfortunately had to lug my bags over this street overpass but once over that the hotel was right there. I checked in had to change rooms once as the toilet was still running when I got in the room and it was a smoking floor too. After changing rooms all was well.

Since the hotel had a gym I decided I would use it since I was feeling like it was time to go. It was decent but not much AC. I decided to swim after but since it started to pour I decided to put that on hold for a minute and check out the neighborhood.

I ended up heading towards China town to get dinner. I took their version of the Metro, more like the Chicago EL. I was on a hunt for a dish, Roti Canai, which is Indian roti bread with a curry dipping sauce. I was told to go to Petaling Steet. On the way I saw one of my favorite fast food restaurants Nando's which is Portuguese style, spicy broasted marinated chicken. I had to fight going there to find what I really came here for. I finally found Petaling street, there was this huge gate to China town and then inside row after row of people selling fake purses, wallets, shirts ties, you name it. All I could find was Chinese restaurants I decided to go down another street and when I was about to give up and go to Nando's, there it was a street vendor selling Roti Canai, and it only cost 1 ringitt, (28 cents). I decided this would be my appetizer then I would go to Nando's.

After my culinary excursion I headed back to my hotel, changed and headed out to the night life area. I wasn't sure where I was going to go but just hopped in a cab and went. I arrived at the Clark and Division of KL, and just wandered until I found something that looked decent. The place had good music but a cover so I decided to drink at their outdoor cafe instead to see if the music was worth paying the cover. In fact the music sucked I just got lucky with one song and also on trusting my instinct. The waiter came and the word bucket was mentioned but one person and a bucket of 5 beers looks a bit strange. I ordered just a mug of tiger beer and in 5 minutes a bucket showed up. I refused it and my beer did arrive.

This British guy came over and said that I should join him and his friends so I did. It turns out they were all in KL as a TV crew for a golf tournament. So not a lot of Golf talk occurred but I did meet some nice people. After a few beers and a wind down I had a late night snack of Indian food then headed home and gave Steve a call. It was a very good first day in KL.

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