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Published: November 26th 2010
24 November 2010 As you will have gathered from Gregg’s previous blog, we now know that he does not cope in a fan only room particularly well. I lost count of the number of times he got up in the night last night and was actually rather pleased when the alarm went of f at 6.30am. Slightly less pleased that I was wasn’t woken by our alarm but by the inconsiderate occupants of the room next door shortly beforehand but, hey ho, that’s life I suppose. The walls of this hostel were thin but the management had put signs on the walls asking occupants to be considerate of others…some of us were and it wasn’t actually that difficult to whisper to each other rather than bellow.
Moving on, we rushed through cold showers, packed the last few items into our bags and then headed downstairs to await our minibus. What was unique about this trip was that we had been offered the opportunity to be taken to the bus by minibus and even been told where we would arrive in Kuala Lumpur and how to get a bus into the central area from the bus station We
Debenhams
Small but here...a sight for sore eyes!therefore knew exactly what to expect which made the get up and the journey vastly more relaxing than many that we have taken.
The hostel that we were staying in had a couple of tables out front where we sat whilst waiting and tried to drink our complimentary cuppas. The trouble was they were very hot and weren’t keen to cool down. Unfortunately, we left them half drunk on the table when the minibus arrived on time and we hopped in, paid the driver and began our journey. We picked one other passenger up enroute to the bus station and, on arrival, were shown to the ticket office where seat numbers were added to the tickets we had purchased at our hostel and then to the correct bus. This first class service cost us the princely sum of 2 Ringgitts each - less than 50p.Amazing.
The bus was like none I have ever been on. The interior was decked out in psychedelic green, which was a sight for early morning eyes, and there were only three seats across its width - two on the left and one on the right. These seats were huge and comfortable.
We
both enjoyed the scenery as we drove around Penang island (which is bigger than either of us had appreciated) and then over the bridge to the mainland. Gregg fell asleep moments later and I read for a brief period before my eyelids grew heavy and I too gave in.
When I opened my eyes and hour or so later, we were driving along a fairly quiet and pristine dual carriageway which ran between mile after mile of luscious green jungle. This is the first place since leaving Plymouth, where a long distance journey has undulated and it was beautiful.
We had one brief stop at an Asian style service station (not overpriced but basic in comparison to Leigh De La Mere Mum!) before arriving in KL pretty much on time. The bus terminal is on the outskirts of the city and, I had been told that, we needed to pay 2 Ringgitts each to get a Rapid bus into town. The Rapid bus was waiting in front of our bus as it drew in but it took us a while to check the guidebook before we realised that this was the bus that we needed to get on.
The bus dropped us between Chinatown and the Golden Triangle (which is the commercial district) which was great. The only problem though was that we had no idea which hotel we had booked as neither of us had thought to write the details down when we completed our booking last night. Ooops!
Fortunately (and this may be the first and last time in my life I say this) there was a McDonalds just over the road. The reason that this was fortunate was that they have free wifi, so we bought a drink each and found a table where we could check our e-mail. Having established the name and address of our hotel, we were ready for the off.
Gregg wasn’t feeling too keen on walking as he thought it might be hilly and the route map finder that he used told him that it was a 25 minute walk from where we were to the hotel, so we decided to take a cab. We had been warned by the Malaysian doctors that we met on the Halong Bay trip to be careful of the taxi drivers here as they will often refuse to use their meters
even if they are meter taxis, and they were right. So we abandoned that idea and decided to wear down some of our flop rubber instead.
The walk was hot but the backpacks didn’t weigh us down too much so it didn’t take 25 minutes to make it to Paradiso B&B. Our destination can best be described as in the equivalent position in KL to Picadilly Circus in London - I would hate to stay in Picadilly but, in KL, it is perfect. We are at a monorail (sky train) stop and there is a shopping mall on the opposite corner with a Debenhams!
The only downside on arrival was that there are two staircases next to each other leading up from the pavement below. One accesses our hotel & the other is flanked by two interestingly dressed young woman offering massages - which the management at the hotel warn travellers against using. Little wonder, then, that it only Gregg who has been offered their services whilst we’ve been here. As we reached the top of the stairs however things started to look promising and we were shown to our room which is one of the best we
have stayed in. No window but, given that we are located at a crossroads, that is probably not a bad thing.
We each showered and spent an hour or so relaxing in air-conditioned bliss before deciding to take a stroll to the Petronas Towers. We knew that we would not be able to get tickets to go up to the bridge today as there are only a certain number released daily, but viewing them externally would be good enough for now.
I think we visited at least 3 malls on the way to the Petronas Towers and , in one in particular, Christmas has arrived in a big way. The malls are a lot flashier here than the one we visited in Penang and sell lots of recognisable brands. Familiarity is great for making the weary traveller feel at home in a place and we quickly decided that we feel at home here.
We made it to The Petronas Towers eventually as dusk was beginning to fall. Unfortunately for Gregg, this meant that I wasn’t willing to leave until it was dark and I could get the iconic night time shot of the towers. Loads of other
people with cameras were lying on the floor to get a good shot, so I thought I would give that a go. I am fairly pleased with some of the pictures but the task did show up some of the many pitfalls of only having a point and shoot. Perhaps I’ll take a photography course when I get home.
Gregg has asked me to make a comment on his behalf here as follows. “Looking up at the bridge between the Petronas towers reminded me of Debenhams in Plymouth - when it was possible to walk across their bridge and before one half of it was sold and became Tesco & T K Maxx.”
You can take the boy out of Plymouth but…
25 November 2010 One month til Christmas and, today, we found even more Christmas trees in more malls. It was a slow day for us, primarily because the lack of windows cuts out the noise but does all sorts of funny things to my body clock and I couldn’t get going today. Eventually, Gregg gave up trying to chivvy me along and went out for a walk by himself. Translate this to
Gregg
...and several other tourists woz 'ere - we happen to be right by THE electronics mall in KL and he spent a happy hour and a half indulging in some heavy duty window shopping.
It is strange how much window shopping we have done here, you would imagine that shopping would be the last past time that would appeal to us given that we are on a budget that doesn’t allow for active shopping. Wondering round the air-conditioned malls and just looking is however remarkably therapeutic. So, today, we went for a walk to find lunch and ended up at the world famous Times Square shopping centre. It is enormous. The place is so big that it even has its own indoor theme park. Yes, I did say theme park - complete with a pretty large rollercoaster.
We wasted a good few hours at Times Square and then headed back to our hotel for an afternoon of reading, blogging and relaxing. Tomorrow we are going to try to get tickets to go up the Petronas towers and hope to see some more sights but I think that, today, we have still been recovering from Gregg’s night of being too hot and mooching around the
Petronas Towers by night
Somehow, these pictures make them look like they aren't real but I promise they are hotel has been most welcome.
It’s Thanksgiving today so, belatedly by the time I post this blog, Happy Thanksgiving to Scott & Sara. If you are reading, hope it was a good one guys.
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