Stopping at Travelblog HQ - Malaysia, Kuala Lumpar

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My next stop i'd been looking forward to for a while. I hadn't seen Ali for a few years and was excited we were going to be able to catch up at long last having talked about it for months.

I arrived in KL only to find that Air Asia had lost my backpack. Luckily I always keep my valuables with me, so my camera, laptop etc. were safe, but my under crackers and weasel coffee were god knows where! Still I headed to KL Sentral to meet Ali. He hadn't changed a bit. Still the cheeky chappy he always has been.

I got to his place, right in the centre of KL, and was promptly given a pint of JD and coke! Nice welcome! A few quick games of Halo (first time i've even seen a video game in three months) and then we headed straight out for drinks. I grabbed a delicious T-bone steak at Havana's along with some Mojito's. We went to a bar nearby and caught up on fast forward!

The next day Ali gave me a tour of the city, we had some lovely food at a tapas bar and then headed out to the various malls which dominate KL. To be honest KL could be anywhere in the world. Its spoilt for shopping venues and has every western trapping a backpacker could want. As Ali put it, KL is a great place to stop off and recharge your batteries before hitting the road again. We went to the two towers so I could find my way back there another day and get some shots before heading back for some more Halo. I wasn't complaining! I also got a call from Air Asia to tell me my bag was missing because it hadn't been loaded on the flight from Bangkok! Really, you guys are good. Don't ever let anyone tell your as thick as weasel coffee before its been cleaned!!

I'd been keen to get some shots of the towers, as well as see where Ali worked. Travel blog has been a huge success since he started it in 2002 and now employs 4 other people to keep up with its popularity. I met the team and hung out with them to play some Ipad Tron. Lost a ridiculous amount of times and then decided that I should head off before I derailed their work on Travelblog v3 (which looks amazing by the way!) Ali showed me the server logs in real time and every second there was another hit from someone coming to travel blog for the first time. It was mind blowing stuff.

I headed off to the towers afterwards and sat by the lake to get some night shots. Whilst doing so I was distracted by all the bright lights around the shopping plaza. I'd had a few ideas previously about using the motion blur from lights to create patterns through a camera and ended up spending the next three hours experimenting with various colours and techniques and came up with some great shots. I won't add them here just yet, as they are a present for someone and I want them to remain a suprise.

I also had phone call number two from air asia, by this point i wasn't expecting much given our last conversation. I was right:

Air Asia: "Excuse me sir, we have your bag."
Me: "I know, I left it with you, remember?"
Air Asia: "Yes, we have it ready to return to your home"
Me: "You mean my friends home, please don't send it back to the UK!"
Air Asia: "Yes, we deliver it to KL, but first we must destroy the silent sound?"
Me: "Sorry, I thought you just said that you needed to destroy a silent sound???"
Air Asia: "Yes, there is silent sound coming from your bag, can we destroy it?"
Me: "How do you know the silent sound is coming from my bag?"
Air Asia: "Because its very loud!"
Me: "Is this a wind up, because I'm fast loosing my patients with you guys!"
Air Asia: "No Sir, we need to destroy the silent sound before we return bag!"
Me: 'Sorry are you saying sirren sound or silent sound?"
Air Asia: "Yes..."
Me: "Which?
Air Asia: "A silent sound"
Me: *Sigh*

Eventually at 12:30am they ring Ali to tell me they are 30mins away with my bag. Luckily for the guy who dropped it off, it hadn't been touched and the silent sound was fine!

I ended up watching Pandorum one night with Ali and his mates. Its a great sc-fi horror and then the remake of Tron in 3D, which I must say is amazing. It seemed that I was the only one who also enjoyed the story!

I was also saved by two lovely Iranian chaps, who spotted me mistakenly handing over R50 note for a R2 ticket. The cashier hadn't said anything and they came over to me and told me I was being cheated. I went back and the lady gave me a wad of cash with a look of contempt that suggested I was in the wrong. I chatted with the guys on the train before it was time to part ways. Its little moments like this which make travelling so worthwhile.

On my penultimate day, I headed out to the Orchid gardens, which are also neighboured by the worlds largest covered bird sanctuary and some lovely parkland. In the evening I got back and went out for a final farewell with Ali, Michelle, Adam, Cecile and Joel for some food at Suzi's a lovely little food court which serves great steaks. Joel had me in hysterics or maybe it was the 15 beers we ordered between us in the hour and a half we were there. Then it was a mad dash to the train station. We got there with 10mins to spare, only to find the train was delayed!

I had a great time with Ali and his friends. They looked after me a treat and it was like being at a my home away from home. Its so nice to see him settled and doing well for himself. Thanks mate!

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