Chater 1: arrival to and getaway from KL


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Asia » Malaysia » Wilayah Persekutuan » Kuala Lumpur
August 25th 2008
Published: August 27th 2008
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After making into Kuala Lumpur (KL as everyone calls it) about 5 hours late I grabbed a taxi to the city, which turned out to be quite a long ride - about 40 minutes. Traffic is... pretty much like it is in every other developing country - extremely crazy-looking but def with its own sense of internal rhythm. the fact that they drive on the left here just makes it seem more disorganized to me but luckily by the time I had to walk around I seemed to have mastered this skill again (on my last trip to this part of the world it took a while to get used to). We had some trouble finding my hostel since there are no house numbers listed on the buildings. I have never stayed in such a strange dorm. It is one huge room that is subdivided into 'rooms' with low walls that dont reach the ceiling. Quite bizzare but the beds looked clean and so I didn't mind.

Putting my stuff down I ventured outside and found it all to be very overwhelming. But not in a good way like I remember Bangkok was, full of energy and life. Maybe that is because I had such a good partner with me (you know who you are). The thing that intimidated me the most, and this will surprise no one who knows me, is the thought of selecting and purchasing food. I looked at all the carts with the different choices on the, pulled out my book to try to match the explanations in it to the headings on the signs but nothing helped. So I walked away and instead got some cut up watermelon, something I enjoyed so much in Thailand. Then I walked around, not getting lost (no thanks to the book whose map only slightly approximated the twists and turns of the street) and looking at some of the buildings and life. After doing this for a while I decided that I would leave KL as soon as possible, ie tomorrow morning instead of sticking around another day like I planned. It just isnt for me right now, maybe I will be more comfortable here after 3 weeks. For now I am looking forward to my next stop - Cameron Highlands, where they grow all the tea.

One quick note, for those of you who have seen my itinerary. It has changed after a very nice man in a hostel where I did not stay pointed out the absurdity of my plan by pointing to a map of Malaysia. He didn't have to tell me twice and I changed it around to make more sense, so dont be surprised if I am on the other side of the country than where I said I would be. That was only a plan anyway.



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