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Well my first few minutes in this country were pretty frightening. Remember I was a lone, petite, english 22 year old white girl. The captain said it was 29 degrees celcius outside but it didn't quite click in my head just how hot that was....at 9:30pm, until I stepped off the plane. Hit me like a frickin ton of bricks could barely breathe!! Baggage claim and then on to find my ride to the hotel! Looking frantically for the sign saying my flight number and name, but couldn't bloody see anyone with it!! Was starting to think many people back home were right and I was in fact very brave to be travelling alone! Asked the police, asked shop assistants if I could use their phones, but they just looked at me like I had 2 heads. All the men were giving me the eye, and it all got a bit too much - very tired and weary after more than 24 hours travelling, and started uncontrollably weeping lol. Then out of nowhere this lovely man came at me with my sign! I could have kissed him! Good thing he did show up coz the ride to the hotel took over
an hour!
Was pretty blown away by the sheer luxury of the hotel (Sunway Pyramid)...the lobby was all marble and really big, and there were 6 lifts taking people to all the floors. Got into my room and was so unbelievably happy!! Hardly slept despite all the travelling I just did. Got a phone call at about 11 pm when I was trying to go to sleep from some woman called Preya telling me I was in the wrong hotel?? (it was Preya from Body Beautiful by the way, and I had no idea they had actually upgraded me for free to the 5* One World hotel) I thought she was gonna tell me I had to get out of my bed and move to some shitty hotel because I wasn't having surgery. Actually asked her if I was having a bad dream. Should probably tell you at this point that I was going to Malaysia originally to have cosmetic surgery, but chickened out of that but just decided to go for the holiday. Anyway I was just being paranoid as I was waiting for something to go wrong, as per usual! She told me to relax, go back
to sleep and not to worry.
Got up at 6am to have breakfast, and was blown away!! Bread roles, steamed rice, fried rice, buttered corn on the cob, baked beans, chicken sausages, curries, hash browns, melon, pineapple, apples, grapes, many more exotic sounding foods, constant tea and coffee refills, loads of fruit juices. The breakfast room was beautiful too so it all felt quite surreal to me!! Was not expecting this and have never experienced luxury like it to be fair! All the staff seemed so nice too!
Then I got the bus into Kuala Lumpur city centre, and got the City Tour Bus from KL Sentral, which cost RM38. So so glad I did because it absolutely is the best way to see the city, and the cheapest, in the comfortable and air conditioned buses. But of course I wanted to soak up the heat and the smells so I sat out in the outdoor seating area in an attempt to get tan at the same time!
Saw Petronas twin towers, although I was too late to go on the Skybridge as tickets had already gone, but going up the KL Tower (fourth tallest in the
world) more than made up for it! Fantastic 36 degree views of KL, although there was a fair amount of smog and I'm kinda suprised the sun actually managed to get through it all. Randomly, at the bottom of that tower is an animal park with reptiles, spiders, a fox?!, guine pigs?! I got a picture of me holding a snake there. The price of entry was included in the RM38 it cost to go up the tower...and u can also get a pony ride (again - randomly) but I felt so sorry for those poor ponies in that smouldering heat being made to give people rides 😞
I met this Irish guy called Tommy on the bus at this point who was also a lone traveller, and spent the rest of the day with him, which was awesome!
Went to the Bird Park which is the largest aviary in the world. Was pretty cool, got a picture taken with an eagle and an owl and my new traveller buddy with 2 parrots...couldn't believe how tame they were?! Also RM38.
Saw the National Palace which was very pretty. There are guards there and 2 horses who have
Me and Tommy
I look deformed yukto stand perfectly still in the sweltering heat! But the guards here are less well behaved than the ones at Buckingham palace I caught them smiling a few times lol.
Titiwangsa Lake Garden was a cool place to chill out with gorgeous views of the theatre with the Petronas in the distance.
Last stop was Berjaya Times Square which is a huge shopping mall with an indoor theme park. Me and Tommy rode the roller coaster! He paid for me bless him coz I ran out of money - needed the rest to get back to hotel!
The only bad part of the day was trying to get back to the hotel. Went to KL Sentral as i figured the bus would be from there to Sunway (I now know it is not - it is from near China Town) so waited for like an hour and a half. Started getting pissed off when my bus number was just not turning up and I encountered 2 very creepy men. The first was a black man who pulled up next to me in his car asking me if I wanted a lift. I was like...ummm no. About half
hour later the same guy starts talking to the guy next to me, but I didn't recognise him at first. He asked me where I was going, I said Sunway, he said oh I live near there I'll give you a lift! lol! Then another guy just would not stop SHAMELESSLY staring at me lol grrr. In the end I got fed up and just haggled with a taxi man!!
Fully embraced everything about KL city centre. Some parts, particularly near Central Market, were really smelly, and I was too scared to try anything from the street stalls as they do look very unhygenic! Regret this though because that really would have been getting into the heart of it, and I didn't have my hep B jab for nothing! Didn't actually do Chinatown or Central Market on the first day, I did those on about the 6th day. They were awesome! Got a Tiffany and Co (if that is in fact its real name) really cheap and got some nice little bits from Central Market. Also had a fish spa there which was pretty damn cool! I even enjoyed the fact that street sellers really hassle you as in
Bird that attacked Tommy
I nearly wet myself laughin they will NOT take no for an answer and will continue to call you after you have said no for the 6th time lol. But they are very friendly with it.
Bold TextSo, things I learned on Day 1 were:
Buses are INCREDIBLY cheap. The equivalent of 40p (RM2) for a 20km bus ride.
All the men are crazy for white girls. They don't wolf whistle like in the UK, they make this kissing noise.
It is very nice and easy to haggle for a lower taxi fare.
Buses do not run to any form of timetable.
It is very hot. Lol.
Street sellers will NOT take no for an answer...you just simply have to keep walking.
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