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01.05.06(May already! only 4 months left! Can you believe we have been away for 8 months! Starting to feel it now!)
Here we are again people.
We are now in the capital city of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, after a 2 and a half hour bus ride north from Melaka, which was ok. We were finally dropped off smack bang in the middle of this car horn noisy, exhaust fume filled, hectic, jam packed solid of a city. We, as always, had a rough idea of where our new 'home' was going to be for the next few days. The question was, as always, 'how do we get there?' We know we can get the taxis, but we like to think that using the public transport gives us more of a sense of achievement, lets us mingle with the locals and also SAVES US MONEY!
As we were coming into town, I, Andy was already checking out our new environment, just like I had read in the book Bravo two zero a few weeks ago (Yes I have had the book 8 months and have just read it) So I knew there was a train station nearby. So with a
train and our usual daily dose of walking we were finally in the area where we wanted to 'live'.
The next task on this scorching hot day was to hunt down a nice guesthouse, this has never been the fun part of travelling. We are slowly trying to ween ourselves away from hostels. We tried 3 in total, the last one being The Rainforest Retreat, which was a bit more expensive than we would like to have paid, but it is lovely inside. We have our own room with a shower and a bath plus we get breakfast as well. I, Andy got the price down from Rm90 a night to Rm80 so we saved a little as well (We are slowly learning how to haggle for when we get to the markets)
When we got settled in and had our showers we headed into the city for some more Rotis. We then eventually found a cinema at Time Square where we saw 'The Hills Have Eyes", a remake. Which was quite good. Very gory.
When we got back we watched a bit of TV in our nice comunual area, which is like their living room.
The following
day (2.3.06) after our breakfast we headed off to Chinatown.
Kuala Lumpur is similar to Singapore, probably worse with regards to people constantly beeping there car horns, motorbikes riding on the pavements, cars running red lights, disgusting men spitting everywhere, unbelievably bad pavements (but at least it has pavements unlike Melaka) the list could go on and it will in time.
So we checked out the indoor central market which was nice, we bought a photo album from a craft stall after checking out the prices. We got Rm5 knocked off this to Rm35 (about 4 quid).
We had read in the Lonely Planet that in Chinatown there is a market that sells "Authentic" designer wear, so we headed up to where it is on Petaling Street. It was fairly quite at first but it was about to get quite fun.
We looked around a few stalls. Or at least tried to. Everyone says "Yes sir, can I help you, I give you good price or its the best quality" JUST LEAVE US ALONE!! We are just looking!!
So we had a little wander round then all of a sudden all the traders started rushing around packing up with
no regards to who they were bashing into (even with their trolleys) It was funny, you could see the worry in their eyes, there were people running about with racks of "authentic" trainers attached to their backs. Thats right, it must have been the police's market raid day.
So we decided to get some lunch and come back later when they reopened. We found a nice enough food court and had some BBQ pork and noodles.
After a lot of walking we headed back to our guest house to relax before night time fun.
Back at our place Andy had his first bath in 8 months whilst I went and watched a movie upstairs. Andy joined me later for a scarey movie whilst it absolutely poured down with thunder and lightening, which put an end to our fim as the tv cut out.
We got chatting to a couple of guys, who gave us a place to stay in Hong Kong, finished watching the film and then got ready and headed out.
We had our dinner over the road and then walked all the way back to China town for the market which was now in full swing. The stalls are so close together that there is just a narrow path way through them. I have to say I, Melissa, am getting quite good at the 'playing it cool' so they keep dropping their prices as I am walking off. Still haven't bought anything though. Did try to buy some trainers but wih the dodgey sizing none of them fitted! However we did buy some cds 6 for 50p each!
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Mandy
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Back home
Hiya - just a quick note to let you know all went really well and I'm just getting my new knee in training. In fact I'm still getting completely exhausted really easily - seriously it has taken me 3x sessions to catch up on all yer blogs!! I'm lovin all the detail you 2 give - everything from Andy's swollen face to your jungle hike - even down to the sound effects. Keep em coming - did I read that you'll be 'off-line' for a spell? Do give us plenty of warning as I shall miss you dreadfully. Loadsa Love Mandy x x