Trials, Tribulations and an impromptu stop in KL

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Well.....we made it out of the Jungle in one piece! Fortunately our return ticket actually got us back to the main town in Tembeling which was nice to find out (to give you some idea of how clueless we really were!)

I say were....we were sharpening up (or so we thought anyway!) We got back to be sheperded once again into the same setup to be lined up for story telling and selling! But we were having none of it....apparently there is only one bus that goes to Cameron Highlands from there which has left today (the outfit also ran a very reasonable hotel they'll have you know!!), only one train to the Perentians...the list goes on......HOWEVER wising up now....we opted to head to the Toursit Information Centre to find out for ourselves - not the case...we could get a bus for a quarter the price to a place called Temerloh and then get the transfer from there...excellent...we'll beat ya!!!! Off we tootled!!!!

Arrived in Temerloh at 2.30 to be told the transfer wasn't availble til 11pm, got in at 4.30am and only got us half way there!! Not doing quite so well now are we!?!!!

Soooooo, only option left was to go to Kuala Lumpur - this had never been and we thought never would be on the cards - oh how wrong we were! Then out of pure stupidity (not living and learning as fast as we would have liked!) we managed to overlook that on a Friday afternoon the World and his Wife go to KL thus the next 2 buses (that we had spent 3 hours sitting around waiting for WITHOUT buying a ticket) were now sold out!!! So we promptly bought ourselves our ticket and went for PIZZA!!! When in doubt go to Pizza Hut!!! We made our next bus, needless to say we were sat waiting for it - not taking any chances this time!!! And got to KL, wiser, learned and humbled by our experiences!!!

KL - well I liked it, it has a nice feel (this is based on 1 nights stay I hasten to add!) We did enjoy our limited time though! Although I quickly discovered that Taxi Drivers exist solely to rip you off (living and learning..........this phrase is keeping us going!!) and also that Jen has a severe mistrust, contempt and a general dislike for them!!! We stayed that night just south of the Golden Triangle and KLCC - a nice area, with plenty to see, in a SUPERB place called Attapsana, run by the most fantastic guy, who was extremely helpful despite suffering slightly with Ramadan!

One night and one rushed day ensued - to do what you have to do in KL - The Petronas towers...........pah..........we wish! Once again, living and learning we hiked though town, tooted at by people left, right and centre (apparently malaysians NEVER walk!) to get to the towers, and after getting lost in the neighbouring shopping mall found oursleves at the bottom of the tower all ready to do the Sky Bridge walk to discover....can you guess?! Nope..... not closed...worse in some ways........a waiting list!!!! Next permitted entry for sale was 3.45, it was then 12 noon, and our bus out of there was at 3!!!!!! GGGGRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! Ok no worries, we'll post some packages home...trailed around again, found Pos Malaysia - guess what?! Closed on Saturdays, the one across town would be open...ok, with an hour to spare why not....hiked (again) though town, found the next one - you guessed it - CLOSED!!!!!! very much living and learning here!!!!

That over and admitting defeat we boarded our bus to the Cameron Highlands. Once again the trip was a little hair-raising, we climbed continually at no more than about 30mph for approximately 2 hours, around 'z' bend after 'z' bend to get to a place called Tanah Rata, to get out of the bus to blissfully cool temperatures and quite a bustling little town...........here's hoping we have more success!!!!

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