Singapore & Kuala Lumpur

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After a little "lie-in", the first on this trip, it was 9:30am and time for breakfast once again! Jane chatted to the owner of the hostel during breakfast and mentioned that we were a little disappointed with the Night Safari. He was quite surprised by this remark and said everyone always tells him what a great time they had, not us! Maybe it was because it had been such a long day and we were too exhuasted by the end of the night to fully appreciate the park. Or being cynical, he just wanted us to tell other guests how wonderful it was so that he could get more commission! Whatever the reason, we are still not convinced that the Night Safari would be in our top 10 of things to do in Singapore.
At 10:30am we made our way out of the hostel for our last few hours in Singapore. We decided to take the MRT to the Raffles Hotel. It is a colonial-style building, built by four Armenian brothers and now one of the world's most famous hotels; known for its luxurious accommodation and superb restaurants. Opened in 1899, it was named after Singapore's founder Sir Stamford Raffles. Raffles Hotel is reputedly where the sole surviving wild tiger in Singapore was shot and made extinct. Some stories place this event in the Long Bar. Raffles itself claims the tiger had escaped from enclosure at a nearby "native show" and chased underneath the hotel's Bar & Billiard Room (a raised structure) and shot to death there on August 13, 1902. The final interesting point and main reason to visit Raffles, for most people, is to try the cocktail the "Singapore Sling", which is where it was invented. At Sing$16 we decidied it was too steep to try one of the cocktails, so onto Lau Pa Sat it was for the infamous jug of beer!
A quick beer and once again it was back onto the cheap, clean and reliable MRT system, (Maybe the public transport system in England could take a leaf out of their book!) heading for the last time back to the Travellers' Inn Hostel. It was a very breif morning out and about as we had to leave the hostel at 1:10pm in order to catch our Air Asia flight to our final destination on our travels, Kuala Lumpur. We took the MRT for one final time to the airport, arriving at 2pm to find our flight had been delayed for 1hour. The first delay we had had, so we can't complain! At 5:35pm we took off and arrived at Kuala Lumpur at 6:15pm. Kuala Lumpur, often abbreviated as K.L. is the capital and the largest city of Malaysia. It is home to the tallest twin buiildings in the world, the Petronas Twin Towers, which have become a symbol of Malaysia's development.
Our final thoughts on Singapore...it is a beautiful city, if a little sterile, with wonderful architecture, interesting laws, fantastic food and an endless supply of shopping centers. Colours, lights, clean streets, food courts and restaurants are everywhere. People don't smile much in public but are extremely helpful if questioned or included in conversation.
We had managed to have a "taster" of all the different areas we wanted to discover in Singapore and vowed to return at a later date with more time and less rushing! Unfortunately we hadn't been able to spend enough time in each place to take in the atmosphere and do it justice, but we will return!
We landed in Kuala Lumpur to the usual hot, humid and sticky weather. Once again we collected our luggage and navigated customs in no time at all. We had read numerous books and knew that we had to purchase a taxi token from a kiosk inside the airport for transport to downtown KL. Arriving at KL Central we decided to get a taxi - wrong decision. The next available taxi pulled up along side us, we had just managed to find us the oldest, miserablest taxi driver ever met! We handed our taxi ticket to him but he didn't know where the Rainforest B&B was situated. For ten minutes a heated dialogue between taxi driver and Ange continued...where is it...I don't know never been here before....where do you want to go...somewhere in the region of the Golden Triangle...Where....Near the Petronas Towers...Where??? The conversation finished with Ange telling him in no uncertian terms that we were the tourists and he was the local and should know where he is going. After travelling for another 10 minutes along the dual carriageway, still not knowing where we were heading Ange suggested that he could always take us back to the Airport or stop and ask someone for directions. Eventually we pulled into a petrol sattion where there were many taxi driver stood around their vehicles chatting. Why oh why couldn't we have had one of these drivers?! Our driver pulled up along side another very posh taxi, got out and asked the "posh"driver to help with directions. There was one passenger in the other taxi, he wound down his window and started chatting to us. He was from Australia and hoping to meet up with friends. We asked what he had done to get such a luxurious cab; nothing, I guess we had just been extrememly unlucky with our cab and driver. After spending 10 minutes at the petrol station and our driver speaking to many other people we were once again on the road, hopefully to the KL 'Golden Triangle' area. An hour later and we were in KL central, now all we had to do was find the B&B. Ange took it upon herself to be navigator, having never been here before! Who was I to doubt that she could not possibly find her way with only the B&B name and address, oh and a Lonely Planet guide to Borneo! She seemed to know exactly where we needed to be, is there no end to her seemingly endless talents! Within no time at all we were outside the Rainforest Bed And Breakfast, situated in Bukit Bintang in the heart of the KL 'Golden Triangle'. It's very close to all the major tourist attractions like KL tower and the Petronas towers. It's also within walking distance to Jalan Alor, which is a food haven. The B& B is a unique boutique budget hostel, the building itself looks like it is situated in a forest on a gradual hill with trees and plants. The rooms are spotlessly clean, cosy, comfortable, with every wall covered in mirrors to give the deception of a very large room.
After a quick chill in our room , it was back out onto the streets to find somewhere to eat. It was 9:00pm and we were very hungry, luckily for us Jalan Alor was just around the corner. Kuala Lumpur is all about eating, and the best eating isn't in the air-conditioned restaurants. The best place is eating in Jalan Alor, formerly known as the Red light district of KL. It is a very popular side street near Bukit Bintang that is dedicated to hawker stalls and street side restaurants serving a range of Chinese, Indian and Malay. A busy street both day and night as it's popular with locals and tourists. It comes alive every night with the sights and smells of hawker cooking and pavement cafes, the moment you round the corner of Jalan Alor, you will be hit by a hundred different aromas. Food is cooked on the spot and can be taken inside a restaurant but we decided to experience the traditional open-air atmosphere with the plastic chairs and tables on the curbs! The stalls are parked all along the street. It was quite an overwhelming experience on deciding where to eat, especially when decisions aren't made that easily by us! After wandering up and down the street and being harrassed by at least one waiter at every restaurant we finally made the decision of where to eat. We settled for a restaurant half way down the street which looked quite popular, although I think the main reason for choosing it was due to hunger! We had the most amazing meal, probably one of the best the whole time we have been on our travels. Our waiter was extremely friendly and spent along time with us trying to teach us how to use chopsticks properly. Many thanks to him, but actually I think I'll stick to a knife and fork, at least I manage to get something to eat that way! After our meal and feeling extremely stuffed and tired we decided to head back to the B&B for a much needed rest. Luckily we were only a five minute walk away and before we knew it we were back at the B&B, in bed and asleep! Who know's what the day will bring tomorrow....

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