Kulala Lumpur to Singapore 23/12/09-04/01/10

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Hello folks, and welcome to Andy’s severely overdue 8th blog entry. My most heartfelt apologies for making you all wait this long, I really have no excuses to offer.

So where were we, ah yes, Malaysia. Seems like an age ago but my memory has thankfully served me quite well and the pictures we all took pretty much tell the whole story anyway. This entry will be a bit smaller than the previous as I still have to type up 3 weeks worth of Australia as well.

So we flew into Kuala Lumpur (KL) on the 23rd of December after our wonderful time in Thailand, arriving in Malaysia’s capital just in time for Xmas. Being a predominantly Muslim country, as well as the fact it was 33 degrees celcius outside, this wasn’t going to be a normal festive experience. We arrived at the hotel James’ Grandparents had kindly offered to put us up in for a few nights and got settled. Xmas eve we prepared for the festivities. We headed into Chinatown where the markets were to buy our Secret Santa presents for each other and pick up a few odds and ends for ourselves. We left with our goods, as well as a brand spanking new (blatently counterfeit) watch each. I opted for a nice little colourful one with Elmo’s face on it, while James went all out and purchased a Casio G-Shock Frogman monstrosity that covered half his arm. How long would they last? Only time would tell.
The rest of Xmas eve was spent trying to get into the Christmas spirit by watching festive films we bought on Koh Tao. We cranked up the air con to recreate the British chill, sat shivering with our Santa hats on and watched Elf, Xmas South Park episodes and the obligatory Muppets Christmas Carroll.

The big day: Got up and had christmas day breakfast. I missed the family tradition of munching Pop Tarts and glugging Bucks Fizz, and had to make do with a plate of bacon eggs, beans, noodles, pineapple, watermelon, toast, danish pastries and rice. We all had our Santa hats on and hopefully brightened up a few peoples morning….and hopefully didn’t offend any. After brecky we headed back up to the room to open our Secret Santa presents. We all hid them in the kitchen area of our room for each other to keep it anonymous. Then the grand opening. What exciting gifts had we all bought each other at the market the previous day? Well, Luke bought James a Man Utd shirt, James bought Dave an Arsenal shirt, Craig bought Luke an Arsenal shirt and Dave bought me a Man Utd shirt. I was the only one who managed to find something different, buying Craig a DVD, a comic, another little watch, a bracelet and a giant Da Cao (the shuttlecock thing we play keepie ups with). And all for less than a fiver!
In the afternoon we went to a shopping mall (Santa hats still in place) to walk through the christmas village, watch the carol singers and have locals come up and ask us to pose with pictures with them, something we were used to doing by now.
Shopping malls here are epic. Floor upon floor of swanky shops selling all kinds of consumer goods, all too expensive for the poor backpacker to afford. Except for Dave who bought a little laptop. Me, James and Luke went for a wander through the huge book shop to pick out a new read. James feeling a little down in the dumps bought the Dalai Lama’s “The Art of Happiness”, Luke bought a fiction bestseller, and I somehow managed to find myself in the Economics section perusing textbooks on International Development! Good Lord, maybe I want to be an Economist after all! Glasgow University have brainwashed me! I bought a light hearted Tim Hartford publication and ran away before I bought anymore. After the bookshop it was off the bottle shop to get some wine to share with the boys before our dinner, thanks for the donation parents, much appreciated.
Our dinner was booked in the hotel for 7pm. We got dressed up, had a couple of glasses of wine and headed down to the dining area. It was dead, bar us 5 and a table of 6 Japanese folk who were on their dessert. We all missed home quite a lot at this moment. Starters came, nice. Soup came, very nice. Main course came, oh dear. It was stone cold. The most anticipated meal of the year felt like it had just come out of a fridge. We just had to sent it back. A couple of minutes later it came out again. Dave took first bite, still cold. The rest of us had a little taste and collectively decided to call the waiter over for the second time. Cringe. So the staff took our plates away again. This time they were gone for a while longer, and when they finally emerged being carried with oven gloves we knew it was a good sign. It was indeed 3td time lucky and we could finally enjoy our chicken breast and gravy. After dessert we went back up to the room and pondered over the idea of going out. Eventually James, Luke and I decided we would leave the hotel and go for a look to Bukit Bintang where all the clubs were. We had a couple of cocktails and then moved onto the Hard Rock Café, where we watched the house band thrash out some good tunes before the DJ took over and blasted out some pounding hip hop beats. I had a dance-off with one of the locals, showed him a thing or two about body-popping, and left the dance floor victorious. He’ll know better next time.
When we got back to the hotel at about 4am I Skyped home for an hour or so. This is where the homesickness kicked in the most. Sanna carried the webcam around the house showing what was going on back home. It was good seeing all the family…and the leftovers from dinner, expertly displayed and described by James. Peerie Ryan provided the entertainment, priceless.

The next couple of days were spent not doing much. Unless you want to shop or spent lots of money eating and drinking in fancy establishments there isnt that much to do in KL we found. Its too hot to do anything outside, and the threat of being caught in a thunderstorm is always there.

When our time in the hotel came to an end it was time to check out and move back onto the usual basic hostel environment. We were based in Chinatown where the hostels were the cheapest. It was a decent location near the markets and the park area. This is where Elise, a friend of ours from uni, met us. She had flown from her home in Hong Kong to meet up with us for a few days.
For these few days we did some of the few touristy things the city has to offer. The first day we visited “The Worlds Largest Walk-In Free Flying Aviary” to see some feathered friends. Finding the place was a bit of a mission. We were pointed in a few different directions and some of the people we asked were pretty rude about it and didn’t seem interested in helping us at all. Looking lost in KL isnt a good move unless you enjoy being pestered by rip-off unmetered taxis and their overly persistent drivers. We eventually found it with a badly scaled map and arrived at the entrance dripping with sweat. Woohoo!
We took a few hours walking through the aviary being entertained by the various exhibits. The main event showcased parrots who could ride bikes, raise flags and do basic arithmetic. Couldn’t help but think that their intelligence could be put to a lot more use. They could be counting ballots or something. Willy Wonka had it down to a tee making squirrels sort nuts in his chocolate factory, the man was a genius.

The following day we decided to get up quite early and visit the Petronas Towers for a look. However, upon arrival we discovered it was closed for the day and we couldn’t go up to the viewing platform. We took some pictures from the outside and decided on plan B…the Butterfly Park. We arrived, paid our entry and walked round the enclosure with the thousands of winged insects flying around our heads. I had the zoom lens on my camera and looked like an absolute nutter running around after them trying to get some close ups. The critters are apparently pretty camera shy and insist in landing on any given flower for no more than a few nanoseconds. Unfortunately the memory card I took all the pics on has been corrupted somehow and I cant get any of my pictures on the computer. It’s the same for all my pics of Singapore so all the pics on this entry are from Dave and James’ cameras.
That night we headed out the Bansar district with a guy called Derek who was staying in our dorm too. He took us out to an Indian food court and ordered us some traditional food. It was a good feed but that’s probably the only praise im going to be able to give him. This guy was the biggest pain in the ass wed met so far. He was just a complete know it all. Every time he opened his mouth it felt like he was lecturing us. When we told him where we had been on our trip so far he told us how we should have done it, and was convinced that his opinion on everything was the right one. Anyway, since Elise was here we thought is was appropriate to have a few drinks. We opted for a cheap 7-Eleven carryout to save some pennies before going to the expensive bars. There we had a couple of cocktails while Derek thankfully went off for a little wander about the area on his own. We toyed with the idea of running away to another bar so he wouldn’t find us again but thought the next day in the hostel might be a big awkward. After the bar we tried to find a club. The 2 in the area looked like they were filled with old men so we stood outside and spoke to a bunch of guys who were having the same problem as us. We eventually got a taxi to a nearby club called Mist we were reccommended. It was nothing special. Expensive entry, extortionate drinks, and an MC whom we all wanted to shoot. Highlight of the night was watching Derek stand by the bar on his own performing some weird robot style dance with his upper body. Maybe he’d learned it in some far flung location that no other traveller has ever been to, I never had the courage to ask him. We all headed back together before the club had closed. Im sorry KL, but your nightlife is pretty lousy.

On Elise’s last day we took a wander through the cities gardens and at night her Mum took us our for some food. So thank you very much Mrs. Muscroft, the food and cold beers were delicious and very much appreciated.

As KL’s nightlife was evidently pretty poor we decided to go to Singapore for New Year so the following day we caught the train. Felt like a bit of a rebel as I successfully managed to smuggle 1 solitary stick of chewing gum through customs and across the border.

For New Year we decided to go to a big beach party on Sentosa, an island off the main city. It proved to be a great night and we were all very thankful we had made the decision to leave KL. We arrived at the location, had a few drinks, wrote our resolutions on the big wall, joined in the countdown, boogied for a bit, hit the foam party, choked on the bubbles a few times, danced in the pool and unsuccessfully tried to blag my way onto the surfing machine. We headed back to the hostel just in time for our free breakfast. Craig who had tied his shoes to his jeans to avoid losing them, couldn’t undo the knot and had to walk back in bare feet much to me and James’ amusement.

Our last couple of days in Singapore were spent doing a few things. One day we spent in the ridiculously large shopping malls, playing arcades and watching films in the cinema. Avatar in 3D was absolutely superb. We wandered round the city centre on our last day, had lunch in Hooters and took a trip on the Singapore Flyer (the equivalent of the London Eye…but bigger…obviously).

Then we were off to the airport to venture into the Southern Hemisphere for the first time to do the North East coast of Australia. What excitement and adventure would it bring….find out in the next blog instalment.

Well, that was slightly longer than anticipated. Now im off to start typing the Aussie entry.

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Comments

[Hazel Aitken]

Fab
Good to hear your news again. A couple of days before Christmas I would have quite happily swapped Commercial Street for one of the shopping malls you were in. They looked FAB. Still snowing here...all schools closed again today. Speak soon Mam