Thailand to Kuala Lumpur

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“Shall we stop off in Kuala Lumpur before the Philippines?” my girlfriend asks,

“Yes, yes we shall.”

This was a silly question. I have been to Kuala Lumpur twice already in the last year and it is one of my favourite cities. I would always recommend trying to have a day or two stopover in this place - it is worth it. We decided on the overland route to Kuala Lumpur so this meant getting to Hat Yai in the south of Thailand. This wasn’t difficult from the docks at Krabi (we caught a boat from Phi Phi to Krabi). We got off the boat and there are people (and a cat) there waiting to sell you your onward journey.

We had a comfortable mini bus journey from Krabi all the way to Hat Yai. We got there in the evening and stayed in one of the places recommended in the LP - Cathay Guesthouse. It was very cheap and it was very strange. This place was huge - like a warehouse. The corridors were as wide as a dual carriageway. The blank walls and eerie atmosphere reminded me of the shining. The room was full of Mosquitoes. I think they know that this place is only used by travellers as a stopover. Whilst reading the messages that previous guests had carved on the door of the bathroom a mosquito flew into my mouth - this is not a good thing.

“A mosquito has just flown into my mouth,”

“So what shall we do?”

“How about we leave?”

“it’s too late to wonder around here looking for rooms, let’s just use our bug spray.”

She had a point, there aren’t many places to stay and it was late but there was a large amount of mozzies in the bathroom and up near the window. The spray did its job and killed a lot of them. We actually had a good night sleep here in the end so screw you mosquitos.

The next day we went to book a sleeper train to Kuala Lumpur for that same evening. The train station is a bit crazy but just like any other in Asia. The only difference is that there is a distinct lack of tourists here. We were told the train was full and so we went back to the tourist info centre on the ground floor of our hostel. We ended up booking a coach trip that left at 7 that evening. It was cheaper than the train and the coach looked nice. We spent the day in the refuge of the shopping mall - eating crap and waiting until 7pm. The coach was actually really nice - we had massive chairs with arm rests and enough space to lay back pretty much flat. It ended up being a good thing that the sleeper train was full. We had a couple of stops that evening and had to get out to go through customs but other than that the journey was quite pleasant! I would not shy away from doing this overland trip again.

We arrived in KL at about 6am the following morning. This was quite a good thing because it meant we were the first customers at all the hostels. I went to my normal place of stay - the backpackers inn in China Town. We got a room but we were lucky, so book ahead if you can. This place is really cool and the rooftop bar does amazing breakfasts and is always a good hang out in the evening. The man who I believe owns the place is very helpful. He may come across as unfriendly sometimes but this is just due to his efficient thought process and his consistent flow of work.

The couple of days we spent here were filled with a mixture of things. We went to a cultural show at the KL tower and did our own Batik painting. We went and visited my old friends - the Petronas towers and had a browse in the superb shopping mall underneath. We went to the indoor market, which is really nice and worth a visit. We enjoyed street food in both China town and little India. The Food in little India is so cheap and really nice. Quite spicy though - so be careful all you spice rejects. The naan breads they cook are beautiful and the little street snacks are so nice that I was in danger of overspending here!

What is nice about KL is that it is a fast paced city that you can easily dissolve into at your own pace. I never felt like I had to speed up and I am never annoyed by anything in this city, hence this relatively short blog. There is some beautiful architecture and real economic development but this hasn’t yet quashed that old industrious Asian attitude that is held throughout parts like China town and Little India.

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Photos

Cultural day
Batik Painting

Indian street food
Meal from little India

Comments

[anonymous]

I guess on your out of KL you would and do say 'I'll be back!'.

[Conrad Lopez]

Kuala Lumpur
We didn’t even think twice about which place we were going to holiday in…this was mainly because we went through a good online hotel reservation agency that offered discounts on hotels in Kuala Lumpur so we had a marvelous time and saved money on our vacation.