Kuala Lumpur - Blink and you'll miss it

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Kuala Lumpur
I wasn't even gonna do a blog on Kuala Lumpur since I was only there two days, but I had such a good time I figured I'd whack a brief summary of it down. I arrived early afternoon, but since I'd had to get up at 5am I was pretty knackered. I was planning on early night the night before, but I went out for a few beers with Rick, and followed it up with a Thai kebab (Which, by the way, isn't a patch on a Mancunian kebab).

So I arrived in the sweltering humidity of Kuala Lumpur. With a 15kg backpack on, its mere seconds before you're coated in a film of sweat in those temperatures, giving the attractive look of a pubescant teenager in a brothel. I eventually worked my way to Chinatown, swinging in every shop entrance that had air conditioning. Kuala Lumpur is a fairly wealthy city, the wealthiest I'd been to so far, so I had to head to the more run down areas for reasonably priced accomodation. I managed to find a place in the 'Red Dragon Hostel', which looked impressive from the outside (it used to be a cinema), but I inevitably got the prison cell-esque room. But, no worries, I wasn't there to sit in my room!

The receptionist gave me the low down on what to see and where to go, starting with a trip to the Petronas Twin Towers, the fourth largest building(s) in the world. Similar to the ones in America, except curvier, and not been levelled by twats in aeroplanes. She said I had to get there before 8.30am if I wanted to get a ticket, as they only give out a thousand per day. Well, I was none too impressed with the early start, but it has to be done. So, that night, I had the Chinese delicacy that is sweet and sour chicken (I'm sure the waiter guy rolled his eyes, but I let it slide) and headed to bed. Again, my night was not as early as hoped cos I got talking to a hot girl in the common room, and I'm not one to miss an opportunity. After chatting for two damned hours she informed me she was leaving the following morning, so I went to bed.

Up at 7am bleary eyed, a quick shower and off I headed for the twin towers. I came of out the subway station, and according to the map they should be very close. I quick look round and I couldn't see a pair towers, so I wandered round the large building that was blocking my view of the rest fo the area, but still no sign. It was too early for this sort of problem solving, I tell you. I found a security guard; 'Do you know where the Petronas, twin tower place is?' I asked. 'Erm, the Petronas towers?' he replied,
'Yeah, you know, the ones you can go up to the bridge of?'. I thought he'd never heard of them. Typical.
'Erm, you just follow this street back round...', 'The way I came?', 'Yeah, and go through the doors on your left', 'What, of this building here?', 'Well, yeah. You can get the tickets there'.
Turns out, I'd been wandering round the bloody towers for 10 minutes trying to find the damned things.

Anyway, I eventually found the queue for tickets, which I'd clearly lost some ground on, but it was 8.15am, so not too much. The queue snaked around the room in a pretty random manner until some guy came and organised it a bit. Then he did one, and due to my unfortunate positioning I was left to tell all the confused new arrivals where they should be going. It did allow me to strike up conversation with girl behind me though, who was also pretty fit. Turned out her name was Zsuzsa (pronounced Juja), and she was from Hungary. And she was 32 (how do I find these older women?) but looked about 21 (Nb, Zsuzsa, you owe me $40 for that). Well, we got on damned well and had a right laugh! The view from the towers was good, but it only took you up half way which was a shame. There was a very high comms tower nearby, where you could get even higher, but it was 20 Ringgets (4 pounds), so we thought screw that, we're not made of money. Besides, i'll come back in August because there's a BASE jumping competition off it then!! Woohoo!! I bored Juja for about half an hour with skydiving and BASE jumping info after I found that out. I think it excited her really.

Anyway, we spent the rest of the day together, and she insisted on walking virtually every-soddin-where. We must have covered about 30km, I'm sure. KL is about 300 miles from the Equator; even the chuffin Malaysians don't walk in the sun. We visited the Batu caves, which I was thrilled discover were up 272 steps. I almost had to circular drink just to replace my sweat loss. Mind you, there were some monkeys which were cute. And the caves themselves weren't too bad, but its more of a religious place for the local Muslims and was only semi-breathtaking. We got a bus back to the centre, and spent the rest of the day making plans for the next day at the tourist information place (which was so nice, they'd made it a heritage sight! A tourist information centre!! What is the world coming to??) and trying to find a swimming pool. We eventually did find one, but it wasn't really what Juja was looking for, more of a locals kind of place, so an icy shower was going to have to do.

That night we had an obscenely expensive beer at Planet Hollywood (beer isnt cheap anywhere here, but this place was like 4 pounds for a pint!), before heading out to grab some dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant. I'd like to note here, before you all get the wrong idea, she has a boyfriend, but nevertheless I could tell she was finding it very difficult to resist the Featherstone charm and witty conversation.

Next day, we met up at my hostel in the morning. From there she insisted we walked (whats wrong with public transport, eh?) over to the impressive lake gardens; a haven amongst skyscrapers. To be fair, our first port of call in the gardens was the planetarium, which was mainly for my benefit. And I have to say, I was like a pig in mud! Just one Ringget to get in (good to see the price of education is still reasonable), and for some reason it was virtually deserted. Does nobody else love science?! Anyway, we had a right laugh. We found a room that claimed to simulate a black hole. Basically it made you look big at one end, and small at the other where some threatening LEDs flashed slowly in a circle. Which is apparantly what a black hole looks like. Phenomenal. While I tried to read every little placard describing, what I thought, were very interesting facts, it seemed Juja wasn't quite as gripped. So, after she played the 'i'm feeling ill from the air-con' lame excuse card, we moved on out.

A gentle stroll down to the lake, and it got even more stunning. Barely a soul in sight, and I've rarely seen such a lush environment. Not a cloud in the sky, bright green trees and plants everywhere, and peace and quiet for a change too. We reached the lake, and decided to hire a boat for a gentle row on the water. Also, a chance to flash my rowing skills. Oh yeah. However, it turned out to be harder than anticipated. The bloody paddles kept sliding all over the place, and Juja was giggling away as I repeatedly stacked it into the walls (it was pretty narrow in parts). I got the rhythm in the end, and we had a relatively relaxing cruise. At one point, I let the oars go for a second whilst I adjusted myself, assuming the rounded ends would be big enough to stay in the oarlocks. But no. Out they slid, straight into the water. A few moments of shear panic as I jumped up and ran to the other end, Juja straining for one oar and I very nearly capcised the boat trying to get the other. They were literally fingertip distance when we got them, and I know who'd have been swimming had we failed!

Afterwards we strolled further up the lake garden, to the national monument. Something about their independance from Britain I think. It was impressive though, and well worth the swimming pool esque sweat induced on the way up the hill to see it. Juja said it was a British thing so couldnt be arsed walking up with me. Women. Lazy buggers.

After that, we walked back into town. We picked up a much needed, and budget, meal at McDonalds. I've got to say, I was bloody sick of fast food by then (having eaten it in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur all the time), and really missed a good thai chicken curry with rice for a quid.
We had a walk around the posher end, before wandering into a market where I found the best T-shirt ever. It said 'The sky is not my limit, it is my playground'. I tell you, if that doesnt get me laid, what will?

And then, it was time to do one. We said our goodbyes, I picked up my bags from the hostel, and jumped on an overnight train to Singapore. Asia was nearly over.

Malaysia had so much more to offer, and somewhere I'll definately come back to. There was no way I could do it justice in 2 days, but I think I made the most of what I had.

Singapore
I arrived into Singapore at about 8 in the morning, with my flight leaving at 21.30. I had a pleasant day of sightseeing planned, but, frankly, ended up having a pretty crappy day. For starters, it took me ages to find a chuffin hostel that would look after my bag, even for a price. YMCA needs to learn some bloody christian values believe you me. Humping 20kgs around when you're only 100miles from the equator is not a pleasant experience. However, the fact that I WAS 100 miles from the equator and not in freezing England did cheer me up a bit!

I walked around their university campus to remind me of all the good times, whilst listening to Drops of Jupiter by Train. Dandy - you know what I mean son. And then I went on a mission to have a shower and shave. God knows, I must have smelt and looked like a well dressed tramp (I had my new t-shirt on). So I walked into a swish hotel, and asked if the guy if he knew where I could please get a shower around here. And you know what the legend said? 'The pool and showers are on the fourth floor, sir'. A grin and mutual nod and up I went. You should have seen the look of the rich gits splayed out next to the pool when a sweaty backpacker cruised up and made full use of their facilities! Beltin.

After that I swung by a few expensive shopping places and Chinatown. I was bored, and keen to get on my flight to Oz. So, I picked up my bag, and headed over to the very impressive Singapore airport, and larged it up with a Bacon Double Cheeseburger. I hate airplane food. Australia, here I come.

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Photos

The Twin Towers
Big!

Kuala Lumpur
From the 41st Floor!

Zsuzsa
Look how excited she is about the Planetarium!

Cheeky Monkeys!
Actually, they were very polite

The Park
A nice break from the inner city carnage

The Planetarium
Unfortunately we weren't actually in space, this is just a display. But I stand and imagine I was for a little while. I'm not sad. I'm not.

Comments

[Pricey]

D'oh
You should have told me you were doing KL. I have a friend who lives there who would have been more than happy to show you round. He took Anna out when she was there a couple of months ago. D'oh.... Glad you enjoyed it anyway.... Keep having fun. Pricey x