Malaysia - KL (Part 1 of 3)

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A luxury night bus took us out of paradise into the unknown Malaysia and the intriguing Borneo. Due to us overstaying our visa we had to pay a fine in the immigration office at the Thai border. We felt like naughty school children or terrorists as the border control captain 'General Sergeant Major Min' exerted his limited power. Flexing his muscles he tapped his pen pondering whether to let us through. We sat like good tourists and waited for him to take our money which went straight into his shabby looking wallet. After we were dismissed we slept in our reclining seats until our four AM arrival in KL (Kuala Lumpur)

Apparently the accommodation isn’t of a very good standard in the capital and we found a disgusting did to lay our head. We entered through a concrete door hole and were greeted with pools of urine up the stairway, its funny how easily you can be persuaded to stay anywhere, no matter how bad when its four am in a new country. After a couple of hours sleep we awoke in our dorm with four strange men. As I lay there a voice in my head spoke to me. "Hello, Hello, What are you doing? Get out, Get out." He continued "You deserve a decent hotel, you’ve had a long journey" So I said "Cheers bro" He might of also added "Get one with air-con and a view" but that might have just been my imagination!

Finding a hotel with a McDonalds attached to it was better than nothing, plus there was a window with a view from the hot shower that gave this city a chance to sink in. Unsure how to relax', we all went shopping to the KLCC Mall which is below the Petrona Towers (the worlds only twin towers). These glorious glass galaciticos are the offices of one petroleum company - there’s a lot of money in that oil! Settling into city life we got used to shopping and sight seeing. We went up the KL tower which gave us some more perspective on this sprawling metropolis amid thick jungle. From up here KL felt good, we learnt about the British influences on the city and how the Malaysians were celebrating 50 years of independence from us.

On one of our shopping trips Amanda, mesmerized by the array of sparkly earrings, decided that she felt it was time to enter a whole new world of accessories. She found a nice tacky little shop which advertised 'ears pierced' and took the plunge.

Needing to move on we booked our flights to Borneo and researched all the fascinating sights we wanted to see. Trusting in the Lonely Planet and our perception of this adventurous Island we busied ourselves with plans on top of plans. Like an episode of the apprentice we all had multiple tasks to do. David was appointed project manager and a 9am meeting in Starbucks set the tone for the day. I was responsible for organising flights, Manda had to research Gunung Mulu national park; home of the largest bat cave, Louise was given the duty of booking Uncle Tan's tour which promised a river boat safari where you could see orangutans, crocodiles and pygmy elephants. A lot to fit in over 10 days! With our jobs complete, multiple connection flights booked and our itinery crammed full we headed to the airport. We were exhausted but full of anticipation for our adventure holiday in the wildlife wilderness world of Borneo.

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Photos

KL from the sky
It doesnt look that polluted from up here.

Muslim stylee
We thought our super powers would help us to understand Islam.

Amanda getting her ears pierced.
Earrings, earrings, earrings...big ones, small ones, shiny ones, round ones...shopping, shopping, shopping!

Mario Kart reborn
Michael and David succesfully find a way to entertain themselves in KL.

Comments

[GRETA]

EXCELLENT
What a terrific blog - so exciting and well written - got a real 'feel' of your experience. Are Amanad's ears OK? Photos great