Same same, but different

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Once more into the breach dear readers...

I bring you tales from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

I may have mentioned in my last blog that to get to Kuala Lumpur, we had to embark on a 24hr journey from Ko Phangan. This clearly wasn't the best experience of our trip but it turned out far better than expected, arriving in KL 4 hrs early at 3am local time. With most places closed, bar a 24hr McDonald's, we went in search of the nearest cash machine having made the most basic travellers mistake of arriving in a country with none of the local currency. Luckily this was soon remedied and we got a cab to our hostel - 'The Haven'. Its funny because the hostels we're staying in are living up to their names tremendously. 'Happy house' in Bangkok was a very happy house for us, and it was the same here with 'The Haven'. I knew we were in the right place when he told us there was free toast 24hrs a day, and the 3 spreads they had were butter, peanut butter, and marmite!! Anyone who knows my odd daily breakfast combination will know that this is heaven for me! And so our stay in KL began.

In all honestly I knew next to nothing about Kuala Lumpur or Malaysia before we came here. Probably because of the fact that they don't seem to have made much of an impact in international sporting competitions, which is where I seem to get most of my info about countries from! Having been here a week
I now know a whole lot more - the first thing that struck us was how friendly the Malaysian people are (as they were in Thailand) but perhaps more talkative (all speak excellent English). Far more amusingly they also seem to have a deep love affair with 80s western pop music - 'I wanna know what love is', 'careless whisper', 'another one bites the dust' were just some of the hits we were treated to in the first few days. By the end of our time here I had forgotten that any music post 1989 had been made. Nirvanna, Oasis, Britney who??

On first impression, KL seemed a little too engrossed by western consumption with little character of its own. However the more we explored we realised that the battle for cultural sumpremacy hasn't entirely been lost and that KL has managed to retain some of its uniqueness. Particular highlights included a trip round the city on a hop on, hop off bus which gave us a chance to see the majority of this fairly small (and unbelievably young city, only 150 years old). The bird park we went to was also pretty awesome, with the birds just flying around you as you walk through. It was a bit like 'Jurassic Park', just with birds. We saw so many colourful species it was really exciting! I even fed some of them, as they came and sat on my hand and shoulder. Going up the huge KL tower (515m above sea level, 421m tall) provided some great views of the city and there was a magician at the top called Ken, who did some David Blaine type magic. The various eateries we frequented around KL were also excellent, apart from the Iraq place we were about to eat in until we saw rats run out of the kitchen!

Consumption does seem like Kuala Lumpans favourite past time however. There are just so many shops, a Starbucks every 300 metres in the centre (which were hard to resist given that I seem to have gotten into tea, and ice mocha coffe drinks), and so many people shopping. Once again we felt extremely scruffy in these shopping areas. 'Brave New World' (which I've just finished reading), in which the society depends on people constantly consuming, seemed so relevant here. Feeling out of place in these clinical malls we headed to the backstreets where we bought lots of pirate DVDs (all perfect quality) for a pound a pop.

You could certainly sense KL's colonial history in its relatively new found independence, and desire to become a big world player. Their desire to become the buisness centre for south east Asia was palpable. Symbolised by the cities symbol - the tallest (in a city of high rise buildings) twin buildings in the world, the Petronas Twin Towers. We wanted to go up them to walk across the sky bridge which connected the towers, but tickets were sold out, so we went to the KL tower instead and never went back.

Perhaps the most memorable eperience we had in KL was our nights stay in the 'Grand Millenium' a 5* hotel! Now I can imagine what you're thinking 'how can two backpackers going round the world on a shoestring afford to stay in a 5* hotel!?'. To be honest it wouldn't have crossed our minds but for the tourist book informing us that KL has some of the cheapest 5 star hotels in the world. A quick look on lastminute.com confirmed these insane prices and so we booked into the Grand Millenium for 56 pound (breakfast included) for the night! I think travel lodges in the UK can cost more than this, a 5* hotel in London would cost treble this.

Our main worry as we headed from our 7pound a night hostel was whether they would let a couple of scummy backpackers into this grand hotel. Strolling in as if we owned the place seemed to work as they directed us towards the check in desk. The hotel was everything you'd expect from such an establishement, chanderleers, a lift on the outside of the building, people opening doors for you wherever you go, an outside pool, satalite tv, spa and the rest. Our room was especially nice, the pressure in the shower was something else, bed was super comfy and being about 30 storey's up the view of KL was excellent. However I genuinely prefered the Haven. The 'Grand Millenium' was just so cold, inpersonal, controlling - you really felt like you couldn't do anything silly or put a foot out of place. In addition having people wait on you all day is really tiresome and just made me feel guilty - I can open the fucking door you know! Not that the people serving us werent really friendly, they were unbelievably friendly - so much so it just seemed fake.

But more than anything the other people staying there were just so different. One of the great things about hostels is the hive of activity which is the hostel common room/lobby where excited travellers consult books and the internet rabidly to plan their next adventure, whilst sharing their stories about their last with other excited travellers. In the 'Grand Milleniumn' it just seemed as if the everything was pre planned and done for the people there, who could've been anywhere in the world. That hostel atmosphere was really irreplaceable.

Our experience in the SPA summed up my feelings about the place. Despite all the ammenities one could hope for, it was seperate facilities for men and women meaning Nikki and me had to go our seperate ways. And by god these things are boring on your own, I just sat in the hot tub, sauna and steam room bored stiff - sure it felt good but with no one there to share it with it just seemed so empty. Then again if I had been in there with Nikki, or friends and family it would've been great fun. Just shows it's the people who make places special.

However I am digressing slightly so I must continue, I don't wanna bowl over all negative and rude. It certainly wasn't all bad. Due to the cheapness of food in KL, we thought we'd try out the hotel restaurant. It certainly didn't dissapoint. Due to it being freshly opened we were able to get the buffet half price - and this is what the buffet included....

salmon steaks
swordfish
high class pizza with toppings such as shrimp. They also had your normal pizza - hawian but with the top quality ham and pinapple
Malaysian food - about four different dishes and all the acouptimonts
Steak
Indian food - about 5 dishes
Sushi
You could also ask them to cook pretty much anything you wanted
Steak burgers
Various pastas
Salad

All of the highest quality, cooked to perfection by international chefs.

That doesn't include pudding of course which included:

A chocolate fountain to dip anything you wanted in - fruit, nuts and anything else you can think of
Cookies
Muffins
Gormat cakes
Cheesecake
Jelly
Fruit - including some types i've never seen before
Made before your eyes waffles - with 5 choices of batter including choc chip
6 types of ice cream
Cheese and buiscuits

Oh and so much more I can't remember!!! I'm so fat now! Whoever can guess to the closest ammount how much this all cost wins the next prize!!! Just leave your guess as a comment, or send me an email.

The competition from the last blog remains open and I now have the prize in my very hands. Send in those entries! Sorry there's been no new photos added, nowhere in Kuala Lumpur would let, or had the required capacity to let us attach/download the pics. Its a shame because I think the blog really comes alive with images to go with the words. Anyway hopefully in Aus i'll be able to add a few.

Back to the hotel - the breakfast included in the price was equally amazing. With so much choice your eyes (and tummy) watered! The free toast back at the Haven seemed a bit tame by comparison!

Equally wonderful (timed to perfection!) was getting to watch Arsenal against Wigan in our dressing gowns (kick off was 11pm our time) on the super comfy bed in our room. The game was shown here on Star Sports, whose presentation is annoyingly American - referring to the league as the EPL, and having a section called 'the strategic play of the day'. Luckily they use the English commentary so we had the trusty Martin Tyler 'calling' the action. When the goal went in (about 12.35am our time) me and Nikki had a great jump around the bed - running to the window to let KL know the Gunners were winning! As our match ended I turned over to ESPN to see Bolton close out the game against Man U! Yay!! They show all the days highlights immediately after the match so was able to enjoy all the days goals, including Everton's 7! Went to sleep very happy!

Speaking of football, its huge in Malaysia as well. Seen loads of Englsih football shirts, particular of the evil two and Liverpool, and strangely one Fulham top. Though they refer to the Premiership as the EPL, one taxi driver was keen to let us know that he was an 'MU fan'. After telling him I was an Arsenal fan he said he didn't like Arsenal because we have too many foreigners and not enough English players!! It seems people here are more concerned about the nationality of our players than back in N5! Also spoke to a very knowledgable Malaysian Spurs fan.

Since the Grand Millenium we've been chilling a lot before heading to Singapore. Went to see Beowulf at the cinema here, was very cheap but so cold with the air-con in my t shirt, shorts and sandals. Really enjoyed the film and the company (as ever Nikki's great!).

Honour and love. joetour

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