Kuala Lumpur

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Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia's capital and after the adventures in Tamen Negara and Cameron Highlands it was our first major city since Bangkok, we were looking forward to basing ourselves down for a while. On Thursday we travelled down from Taman Negara looking forward to the possibility of maybe a warm shower and bed that I didn't have to share with bed bugs. It wasn't alot to ask. As soon as we approached the city we saw the symbolic Twin Petronas Towers rising from the horizon gleaming in the sun. After the bus driver dropped us off we caught the skytrain to Chinatown where the budget accomadation was. After searching for a while we found the perfect room. 4 beds, very roomy and with air-con it was perfect, we could spread ourselves out and not literally live out of bag for a few days. That night we settled in and got an Indian curry before having a little look around the city. We found the Petronas Towers, which produced two columns of light at night, it is a spectacular and the towers represent Malaysia's ambitions of the nation. We also found the Hard Rock Cafe and made a reservation for the next night.

The next day I was dying to try and sort my camera out, so I got a taxi up to Mont Kiara North of the city which is a business park and where Olympus Malaysia are based. I explained my problem and the fact that I was only in town for a week. They were very understanding and said too call back on Monday for an update. I left feeling quite positive. Then I had a look around the main shopping area and the markets along Bintang Walk. The City itself is quite compact and easy to navigate, certainly noticeably smaller than cities such as Hong Kong and Shanghai which were huge in comparision. KL has a more of a central area and expands from there rather than a sprawling mass of malls, skyscrapers and hotels. It is very nice and cosy. At about 4pm I went to leave the mall where I was, only to find rain falling from the sky like nothing else. I've never seen rain like it. All through the day the heat and humidity builds up and around 4pm every day it tips it down. After braving the rain to get to the subway station I arrived back at the hostel and met Rick and Muc ready for the Hard Rock. We showered, shaved, changed shirts and even did our hair, well I did, and went to the street to hire a taxi. The first one refused to put the meter on, as did the second. Cheeky little things, they wanted a fixed fare of a stupid price as they didn't do meters. We ended up power walking half of KL to the Hard Rock to make our reservation. So much for the Aftershave and showers. We went all out on the Hard Rock bought ourselves the Ultimate 10oz burger and 3 scoops of Haagen Dazs. Hey you only live once. We had a great time and our waiter, Sam, was great and really nice. Service with a smile. We ended up paying just over 10GBP which for a good meal and an evening out was well worth it. We had a great time just relaxing and talking the night away. As we exited the cafe we ran into Diana whom we'd met in Cameron Highlands and travelled with in Taman Negara and she suggested we do the Petronas Skyview tomorrow morning. What time we asked? 7am she said, as tickets are limited and it's very popular. Argh, why not?

Up at 6.30, we tried to dress and shower, and just about ended up meeting Diana only a few minutes late. We caught the subway to KLCC station near the towers and after finally finding the entrance, signs nowhere to be found, we found to our horror a huge queue! What, we were up at 6.30, these people were clearly freaks, or tourists as we like to call them. Anyway we queued and got tickets for 12.45. With a few hours to kill we went to the malls in Bintang and found an apple store. Perfecto. A good few hours were spent taking pictures of the Macs, playing with Sony Video Cameras and playing on the best invention ever, Guitar Hero. Basically you plug a plastic guitar into the Computer and you have hit the right buttons on the frets as prompted on screen. I was very proud of my high scores on Bulls on Parade by Rage and School's Out by Alice Cooper. Rock on!

At 12 we went back to the towers and after a stupid 3D 6 minute presentation telling us how Petronas is the best company ever in the world ever, we went up the lift with a Malaysian guide with an Aussie accent. Weird Mate. The Skybridge was cool and we typical brought our own brand of fun by pulling off some wreastling moves and having a good laugh instead of using a tripod to take pictures of some hotel rooftop swimming pool. Those Germans eh? After we grabbed some food, waved farewell to Diana as her bus left that afternoon. We went back to Guitar Hero. After the daily shower we watched the football and went to Reggae Bar for a few drinks. It's a major cool place, and the only place to go in Chinatown. Playing all sorts of music until 3 in the morning the only bad thing was the expensive beer. A substory to the day was in the morning we washed some of our clothes and hung them out to dry outside, when we got back in they were gone. Gutted I'd lost my Led Zeppelin t shirt.

The next day we just wondered around Chinatown and the markets. Where we are staying is cool. It used to be a cinema and is a coverted into a hostel. From our hostel you can see the tops of the Petronas and the KL tower it's looking from the gutter to the stars as the surrounding area is pretty grotty and smells. They are rats and stray cats. It feels normal now. I found some cool chill out shorts for a pound and a replacement Led Zep t shirt. I also bought some DVDs, which are always useful to have to pass some time in the afternoon during the rain. Not really much to say really. We just chilled out and took it easy. We watched The Brave One with Jodie Foster which was good. We got some food and then went to Reggae. On the way back from the Bar we ran into some guys from Bristol, Luke, Joe and Dan. They're really cool guys. Joe was abosolutely wasted, as we chatted to Luke and Dan about travelling and such Joe was downing bottles of Whiskey like water. Not good. He decided he wanted an ice cream from 7-Eleven. After just about managing to purchase a Cornetto he fell back into aload of tins, much to our amusement and ended up on the floor, ice cream covering his whole face and chest. It was so funny, even the 7 Eleven guys were taking picturs on their phones. We arranged to meet them the next night at Reggae bar. Surprise! As we entered the hostel the host called us over and gave us our t shirts, a Chinese man had them and brought them back. Phew! Lep Zeppelin shirt was back.

The next day we arose in the afternoon and went the KL tower, the 4th tallest in the world behind the Toronto CN Tower, the Moscow Tower and The Pearl TV Tower in Shanghai. It is the pinnacle of KL and the day was clear the views were awesome. We also did an aerial runway zipwire at the bottom which was a bit of fun. It was the clearest day so far and no rain. This meant the heat was intense as it never cooled down. As the heat was so intense we watched another film Vantage Point, bit disspointing if you ask me really. We went out for another really nice meal of 3 courses at a really nice place, which was very resonably priced. Best value meal of the Gap Year so far Izzi in KL. It's an Italian place and does teh best pizzas, so we went all out again, dough balls, pizza and ice cream. That night we met the Bristol and talked about the previous nights events with some amusement. We also asked them a small favour, it was April fools day tomorrow, the Leeses were due to return and we had a plan....

Yesterday again we just chilled and took it easy and decided to visit the biggest indoor theme park in Malaysia. Oh yes! Cosmos World. We walked over to Times Square Mall. A storm was brewing. The sky was black, the wind was swirling you could see lightening above the clouds and buildings on the horizon and it was like in a disater movie. It was a little scary it was dark at 2pm. The heat from the previous day was still trapped and contributed to the huge storm. The rides were pretty funny, and as we were all not feeling our best made us all a bit quesy. One ride was more of a torture device which metal cage like barriers holding you in it physically hurt. I want to find the designer of that. The rollercoaster it self went upside down and was pretty cool but I forfeited by unique position of the single traveller yet to throw up straight after to the shock of the ride attendant. We also had a few goes on the dodge 'ems and it got a little agressive and personal with some local lads. It was all in good spirit.

We also had a game of bowling. Big Caz, Mucca Boi and Huntz Dogg dominated the KL bowling alley and the game will always remain with us. It was very good to chill out just the three of us for one last time. At 7.30pm we met the Bristol lads. Nick and Jonny were due in, we had to get them in some way. After waiting for around 2 hours and running through the plan numerous times and in numerous varitions we decided to get something to eat. As soon as we ordered my phone beeped. Jonny Lees Mobile. "We're nearly there can you meet us" a quick reply "I'll be there in 10 mins, just getting some Frosties." The plan was go. It was now or never, we ate quickly, nervously. Would it work? Would they fall for it? We finished paid and departed. This was it.

April Fool's

I met Nick and Jonny in the hostel lobby. We exchanged small talk and greeted each other after dropping their bags off in the room. I told them we had to go and meet Muc and Rick who were eating rice. Exiting the hostel we were approached by three guys. "Oi, mate you got any spare change" said the first one, I replyed no. He grabbed me and after a bit of pushed and shoving I was in a headlock on the floor. Perfect. The other two guys started pushing Jonny and Nick around a bit. They fell hook line and sinker, after succesfully getting up we squared off again. Various insults were being thrown around and Nick was telling me to leave it and attempting to calm it all down Jonny didn't have a clue what to do. Hook line and sinker. Me and Luke were squaring off. "Hit me" he shouted. What this wasn't in the plan. "Hit me" he said again. I threw caution to the wind a pulled off a perfect fake punch. Luke was on the floor, Nick was shocked and started pulling me away, the other two were getting invovled with me and Jonny. Then Muc and Rick jumped out from behind the bushes, Video cameras in hand, and finally it dawned on the twins. The perfect prank, pulled off brillantly. :D

After much laughing and a few taunts the 5 were reunited. We bought some beers from a shop. Fair play to Nick and Jonny for being good sports and buying us a few beers each as a reward for the prank, as well as a few presents from the Shangri-La.... We sat round a few tables in the table drank the beers listening to Joy Division, Oasis, The Stranglers and Spencer Davis Group. It was quality, and great to have the twins back. We then headed to Reggae Bar, where we met some more people who we ran into a few nights ago. We partied long into the night and when Reggae closed to party came back to the hostel along with a few other people we had met at the bar and we sat round watching the football, talking and having a great night until 7am. Great night.

Today we haven't done anything except sleep, eat and relax. Tomorrow we are going to Melaka, the old capital. I'll keep you updated.


Jx

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