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Published: July 20th 2006
Georgetown to KL
We all had a lazy start to the day - traveling being tiring, even on a sleeper train, and with two of us recovering from dengue fever - but managed to get up for an 11 o’clock brunch at a local India place for about a dollar.
The others all bought tickets to KL and I changed my plans from the Cameron Highlands to join them, the main reason being that the highlands are 1800m up and have an average temperature of about 15 degrees: way too low for a poor backpacker with only a pair of shorts and two t-shirts to his name.
The bus trip down was predictably cold because the bus driver, like all bus drivers, knew of only one setting on the climate control - artic.
In between naps and reading James Clavell’s
Taipan, I admired the amazing jungle as it passed by. We had almost unbroken jungle for six hours - thick lush untamed forest and undergrowth that looked untouched by man. Either the highway deliberately avoided farms and human settlements or the 18 million people living in Malaysia are concentrated in coastal towns and villages and have made a point
of avoiding the virgin forest. Either way, it was a pleasant bus ride, especially when compared to similar distance bus trips in Laos or Myanmar which wouldn’t be near as spectacular and would take at least three times as long.
We arrived after six hours of tropical winter with stuffy noses but miraculously without cold or flu symptoms, and headed to Chinatown and cheap accommodation. I checked into my first dorm room since Australia, probably the cleanest neatest dorm I’ve ever seen, and found myself alone in a huge room. Not that I needed it on this occasion because the copious amounts of alcohol required to get my nocturnal chainsaw working weren’t going to get consumed in KL anyway, let alone this soon after a healthy fast.
Even though we were smack bang in the middle of Chinatown and the bustling night market none of felt like wandering through yet another market, so we made a bee-line to the Reggae Bar for a dose of World Cup soccer and a well earned beer.
Said good-bye to Tim who was off to the airport for a 6am flight and turned in at the end of another day of travel.
22 June 2006
Kuala Lumpur
A BIRDS EYE VIEWS OF KL
After a relatively early start - before lunch this time - we joined up with Sarah, a German girl, and headed out to Petronus Towers, the tallest buildings in the world, to see KL from from the 42nd floor. Our ticket - they only issue 850 a day - was for 3:45 pm, so we had six hours to kill before the view.
First stop was KL tower, the second highest structure in KL, for a higher view of the city but, as it turned out, a rather average vantage point. We also took in a free guided rain forest walk in the jungle at the base which has been a park for a hundred years. Our guide gave us a spiel about every single plant and tree stump along the way and pointed out some monkeys, while the mosquitoes gave us hell. I was bitten more in 40 minutes than in the past two years traveling. Never again.
The view from the towers was passable, as far as unspectacular cityscapes go. Better was the slingshot at the base. You get strapped into a seat
with some stranger who will be screaming in your ear and get launched sixty metres into the air. The launch is done at such an angle that you turn upside down for the return journey to earth - either to make it more thrilling or to ensure that you don’t spew into the seat. Pulling four Gs will certainly project vomit away from you in a hurry, not that I was unlucky enough to find out. At the end of my sixty seconds of fun I was presented a certificate to put on my wall next to my degrees and a frequent bungee card which gives me a 20% discount next time I’m stupid enough to do it, which can be used in KL, Cairns, and Rio. Great.
Sarah and I headed to the famous Bird Park, which is the largest aviary in the world. Malaysia, even more than Australia and other countries, seems to put enormous value on superlatives. It may be corny to be the biggest, but it was certainly well worth the visit. Nearly all the birds there are indigenous and many are large and/or colorful. The enclosure is also rather shallow and low, ensuring that
the birds of prey in particular can never get far from the observers. Great from an observer’s point of view, unless you happen to give a damn about the birds’ quality of life.
Between rain showers we came upon the photo point where a guy was standing in front of about 20 uncaged very tame very colorful very bored looking specimens. I overcame my pretensions to animal rights and went straight into tourist mode, shooting them all up close and getting Sarah to take shots of me with half of them. It was great fun and broke up the boredom of the birds, I think.
We had to hike back to the Towers but arrived two minutes past our 3:45 time slot, so got relegated to the 4:15. We spent 15 minutes in the waiting room watching a 15 minute infomercial about the bloody tower, which didn’t add to my body of knowledge, having watched a 60 minute documentary about it only a week prior.
We then got ushered into a small cinema to watch the same infomercial again. Then the 3:45 group got called out and we watched it again, until the 4:00 group got called
out, and we watched it again. It was boring the first time.
Finally we got moved to another line for a ten minute wait, went through security, and got the elevator to the skybridge. Upon arriving at our destination an hour after turning up at the ground floor, we were told we had ten minutes to enjoy the view. It was a good view, and it was free, so we shouldn’t complain.
A walk and a coffee later and it was dinner time, so we joined up with Alex and Teresa in Chinatown for what was probably the worst meal I have had in a year. And that includes instant noodles and dry bread.
Back at the hotel we met Azmi, a Malaysian from New Zealand who told us about a guy in Borneo looking for commercial divers. At USD500 a day. Great. Alex and I both jumped at it. Perhaps I should have been a bit more skeptical at such a great off out of the blue, but he wasn't asking for money and had nothing to gain by lying. It would be a couple of weeks before I was to find out
The sad truth of commercial diving.
We
spent the rest of the evening with him swapping stories until about 3am when the soccer started. Two minutes in and Australia is already one down. Shit. I’ll make myself suffer through the next 90 minutes hoping for an equalizer.
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