Day 15 - Kuala Lumpur

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Today was another early start as we had to be up at 5am to drive to the ferry terminal in Georgetown, meet up to hand over the car and then catch the 6.30am ferry in order to be able to get the 7.30am train to KL. All went smoothly till we got to the ferry terminal at 6.15am and tried to find someone from the car rental company to hand over to. We waited till 6.30 exactly and no-one had showed up. There was no way we could miss this ferry as we would miss the train. In the end we had no choice but to leave the car parked in the car park (if you could call it that) with the keys in the car. We were really worried that the car would be stolen or something but we have heard nothing from the car rental company so we assume all was ok.....phew!!!

Anyway, the ferry ride was very smooth and only took about 20 mins. The ferry is free to catch over to Butterworth (the mainland) but you have to pay when going to Penang. A lot of locals obviously use this to commute between the island and mainland for work. Our nerves had calmed a little by this stage. After hopping off the ferry we had to make our way to the train terminal. We had been told it was just over the road. It was quite obvious how laden with stuff we were as well as a pram. We asked a security guard which was the best way to go. He pointed in one direction so we headed that way. Well this way probably is the quickest way.................for people without a bloody pram or luggage. Poor Stu had to lug all 4 of the suitcases up 2 massive flights of stairs and then back down the other side while I was trying to get Frankie and the pram up and down. In the end a kind man helped me with the pram but Stu hurt his forearm a little with the strain. We finally made it to the station with only about 10 mins to spare. We booked tickets in 1^st class which Mum and Dad had told us not to expect too much....he he he. Well, the seats were comfortable enough but the whole carriage was rather grotty and looked like it could do with a good scrub. We also found out that normally this train ride (6hrs) there would be food that could be purchased but there was something that happened so there would be no food or drink for today. Lucky we brought lots of snacks with us!

The train ride itself went really quite well, we all had a few hours sleep along the way and the view outside was quite nice to be seeing along the way.

We arrived in at KL at approximately 2pm and because we knew where we were going (as we’ve stayed at this place before) we decided to walk over and catch the monorail. We probably should have waited in the line and taken a taxi! We started our mission by exiting the train station, it was very busy and hot and was an ordeal getting all our luggage and selves down the stairs in order to cross a couple of roads to the monorail station. A porter helped us down with the cases then had his hand out for some ringgit, which was totally expected and fine. Then we were walking along with Dani pushing the pram, Stu rolling 2 suitcases, me with one plus backpack and Zav with one. Before we knew it Dani had got the pram wheel caught on something and tipped the pram back and she went down. Frankie was perfectly fine but she had grazed her finger quite badly and also grazed her knee. After a few tears we were back walking and made it to the monorail station only to find we had to climb another set of stairs with everything. In case you haven’t guessed by now, Malaysia is not very geared toward the disabled or prams. I have no idea how someone in a wheelchair would get around easily?

We got on the monorail and made it to our station. We then had a 10 minute walk to Sarang Galloway where we were to stay for a second time.

We met up with Michael (one of the owners) and the 2 staff that were on at the time. It was wonderful to speak to Michael and they had cold bottles of water waiting for us. Last time we stayed here we rented out the whole 4 bedroom house as it was us, Mum and Dad and my Uncle David and Mary. This time we only had 2 rooms, which was fine for us. The accommodation here is just wonderful. I guess if you’re expecting 5* you aren’t going to get it but we find it perfect for us. It is an old terrace house built in the 1920’s so you are staying in an actual locals’ house. The staff comes in and clean everyday and you also get a local cooked breakfast every morning served to you at whatever time you like. Our favourite would have to be the chicken curry with Roti tissue. The curry was very runny and just perfect to mop up with the sugar-laden roti.

Before Michael left he told us that he would like to take us out for breakfast the following morning. We told him we would love to.

After settling in we headed to Bukit Bintang, which is only 2 minutes walk from Sarang Galloway. We went to try to find the Chinese restaurant we had been to the last time we were here. Unfortunately it has closed down; we were a bit sad as we knew it had great food. We found that next to Sungei Wan plaza there is a shopping centre called Lot 10 and down in the basement is a food court. We headed down as the food looked quite good on the posters outside and we were very happy we found this place. There were dozens of eateries to choose from and we were very satisfied with the meals we had. I had char sui pork, Stu had pork and duck, Zav had dumplings and Dani had a veg soup.

We had a look around Sungei Wan plaza for a while then called it a night. It has been a long day but we’re glad to be back in KL.

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