Kuala Lumpur - Skyscrapers and expensive alcohol

---

When I told people I was going to Kuala Lumpur, there was one place where they say that the ultimate hostel was and that was Reggae Mansions and thats where I went even though they had an age limit of 50 years old due to it being a ‘party hostel’. Well after the lack of alcohol, thats what I needed and I got. The hostel itself was massive and just round the corner from where the long distance bus journey dropped me off. Again I tried to work out in my head how long I was going to stay as the journey around the world was slowing down and I knew that I had so many places still to go. I had shared the bus journey with 4 British girls and they were staying in the same place and there recommendation was 3 days! Lets go with that for now then. The rooms were totally different to what i had had before in that all bed spaces were ‘pods’ as in a boxed off area with a curtain, mattress, light and plug socket. so once inside the 6 man room, you could get into the pod and just close the curtain and you had privacy from the outside world. Awesome! So dropped off my bags in my pod and decided to explore before the rooftop bar opened. I wandered to Chinatown which having seen chinatowns around the world this was no different, with stalls selling junk, food stalls with all different types of food and lots of random Chinese looking to hustle the tourists. I got bored easy so went back to the hostel and the bar was open. Being a ‘party’ hostel I was disappointed to find I was the only person there, but with a decent wifi signal, I was happy with a beer and Facebook for a couple of hours then from out of nowhere all these backpackers started to come up and before you knew it there was a party. 3 in the morning in not really a good time to finish when you know you have a full day ahead the next day but I wanted to prove that there should be no age limits on hostels ha ha.



Next day I just made breakfast at 1030 before they closed and with a tired body went out into the fresh air to see the sights. I didn’t really have a clue where I was going but TripAdvisor helped me and went off to the Independence Monument and had a look round that, then moved down to the main streets where all the movers and shakers were meant to be and found a Costa Coffee. Always good when you’re recovering from the night before. Looking on TripAdvisor again I found that I had missed some old British Church by the Independent Monument so took the long walk back and still couldn’t find it. However there was a Hop on/Hop off bus that most cities have where they take you round the city giving you the history and basically the layout of the place so you can get off when you want and find out more. Once on board I plugged myself in and just listened while going round all the stops. The place is fascinating and full of history but its a city that is so overpopulated and busy busy busy. On getting back to the hostel I had something to eat which was not as cheap as going out but was comfort food and I then decided that I was going to go to the Twin Towers which KL is famous for. A little bit expensive to get up to the top but overall worth it, plus I think I went at the right time as there are 2 stops on the way up, half way and right to the top. Half way was still daylight with the sun going down, so you could see the whole of the city in daylight with all the skyscrapers and by the time i got to the top it was night time and all the lights of the city were on and you could see forever just about. Spectacular is the only word to describe it apart from the little spoilt brats that were screaming the place down. The only problem I had was that the hostel told me it would be a 20 minute walk there, they lied! It was more of 45 minutes and although an easy route to take and not knowing the public transport I had the long walk back, bumping into the 4 British girls again on their way to the towers and getting back for another party night where I spent most of the evening with a beer talking to an Australian about my travels. After a while of telling so many people of where you have been on your journey it becomes a bit boring repeating everything again and again, but he seemed genuinely interested and asked questions that no one had asked before, so I happy to chat away.



Another hangover and another day in Kuala Lumpur and a trip to the nearest Apple Store as my iPhone 5 emergency phone had become damaged through the water damage and was not working as well. Due to the recent general election in UK the British Pound was strong so what better chance to get a cheap is new iPhone. Going through to the ‘exclusive’ area with all the expensive shops I managed to find the Store and get myself a little bargain although it took me a while to find the place. After a mother coffee shop I went back to the hostel taking in the sights on the way back to start the process of downloading everything I needed onto the new IPhone. With the wifi not being as good as at home, it took me most of the afternoon to do so, knowing that I had only one day to squeeze everything else in that I needed to do. So once everything was done I had to go out to get some fresh polluted air and grab some food, and by this time it was late so I succumbed to fast food and KFC. Not exactly the local traditional Malaysian food I wanted but was just as good! I thought about going up to the roof top bar but thought better against it so went to bed really early knowing that I would be running round the city taking as many photos as possible the next day.





Waking up late, guess I needed the sleep, but refreshed and ready to take on the world I headed out to another hot day and headed out to places that I had seen on the bus tour and take lots of photos to keep Facebook happy. I then headed towards the Malaysia National Museum and saw a sign for the National Malaysian Mosque. Checking TripAdvisor I found that I could go in as a tourist and was fascinating to learn about Islam. The place was so peaceful in a city that was so busy and was interesting to find out about how Islam is a peaceful religion and what they believe in, there was a lot of pamphlets explaining everything from food to sex! I spent a good hour just walking around the Mosque in a robe that I was asked to wear which just wasn’t my colour and a few selfies was taken. Not sure if thats allowed! It was then I has to go to the Museum. After spending at lest 3 weeks in this country I didn’t really know their history and culture. After walking around for so long I hadn’t realised the time and after being in the museum for only 20 minutes I had a guard ready to escort me out. I explained to him that I still hadn’t found out about the British arriving in the country so a quick run round the floors with him chasing me as I took photo after photo was comical. It did give me an idea of how the country became an Islamic place and why the British came here. However the main place that kept coming up time after time was Malacca. Having known about the place I checked on a map back at the hostel and thought thats where I’m going next as it was further down south and half way between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Perfect place to stop off for a few days. My lasting thoughts of KL is mainly of the hostel and the amount of travellers and tourists there were, the twin towers that are iconic of the country as a whole and that it was expensive, little did I know Singapore would beat that. Tickets booked and time to go….

---