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Published: December 3rd 2004
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Kuala Lumpa city centre
with the seemingly ever present threatening storm clouds overhead..... I can't believe its December already and I have been on the road for
nearly 4 weeks now. India already seems a long way away and I do miss
it, all the challenges and the people and the mice, but it is good to be
here in Kuala Lumpa. I arrived on Saturday morning after a flight via
Singapore airport. On the flight I was more than happy with Singapore
airlines when they offered me some wine, after 3 weeks of just the odd
beer it was very welcome - I think that's the longest I've been
without wine since I left University………So I jumped at the chance of a
warm glass of chardonnay, and then to complete it all I discovered a
classic episode of CSI (Crime Scene Investigations - a Morrish road
favourite thanks to Miss Peel) on one of the channels on my mini TV,
so I felt very much at home on my bumpy flight and sat smiling and
teary eyed looking like a loon for most of the flight.
a life of luxury
Hazel was there to meet me at the airport, I nearly got run over in my
excitement to cross the road,
I've not seen Hazel for years and to see
a face from home all the way over here was fantastic (listen to me.
I've only been away 3 ½ weeks, imagine how I'll been in a couple of
months!).So we drove along as I looked around and appreciated the
serene roads in comparison to the madness of Delhi and marveled at the
lack of constant horn beeping. We arrived at Hazel and Margaret's
apartment and I could have wepted. It is a gorgeous three bed roomed
apartment on the 13th floor, all marble floors and huge windows. I
have a lovely squishy bed and there's a TV, DVD player and video, oh
and a couple of outdoor swimming pools, a turtle and fish pond, a gym,
tennis court and on-site masseuse….. I think I can cope with this for
a while. After my long bus and train journeys and cheap hostels in
India, this was a very welcome change.
That night we went off to a Christmas (?!) party, complete with tree,
Christmas tunes on the stereo and mulled wine. I didn't manage to keep
going for very long though, what with the heat and the sleepless night
on
my hosts in KL
the lovely Maragret and Hazel the flight I was shattered. How is it that when I'm on a night
flight I look around after about 30 minutes and everyone else seems to
be fast asleep and look really comfortable and I have to spend the
rest of the flight watching every single film and TV programme, and on
this occasion even ended up playing the very lame computer game called
the claypots or some such nonsense.
Anyway my plan for KL (as everyone calls it out here) is to relax, lay
by the pool (although the constant thunder and lightning storms makes
going for a dip a bit of a gamble….. it has been stormy every day so
far, with a few sunny bits in-between and a never ending heat), watch
a few films and generally not do too much. I am making the most of the
luxury I have out here and that I will all too soon have to leave
behind again. We went off to a night market on Sunday night and bought
various oddly shaped fruits and some very tasty chicken satay and
sticky rice cakes - looks like the diet may have to wait a bit longer
again.
I was planning to head on up to the Cameron Highlands for a few days,
there are some good walks in the hills up there and some beautiful
gardens and tea plantations, but things have changed a little bit.
Margaret got some very sad news from home on Monday and so she has had
to fly back to Canada so I am sticking around with Hazel instead and
we are planning a couple of day trips for the weekend instead. Hazel
was fantastic and spent all day sorting everything out for Margaret's
flights and was a real star. Margaret was really sweet too and said
that she was glad I was here to keep Hazel company. It is just a real
shame that I don't have longer to get to know Margaret; she is lovely
and really welcomed me into her home.
I love spiders me
Also, and not that this has anything to do with me not going to the
Cameron Highlands anymore you understand, but they are host to a whole
variety of VERY large insects as I found out at the Butterfly park the
other day. You are directed through the door marked EXIT and
my little turtle friend sunning himself
no 6 storey drop for him to fall off thankfully..... then
without any warning you are in a room filled with varies insects and
bugs. One of the first glass cases my eyes rested on was, of course,
the spiders. I nearly reacted very badly but I took a deep breath and
the hypnotists mantra came into play 'I'm perfectly calm and spiders
are safe', so I sidled up to the wall mounted cabinet and even touched
the glass case, whilst whispering to myself about how calm I was (I am
not sure I looked particularly calm to anyone viewing this scene from
the outside mind you….). OK, so the spiders are dead and pinned to the
wall, but before my course at London Zoo I would have been running
from the room crying like a baby at the sight of so many HUGE, hairy,
scary…I mean wonderful, magical creatures of nature. Ahem. As I read
the labels explaining where each one was from I realized about 80%
were from the Cameron Highlands, including the 'Bird Spider' which was
the size of my hand. More worrying were the Scorpions and the foot
long cricket type thingies. Oh, I can't wait to come across some of
these things in the wild
monkey in a tree, looking at me...
for a bonus point can anyone name the artist of the above song (it might not be the actual title)??? Dave Boy - my moneys on you. or scurrying across my pillow - bring back
the mice!
KL seems quite similar to Singapore at the moment, a new city with lots of high rises and all very clean and nice but not much character, a far cry from Delhi. I've had a wander around the centre of the city and am going to go and
head up the 88 floor high towers, that were the tallest building in
the world not so long ago - the Petronas Towers. I was meant to do
that the other day but got sidetracked by the enormous amount of
massive air-conditioned shopping centers everywhere. I had a very
surreal moment in a coffee shop where all the waiters were wearing
Santa hats and Noddy Holder was belting out his classic Christmas hit.
It is very strange to see anything christmassy whilst the sun is
beating down and I'm thinking about my next dip in the pool.
I know I am going to feel so incredibly home sick as it gets nearer to
Christmas, I would love to pop home for dinner round at my folks and
maybe watch a spot of Saturday morning kitchen in bed with my Ma
on a
Saturday morning or head into town for a few bottles of wine and then
maybe be dragged on to to some late night bar where I can fall down
the stairs on my exit - because of the heels Dan, nothing to do with
the wine, nothing - and then maybe head back to the flat for some
late night stupid hat dancing, perhaps rounding it off with a broken
toe or two - ahh, happy days!!!
lie back and relax
Well I am off to explore the local park/jungle area now, will
hopefully get a few more pics to put on this entry while I am out. I
am feeling very relaxed after my two hour massage yesterday, not that
it was that relaxing at the time. He was a masseuse from Thailand and
very, very firm handed. He started off with some fantastic head
rubbing and I was as happy as a cat and probably purring for all I
knew, but then he started to hit my head and things kind of carried on in much the same way
from there. I could feel the bruises appearing as I lay there
listening to the looped CD of classic songs such as 'Puppy Love',
'Yesterday' and something that sounded suspiciously like the theme
tune to 'Last of the Summer Wine', all done in the style of soulless
elevator muzak. But the results today were well worth it, and all for
under a tenner, not bad!!
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Emma stuart
non-member comment
feeling better
Thanks,after reading your account i feel better about travelling to kl (I leave in Dec just myself and my 8 year old son)you,ve given me a good insight of what to expect,and ideas on what to do.