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Published: August 2nd 2006
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Well, I felt like I should probably get a move on, so I left Singapore this morning and caught the bus across the causeway to the mighty country of Malaysia. Yay. I was trying to get to Kuala Lumpur, and you know how it is when you're in a strange country and have no idea what you're doing. I did my best to ignore the taxi touts swarming round outside the customs area -- it wasn't too hard because I couldn't understand what half of them were saying -- but then I got waylaid by one slick dude who convinced me that there were no buses leaving for KL from there, I'd have to go to the bus terminal instead. In my defence, I am new to the ways of con-men. So we get in his taxi and I am so sure he just drove round in a circle and took me back near to where we started. Anyway, got on the bus. The price printed on the ticket said 20.20 Ringits, it was stamped 26.95 Ringits, and for some reason I ended up paying 30 Ringits. I couldn't understand the explanation. I am going to have so much fun when
I reach a place where they don't speak English at all. The bus had the dodgiest suspension in the history of buses. The front continually bounced up and down like one of those tricked-out cars you see in the "music" videos of rappers, even on the smooth parts of the road. By the end I was feeling quite seasick. Now I know why rappers always act so retarded. The scenery was almost entirely restricted to oil-palm plantations. After an hour and a half there was a small patch of forest, then more plantations, then scattered mixes of forest and plantation. I think the Malaysian word for forest must be the same as for "undeveloped palm plantation". The ONLY birds seen from the bus were common and Javan mynahs and a swift of some sort.
Kuala Lumpur is insane. Either there are no road rules or nobody knows what they are. Zebra crossings aren't stopped for -- they don't even slow down unless there is someone actually on it already. I've almost been run over about four times already. I figured out, though, that the way to deal with the traffic is to just stride out into the road
like you own it and they generally stop. But hesitate and you're dead! In KL I found a backpackers called Anuja, where I am staying for 10 Ringits a night (about NZ$5). Its...alright. The toilets have little hoses next to them which I'm assuming are for use as "toilet paper". One of the toilets is actually inside the shower! (I later found this to be a common occurance in my travels, but at the time it seemed strange and unusual). I needed to change some travellers cheques, so I went to MayBank down the road who said they couldn't do it. I'd have to go to CitiBank over at KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre), which as it happens is where I needed to go anyway, because that's where the Aquarium is. I caught the subway over there; not as easy as the Singapore one, but its alright once you figure out how it works. At the KLCC station I came up into a mall. And got lost. I couldn't find my way out of it! I'm so stupid. Eventually I escaped the mall's evil clutches and made my way to Citibank, where they gave me money. The tap water over
here can't be drunk, so I bought water. Buying food every time you want to eat is bad enough but buying water really sticks in my craw. What's the world coming to when you have to buy water in a shop when you're thirsty?
Then it was off to the Aquarium, passing the Petronas twin towers on the way. They're pretty awesome, like a pair of giant silver spaceships towering above everything else. The aquarium is just called Aquaria. Admission is 38 Ringits for foreigners but as it happened they were having a half-price special for people born in August, which I was, and I had my passport because I'd been changing the travellers cheques, so I got in for 19 Ringits.The aquarium is fantastic, and very very flash. There are huge flat-screens everywhere popping up 'did you know?' messages and interesting information about aquatic life, and there are lots of interactive terminals. All the tanks are really snazzy, the first ones containing genetically-engineered glow-in-the-dark ricefish; electric fish (a mix of elephant-noses, electric cats, aba-aba, and royal knifefish, although the last ones aren't electric so I think they got confused with New World knifefish); and primitive fish (a
mix of freshwater stingrays, gars, bichirs and paddlefish). Then there's a row of tanks for baby hawksbill and green turtles which are being grown up for release. There is a fantastic hall of reptile exhibits, the prime specimen for me being the Malaysian giant frog Rana blythii; it was easily as big as a fat guinea-pig! Then there's a flooded forest area, with a huge cylinder tank for Asian fish (tinfoil barbs, clown knives, and giant gouramis). The tank must be 20 ft high, and at the base are pools for more fish and softshell turtles, including a 1.59m 136kg striped softshell Chitra chitra. That was pretty awesome. After that was the marine tanks. The tunnel is very nice, way way way nicer than Singapore's one (I gave Singapore's aquarium a miss this time. I might do that and the zoo and some other things at the end of my trip, because I have to head back there for my return flight). After that is a sort of discovery area with an 8ft fluorescing model cuttlefish and cylinder tanks with various bits and bobs, such as nautilus and (star of my visit) pineapple fish. They are so incredible!
What can I say against the aquarium? Well, not much. There was an unfortunate snake-posing area for getting your photo taken with a python, and there was advertising everywhere (like the huge "MARES just add water" billboards in the tunnel tank), and there were Malaysian flags everywhere which was kind of bizarre. They weren't on the walls, they were in the exhibits: in the tanks, even in strings across the marmoset enclosure. Just strange. And there were security guards all over the show. I don't know what they were there for, because they weren't stopping people taking flash photos or banging on the glass.
After the aquarium was done, I headed back into the dreaded mall where, yes, I got lost AGAIN, before eventually finding my way down into the subway station.
So that's my day, first day in Malaysia. Its too hot.
ANIMAL OF THE DAY: well, pretty much all I've seen are mynahs, house crows and feral pigeons, so I'll say "no animal of the day today"
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Ellie from KL
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31st Aug - Malaysia Independent Day
Hi Israel, hope you'll have fun in KL. You will see a lot more of Malaysian flags because August is our independent month. We will celebrate our Independent Day on 31st August. You seem to know fishes, why not going to the islands for diving or snorkelling to experience swiming with the fishes.