6th – 8th June 2012
It was time to move on to Malaysia! Knowing I had 6 more days left to stay in SE Asia as I would be going to Australia as per my 2012 travel plans, I really wanted to leave Thailand after the immense that was the full moon party and check out Malaysia and Singapore.
Travelling for the whole day on 7th June, the worst day of travels literally as I got ripped off, held at knife point, involved in a drug trafficking ring and probably nearly got killed on the roads thanks to the manic driving of the minibus driver, I finally arrived in Hat Yai, with moments to spare to meet a few Canadians who had just gone through the same thing, we managed to board another minibus, late at night, to cross the Malaysian Border.
The Malaysian Border was really quick and easy. They were so friendly compared to their Thai counterparts. I felt much more safer being in Malaysia after the ordeal of Southern Thailand. The rest of the night was spent dozing on the bus and getting used to the self massaging chair and also ignoring the ice cold drips of water coming from the air conditioning unit above me. I hit upon an idea of putting my waterproof jacket hood up, only to have all the water that had been collecting there the whole time go running ice cold down my back. I woke up then!
One of the Canadians I met was also going to the same place as me in KL so we decided to stick together. I suspect more for her sake as we stopped to change buses, I tapped her on the shoulder to wake her. She carried on sleeping. Hmm. I shook her shoulder. She didn’t wake. I shouted at her. She didn’t wake. I grabbed both of her shoulders and violently shook her. She still didn’t wake…wait…is she breathing? I grew alarmed that I had a dead body of my hands and as a last ditch attempt, I lifted her out of her seat and really really shook her and screaming at her. She woke up. Phew! Allison said that she accidentally took 2 valium. Whoops!
Finally, we arrived in KL at 3am and finding our hostel just down the road, we crashed into their inner courtyard as we weren’t prepared to spend money for an extra night for 4 hours as the bus arrived far too early. I woke up in a bedraggled state and noticed many pairs of eyes on me. Oops, I must have crashed into the breakfast courtyard. One guy I met later, said he thought I was a victim of an unfortunate night out and couldn’t climb the stairs…thanks…I really did look like this? Cleaning myself up, I wanted to look respectable for a famous person I was about to meet. He is a travel blogger and one I had been following before I even considered travelling! It’s Tom Corey of TomarHawk! Check out his blog here – TomarHawk Travels
Having a great catch up, he offered to show me the sights of KL. maybe I shouldn’t have. He kept getting me lost….on an alarmingly frequent rate!
Taking the Skytrain or MRT (Mass Rapid Transport), you can go visiting many different sights around the capital city of Malaysia. Seeing as I was a bit tired, I decided to check out this sight I keep hearing from other travellers. A roller coaster. In a shopping mall. I like immensely. But after a few wrong turnings by Tom (I don’t know how he managed to survive travelling if he keeps getting lost ) in Times Square, we managed to sit down and talk blogging. We also knew with each other that we hit it off immediately, probably from ridiculing him and him giving it back.
We returned to the roller coaster. I really wanted to go on it. We arrived at the theme park entrance and checking out the albeit kiddy rides, I couldn’t justify the cost of entering the theme park for just one roller coaster ride. The Yorkshireman reared its ugly head. How dare he say no to roller coasters. Ah well, maybe another time. But it’s really cool.
There would be another time. I really really really liked the vibe of Kuala Lumpur and I was just more than happy walking around, people watching and seeing how stuff happens.
After walking away from the Petronas Towers, you need these in your skyline to navigate your way round, Tom showed me some places where you could grab some decent cheap food. It wasn’t happening yet but later in the evening, we could. Jalan (means road) Alor, as we went later, gives saliva inducing dripping down your chin kinda food. Slurp. I don’t think Tom was impressed when I nicknamed it Vindaloo Road.
Speaking of all this food and the fact we would be visiting the Petronas Towers later, we popped into one of the many 7 elevens in the capital.
I can’t believe I’ve not discussed 7 elevens yet. They are the equivalent of Tesco Metros back home but much better. However, I often feel very confused when I walk through the doors into the much blessed air conditioned shop. My mind suddenly goes into overdrive and scream ‘BUY BUY!’ and I would spend the next 15 minutes browsing through the stock only to approach the till, disappointed, with a can of coke ‘light’ (there’s no diet cokes) and leave the shop thinking I should have bought something. Why are 7 elevens so popular? I think it’s to do with the ham and cheese toasties that have on offer, and they know it. Often a time, I’ll talk to people first thing in the morning and I remark that it’s time for a healthy breakfast of scrambled eggs or muesli with yogurt and fresh fruit, but they turn round and rather get a 20baht breakfast of the ham and cheese toastie. There would be even a line forming at the till armed with the processed food goods. I did try one and I do admit it tasted nice.
But this time, I only had a packet of nom noms! Yes there is such a thing! So imagine what I think when I see food:
After checking out a few more malls to see how much the latest iPhone version costs (still far too expensive damn!) and becoming overwhelmed and claustrophobic of all the gazillion electronic shops flashing before your eyes, it was time to head back to our hostel for a good nap. I still hadn’t slept since my traumatic ordeal travelling in Thailand.
Taking the MRT, Tom discussed his experience in the Philippines (making me jealous) and also about his time working in Cambodia. Reading his blog really came to light as he talked about it in person. But we probably caused some annoyance to others on the MRT as we kept getting into stitches full of laughter rather loudly. The Muslim dominant people would often shoot us glances in order to shut us up.
Settling onto my comfy bed, I was going to be looking forward to check knout the Petronas Towers all lit up at night and also definitely not going to be realising that I would be doing a runner….
What did you think of Kuala Lumpur at first?
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