'Krazytown KL'

Windowless box room the size of two beds :)
see all photos »

18th Oct

Having been assured that there were frequent services to Kuala Lumpur, or 'KL' to anyone even vaguely asian, we winged our way via the trusty public bus back to Melaka Sentral and saw a bus practically leaving as we arrived but they ushered us on for RM9.40 (pound fifty) for a 2hr journey.

'This place gives a new meaning to 'organised chaos' and ignoring the fact i saw local mowed down by a moped and dragged lifeless from the road by his collar, Malaysia is a searing contradiction of rich and poor with poverty seemingly hidden by the towers...'

The legendary Petronas Twin Towers
see all photos »

At noon, as promised, we had arrived with the unmistakable sight of the twin towers greeting us. cool. The hostel we stayed at, Puduraya Hostel, was directly opposite the main Pudu bus station at which we had just arrived. For a bargain RM20 a night, we got the deserved cell-like twin room, without any of the luxuries of air con, attached bathroom or as it appears- the windows we had been used to...fine with me, this felt more like the kind of backpacking i was expecting, sharing bathrooms and fans; but it was cheap after the excesses of Singapore. Nice communal lounge, with pool table, pirate DVD facilities and cafe.

Wild, but docile monkeys in the middle of the street...
see all photos »

First thing we did in KL was to assure our exit from the capital, buying ourselves places on an 9hr overnight sleeper train to our next destination Penang Island, via mainland Butterworth (how malaysian sounding; though t'was an ex-British colony along with Singapore, Macau, and HK) costing a wallet-splitting 7 quid, its more about the experience...

KL was much busier than i had expected and more like the Bangkok atmosphere i was imagining. The touts stand in your way, asking you 'where you go' or 'taxi' and once you've talked your way past one, you are onto the next. i guess being a londoner im not used to it, but you become better at dealing with it and with time immune after the initial frustration. Town centre is overwhelmingly polluted mainly by the large number of maniac moped/motorbikes in town, and it was truly choking at times, standing behind a bus with no service history in a humid 31 degrees!

The pilgrimage to the Hindu Batu Caves
see all photos »

The petronas towers are as impressive as i had imagined them to be. an incredible sight after the mission to get to the KLCC station; an annoying aspect of the public trains/skytrain and subway is that they are operated by several independent companies so to get somewhere, you would have to change lines. BUT it isnt as simple as getting on the escalator to the next platform, you have to leave the station to find another vaguely near by and have to buy yet another ticket for the next portion! Anyway, this meant we must have been in and out of Masjid Jamek station like 50 times in the 3 days we were in KL. The free trips to the skybridge at the twin towers were all gone by the time we got there. Having said that, you need to get there at half 8 to have any chance of getting your hands on the first come first served prizes. THATS a warning to anyone wanting to go! thus decided to come back the day after 2moro for a go.

Masjid Jamek; muslim temple
see all photos »

Second prize was the Menara KL, which is the 4th tallest telecommunications tower in the world, for some awesome night views of town, though the photos came out pants. tried to blag our way to the revolving restaurant but it was long booked up plus i dont think i would have got in with my scruffiness. Met a fellow backpacker called Ben from Canada and not before long, he was bragging about the CN tower being number 1, though in true style, he has yet to visit it even though he's Torontonian!

Lush traditional indian platter
see all photos »

The mission to this tower is a story in itself. Crossing the bridge over a rather imposing multilane road, we witnessed a guy getting run over by a motorcyclist as he ducked out from behind the bus...so we decided not to watch as the guy was dragged lifeless by his collar from the road... and headed in the opposite direction. But, as luck would have it, the only opening to the golden triangle was the way of the accident. and having got told off by school kids as i tried a school entrance thinking it may lead us to the tower...we turned back and saw some wild monkeys in the road...randomness.

Best clothes shop name ever...
see all photos »

Food, unlike in Singapore, is not labelled in English but in Malaysian romanisations, so all i could muster was a plate of white boiled rice and some tandoori chicken for dinner at an indian food court. Could have done with some sauce to make it less like eating 20 Jacob wafers in a row - but i ate it well enough and it was very cheap...

Low and behold, when we get back, the charlton vs fulham game was being shown live. haha. On the pirate dvd screen: resevoir dogs, watched by your typical wavy blond haired, sandal ridden, tanned ozzy backpackers over fosters.

19th Oct

It was an oddly cold night considering it was fan induced, though i had a feeling the vent in the ceiling was spewing cigarette smoke...Today, we took a daytrip north of KL to the Batu caves, the sight of an annual pilgrimage of literally one million hindus. As well as seeing the amazing geography of the caves, climbing the 100s of steps for the cave ascent, sampling some traditional indian food (no Chicken Kormas here Sarah!), i also learnt a lot about the fascinating Hindu stories behind the different Gods id seen thru out life, such as Krishna, Shiva, Vishnu as well as Lord Muragan and the elephant headed Galasek...some imaginative displays depicted the stories. This place is well worth a visit if you can spare the time. In the rainy evening, we went to chinatown for some comfort Cantonese food - egg fried rice and noodles etc...and here, i helped Olivia barter for some fake Brietling watches; and from an almost tearful vendor, we haggled 3 watches for around 60 quid. ps, the lodge screened the whole first season of Lost on the pirate DVD screen and i swear, a few of the ozzies were there in the morning, and still there when i went to bed. i hope you guys are catching it.

20th Oct

Very Muslim place Malaysia. Woken throughout the night by the fasters (as its Ramadan) eating and making a racket :) As we went down for some brekky before the Petronas towers, news announced the sad death of the PMs wife and it appears she was a very popular lady and the mood of the capital was subdued. They rushed her to a funeral service THAT afternoon and it was broadcast on national TV.

The skybridge being around 1/2 way up was kinda spectacular but never reached the heights of menara KL; the tower we'd been up a few days back...thus a bit of an anti-climax after getting up so early for it. had a nice breakfast in the shopping centre below the towers, and viewed the impressive modern art exhibition going on there...dived into some culture by going to the national museum near central station, finding out some Malay ethnology and how they came to accommodate such a multi-cultural array of peoples.

Chilled out in the hostel, watching 'Road Trip' and surfing the net, as we had the long Penang trip tonight! on the way to the station, there was this mad lady beating up her luggage; like kicking and screaming at it and slinging it into onlookers. waited for the train to move before settling myself for a long night ahead indeed...in the back of my mind i was worried about ending up in Thailand...:S