Kuala Lumpur 17/10/07

Originally we planned to take the train up through Singapore into Kuala Lumpur then on up through Thailand into Bangkok, however we later discovered that you can also book luxury coaches that are cheap and faster than the train. So we booked seats to KL with a company called Aeroline. It is a shame more countries don’t have a service like this, it is by far the best way to travel through Malaysia, it was like flying first class (and this is saying a lot, because anyone who knows me well will know that I HATE buses. Many years of bus travel with Irish bus companies has left me bitter and mentally scarred for life. I in fact I could give you a big long list why, but I will only end up getting too angry).
When we got on the bus, I sank into my big leather seats, the seats recline back nice and far and there is also a foot rest that pops up from under the seat and you get an extra pillow for your head.
There was also a stewardess on the bus who came around with drinks and a tasty warm meal. The whole experience was very pleasant, we got to travel in a very luxurious cheap way and got to see some scenery along the way.
The journey to Kuala Lumpur took about six hours, we arrived in the center of town in the blistering heat. Fortunately we did not need to look for a taxi as this is never a problem in Kuala Lumpur. This is because taxis here don’t use their meter, they just make up a price in their head and hugely differs from driver to driver, so they are always on the lookout for tourists. Even when you are not looking for a taxi, merely walking along the street they will beep their horn as they pass and ask you if you need a lift, even if four of them in a row are passing you, they will each do the same thing.

Our hostel was right in the heart of Chinatown, in fact it was in the middle of the main street market street in the whole of KL. It was a bit noisy but a very nice enjoyable area to be staying in. The street markets would start at about ten in the morning and carry on till about eleven at night.

Street Market, Chinatown

After a bit of a nap, we arose from our bed with the need to fill our stomachs with some form of dead spiced animal, so we head out into the evening heat to find a restaurant.
After walking down the market street, we did not find any restaurant that took our fancy, and also Christine was on a mission to get some Laksa, so as we neared the end of the street, we started to approach the area where the taxis stop. We watched the taxi drivers excitement increase with every step we took in their direction, and as we approached the end of the street their excitement could no longer be restrained as they ran up to us to zip us off to wherever we wanted to go. (Somebody told me that the taxi drivers in Bali are just as enthusiastic as they are here, one time when he was exiting a taxi, there was already another driver pulling at him asking him if he needed a taxi).
So we hopped into a taxi and we tell the driver that we want to go for a good Malaysian Laksa. Taxi drivers over here are very friendly, it goes without saying that you are going to be ripped off, but at least they are very helpful and friendly while they are doing it. The taxi driver said he knew just the place, so he whisked us away and delivered us at the door of a big traditional restaurant. It was a huge place made to look as traditional as possible for the tourists, that it seemed to look quite fake.
Unfortunately we weren’t able to get Laksa as it was buffet only, but it did give us a chance to try out many different types of Malaysian food at once. We were lead into a large room full of tables and a big stage on one end, there was a show on of traditional dance with traditional music, but as we arrived late it was in fact just finishing.
The buffet circled the entire room, it was quite huge, it even had a large pig on a spit that was stuffed with spiced rice. The waitress showed us around and pointed out where to begin. We then grabbed some plates and began dishing up food. We were in fact the last people to arrive for dinner and much of the room was already empty, so the staff had plenty of time to watch in horror at what could only have looked like a pair of wild ravenous creatures that had just washed ashore after being stranded on a tree stump out at sea for an incalculable period of time, stuffing as much food (sometimes starters, mains and deserts all at the same time) in to their mouths as quickly as possible. Perhaps they thought that we were storing food in our mouths out of fear of being swept back out to sea on our stump. We realized after that our whole dining experience probably did not exceed twenty minutes, a good record by anyone’s standards I would think. This may also have explained why the place was completely empty by the time we lifted our heads out of our plates. At one stage Christine ate something that resembled pink maula that didn’t seem to taste of anything, thinking back now it was probably some sort of table decoration, but at the time of our feeding frenzy we didn’t think anything of it, however it probably added to the staff’s horror.

View from restaurant

After dinner we walked out and admired the view of the twin towers, and decided to take a stroll down to give it a closer inspection. It turned out to be a bit more than a stroll to get there but it was well worth it. The Petronas Twin Towers are the most impressive skyscrapers that I have seen, you never seem to tire of looking at them, especially at night. We sat there quietly for some time just staring at them and talking endless amounts of photos. We also went over to see if we could climb them, but unfortunately they close quite early and you can only go as far as the bridge.

Pics of Petronas Twin Towers

The next day, in my impulse to climb every high peak in the skyline, we decided to go up the KL tower. The walk up to it was quite tiring as it was built on quite a large mound, that took about twenty minutes to climb (later on as we left through the entrance again at the bottom of the hill we discovered a nice free shuttle bus that takes tourists to the top, but somehow we managed to walk by the three meter high sign with big red letters stating ‘free shuttle bus’ with a big red arrow pointing down at a small minibus)

KL Tower

After trekking to the top of the hill we walked into the main entrance at the base of the tower, where we purchased tickets for the observation deck 421 meters up.
We got into the lift, and as we shot up our ears began to pop. The elevator takes only 59 seconds to get to the top and when we got out you could almost feel the building sway slightly. The KL tower is the second tallest tower in the world only outdone by the Toronto tower in Canada which is just a few meters taller.
The view was spectacular, amazingly Christine did not seem too bothered about being up that high, after a good look around we returned to the safety of the solid ground outside.

Views from KL Tower

Next we went back down to the twin towers to have a look around the huge shopping center that was underneath the towers. After seeing about 300 pairs of pointy shoes I decided that perhaps it would be best to split up for a while, so we arranged to meet up in about an hour. After a good look around we went for some food in the foodcourt and head back out onto the street. By now it was dark, so again we sat outside just staring up marveling the tower.
We than head down to the main nightlife street for a drink, the street was full of large themed nightclubs, but as we were feeling a little Dutch we decided to go to a pub between the clubs to avoid paying a costly cover charge.

Street where all the nightlife is at

We sat outside the bar to remove ourselves from some awful karaoke going on inside, when the barmaid came over with our drinks Christine asked for the location of the bathroom, the barmaid nodded and disappeared for a moment and returned with a glass containing some form of transparent liquid with a wedge of lime in it and handed it to Christine. Christine peered into the glass looking puzzled, wondering if she is meant to drink it or pee into it. She decided to drink it and find the bathrooms for herself (we still don’t know what was in the glass or what the barmaid thought Christine asked for).After a few drinks we head back to our room, as tomorrow we would be heading on to our next stop Penang Island in the north of Malaysia, close to the border of Thailand.