Archive for the 'Kuala Lumpur' Category

Koh Tao to Kuala Lumpur to Singapore.

Published on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 in Koh Tao and Kuala Lumpur. 0 Comments

After a few more days on Koh Tao, with no diving on the last few, we boarded a ferry to take us to Koh Samui, where we were to transfer to the airport and be whisked to Kuala Lumpur. Life’s easy for the modern traveller. Our flight was slightly delayed, and about fifteen people boarded the rickety forty seat aircraft for the hour and a half flight.

Our flight was aboard a Dash 7, operated by Berjaya Air, flying from Koh Samui Airport to Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport. It wasn’t as dodgy as it sounds, and we arrived safely in Kuala Lumpur and after painless immigration and customs formalities we were in two taxis to down town Kuala Lumpur.

I’d booked a few rooms at the Classic Inn, and was pleasantly surprised. It’s a very clean, friendly, well priced, and well located place. That night we had a curry from nearby, watched the end of the Singapore Formula 1 race, and got to bed quite late.

The morning brought a catastrophe: I was sick. Really, really, really sick. Think running to the bathroom every five minutes sick. So sick that I stayed in bed for three days feeling miserable. I’m not sure what caused it. We’d all eaten the same food at Koh Samui airport, the same curry in KL, and the same samosas that morning on Koh Tao. The only thing I did differently was drink a glass of lemon juice in the departure lounge. Anyway, everyone else met up with Kelvin and Abu and much merriment was had. Our Irish friend Brian even joined us after a day or two.

Kuala Lumpur is a bit of a blur, but after a few days I’d recovered and was ravenous. I found my way to KLCC, and to a food court contained within, and then found myself ordering two serves of nasi lemak in near perfect Malaysian. I’m more than just a pretty face!

Kelvin took us to the Batu Caves, and wisely waited down the bottom smoking cigarettes whilst we trudged to the top, dodging evil monkeys and runaway children charging down the stairs. It was hot, but well worthwhile. It’s a very spectacular place.

Finally, we were due to depart Kuala Lumpur and travel to Singapore by bus. We could have flown, but it costs the same and takes the same amount of time and is far less convenient. So, we booked a five hour passage with Transtar and left early in the morning. It was a nice bus – Wifi on board, computer games, TV, reclining seats, and so on. We even had a somewhat edible food service!

Kuala Lumpur.

Published on Saturday, October 11th, 2008 in Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia. 1 Comment

I’m in Kuala Lumpur. I Arrived here on Thursday from Singapore. If you’re flying Tiger or Air Asia to Kuala Lumpur any time soon, watch out for the airport. The Low Cost Carrier Terminal is in the middle of renovations, and it’s an absolute mess. It took me about two hours to figure out where the bus to the city was (around the corner at a temporary bus stop without any signage) but then I had to fight my way back inside the terminal through the “exit only” doors to get a ticket.

Yeah, it’s Asia.

The place I’m staying at is pretty good. It’s in the guest house ghetto in the Golden Triangle, and it’s close to the monorail. I met a couple of American girls and an Australian guy yesterday morning and we wandered around the city, eventually visiting the top of KL Tower. It was alllllright – great views across the city.

Last night I met up with Kelvin and his girlfriend, and we went out for a while but had a relatively early night. It’s his girlfriend’s friend’s birthday tonight so we’re heading out, and I’m cutting my 4 days at this guesthouse short to stay with them for a while. Apparently it’s not easy to get from the party back here at 4am… yikes.

Today I found my way to the shopping mall beneath the Petronas Towers and bought some clothes – I needed shorts, and a nice shirt. The mall is huge, and full of all the big designer labels, but some cheaper department stores as well.

Check out my photos from Kuala Lumpur here.

Right now I’m sitting under the umbrella outside in the rain, eating 1 ringgit worth of roti and chicken curry from the place next door. Order through the fence!

Kuala Lumpur is interestiing. Not as clean or as pretty or as orderly as Singapore, and the rain lasts longer and is far more intense. It’s more hot and more humid, too. It’s nice, though – after the rain the temperature drops significantly.

I have to hang around here for another few hours before Kelvin comes to pick me up, and there are a bunch of people inside hiding from the rain watching some Harry Potter movie on the enormous plasma TV, so once the curry is gone I think I’ll join them.

Kelvin is taking me to the Batu Caves tomorrow, and then on Sunday I depart Kuala Lumpur for Kuching.

Oh, and for what it’s worth I actually can spell, it’s just that typing on this tiny laptop keyboard can be a little problematic and th weblog software has a unique method of spell checking that is far too much trouble to use…

To Kuala Lumpur.

Published on Thursday, October 9th, 2008 in Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia. 0 Comments

Right now I’m sitting in the budget terminal of Singapore’s airport, waiting two and a half hours for my flight to Kuala Lumpur. I’ll be there until Monday, when I head across to Malaysian Borneo, and more specifically to Kuching, the capital of the state of Sarawak.

I did meet up with my friend the other night, and we feasted on black pepper crab and prawns in the chilli crab sauce (cheers Tim!). We just made the last train on the MRT… if you were at Clarke Quay MRT station on Tuesday night, we were the two whiteys taking four or five steps at a time and running madly through the station. Sorry.

The walking tour of Little India was interesting. The group was smaller, which was good – but bad because the other four people on the tour were all older, camera happy women. I tried to disassociate myself from them when all four were blazing away with their cameras – that kind of thing isn’t for me, so I don’t have many photos from the last day or so.

Little India is a very interesting place. As the name suggests, it’s predominantly Indian in population and services, although there is, as always in Singapore, a large Chinese population. The streets are narrow and crowded, the smell of spices and vegetables and goods emanate from the shop fronts,  it’s noisy and chaotic, dirty by Singapore standards, but fascinating. The tour took us from markets to spice shops, temples to shrines, down the back streets to an Indian confectioner, and a textile shop sponsored by the Indian government that sells goods made in India by people who wouldn’t otherwise be employed. There was nice stuff to buy everywhere, but maybe when I’m back here in four months time…

I met a couple of English guys (G’day Ben and John) on the roof of the hostel when I was doing some work, and we ended up hanging out for a while. Our crowd of three turned in to five, a Qantas 747 pilot and a Swiss guy joined us for a few beers and an awesome curry in Little India.

Anyway… I need to wait for the check in counter to open, and I need to get some form of breakfast (at 1pm – slacker), and I need to find a way to insulate myself from the annoying Australian and English kids who seem to have picked the row of chairs I’m sitting on to climb all over.

See you in Kuala Lumpur!