Journey from Phuket and all of Kuala Lumpur

Hi all,

We were expecting this post to be written from Singapore, however certain events (which you will soon hear about) will explain why we are still in Kuala Lumpur!!

06/02/08
So we last left you as we prepared ourselves to go and eat pizza as our last meal in Phuket before flying to Kuala Lumpur. The entire journey went extremely well (aside from some very close calls in the taxi en route to the airport and Rick's 7 pound excess baggage charge) and we arived safe and sound at Kuala Lumpur airport!! We managed to get on a coach that would "drop us off at our hostel". After the driver made many stops, at which nobody seemed to be getting off, various phone calls, it became very apparent to his 30 or so passengers that he really had no idea where he was going!! At the final straw we had spotted a couple of landmarks that had been detailed on the directions given by Hostelbookers after we'd booked our hostel. We decided that we'd go it alone from here on in!! After stopping to ask directions from a couple of people we eventually managed to find the hostel! We were very hot, very sweaty and had just spent 2 hours on a coach with a useless driver. We were naturally quite anxious to get into the room take our bags off and relax!! Not a chance!! We waited to check in and then we were eventually given our key. Still with our rucksacks on we spent 10 minutes trying to open the door before giving up and asking the receptionist to do it. After a bit of faffing it opened and she left! Rick then decided to take the valuables down to put them in the safety deposit box (which are just lockers with padlocks on them). All she could say to him was "I don't have a key". What on earth is that supposed to mean? Does she not have a key now? Will she have one later? Will she ever have one? What? Rick gave up and we decided not to bother them again with this "problem". More problems occured with the door as we still couldn't figure out the knack to opening it!! After another 20 minutes we sorted it all out and things were fine. We also came to the conclusion that if we had so much trouble getting the door open then any potential robbers would also encounter these problems and thus our valuables would remain quite safe!! In addition to this point Matthew had no clue how to open the door so Rick was in charge of the key for the entirity of the stay! That evening we had a walk around the local area, which happened to be the best place for cheap shopping and restaurants (the area was called the Golden Triangle). We found a bar/restaurant which served the cheapest Tiger Beer around and also decided to eat there. It was a Malayan restaurant and their cuising is like a fusion of different cuisined to make their own. We noticed on the way back that the streets were preparing for some kind of festivle, but didn't know if they were putting it up or taking it all down! Upon returning to the hostel there were a few lads playing drinking games with dice. The owner of the dice happen to be a very loud, care-free Mancunian called Daryl and loved the fact that this was "his game". We joined in and before we knew it, it was 1am and we decided to hit the hay!

07/02/08
At a reasonable hour we got up, got ready and were out the door in order to take in Kuala Lumpur (KL from now on!), which in the local tongue means "murky estuary/confluence". We headed first to the Petronas Twin Towers (due to the fact that we could see them!) and didn't need to use a map. Every now and then we just looked up, and then went left or right as appropriate!! After having a good look around we decided to see what the Mall underneath the Tower's had to offer. Imagine, if you will, the Trafford Centre in Manchester on six levels with all the designer shops including Armarni, Gucci, Prada, Channel, Tiffany's and Co., Davidoff, Jimmy Choo, Mikimoto and of coure TopShop and Marks and Spencers!!! We then decided that we would go and have a look at the KL Tower, which is the fifth tallest free standing tower in the world (the CN Tower in Canada being the tallest in the world). Upon arrival we made our way to the counter to get a ticket to go up. A lift takes you up 421 metres to an observation deck where you get a 360 degree view of KL!! It's a teriffic experience to be able to see so much from such a great height!! After this we headed back down towards the hostel to chill out a bit before looking for some food. We chose to wealk a little further than usual and ended up in a nice little Italian restaurant and we both had Ravioli! Awww. Again as we arrived back at the hostel, the lads were drinking and chatting and we stuck around a little to see what they had planned for the rest of their trip.

08/02/08
In the mornign we had a walk to the Petronas Towers to have another look around the mall and then, having decided the night before that the KL Hop on Hop off tour looked quite good, we went to the nearest bus stop to wait for it to arrive. They usually come every 30 minutes or so but ours was really quick and we only had to wait 10! After much deliberation we cose a couple of places to "Hop on and Hop off" on of these was the National Forrest which is the green belt of KL (similar to Central Park in New York but more out of the centre and smaller). We visited the National Monument which honours those who died in the First and Second World Wars and then wandered peacefully through a Sculpture Garden and the Lake Gardens. We then went up towards the largest enclosed bird sanctuary in the world and the orchid gardens. We didn't visit these but waited for over an hour for the next bus to come along!!! On the way back we had a 5 minute stop at the National Palace where the King of Malaysia lives (this is similar to Buckingham Palace as you can visit the main gates, poke fun at the guards who can move but not much else). We also had a 5 minute picture taking stop at Titiwangsa which is a park area which had the "Eye on Malaysia" (their version of the London Eye) and a theatre which had similar features to that of the Sydney Opera House. We then headed back to the Malaysia Tourist Centre (MTC) in order to find out if we could get a train from KL to Singapore on the Sunday. All was fine (which you will later see was not!) and we had chosen to get the 14:15 train. We then booked a place to stay in singapore for the Monday and Tuesday night and then went to A lebanese restaurant to celebrate a productive day!!

09/02/08
An early start for us as we departed for the Petrons Towers in order to queue up for the free tickets that allow you to go up the Tower's to the Sky Bridge between the two! When we got the ther queue was huge but moved relatively quickly. The system is that they give out the tickets to whoever but you can't chose what time. If you're first in line then you go up the tower first. Then at 15minute intervals after that with about 28 in each group. We were allocated the 13:15 slot. We only had to wait just over an hour so at half past 9 in the morning we decided not to stray far from the towers but have a wander round the gardens that they have. En route we noticed that we were passing the KL Aquarium so we scoped it out so that after we'd been up the Petronas Towers we knew where to come so that we could do the aquarium in the afternoon before we depart for Singapore the following day. At ourt allotted time we made our way to the Petronas Towers for our tour. It started with a short 3D film which introduced us to the Towers and the company that arranged for their building etc. After this all 28 of us walked into this huge speed lift that took us all up to the 43rd floor in just 58 seconds!! An average of 5-6 metres per second!! As the doors re-opened and our ears popped, we turned the corner to be confronted with a huge glass bridge (which has 2 levels, the lower one for the tourists and the second for the employees working in the towers). When stepping out onto the bridge our feet began perspiring and our hearts racing! We took in the amazing views of the ground which was a long way down!! The large panes of glass gave the feeling that there was no glass at all! Sudden realisation came back to the fact that there was glass when we noticed that there was a guy on the "wrong" side of the glass cleaning the windows!!! He was in nothing more than a metal bucket which he had no fear of leaning out of to reach bits that he'd missed!!! After various photos we made our way back down (again our ears popped) and out. As we chatted about getting back and chilling Rick had completely forgotten that they were suppoed to be going to the aquarium and Matt wasn't sure whether or not to mention it as we were both pretty tired. As we discussed this over our evening meal it was apparent that we were both really gutted to have missed it!! We wen't to a local Chinese restaurant with tables and chairs out on the pavement as we had been curious about the place throughout our stay! The food was delicious and very reasonably priced!! We then headed back to have a couple of drinks with the lads before we detaprt the following lunchtime!

10/02/08
The morning of our departure and we got up, packed and had our remaining Malaysian currency (except for 50 Ringgits each) converted into Singapore Dollars. We also arranged for a taxi to pick us up early enough to get us there with time to get our ticket and get the train. This was the beginning of our self-induced nightmare!! Upon arrival at Sentral Station we went to the tiket counter. Here you have to get an electronic ticket and wait for the number to be called. We didn't even need to wait around for our number due to the fact that the board said that there were no available trains to Singapore from KL until the Wednesday (you have to bear in mind at this point that it is Sunday and we fly from Singapore to Perth on Friday). Naturally a little worried we decided that we would try an alternative method of transport: the bus. Having tried to find out timetables using the 50cents we had left in Malaysian coins we found out that there was a bus for late Tuesday evening. This was better than nothing so we paid 1 Ringgit to get the Commuter train to the next station where all the busses leave from. Again please bear in mind that this is the hottest part of the day and we are carrying between 18 and 23 kilos each!! (To put this in perspective its around 3 stone and we only weigh 11 stone each) After departing to train we walked for about 15 minutes through heavy traffic and bustling crowds of downtown KL to the bus terminal. An intoxicating cocktail of heat, sweat, noise and food filled the air as we made our way into what can only be describle as hell on earth. The bus terminal was packed like a Bon Jovi concert. Yet again please bear in mind the weight on our backs and the fact that the packs made each of us two people in size!! After no more than 4 minutes the decision was to head back to the hostel we had left only 3 hours before and start from scratch! Another 25 minute walk across KL (again using the Petronas Towers at our lighthouse in the ocean of the crowd before us) saw us arrive back at our Hostel. As we entered the common area we were welcomed with comments such as "We thought you were on you're way to Singapore" and "What are you doing back?". We peeled our packs from our backs as the air conditioning was a welcome change to the blast of exaust fumes and bus radiators heat! They informed us that they didn't have any rooms left but that they had a sister hostel just five minutes round the corner. We chilled out for half an hour with a cold drink and a chat before we headed off to the new digs. They are nice and comfortable but again with a double bed! After settling in we made our way back to the Train station to arrange for the next available ticket which we booked for Tuesday morning at 8:15am. This would give us 2 and a half days in Singapore. With that sorted we headed back to our old hostel to watch a film with the lads and then to our new hostel to get changed and go out for food. We went back to the first place we ate (as we were very much ready for a beer after a stressful day) and as we arrive it had become very clear that the Chinese New Year festivities were about to begin. The restaurant had a perfect view of the parade and the performances so we decided to stay and have some food. We saw the Malaysian President and a variety of amazing performances of dancing and Chinese Dragons etc. As things came to a close we finished our drinks and headed back to see the guys at our old hostel one more time. They were just starting another film so we decided to stay and watch it with them before heading home and sleeping at about 2am.

11/02/08
Had a very welcome lie in before heading to the KL Aquarium!! Yeah!! Very excited about this following the mishap a couple of days earlier, we wandered through the streets with smiles on our faces. It seems that someone had a hand in making us stay in KL another couple of days (the Chinese New Year celebrations, that we would have missed in Singapore, the Aquarium, and the fact that KL is a lot cheaper to stay in hostels) so we embraced this. The Aquarium was great and we saw loads of different fish and wildlife. After the Aquarium we grabbed a bite to eat and then back to the hostel to update you all on our KL experience!!

So there you have it, We are pleased to have been lucky enough to have a couple of extra days in KL (someone was pointing us in teh ruight direction for that) but the Greek God of Digital Photo Uploads appears to have taken a dislike to us and will not allow us show you all the amazing wonders that we've seen in KL. We'll continue to work on it but we'll probably have to try again in Singapore. You will have approximately 250 to look through when we finally get it sorted!!

Take care all!

Love Matt and Rickxx