Becpowell's travel blogs:
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I love the Petronas Towers
Entry 3 of 7 | show all | print this entry |
Day 125 - Yesterday I reached breaking point with budget accommodation and by 7:30 I was out of that s**thole, shouting at Gobi to shut up and give me back my 5RM deposit as he tried to convince me to stay and power walking my way towards Swiss Inn. At 150RM a night, it is excessive, but necessary - and thank goodness they had a spare room... but not until the afternoon. I dumped my bag and feeling happier already, went for breakfast.
I stopped at a street stall and had char kway teow, which had all sorts of bits and pieces in it - including something I am certain was an ear... too small to be a pigs ear I really can't imagine what animal it had come from! That's twice I have felt physically sick in the last 8 hours (the first being when I went to look at my view from my guesthouse window last night). I then wandered around Chinatown and despite taking delight in the elaborate entrance of the Hindu temple and the art deco central market - something of which has become somewhat a fetish since Phnom Penh - I found Chinatown itself to be a little disappointing after Georgetown, lacking character and identity (yet the excessive male attention remains). I continued to the Colonial Quarter and passed through Merdeka Square - 'the heart of the city', which is an interesting demonstration of Malaysias heritage, with architectural examples from all past conquerors. Today the square was full of people doing a fun run.
Wanting to get to the Golden Triangle, I tried to find the Putra LRT station near Little India and a lady stopped to show me the way... and then continued to talk to me, finally inviting me for lunch and being far too forward I made me excuses and shot off down the escalator! The KLCC station leads straight into a rather lovely mall, and after spending some time there I went out to find the Petronas Towers and I confess, it did take me a little while to realise they were above me on top of the mall! I found them so impressive and absolutely stunning and although I'm not that found of KL, it was worth coming to just for them. Sadly the weather is grey and drissly so I didn't spend too long there, hoping it will improve tommorrow. I came back to Chinatown, traversing the city easily - one thing about KL is that it is easy to get around and compared to the London tube, the KL Light Rail Transport is very easy to use and I can orientate myself around the city no problem (apart from that slight blip at the Petronas Towers!). I had won ton mee for lunch - a Chinese-Malay dish of shrimp dumpling broth, mee noodles, barbequed pork and fresh greens for about $1.
After walking through the market in Chinatown and seeing nothing especially unusual, I checked into the hotel and spent a little while enjoy its cleanliness and figuring out how to turn the air con off (give me a good old fashioned fan anyday). I walked to Puduraya bus station to sort out a bus ticket to the Perhentian islands. It's one of the busiest I have been in, with hundreds of different ticket counters representing different bus companies and people everywhere. There are helpful men scattered all over with walkie-talkies trying to grab you and send you in the right direction, but it seemed noone in Malaysia has actually heard of the Perhentian islands! After a while we got somehere with Kota Bharu - a nearby city and I was directed to a counter, where I had another confusing / amusing conversation regarding logisitics, since the bus leaves from another station in KL. Eventually I left with a ticket for the night bus tommorrow and piece of paper with the name of the station on it!
For dinner I had curry mee at a hawker stall - its useful not to be fussy when it comes to food in Malaysia, as you never know what each dish is going to come with - this time it was a fine combination of muscles, tofu and pork on the bone! Since it was still drissling I spent the rest of the evening making the most of my room and hot shower!
Day 126 - Today is a beautiful day and I was so get out and make the most of the sunshine and blue skies that I had had my free breakfast and checked out by 8:30am and was on my way to my favourite place in the city... the Petronas Towers. I felt quite the pro on the LRT using the automatic ticket machines, while everyone else queued at the counter. It was rush hour so with the aid of my London tube experience I squashed on the train. I went straight through the mall and had a fantastic view of the towers with blue skies behind and nobody else around - it was almost like I had them to myself. Afterwards I spent rather a long time enjoying the mall and then wandered around the nextdoor park and had the unexpected pleasure of more amazing views of the towers.
Late morning I tore myself away from KLCC and walked to Menara Kuala Lumpur - the fourth tallest telecommunications tower in the world and the only thing comparable to the Petronas Towers in height on the KL skyline. It cost 20RM to reach the observation deck and the views from the top were incredible - you could see the whole city and mountains beyond and I was so lucky to have such a clear day. The view of the Petronas Towers was amazing and I found myself gawping in awe at them, as it's only from a distance that you can see just how tall they are. I had to have a bit of a fight with rude Malaysians who kept pushing me aside to takle photos of each other in front of the towers - honestly they were relentless! I then found a seat and sat there for a while taking in the view until I was completely ready to leave!
I caught a taxi to Little India for lunch and similar to Chinatown I found it much less atmospheric than Georgetown. I got some laksa at a stall and it was so spicy that despite trying to keep my head down, I could feel people looking as I started to sweat, my eyes watering and nose running! I managed half a bowl and declared myself full, walking back to Chinatown for a cream cake and ice coffee in the one and only air conditioned cafe.
Spent the rest of the afternoon on the internet and talking to my bank on the phone, reactivating my account - yes that's right... they managed to close my account without any warning leaving my stranded halfway across the world, completely alone with noone to lean on and no money!
I then wandered around for a good half hour trying to find a restaurant I could settle in without being stared at! Everywhere I go in KL I have an audience of men looking at me, and I'm so fed up with it - I will happy to go somewhere I don't feel I have to watch my back all the time! I ended up in a Chinese-Malay joint and had their speciality dish of claypot pearl noodles, which is mince pork and yummy thick noodles... and a raw egg cracked on top! Unsure quite what to do in this situation, I mixed it in and hoped the food was hot enough to cook it before having a taste. I was really really good and I overate as a result. The problem with ctaching night buses is that you check out of the guesthouse in the morning and then have the whole day to kill without anywhere to go and relax, so I went to the airconditioned cafe, and despite being far too full already, had to order something and so settled on an orange juice (you also spend a lot more money)!
As I was killing time, I decided I may as well do it at my favourite place and so caught the LRT to KLCC to see the Petronas Towers lit up at night - they looked incredible! Outside the back of the mall, loads of people were sat watching a fountain display, with the Towers in the background, whereas inside the mall was buzzing with people shopping and eating out. I nipped back to the hotel to get my bag and caught a taxi to the Hentian Putra bus station. I had to bargain quite strongly as the taxi driver was asking double the local price - Nathan in Georgetown warned me that the Chinese taxi drivers tend to do that!
Despite being smaller, this bus station was even more chaos than the central one - more cramped and much less organised. I had arrived rather early and so sat on my bag, not really sure what was going on and all the announcements were in Bahasar Malaysian. The ticket man seemed to take pity on me and took it upon himself to collect me when the bus arrived! Turnedout to be quite a luxurious coach - only three seats per row, loads of leg space and even a bit of Louis Armstrong in the background! I did feel a bit concious of the guy next to me as I hadn't showered since earlier that morning and after being in the heat all day I was feel rather smelly. Thankfully (?) an even smellier man came and sat nearby, and so will hopefully take someof the heat off me!
As we were pulling out of the station, the bus in front miscalculated the corner and started reversing into us! Once on the highway we pulled over so the drivers could have a halfhour long discussion. Despite the nice bus, I could not sleep at all, due to a combintation of neck cramp, really irratic driving and the guy over the aisle from me snoring - as if to rub it in that he was sleeping perfectly!
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