Kuala Lumpur Part One!

  Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Thursday, June 15, 2006

Got up to catch the 9am bus from Tanah Rata bus station,after getting some crunchie nut corn flakes in one of the chinese restaurants on the way down.Managed to sleep most of the way for once,and 5hours later turned up at Kuala Lumpur!Walked around for 20mins in the smog of the city,really hot and humid with clouds and surrounded by massive skyscrapers.Wandered into Chinatown and found the Backpackers Travel Lodge,used the student card I'd picked up on the Khao San road to get a discount down to 25MR per night in a prison cell like room,concrete with plaster board walls that rocked back and forth and the toilet up 30-odd steps to the next floor.
Went for a walk to try and follow a map and walked into and around the BB shopping mall,a massive shopping plaza full of clothes,cd's trying to find an England shirt to buy before the match tonight.Main reason of coming down to K.L before going up to Teman Negara was so I'd be able to watch the England game,but even the genuine shirts were 30-odd quid so managed to find a Liverpool t-shirt replica of the old Candy 1989 shirt!Surrounded by massive shops,K.L has everything,a Debenhams,Top Shop,Quicksilver and Guess shops, managed to get another memory card for 280MR which is a lot cheaper but the main clothes shops are about the same as back home.

Petronas Towers

Walked over to the Petronas Towers,tickets are free to go up to the 40th floor and walk across the sky bridge but close at 5pm and first come first serve.Walked around just gazing up at them,the tallest towers in the world!Like a futuristic space ship with metallic outside that reflects when the sun shines on it changing colours.Got lost trying to get back to chinatown,mainly cos of all the massive buildings and train tracks that sit above you for the train to zip around the city cutting through all the bad traffic and so had to get taxi back.Went to the Reggae Bar next door to the digs wearing my fake LFC shirt and two scousers come over grinning,introducing themselves by saying,"ay,alright gob sh**e!" Turned out to be Everton fans,Phil and Steve from liverpool just come from australia,sound lads real funny and watched England scrape a 2-0 against Trinidad with the red boys getting both goals.Stopped in the Reggae bar till 5am with couple of Swedish girls,the scousers and a few manc lads.
Woke up next day late so just wandered around town getting bearings so didnt get lost again,walked to the Menara tower,a telcom tower the 4th largest in the world.Paid 20MR and hopped into a lift which took 2minutes to get up to the viewing platform and made my ears go funny due to the speed and height.The viewing platform was awesome,a 360 look around the skyline of K.L with the sunsetting across all the skyscrapers and as it got dark watched the Petronas Towers nearby lighting up as people in the offices switched on their lights.

Twin Towers At Night

Got up the next morning and made my way to the Petronas Towers,getting the sky train,a monorail that can fly across the city for less than 50p,got to the Towers at 8.30am,as heard the tickets were free but had to queue early as they sold out quick.After hour of queuing got a ticket for 1.30pm so had bit of time to kill.

Ry at Twin Towers

then,a bloke comes up to me says welcome to malaysia,I see him later on in a different place walking with his daughter as I'm heading back towards the towers,he says oh you should come back to our house,my daughters going next week on a foreign exchange would you mind coming and putting her mothers mind at rest about england as shes worried about her going...i thought,hmmmmmm he said well wait for you out front after you finish your visit to the towers,so I planned to avoid them.Then im in a shopping mall waiting for the visit with a drink and get talking to a bloke and a woman from bali who are staying with family on holiday in K.L,they say after your finished you could come with us ill introduce you to my uncle whos house were staying then maybe when you come back to k.l you could stay for free?Still thinking maybe not as dont trust anyone when on my own!
So i finish the visit,and the old bloke and the bali couple are waiting for me just as I walk out from the towers,turns out its his uncle that I spoke to earlier.So against judgement i thought,ah well whats worst that can happen!Had heard a lot about Malaysian families being really hospitable and just offering people to come for a meal and hear about England,plus the bloke from Bali had been telling me about his surf school and how he could help me when I got there-so we get a cab back to their house,massive with nice furniture,the old bloke introduces me to his brother in law,sit me down at their dinner table giving me a slap up meal.The brother in law keeps saying "ah my son in england so i call you son when your here,you call me papa!" finish meal,making sure I got me bag and wallet with me all time,he says "ah i work at a casino,ill teach you how to beat the house!" so go to back room where hes got set up a card table,making it all seem like its all a bit of fun,every other word he says keeps saying,"my son!"then after teaching me black jack and how to read the dealers face,says i can go to his casino and bet while he teaches me how to read his hand and make hand signals and we can split the difference!?Im like,yeeeeeaaahhhh sure!then he says ah a arab bloke called mr razak comes to the house,hasnt got a clue about cards but has loads of money,if he gives me 100irnhgit can i play this bloke using his own money,then he can cheat with me and well fleece this arab bloke.next thing you know a knock on the door and his wife,like shes reading a script goes,,.,"ah you have a visitor,mr razak!" like its perfect timing!he comes in ,"it is I,Mr razak!" with a brief case and speaking like hes some dodgy actor.im thinking,hmm im playing with this blokes money here,but somehow this is a stitch up and im gonna get fleeced somehow so made my excuses and said i was off,but strange thing is he let his driver drive me back to where i wanted to go!?weird eh!?
The towers were massive too,up 45floors as you can only go half way up the towers due to security but then we walked across the skybridge,a see through glass walkway suspended 200 metres in the air linking the two towers.

Skybridge

Real bad thunderstorm started just as we were in the middle and legs went bit wobbly when saw thunder and lightening in the distance getting closer to the towers!

Skybridge Walk At Top Of Tower

Booked a ticket to get a 10hour bus and 3hour boat ride to Teman Negara National Park back at the g.h after an hour of trying to book the tickets direct myself but with no joy so up at 6am again to start another long journey to the jungle park!