Kuala...a curious mix
Trip Start
Feb 01, 2004
1
12
44
Trip End
Jun 01, 2004
Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
Wednesday, February 11, 2004
We have had our first little glitch of the trip...
Number one: The express, air-conditioned bus to KL was neither! It was exceptionally hot, and full of fumes, and stopped whenever. The engine cover rattled every time we hit a bump...Paul eventually put his pack over it to stop the noise! We were grateful the trip was only a few hours...
Number two: We had left Melaka for Kuala Lumpur having received a confirmation of our guest house there just the night before. When we arrived, after a long walk from Puduraya bus station, they said they did not have the reservation and had no room at the inn
Chinatown
. They were neither contrite nor helpful.Number three: My body decided to break down a bit between here and Melaka. I have no idea what happened, but I ended up with (a) conjunctivitis, (b) many bad blisters on the feet, (c) an open wound on my head, and (d) a left ankle the size of a football. None of it hurts too much, but you can be sure I had Paul pour about half a bottle of Dettol on my head and check for various insects! Paul has been great about it all, bandaging and disinfecting. He says I have been a trooper, but I am afraid it has slowed us down. For those of you that know Paul's favourite saying about Doctor Paul...well, you know what I mean...
The guest house thing turned out to be fine for us, since it was a hole anyway. It just meant we had to explore a bit more, and check out a few places. We ended up paying a bit more than we wanted to. Then again, it is like people always advise you, pack half as much gear and twice as much money!
We are staying in the Golden Triangle area of KL and we like this city more than we thought we would. It is a curious blend of old and new. This is the business, shopping and entertainment district, home of the famous Petronas Towers and the Menara KL Tower. It was built up by the early tin millionaires and is now lined with impressive mansions ans embassies.
Oh, and we also had our first hot shower in 9 days...9 days may not sound like much, but it felt like a long time.
Food!
We have visited the famous plazas such as Sengei Wang...the area around it is a bit reminiscent of Time Square. The food continues to be outstanding and cheap. One interesting drink is teh tarik...a frothy, sweetened tea with added condensed milk prepared by inter-pouring the tea between two large pitchers. The height of the pouring is increased as it's pulled higher, supposedly smoothening the tea. The women in the Indian restaurants are amazing with how high they pull it! We have had some troube communicating no sugar (tanda gula). It seems no matter how hard we try, milk and tea and most everything else comes very sweet.
It is also interesting that no matter what time we look out the window...midnight, 3 a.m., 6:30 a.m....people are milling about and eating and drinking.
We also had our first close encounter with a KL sewer rat. I almost stepped on one in a back lane, and we giggled this morning as we watched from our fourth story room as one went in and out of an opening in the storm sewer.
We have purchased our tickets for the trip into the Cameron Highlands. We are fortunate that we have a direct bus leaving tomorrow morning at 9:00, so we should be at a tea plantation by about 1 p.m.
