Malaka and Kuala Lumpur

Location: Kuala Lumpur
Weather: Hot n'humid

Well I eventually left Singapore and got the bus to Malaka - the original centre of Malaysia. This wasn't a bad place, with a rather interesting history. It's where the Sultan used to live, where the Portugese and Dutch invaded and was finally in the hands of the British Empire from the 1800's until after the 2nd world war.

I stayed at a guesthouse called the Eastern Heritage, after running into the owner Mr.Yen at the bus stop. In town they had a nightly light and sound show, the ruins of a Dutch church and the wall of an old Portugese fort (which us Brits destroyed when we took over). The people there were also very friendly and helpful. On the first night I was walking back when I got hijacked and kidnapped by Mr.Yen, Neil from York, two Aussies and a Dutch girl and driven in Mr.Yen's car to a bar in the Portugese part of town where we met some of the locals, drank Tiger beer and played pool. What's crazy is those locals still speak a kind of 1600's Portugese!

Ater 2 nights in Malaka, I got the bus to Kuala Lumpur. I stayed in the Traveller's Inn in Chinatown, which is not a plush place and the surrounding area is one of those 'oh what a fun,interesting area' - YES TO VISIT but a chaotic dump to live in - traders selling dodgy DVD's, cheap nic/nacs, fake watches and t-shirts harrassing you everywhere, people all about cooking mystery meat and every space taken up so you have to walk on the ultra busy road. Through sheer luck, I discovered a train station and went to the excellent KL City Centre shopping centre(wish I had been staying there). This is also the location of the Petronas Twin Towers - my reason to visit Malaysia - the 2nd tallest buildings in the world(note:must go to Taipei sometime to see their tower) and I was not disappointed! Quite staggeringly amazing structures. One day I got up early and got a ticket to the Sky-Bridge between them - this was a good view of the city, but I also went to the KL Tower which was better, because the Sky-Bridge is only half-way up the Towers and the KL Tower is higher than this.
Other highlights were the Bird Park - that was cool - tons of colourful birds such as hornbills, eagles, parrots, toucans, an albino crow and ostriches(which I got to feed). I was seriously bitten by a big yellow hornbill and a miner bird, but I spose that was my own fault for putting my fingers in their cages. oh the Islamic Museum which was quite interesting. Being an Islamic country, there are lots of Mosques here and you hear their calling to prayers regularly, this museum had a load of Islamic artifacts.

10 Impressions - The ups and downs of Malaysia so far:
1) Road names change at random and signs in general are a nightmare
2) Everything is VERY cheap - You can get a quality 2 course meal + drink for two quid. Saying that I watch where I eat in this place. Also unless you're real hard-up for money you get your own room(it costs about 4quid a night) instead of a shared dorm(that costs about 1.50pounds).
3) Pirated software, CD's and DVD's(all the latest in-cinema films) are all the rage here! you can get anything you want for 5RM (about 80pence). How good is that.
4) The LRT train which takes you round the city, it's pretty good, except for when buying a ticket.
5) People - I've had a lot of comments from total strangers about my fine haircut, some trying to sell me some rubbish or other, others just being genuinely friendly. It's bizarre, it's a guess whether to trust anybody.
6) The Buildings - some are very modern, while others I would gladly dynamite.
7) Most things are half-finished, from the pavements to the Post Office system(they don't sell envelopes for some reason) to the railway ticket machines(which ALWAYS run out of tickets or change). It's annoying considering Singapore was the opposite...good preparation for London I suppose.
8) Most areas are cleaned regularly, but they still look dirty. KL is very polluted with the millions of cars that drive around, I think I've only seen worse in China.
9) The bogs - most of them you have to pay to use and goodness knows who designed them. They all have water hoses attached - still haven't figured out why! also they are fans of open-sewers over here - it is most harrowing.
10) Post Offices(my main gripe at the moment) and various other things shut at random times for random bank holidays - I'm only still in KL because the flipping Post Office was shut for some random day.

Note: I've also decided the 'Rough Guide' is nowhere as good as the Lonely Planet. It's maps are useless, quite a bit of essential info is left out and there aren't prices for hardly anything.

With luck today I should be off to Mentakab, to catch the Jungle Railway tomorrow, which goes to Kota Bahru. Then I head to the island of Panang, then to Thailand.

By JamesReed on 24.01.05 @ 08:11 AM GMT