The Wonderful World of Kuala Lumpar

After a month on the beach we were ready for some urban adventure. Never one for strict and rigid plans when on the road we penciled in a week for KL and went from there. Several things happened to change this:

People make places what they are and Reza's continued presence was well worth investing some time in. The Hostel le village that we found was also full of interesting people and had an atmosphere that was very welcoming. Pirate DVDs, Art, and Music were liberally watered with free tea and water making this a place hard to leave.

Mine and Chantelle's taste buds make quite a lot of our decisions for us. When they are happy we are happy and in KL they were ecstatic. Rotti became our new staple and every back street offered an new gastro experience. It is a very multicultural place where Malay, Chinese and Indian cultures and food collide. The resulting food explosion is one to marvel and embrace.

The other thing making alot of decisions for every traveller is the budget. KL is very good to the budget. It invites it out to movies, shops and restaurants for practically no cost at all. Make no doubt that in KL you can live it up and still have some change.

There is one thing however that you don't really go out and do in KL in you care for your budget and that it drink. There is a very strong Muslim culture and they are not that keen for you to get your naughty hands on cheap beer. We had just spent a month indulging quite freely in Chang (until we found out first hand that it is basically poison), Tiger and Singha so some time off the beers was welcome. We also later found out that Whisky and Rum from the 7/11 was very affordable so when the desire arose we quenched it this way.

When we felt the need to put on tourist hats they was enough to satisfy also; waterfalls, the petronas, the worlds largest open air aviary, free swimming at the Hilton and some interesting jazz at the philharmonic. We also ventured to Molakka for some famous Satay and I shook the prime ministers hand. A 4 hour bus ride to us to the Cameron Highland for stunning tea plantations, learning the blow pipe with local tribes, and the 2 hour trek searching for Rafflesia (the worlds largest flower).

But I guess the main reason we stayed so long was that I got an acting job. I saw a poster and basically got in on the colour of my skin, my gender and my exquisite accent. I was to become a POW in a 6 part documentary/drama called Burgess. It was called 'akinabalu' which means people of the mountain. I had been caught stealing rations and spent the entire time in a cage festering in my own excretions and pain. I died, had a funeral, got beaten, begged for water, and screamed in agony throughout my 6 days on set and had an amazing time.

We left KL for Siem Reep Cambodia shortly after filming finished. And as they say in the industry

is a wrap.

Joseph Davies 07/05/10

Getting to Malaysia or How to Destroy all the Advantages of a Sleeper Train in Several Easy Steps

The best way to travel from southern Thailand (Koh Phangan) to KL Malaysia seemed to be get to the train station Surit Thani and go through the night, arriving early the next day at your destination. Due to the nature of the sleeper train they leave late in the evening as most people get their sleep in during that time. To get to Surit Tani required a very choppy and exciting long boat ride from Haad yuan, the amazing bay in Koh Phangan that we stayed at over the full moon/new years eve period - it was the first time they coincided for 30 years. Koh Phangan is the home to the infamous beach party which in many blogs and stories would take prime position, in our story lets just say we went, we saw, and then we went some where much nicer. We got absolutely soaked and luckily our bags that were filled with electrical goodies (lap top, camera, dj equip) did not. This is a moment when sun glasses double up as a retina screen for your eyes against the salt water assault. 

Next a tuc tuc to the ferry and a bus from the ferry port to the train station. When travelling in South East Asia is it important to remember that anything that can go wrong probably will so we left early. Of course as we left ample time for errors it was the smoothest set of transfers possible in Thailand and we arrived 10 hours early. 

Punctuality is underrated by the young, they believe it is a virtue of bored people that don't mind being lonely. It is a different story for adults and those in business. They have a personal interest that could and probably will be adversely affected by persistent lateness;

Interviews - no jobs given out to those who turn up late for interviews, think first impressions. Current employers  - warnings are swiftly followed by removal. Finally and probably most importantly friends - older and wiser people have fewer and therefore stronger friendships that they value more. Even Louis XVIII insisted that “Punctuality is the politeness of kings”.

Punctuality and being excessively early however are different. Imagine a world where turning up hours early for everything was expected, nothing would ever get done unless it could be whilst waiting for something else. You would have to spend even more time with your colleagues but out of a work context. This could however lead to closer and more tightly knit groups, surely leading to happier and more productive work places so maybe...............Don't be ridiculous!  Back to the train station. 

The advantages of the sleeper train are as follows:

1. You get to save money on that nights accomodation and therefore can deduct a nights accomodation off the price of the ticket

2. The act of moving from one place to another (also known as travelling) is very time consuming,  as is sleeping. The night train offers you a chance to kill 2 stones with one bird. 

This muddled up saying just about sums up how our night train experience failed to live up to any of its potential advantages. Arriving this early meant that no time was saved at all. Also as we had a border crossing during the journey they woke us up at 5 and made us fill in forms, answer questions, pack up, move and check through are stuff. It was impossible to stay half asleep though this process as you might when going to the toilet in the middle of the night but at least we could go back to sleep when we got back on the train. Wrong. They had packed up all of our beds and turned them into normal seats so that more people could get on the train. Hooray!!! Reza our travel companion quickly transformed his seat back into a bed with a speed that optimus prime would have been proud of. In the time it had taken me to force my sleep deprived mind into calculating that this would be a good idea and then putting the plan into action the guard had appeared. His words could easily be misunderstood and could have afforded an opportunity to claim ignorance and return to bed making and sleep but his tone assured me that the seats would remain as they were. The story tape (it was actually an audio book downloaded onto my ipod but my Mum brought them into my life and they will always be story tapes to me) came to my rescue and Chantelle's size (she can actually lie down on the seat) came to hers. 

We all lived happily ever after in KL. 

Joseph Davies 29/04/10