Kuala Lumpur Days 7/8 continued
To go up to the observatory was a little expensive, but I figured that it was one of the tallest towers in the world and just something I had to do. So I begrudgingly paid the fee to go up, and took a look around. I took many photos of different angles of the buildings and skyline of Kuala Lumpur. It was pretty cool to head up there, and even got a photo with the Petronas Towers in the background. After the KL Tower (aka Menara)I was absolutely nackered. The heels of my feet were burning, due to the amount of time I have spent walking in my flip flops, and I was hot and tired. I was also stuck at the top of this massive hill, had no idea where the monorail station was and really did not want to fork out another 5-10 for a cab fare. I then saw this woman sitting alone, and asked her if she was waiting for the free shuttle and where the shuttle took you. She responded and told me that the shuttle took you down to the hill, I said good enough, let me wait with you. She was from NOrthern Ireland, didn’t have such a thick accent and was traveling with her boyfriend for two months around asia and australia. She was by herself because her boyfriend was sick and was just out enjoying the sights.
She asked me where I was going I said KL Sentral Station, she said that she was headed there too and she would show me how to get there, sweet! So we chatted it up again typical backpacking traveler chit-chat, but I had already met so many different people today alone, that it was pretty cool to keep it going. We finally arrived at the station to take us to KL Sentral. I needed to book my ticket to the Gesting Highlands, some entertainment city on the top of a mountain about an hour outside of KL. So I picked up the package for 26 MR, which included the skyrail return, bus return and entrance to some outdoor theme park. I thought it would be cool to do something outside the city, and see some sights outside of the hustle and bustle of a big city. So after booking my ticket, I had already said adios to the girl from Northern Ireland, and I decided to take the monorail back to the hostel and again try to avoid taking a cab.
I knew the station to get off at, and while I had directions from the manager on how to get to the hostel from the station, I was in trouble. I got the first one correct as I made a left at the Macdonald’s after crossing the street. Now after that I had no idea, I couldn’t find the KFC to turn right, nor the 7/11 to turn right again. I think the dude meant to say turn right at the Macdonald’s because depending on where you come from the station, it makes a difference which way you turn. Also the directions started off my saying “after you exit the escalators,” which there weren’t any of at the station, so I knew this would be interesting.
I walked and walked, no KFC, but found a market, where I picked up two dvds cheap, Blood Diamond and Casino Royale. It was 16 MR, and actually worked great! So I was happy about that detour, but at this point I was so tired and hot that I really just wanted to get back and take a shower and relax. I finally realized after making a few turns that I walked past the street I needed, figured out where I was and made it back to the hostel.
I put my crap down, slipped in a movie and stared at my incredible disgusting, raunchy and dirty feet, while watching Bond. I watched it for about 15 minutes before it kind of froze (of course during the best scene of the whole movie), but I was able to fast forward the movie only a few seconds, and we were back in action. I only watched for about 17 minutes because at about that time in the movie this girl walked past me and towards my room. Now there was no one else in the room except for the person below me and I knew that the others were all checking in at the same time, so she had to be one of my roommates. I walked in the room said I was staying in the bunk above her, and we started to chat it up. She was from Sweden (blonde hair, blue eyed Swedish girl, naturally) and had just come from Australia, traveling and working, and had also worked in London before that. I told her I had spent some time in Australia and she was so excited and wanted to talk all about where I went, what I saw so on and so forth. After talking for about thirty minutes, she mentioned that she was meeting a British girl she met in the hostel, Laura to go to dinner, get some drinks and head out. She invited me to join her, I said sounds good, took a shower, and we were off. We wondered around looking for the best stall to find some quality cheap food. We eventually found a place, had some food, and then it was off to find a bar or pub. After walking to several, due to the crazy price of drinks, we found a place where we could get some pitchers for 36MR or two for 59. We decided to indulge in a few pitchers and sit back, talk and get ready to go out. It was about 4 beers each from the two pitchers, so for 5 MR each (1.50) I got four beers for my 20 MR, not too shabby!
After that we decided to go to another place that we had seen before that had advertised for ladies free drinks all night long. Little did we know that they were setting us up for a bait and switch type move and that there were ladyboys performing as well as bands. It was interesting. So we sat down real close, the girls ordered drinks, I ordered a beer (we were just going to split my drinks three ways to make up for the fact they were getting free drinks all night. When the bill came the fight was on. The bill was for 41 MR, and we were like what about the free drinks. The deuschebag waiter in broken english told us that they were not free, that we had to order off some special cocktail menu, get our drinks upstairs to get the free drinks. Of course when Laura had asked about the free drinks and menu, they said they didn’t have one, but what they really meant was that it was upstairs! So we got up and went upstairs to talk to someone else who spoke English. While Laura was negotiating with some bartender telling her the story, I got a little heated with the original waiter. He tried to say that we were trying to screw them out of the bill, when in reality they were pulling some bait and switch crap. He then told me that since I was from America I should know how it went. At that point, my blood pressure rose about 45%. I had a few drinks in me, and being from America, had nothing to do with anything. That is not how we do it in America I responded, and then he goes “it’s only 41 MR, so cheap for you.” I’m like that’s not the *expletive* point, its the principle of you trying to screw us because we’re tourists. Eventually, Laura convinced the dude to give us the drinks for free (including my beer), and that we would be able to get free cocktails for the ladies (Laura and Clara – the Swedish girl). They gave me some money for the few beers I had and got me one on them as well which was nice.
It was like 1230 and we were ready to hit the clubs. Yes, I know, Josh “hittin the clubs,” is usually not a phrase used often, but hey “when in Kuala lumpur?” Not sure if that works, but hey I was going to try. So Clara and Laura knew of a street full of bars, we picked one called Aloha and the girls got in for free, threw me some money for the entrance fee and we were all set. Again the night got weirder as on the main floors there was a Mr. Aloha competition, not exactly my cup of tea. After dancing on the side of the stage, Laura found out from one of the locals that the real fun was downstairs. We headed downstairs to heart throbbing, house and techno music. I hadn’t really been to a club such as this in quite a while, but I also loved the music dating back to my times with Suri in the staiche, crusing around lakeville at 90.
We found a spot on the floor, the Laura grabbed a drink, and we started rocking out. It was a lot of fun, it was loud, good music, all locals, a few prostitutes, and a lot of smoke and strobe lighting. The strobe lighting was so cool, I had a nice buzz going from all the beers I had before, coupled with not drinking like this since Singapore and only really three times since finals ended, I was doing well. Now normally lots of people, and strobe lighting gives me a headache, but I was comfortable, enjoying the club, and just danced all night. We left the club at about 3am, Clara and I, and left Laura who wanted to stay. I was virtually falling asleep, we had already had last call, so I was just sitting around waiting to leave. Clara noticed that I was tired, she was tired, so we left, and told Laura we wanted to go. Laura said to just head off, she would find her way back and that was that.
Luckily for me Clara knew how to get back from the hostel. At that time at night, with little money on me, and really no idea where I was, getting back by myself would have been real hard. Overall this was probably the best night of the trip early on. I hadn’t danced and gone out like that in a long time, so it is always nice to let it all out once and a while.
We got back at about 330AM, I forgot to rent a blanket, but I had no problem falling asleep after this really long first day in KL. Unfortunately I had to be up at about 815 to get ready to go to the Gesting Highlands and start my second day in KL!
Stay tuned for Day 8 (2nd day in KL) and the rest of my time in Kuala Lumpur in the coming days.
Thanks,
Josh
Tags: Travel
Josh
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