BootsnAll Travel Network



It’s not the heat…

I’m definitely not in Kansas anymore. I left yesterday morning from Darwin for my four and a half hour flight to Singapore. The flight wasn’t very full so I had an entire row to myself and was able to lie down and sleep through most of it. The Changi Airport was very nice and luxurious, with tons of shops, restaurants, internet terminals, etc, so my four-hour layover went very quickly. I was surprised by the fact that getting through customs in both Singapore and Kuala Lumpur was much, much easier than in was in either New Zealand or Australia. It helped that I didn’t have anything to declare (in NZ I had to declare my hiking boots and in OZ I had some food with me), and they barely even looked up at me when they stamped my passport.

One of the first things I noticed in Singapore was the humidity. The second thing was the squatter toilets in the bathroom. Thankfully, there were also “regular” toilets as well. I know I’ll have to deal with the squatters soon enough, but at 8:30 in the morning after a couple of cups of coffee and a four hour flight I didn’t think it was the best time. One of the coolest things about the Changi airport was the indoor orchid garden and Koi pond. I’d never seen anything like that in an airport before. They even had regularly scheduled feedings for the Koi. It was pretty cool.

After a layover in Singapore, I boarded another flight for Kuala Lumpur. It was a short flight, less than an hour. Too bad too, because Singapore Air has a reputation for being one of the best, and they were indeed great. It would have been really nice on a longer flight. It was after touching down in KL and claiming my baggage, that I first realized things were going to be different. I was immediately hit on by the touts, asking if I wanted information, hotel bookings, taxis, etc. Although I really didn’t know my head from a hole in the ground at that point, I did know enough that I just needed to take the airport train into downtown and then catch the monorail to street where the backpackers were. So I politely declined any offers of rides and hopped on the train. The KL airport is about 50 miles from the center of town, and the train trip took only 28 minutes. So we must have been cruising along at about 100 mph. Every so often we’d pass a train going in the other direction and it went by so fast you actually felt it instead of seeing it. All you really saw was a flash go by. After the quick ride, I got off at KL Sentral, the main transport center in the middle of town. One of the first things I saw when I got off the train was a Starbucks, and the second thing I saw was a McDonalds. Go figure. I then found a tourist info desk and picked up a map and directions to the hostel I had chosen. I had to take the monorail to the hostel, and to get to the monorail station I had to walk across the street and car park through a covered walkway to the boarding platform on the other side. The entire walkway was lined with vendor booths, selling everything from food, to jewelry, to t-shirts. Not something I would have expected to see at a train station, but given the huge number of people (and tourists) that probably pass through there every day it makes sense.

I got off the monorail at Brikit Bintang, near what is known as the Golden Triangle, one of the main shopping and eating districts in KL. KL was warm, probably about 80 degrees, but it was the freaking humidity that blew me away. After walking around with my pack on (which I finally learned weighs 20 kilos, or 44 lbs) for a few minutes I felt like someone had just dumped a bucket of warm gatorade on my head. All moist and sticky. It had taken me a while to get my bearings, and by the time I figured out where the street was that my hostel was on and made the 2 block walk I was a sweaty mess. I knew I was on the right street for my hostel, but finding it was another story. All of the buildings were non-descript and somewhat rundown, and although I had seen a picture of the place, it wasn’t easy to pick out. I passed a small park and noticed a couple of security guards there so I asked them where it was but they didn’t seem to know. There was another guy there, a Scottish bloke, who did know who to ask though. Turns out his friend owned a pub down the street, and he assured me that he would know where it was. So off we went to the pub, and sure enough the owner knew right where I wanted to go. I asked him if he knew where the Travellers Palms was, and he walked outside and pointed at the building directly behind his pub. What luck! I walked around and found the entrance to the hostel, which as it turned out had recently changed it’s name and appeared to be doing some remodeling. It was no longer called the Travellers Palms, and was now the Punjangg Homestay. No wonder no one knew where it was. Anyway, I checked in and got settled, and by then I was desperately in need of a cold drink. So I went back to the pub for a cold beer and a bit to eat.

The pub was a funny place. It was an Irish pub called The Green Man. (Seems like every town you go to has an Irish pub. I wonder if when I go to Ireland I’ll find Karaoke bars?) The bar was full of ex-pats, mostly middle-aged white guys, and they all appeared to be regulars there. It reminded me a lot of The
Cooler Tavern where I used to work. One guy was driving a yellow Mercedes Kompressor, and another was driving a Triumph Convertible. The whole thing was a little surreal, and kind of humorous. I actually felt right at home.

I had to check out of the hostel at 4:30 AM to catch my flight to Kota Kinabalu, so I called it an early night at the pub and went back to the hostel to grab a shower and some sleep. This particular hostel was very small and fairly clean, so I wasn’t exactly ready for what happened next. In Malaysia it is customary to remove your shoes when entering someone’s home, so I had to remove my shoes at the door whenever I entered the hostel. As I was walking through the kitchen to my room I suddenly heard a popping noise and looked down to find that I had just stepped on a rather large cockroach. It was pretty disgusting, and yet another sign that Asia was going to be a little different. In spite of the cockroaches and the heat, I managed to get a pretty decent nights sleep and was up and out of the hostel at 4:30 AM. The monorail wasn’t running yet, so the only way to get back to KL Sentral was to take a taxi. I had estimated that the fare might be about $10-20 ringits (about $5 USD) so I was surprised when the cabby told me the fare was $40 ringits. I tried to negotiate a lower fare but he insisted, explaining that it was the middle of the night. I finally gave in and paid the $40 ringit. Later I had to laugh when I remembered that 10 ringits is only $2.80 USD and that I was only haggling over about $5 USD.

My flight to Kota Kinabalu went off without a hitch, and I arrived at about 9:30 AM. The airport was very tiny, and after I picked up my bags and went through customs I asked the customs officer where were the travel desks, information desks, etc, were. He said they were all outside, and sure enough when you walked outside of the airport they were all outside on the sidewalk. I found a little convenience store and picked up a cold drink and settled in to wait for Kristen and her friend Neil to arrive at 11:30.

Once Kristen arrived, we decided to just catch a cab into the city and find a place to stay for the night while we planned our trip up to Mt Kinabalu. The accommodations ranged from a couple of backpackers at about $20 USD a night to the five star Hyatt at about $84 USD a night. After walking around in the sweltering heat for a while, we finally decided on a small hotel called the Wah May Hotel for $120 ringit, or about $34 USD. It was small, but fairly clean and had air conditioning which was all we really wanted at that point anyway. We spent the rest of the day walking around checking out the sights and found a nice balcony bar for a couple of cool drinks. Tomorrow we’ll head up to Mt. Kinabalu National Park and plan our trip up the mountain.

12Drugs.JPG
Does Nyquil count as a drug?

13ChangiGarden.JPG
Orchid Garden in Changi Airport

14Koi.JPG
Koi Pond

15KKAirport.JPG
View from the runway at Kota Kinabalu airport

Tags: , ,



Comments are closed.