Kuala Lumpur Days 7/8
So the train was off and I had about eight hours left before the arrival to KL. I actually was able to fall asleep for a good amount of time, only waking up when the train made some abrupt stop or the attendant for the first class births knocked on my door.
This next story is quite bizarre and actually a little scary. So one of the workers who looked Singaporean, wearing a pink shirt, early forties knocked on my door originally before the train left Singapore and didn’t speak much english. I asked him what he wanted and he just stared at me. I was like “what’s up buddy,” and after a few minutes of him just starring at me, he goes “you need phone?” I’m like no I don’t need phone, bye. He left the doorway and that was that. Well I thought I had heard the last of this dude, but in the morning he did the same thing. I got a knock on my door very early, and there he was again, in the same pink shirt, starring at me. This time though he said nothing, he was just starring profusely. At this point I was getting a little freaked out. He then said the same thing “Do you need phone?” I was like no I don’t need phone, what do you want? He then goes “I love you.” I’m like “what,” he says again “I love you.” I was like great, goodbye, and after him starring at me more he left. From that point on I was a tad freaked out. I had no idea what game this dude was playing, what angle, but I gathered up my stuff, repacked a few things, and if I heard another knock, was definitely not opening it up for anyone but the police!
So we finally arrived in Kuala Lumpur like three hours late. I did my usual routine of finding the nearest cash machine, taking out the amount of money I tried to budget for my three-four days in Malaysia and then had to find out where the hostel was. I might have thrown out the paper with the address on it in Singapore, so I was forced to buy a phone card and luckily still had the paper with the email from Number 8 (the hostel), and got through to the manager. He gave me the address to give to the taxi driver, and the dude eventually found it. Apparently they have this system with taxi drivers where it is a flat rate from public places and tourist attractions. It is really crap because instead of using the meter where the fare will be half the price, they just tell you 10 dollars take it or leave it. Well at this point, just arriving, and not aware of this tourist trap, I paid ten bucks (which is less than 3 USD) and got to the hostel.
I then realized next time that I would walk to the closest public main road, find a cab, and just tell him “meter, meter!” I arrived at my hostel but the room wasn’t ready as expected. They had previously told me that the room would not be ready typically till 1PM, or sometimes a little earlier. So at this point I had several hours to kill, so I threw my stuff down, picked up a guide book in the library for travelers to use, took out a page I photocopied from the library and planned out where I wanted to go.
I enjoy going to the chinatown district of major cities, especially in Asia with all the Chinese influence spread throughout. So I found out where the Chinatown was here in KL and headed off there first. I noticed that there were some temples and shrines in the area, and knew that there would probably be good food, shops, stalls, and most likely a vibrant area. After getting direction from the dude at the desk in the hostel, I was off and hoping to not get lost and be able to find my way.
The dude gave me a little map, drew lines and gave me landmarks to look for, and actually got me there without having to backtrack or turn around! I was shocked in myself, as my sense for direction had been lacking the past few days early on in Asia. I got to chinatown fairly early (around 1115am), so not all the stalls were open, but I knew by 12 they would be, so I decided to check out the two temples in the area first. The first temple I stumbled upon was an old Daoist temple about 190 years old. I walked in and incense were burning all over the place. Apparently the Daoists pray with these long and really nice and relaxing smelling incense. So I walked around, took a few pictures (only a couple so I didn’t completely act sacreligious and then walked over to the table with the incense and other things to buy. I asked how much and the guy said 1.50 for 36. I said excellent, and bought a pack. He told me to light three incense at a time and put them in to a pot in front of a shrine and wave it up and down before and after. So I lit about 12 and did it three times. I thought they were really cool and nice smelling, so I bought another pack to take pack to America with me.
After the Daoist temple I found myself at a Hindu temple. It was really cool, with really interesting paintings and marble creations all along the rooftop and throughout this rather small temple. I walked around, observed the locals praying, took a few pictures and was on my way.
It was creeping up on 1145 and I was hungry. That was convenient because I was in Chinatown where the food is plentiful, with a plethora of options to choose from and most importantly dirt cheap. I went to a few stalls picked up some things here and there and after it was all said and done I had paid like 4 Malaysian Ringdits (about 1.20) and was stuffed.
After lunch, I had to think about what I wanted to do now, I looked at the time and noticed it was closer to 12ish, so I decided to head back to the hostel to check in, so I wouldn’t be late checking in, risking losing my reservation and be stuck with no place to stay. I walked back, not getting lost, checked in, chilled out, checked the email, and then decided that I wanted to hit up the famous Kuala Lumpur Bird Park and the KL tower. The bird park is famous because it is the largest enclosed bird park in the world. You can walk in to tons of areas where the birds flightless and capable of flight and just be one with them and have an opportunity to observe them. Similar to the night safari in Singapore, except all really cool birds!
Right off the bat I met people to hang out with. It was this really nice Pakistani couple, and oddly enough my second Pakistani couple of the day. I had previously met a couple on their honeymoon on the train before arriving in KL, and chatting with the wife for a little bit about KL and stuff. So the current Pakistani couple was really nice and we met when I approached the husband (I think, maybe boyfriend), to ask him to take a picture of me in front of this nice waterfall/entrance sign to the park. He said sure, and then asked for me to do the same with him. From then on we decided to walk through the park together so we could take pictures of each other (hold the jokes), and enjoy each other’s company. We casually talked about where we were from, what we did, why we were in Malaysia, etc. The typical traveler’s chit-chat. The park was excellent, giving it a 9 on the scale. At one point I was able to pay 5 MR (or about 1.40) for an opportunity to take pictures with live birds of my choice! I picked some really cool owl and a large multi colored parakeet. I was hoping that Tariq would take good pictures, and just had to have a little faith with him. The pictures turned out excellent, I was really happy with them, and if I wasn’t so damn sweaty and nasty, I would probably print them out on snapfish.
So at the end of our journey through the park, Tariq offered up his email and we exchanged emails. We had both acknowledged the nice time we had with one another, and wanted to keep in contact. I gave him my email, and we parted ways.
My next task was to find the cheapest way to the KL tower. Since the public road was really far down the mountain/hill, I had to do some bargaining. After speaking to this couple from Canada who were waiting for their bus to come, she informed me that no place in the city should cost more than 5-6 dollars per trip. I found that interesting and realized my earlier suspecions were correct in that the taxi coupon stand was a huge ripoff, basically charging you double or more for the ability to get a cab at your destination.
So I walked around, scoped out the taxis and tried to find one leaving the park and heading off. I was unlucky and after twenty minutes decided to walk to some dude standing at the bus stop, who was clearly a driver looking for a fare. I told him I wanted to go to KL Tower, he said 15, I said no way 10, he said ok ok. Even though it should have been 7-8, I figured that 10 or less would be good as it was probably rush hour in the city. Well it was and there were huge traffic jams, which is not atypical for KL at all. Everywhere there seems to be a huge traffic jam. People drive crazy here, don’t obey the pedestrian walking symbols and basically just cross at their own risk. The taxi driver like most of them, chatted it up with me, asked me where I was from, yada yada, heard the usual stuff, and finally made it to KL Tower, and paying ten was well worth it (less than 3 dollars) due to the amount of traffic and time it took to get there.
Tags: Travel
Josh
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