Into Malaysia

Day One – Kuala Lumpur. Half the man he was

So today is a pretty boring travel day so I’ve decided to pepper it with (very) tenuous links to other stuff that we haven’t been able to share so far.

We weren’t due to be collected by Yani till 2pm where he would drop us off at the airport for our flight to Kula Lumpur so agreed a free extension with the hotel to allow us a laze around and have a late breakfast……

Speaking of food (tenuous link) a few people have asked us if we’ve managed to lose any weight through travelling. Despite eating healthily sadly it’s a NO for me. Keeping up with Glenn on carby daily beer and missing my 3-5 days a week trip to the Gym has meant that I’m starting to sport a beer belly! I could exercise more, I could drink less but who cares,  I’m on holiday!

Glenn, however, is a different matter altogether. We both noticed that he was losing some weight, particularly after his 24hr wrestle with the toilet in India. But it wasn’t until we were flicking back on the pics in our camera when we suddenly came across the below shot which is now fondly known as ‘FAT GLENN’. This was taken on the day after our arrival in Sri Lanka at the very start of our trip. What a bloater! (He’s blaming it on the camera angle by the way)

The next picture was taken in Myanmar approximately 10-12 weeks later, look at the handsome devil now! We’ve had to purchase new swimmers and shorts as his clothes were literally falling off him (and falling apart!). He’s maintained his weight since and rightly proud of his new found physique

We’ve had to delete a lot of the pics in the camera to free up the memory but not ‘FAT GLENN’ he remains and is now the first pic on the camera and helps us out in times of stress or bouts of boredom where we can flick back to FAT GLENN and have a giggle.

…..After being dropped off by Yani at the airport and some emotional goodbyes from him (he was truly the best guide we’ve ever had!) we boarded the plane and headed to Kula Lumpur for some change in food and a bit of sophistication, well compared to Indonesia it is.

We arrived at our hostel around midnight and was directed by reception to the nearest bar so we could celebrate our arrival and sample the delights of KL. Reggae Mansions seemed to be the nearest place which was a hostel with a bar roof terrace. We almost changed our minds when we were each handed a whistle when entering but it was late, we were tired and we wanted to stay local.

Sure enough the bar was full of drunken travellers blowing whistles, throwing shapes, singing karaoke and generally being noisy and enjoying themselves. We had an alcohol bucket type thing (de rigueur at the mansion) and decided to exit for home before Glenn clumped a rather loud obnoxious Englishman sat behind us.

Day 2 Kula Lumpur – Books and Bites

Today’s plan was to pick up a 2^nd hand travel book so that we could plan what we actually wanted to do in the 2 and bit weeks we had in Malaysia before heading off to Singapore for our flight to Oz.

After a late breakfast we went in search of a bookshop which unfortunately was closed so we decided to head down to Petaling Street (Chinese Market) to try our luck there and generally have a wander.

After strolling around the market and surrounding area we decided there was nothing we wanted/needed to buy and no sign of a travel book so ducked into a bar for some (ahem) shade. This was another Reggae bar but this one actually played Reggae music where some nutty bird was holding court at the bar. After getting over the price of a beer (compared to the rest of Asia) we had a few here until it was time to head off and meet up with Glenn’s friend, Gary,  who has settled in KL and now married with kids. (Tenuous link) So far KL seemed to be relatively Mozzie free but  I wonder if when you move permanently to a country whether mosquitos get bored of feeding off your blood supply after a while, much like a local?.....

We gave up counting the amount of mozzie bites I got after Sri Lanka! I seem to have the exact bouquet of blood type that Mosquitos love to feed off!  I can’t begin to count the pints I’ve donated over the course of the trip. The bites just seem to start wearing off when we up and move to a different location or country where the feeding frenzy begins again! Each country offers a different type of mosquito and therefore a different type of bite but I’ve had them all. Itchy ones, small ones, huge ones, ones that weep, welty ones, ones that sting and ones that don’t bother you at all.

Dusk and Dawn biting times my arse! I get bitten at all times of the day and night and have tried everything I can think of to keep them away, Citronella soap, nets, Deet wrist bands and spray, plaster things that you stick on your bum and other various sprays, potions and roll ons! They just seem to find that 1mm of skin you didn’t spray. Who knew you had to spray the soles of your feet, ear lobes, hair parting and naughty bits too?

Deet, whilst probably being the best prevention is the worst to apply! You come out nice and clean from your cold shower only to have to cover your body in greasy stinking suffocating grease. I gave up painting toenails months ago as it just melts the varnish. For two days I was sporting a huge red line down my leg where my Deet sprayed leg rested against a table leg and took off the red paint. I’m now on my second watch where Deet has melted the first and still the blighters get you!

Glenn has got bored with sympathising and does an “oh well, what can you do” shoulder raise thing after an attack. Equally, he doesn’t get much sympathy from me when he points to his 2 or 3 meagre bites compared to my triple digit figures!

….We arranged to meet Gary in the Bukit Bingtang area which was full of lively bars and eateries. It was actually his football presentation night. When Gary arrived both he and Glenn were soon reminiscing about Surreal Madrid (Sunday team they both played for) before heading in to watch the awards ceremony and generally getting trashed and heading back to the hostel for the night.

Day 3 – Books and Bins

Our hostel provided an area where you could help yourself and feed up on toast, cereal and coffee, provided in the price of the room. Feeling a bit worse for wear we stayed in bed till about 10mins before it closed before rushing down to have our fill before heading off again to look for a book.

We hit the pavement in 35 degrees in the shade with our hangovers and headed for the first bookshop, closed! Consulting our ‘around me’ App we headed on to the 2^nd bookshop, closed! The 3^rd bookshop was quite a trek, the other side of Petaling Market where when where according to our trusty app we had arrived, it turned out to be a party and balloon shop with not a book in sight!

The next shop meant re-tracing our steps past our hotel and then about 1k after that. 35 degrees in the shade, hangovers, you get the picture! (Tenuous link) Passing back though Petaling street I decided to buy a cheap pair of sunglasses as I’ lost mine the previous night….

You might say I’ve been pretty unlucky with sunglasses. Having lost 2 very expensive pairs the previous summer in the UK, I opted for cheap and cheerful fakes for our trip and glad of it! The pair I brought with me broke in Sri Lanka on the 2^nd day!

 I purchased my 2^nd pair at a night market in India for the equivalent of £1. It wasn’t till the morning we realised you couldn’t see properly out of the right lens! I suffered it for a while but finally gave in for fear of going blind or walking into incoming traffic and purchased my 3^rd pair, leaving my India purchase on a park bench in Myanmar for some unsuspecting victim to find. These worked well for a while but then started to stretch where if I turned around quickly or bent down they would fall off.

The 4^th pair purchased was in another market in the Philippines, the branding informed me that these 50p glasses were Prada no less! Shame the logo disappeared as soon as I cleaned them. I loved these ones, they fitted, didn’t let in a glare, didn’t look too bad and basically did the job.  Then that nutty bird who owned the hotel in Romblon out manoeuvred me and swapped her Dame Edna’s for mine! I tried to get by with the Edna’s but soon gave up as I was frightening small children and animals. Plus suffering Glenn’s smirks every time I put them on. This pic should officially be no. 2 on our camera, right next to ‘FAT GLENN’

The 5^th pair from another Philippines market lasted right up to Kula Lumper where I lost them on a boozy night out. To be fair, the only pair I’ve actually lost. So now on number 6, I’m averaging a pair a month! I still stand by my decision to buy cheap though, the total sum spent on my fakes is less than a fiver versus a £100+ swanky pair that actually fit, work (don’t let in glare) and make me look cool. Fakes all the way, much more fun!

…We trekked along blistering hot streets in silence in order to save the saliva in our mouths to find, yet again the bookshop closed! Don’t look for a bookshop on a Sunday in KL, they are ALL CLOSED!

We would have wept had we had any fluid left for tears! Hot, frustrated and generally fed-up we agreed to head back the 1k to our hotel where there was water, air conditioning and a very outdated travel book we could borrow (and possibly forget to give back).

Thirst quenched and cooled down, we spent the afternoon planning and agreed to go to the Cameron Highlands (we were told it was cooler there!), then on to Penang where we would decide our onward plans from there so booked a bus ticket for the following day. 

We didn’t venture out again until sunset! We were heading off to find a swanky rooftop bar (where I stayed previously for work, they were paying!) where you got a great view of the Petrona’s Towers but got waylaid by a waiter informing us it was happy hour. We agreed to stop here as you could see the Telecom tower. 1 ended up being 2 or 3 and when Glenn asked for the bill, I think the only person happy about the hour was the bar owner!

With our pockets considerably lighter we decided to for-go the rooftop terrace and took some pics of the towers from ground level before heading off to Jalan Alor (street food area) for some delicious food before bed.