Stage One: Complete (almost)

Flight Depart Arrive Depart Date D72516 Kuala Lumpur (KUL) Mumbai (BOM) Fri, Aug 5 18:05

So today we will move on to the next stage of our travels. We really have only a vague plan for India and not really too much time to do it in, but it will be an interesting experience. We are starting out from Mumbai and will work our way North up until Nepal, then we fly from Kathmandu to Thailand.

I know we will spend plenty of time on trains, which is really what I imagine from a trip to India, just sitting along, watching the scenes pass by.

Today I read about a couple or record stores in Malaysia, and two were in the same shopping centre. I went there and unfortunately they were both closed. However, one "Campbell's Music Centre" had this poster on the wall

A good album that one, too.

So I continued walking and I came to Bukit Nannas (City Forest)

From near the train station you can disappear into some bushlands, which is for one much cooler, and makes the city seem miles away. There are tracks that can take you right through to the KL Tower as well.

The paths are very well made too, and there are plenty of options to choose from. Now it's time to pack up our things and move on to the next stage of our trip.

The third and final change will be Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam before we return to Australia, then almost immediately begin a new adventure in Chile.

post at Backpack Forever

I mentioned that website Backpack Forever a few posts back. Here is something I wrote on there about our time in KL.

http://www.backpackforever.com/newsroom/east-asia/malaysia/3400.html

Kuala Lumpur

So we are onto our second day in KL, yesterday was really just the whole process of getting here and arriving, we didn't do too much more after that. We did see a lot of people with the yellow shirt of the national soccer team, I read in a paper this morning that they had a draw with Singapore, 1-1, meaning they lost on aggregate and are already out of calculations for the World Cup, which is on in a few years...

We are staying in a place called the Step Inn Guest house. We have our own room, a twin. It's ok, pretty basic, although we do have free wi fi. An interesting section is the bathroom (all shared), and you can find that the toilet and the shower are within the same cubicle....there is also the option to use another shower, which has one option, of cold. It's about 30 degrees most days, so that was the option for me.

Today we started reasonably early, with a plan of walking around. The man behind reception had given us a very detailed map and some good advice on where to go. Conveniently, we left that behind at dinner last night.

I have been to KL a couple of times now. Last year was my first visit, I had a couple of days on the way to London. Then as a matter of fact, only a few weeks ago I was here for the first ever Malaysian Footbag Championships. The links will take you to what I wrote about the previous visits. The first one on this here blog, and the second on the Shred Global footbag website.

Last night was pretty low key, by the time we arrived we were pretty exhausted, we just got some dinner not too far away then were in bed not too long after that. This morning we were up pretty early and made our way to the KL Tower. Once they let us know of the 45 RM fee, we were heading back down. The worst thing is the fact that you can't just buy the ticket for the viewing deck. I had been there before, so I could probably just bring out a picture from my previous visit....maybe I can do that later.

Here's the tower in question. It was pretty wet this morning, but of course it would be warm compared to the -8 we would have been suffering in back in Canberra. We wandered back down from the tower and given the fact you could eat about 10 dinners for the price of entrance for two, that was a good move at the beginning of the day.

We had a bit of a wander along and soon enough we were below the Petronas Towers. Francisca, an architect by trade in the past didn't like them at all, she said they were "too 90s". I was kicking around the footbag while waiting for something, and hit the tricky blurry whirl....this may become a feature of the trip....5 add tricks hit in front of famous locations??? However we're going around for a couple of months and it wouldn't be too long until I ran out of tricks at that level.

Anyway, from the Petronas we wandered in no particular direction, but it turned out the direction was heading off the edge of our map. It was only really a map of the central area of the city, but we stopped for a while at the National Art Gallery, had a look at some art, drank a freshly squeezed orange juice and then got back on the road again.

We also saw a cow....

Seeing cows in Canberra, that's not too surprising, and seeing the sacred cow in India won't be surprising at all, but in KL a pretty big city, I didn't really expect to see any cows....

After passing the edge of our map, we jumped onto the monorail, which was completely packed and headed to the other end of the line, KL Sentral. This was also the other end of the map, which we soon passed through into the Brickfields or Little India area. We ended up eating at a place called Gandhi's, a vegetarian buffet. The food was quite good and it was pretty cheap for a good sized serve.

We wandered in this area for a while, and seemed to just keep on going in circles. We were planning to walk back into the centre of town, but that was hard to do as we weren't really going anywhere. We got back onto the monorail to get us back into the thick of things, and now we are taking a rest back at the hostel, and will probably go down to the chinatown area once we are feeling rested.

Melbourne to London via KL

I just had myself quite a whirlwind adventure. Last year I went to Europe, I had a great time and decided that it would be an excellent idea to go again. Less than a fortnight after coming back, I had booked a one way ticket to London. Air Asia were doing a special and I got a ticket via KL for just $500. I had no plans in particular for what to do. If I saved up a bit of cash I could think about living and working over there, if I didn't manage that, I could just go for a short trip.

Having already been overseas once this year (to Papua New Guinea in February), I was running low on annual leave. I also didn't save a cent, so shortly before going I got my credit card limit slightly increased.

I had a couple of days in Melbourne before going and had a lot of fun there. I got to see the first ever game at the new stadium, a league test match between Australia and New Zealand. I bought some new books, which were incredibly unnecessary purchases, I was already weighed down by the bulk of too many books. I got to see a bunch of friends and drink numerous beers.

My flight left around 2am, not the most pleasant of hours for flying. When I saw that I had a whole row to myself I was very impressed. For such a low fare, I can't say I was expecting a lot. I got to get some sleep on the way to Malaysia, which was a good start.

For some reason I had a bit of energy on arriving in Malaysia. It was that mixed with the fact I knew I had a bit of time to kill, I played a little bit of Footbag. Here's a run from that day. It's was a short session, as it was quite hot, even though it was only early.


You can really hear the birds in the background.

I had a bit of a wander around the museum area of KL. I was looking at going to the walk in aviary which is not so far from there, however I had my big pack on and didn't want to lug it too far. In my wanderings I actually popped out to the street I was staying in. Unfortunately, it was a very long street and the hostel was at the other end.

I stayed in the BackHome hostel, which was excellent. I booked through HostelWorld, using the simple formula of choosing the hostel with the highest rating. This choice paid off, it was very comfortable and clean, yet not a big hit on the budget either. I went up the KL Tower to get some full views of the city, impressive to say the least. I had a meal from one of those street vendors where everybody eats with their hands. I hoped for the best that wouldn't ruin the rest of my trip through a food poisoning incident.

Malaysian street scene

The next day I dined at a vegetarian restaurant for my lunch. I had a mock chicken curry. The reason I went in to that particular place was that I wanted a small quiet place, and this one fit the bill. Alongside my lunch I had a delicious fruit drink. The fruit drinks over in Malaysia to a great deal to combat the heat and humidity. I rode the monorail a couple of times and took a look at the Petronas Towers. They are closed on Mondays, but I had no need to go up, as from the tower you look a long way down to see the Towers.

You can see the towers in the background, well below me.

Another late night flight, then I was arriving into England. “Welcome to London, it's one degree”. Springtime. The pleasant welcome continued with the immigration official. He wasn't impressed by me at all. I might note I had a fairly thick beard raging at this time. I resolved the next day to get a haircut and beard trim.

Eventually I got through, then went by bus into London proper. I had arrived at Stansted, which is a fair way out of town. I got off at Marble Arch and I was starving. I had gone down to the Tube station to see if they had any lockers, as I didn't want to drag my big bag around all day, but there was no luck there. Coming back up, the first place I saw was a KFC. Not a real traditional way to start the day, but it was some version of food.