Kuala Lumpur
We arrived in Kuala Lumpur, or KL as everyone persists on calling it, at 4pm after a satisfactory journey. We had begun by getting the scenic but slow boat out of Taman Negara, and then a shuttle bus to the uninspiring town of Jerantut. There we were told by the tour company that we had been dropped outside that their non-stop bus to KL for RM35 each, leaving at 1.30. Well aware that this was an extortionate price, we asked for a lift to the local bus station. After several people had lied to us about the availability of buses to KL, we paid RM5 for a local bus to Temerloh, and 10 minutes after arriving were on a RM7 bus on to our destination. So we arrived half an hour earlier than the tour bus and paid less than half the price, which made us feel extremely smug. The other bonus was that the English couple Hayley and Richard (who had traveled with us to Taman Negara) were also on our bus, and Hayley's chatting kept us entertained for most of the journey.We had been warned that budget accommodation in KL is pretty shoddy and so were at first pleasantly surprised by the guesthouse we chose to book into, Le Village. It has a cosy lounge area and the room was clean and presentable, although the bathrooms weren't great. It was only really when we tried to get some sleep that we found the catch; all the rooms on the first floor were basically boarded off sections of the lounge, and the walls stopped about a foot below ceiling level. As a result there was absolutely no sound proofing and every word anyone said could be heard in every room. Unfortunately Le Village turned out to be the sort of place where people like to stay up getting drunk all night (which we can't afford to do on the price of beer here!) and then sleep all day. Coupled with the fact that it was very hot, I got almost no sleep and by the next morning couldn't stand the thought of staying another night. So Chris very nobley went and checked out several other places in the area until he found one which at least had proper rooms and air con (if no windows), and we relocated. After the first place the Red Dragon Backpacker's Hostel seemed like a palace, with the added bonus that it was located in an old cinema which I thought was very exciting.
Having got off to a bad start we weren't sure we were going to like Kuala Lumpur, but it turned out to be an enjoyable visit. Our second hostel was in the centre of China Town which was a cheapish place to eat and had a bustling market. From there it wasn't a long walk to any of the places we wanted to visit although the crazy road system did try and thwart us at times.
As our first day got off to a slow start we thought we'd take it easy and do some of shopping in one of the numerous vast malls; many of the clothes we brought with us had fallen apart and we wanted to buy new ones at Asia prices. Having successfully crossed off most of the things on our list we headed to the Telecommunications Tower, also known as the KL Tower, to watch the sunset. This is either the fourth or fifth tallest tower in the world; the different tourist information sources seemed to disagree! With our budget in mind we avoided the revolving restaurant but spent two and a half hours on the viewing platform watching the city grow dark under the storm clouds which had (typically) arrived just as we did. Particularly exciting were the strong telescopic binoculars through which you could easily spy on people below.
Our second day got off to another slow start when Chris realised that he had left a new shirt he had bought in one of the places we had stopped at the day before. He spent most of the morning re-tracing our steps with no success and as a result was pretty exhausted. I still wanted to do something though so we headed to the National Musuem where we were given a good outline of the diverse Malaysian culture. After a wander we found ourselves outside the National History Museum, so thought we should give that a go as well; pretty similar to the first one, but with a few more fossils and bits of rock.
Various tourism sources had advised us that a trip to KL would not be complete without a trip up the Petronas Towers, twin towers which dominate the skyline. This is certainly true, but to anyone visiting KL I would think twice about visiting: the tickets to the skybridge about half way up are free, but as a result extremely popular and it is recommended that you arrive at 8am to secure one. We waited over an hour for tickets which hardly seemed worth it when we finally ascended the tower; the views from the skybridge are extremely limited due to the towers on either side, and we were given less than ten minutes to take a few photos before being ushered down again. On the other hand the towers are (I think) very attractive from the outside, particularly in the sunshine, and there is a nice garden area around the base from which to view them.
Emily
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