As I mentioned in my previous blog, the next 24 hours would be a trying time which genuinely brought me to tears.
As we left Singapore for the airport I had stupidly managed to pay the taxi driver $100 instead of ten and had only realised I'd done this when I was waiting to get my money exchanged. What an idiot, I had genuinely given the man a mornings worth of work paid! Stupid, stupid, stupid; after beating myself up about it for the next 45 minutes I decided nothing can actually be done about it so mentally had to let it go. We'd checked in easily and boarded our flight on time and even enjoyed the free WiFi Singapore airport had to offer before we jetted off to Kuala Lumpur. The fifth country in the last three months!
Down town China town:
It was one of the shortest flights ever. Once we'd landed we headed towards the bus station as we'd been told the easiest way to central Kuala Lumpur was by bus by a local who sat next to us on the plane. The bus was honestly one of the worst buses I'd travelled on in ages. It was an old school coach style bus which was full of locals and us. Once we made it into town we were jumped upon by numerous taxi drivers and the one we chose had decided to park a mission away and make us carry our own bags to his car (how rude). It was a sharp hit of reality as this taxi didn't smell and feel as clean as the ones in Singapore. It was however really kind of him to call our hostel to find out exactly where it was in China town and oh boy, were we central. Even as we walked to the entrance of the hostel we were attacked by vendors from nearby market stalls selling everything from watches and bags to food.
First impressions of the hostel were nice but the man on the desk was really unhelpful even when we just asked for a map as we couldn't check in till after 2pm. So we decided to go book the next leg of our trip at the train station. Our first days in a country are usually productive.
The whole feel of Kuala Lumpur was pretty dirty and hot. Again in my head I think the no sleep the night before and stupidly over paying the taxi man was still eating away at me and I was clearly not giving this new city a chance.
Batu Caves:
Conquered the 272 stairs in my new stupid heels I'd brought in Singapore which I was wearing at the time we randomly decided to do the caves because we had time to kill (it wasn't a great idea as the rest of the week my feet were in so much pain). What a mess! There was rubbish, shoes and trash everywhere. It was absolutely horrendous. It was hard to see it as a religious place where people came to be blessed. The temples and surrounding areas were horrible to look at and the only thing which pulled at my heart strings were the little children who were made the climb to the top and the parents of a child who looked like he had a disability (they carried him and a chair, for him to rest on, all the way to the top). I couldn't look past the mess to appreciate I was in a Hindu temple even with my lack of sleep. Below the caves as we exited the train station felt like I had walked into the old school belgrave mela (only more messier and busier).
It was such a hot day, such a hot day and sure I was dressed in an appropriate attire (knees covered) it wasn't appropriate attire to walk up the many stairs though! If the caves weren't bad enough (this was definitely a fall from heaven) the hostel we had checked into was on the worst street ever. As we walked down it, returning from our Batu caves trip, I was so hot and bothered and was so not impressed at the stall vendors referring to me as Miss India as I walked down the street to entice me to buy something. I literally lost my shit and shouted no every time someone called at me. To top this, the room we had was a massive shambles. The odd green and pale yellow walls, the minuscule TV was big a Charlotte's iPad and the fold up door for the shower was just the icing on the cake. It was the grimy bed covers which topped it for me and I sat there and cried about the whole day (what a day it had been)! After a little hug from Charlotte and a kind reminder of everything that went wrong today from her too, I took a shower and decided to nap it out of me.
(In this time Charlotte had decided I should eat something as I hadn't eaten anything since the day before and went wondering; taking the key with her and leaving me in a room which was slowly warming up as the key controlled the electricity. She didn't realise her leaving had woke me up but she'd left a cute little not saying she was getting some food. She returned with a Nandos- what a girl!)
After munching down some food we decided to adventure out to the night market (yup another market) and invested in a few more bracelets.
Trek to the twin towers:
After shaking off yesterdays terrible ordeal we decided to go see the towers and the shopping centres of Kuala Lumpur. We found a Debenhams, Marks and Spencer's and Body Shop! We did however loose ourselves in a massive designer shopping mall which was connected to the Marriott in the hunt for food. In the end we settled for a Japanese place at the next shopping centre (amazing lamb, rice and bean sprouts). Then headed towards the famous Petronas Towers.
In the hunt we lost them and ended up (again) asking where they were and were kindly pointed at them by another doorman (its easily losable in the skyscraper land). Eventually reaching it we found out it was closed on Mondays and couldn't get up the towers so we lounged about in the shopping centre and waited for nightfall to take pictures. So worth the wait. After a delicious Starbucks we'd decided that we'd quickly drop by before we left for Penang in the morning... again no luck! The tickets to go up the tower were all sold out (how are tickets to go up a tower which is still there at all times of the day sold out? What is with that).
Disappointed, hot and tired we headed back to the hostel to walk to the tram stop to get our train to Penang. Carrying my bag a sorry thing to be doing in this heat (such a bad idea shopping!)
Here we come Penang:
It was our first train journey in South East Asia and it was pretty good. Travelling in second class wasn't as bad as the pictures showed it to be. It was a little battered but that was to be expected but it got us there (even though it turned up late and at one point all the power went out). We then made our way to the ferry to get to George town. It was pretty late and it was a good thing there was two of us as it didn't look like something I could confidently do on my own. The cheapest journey ever (1.20MR) and included an open top windy view of George town at night. It looked pretty cool. Even as we drove down in a taxi towards our hostel the roads and buildings looked cleaner and safer than Kuala Lumpur.
The hostel was very quiet when we arrived (there was only six people staying in the whole hostel) and way better than the one in Kuala Lumpur (thankfully). We made ourselves at home on our bunks and had an amazing (clean) good nights sleep.
Just when we thought it was all over:
After a long sleep (think the tiredness of all the travelling is slowly catching up) we headed out to explore Penang. The first stop would be searching for a post box then biriyani! It was an absolute mission to find a post box. Anywhere we asked too also had no idea where a postbox or what a post office was. We did eventually find one after trekking half way across the island in the heat and after a cheeky street vendor samosa. Worth it! Although hunting for the biriyani place became a bit of a chore and when we did eventually find our way there we were sweaty, hot and bothered and had decided just to head back to the hostel once we'd eaten.
Lucky for us though that didn't happen and as we walked through Little India (in the hunt for a bracelet) we bumped into a lovely Tuk Tuk driver who asked if we wanted a lift. We accepted because we were too tired to walk back. As we got into his bike Tuk Tuk he offered to take us to the beach and as we didn't have to walk there we were happy to go. He then took us for a lovely tour around the city. The nicest tour guide and driver ever. He'd been working in Penang for most of his life and knew a lot about the city (lucky for us). He took us to a few places in the city where there was art on the walls and encouraged us to take photos next to it. A little cringe but we did it! There was a fat cat on the wall, a boy climbing a wall, two children on a bike; it was all little quirks about Penang we would never be able to see if we looking for it on our own. He then took us down to the docks and walked around with us explaining the history. What a guy! He showed us numerous other buildings, the beach and pointed out to us the Japanese prison (no one could escape the Japanese back in the day) and eventually took us back to our hostel. It was the highlight of our Malaysia trip and we left Penang feeling we'd done it properly. We even enjoyed traditional Indian food in the evening with our new room mate and indulged in an ice mountain dessert which contained kidney beans and sweet corn in its centre.
And off we go again but back into Thailand. After a morning brunch at the Indian place again (an amazing dosa) we were this time taken across to the train station via a taxi ride. It took ages (not that we were complaining because we were travelling in air conditioned circumstances after all). Next stop and sleeper train journey to Hua Hin in Thailand. This was meant to be a 17 hour journey and it was.
The train journey was really slow but shockingly safe. We even had a smooth border crossing. The train stopped let us out and waited till everyone was ready (what wasn't nice were the toilet conditions on and off the train. Usually I'm ok but mother nature decided to pay a visit while I was doing the most awkward bit of journey!) We met a lovely Thai lady and a cool Malaysian man on our journey! I would definitely recommend travelling second class sleeper... The seat turns into a bed at night! And what a bed, the bottom bunks are bigger than the top and they do up your bed for you and give you a thick blanket and a pillow. So much better than a sleeper bus... you even get meals! I got a complimentary orange juice because the waiter person thought I was pretty (it's damn good to be back in Thailand)! The happy, friendly smiling people who welcomed us into their country and became home. We were coming home!
 |
| Romantic Nando's for two in our hostel. |
 |
| The night market behind the hostel. |
 |
| One of the many shopping centres we visited in Kuala Lumpur getng ready for Chinese New Year celebrations. |
 |
| The delicious lunch at the shopping centre. The lamb was cooked amazingly. |
 |
| Petronas towers at night. |
 |
| Charlotte and me at the top of the stairs at Batu caves |
 |
| Hummus and Pita bread. Our slap up lunch after an epic fail journey to the towers on day two. |
 |
| The most filling grilled vegetable sandwich ever. |
 |
| The map of the island an all the things to see. |
 |
| The comfy living area of the hostel in Penang. Such good bean bags. |
 |
| A strange Indian dessert made of ice and rose water and had sweet corn and kidney bean in the centre of it. |
 |
| My Indian mix rotli and chicken. Was so yum! |
 |
| So good to be back in Thailand. Missed the food! |
 |
| My sleeper bunk bed. So spacious |
