Ok so I'm writing this on the 17th of January, so things are not going to be detailed at all.
We spent a couple of days more or less just window shopping, and it's so easy to pass the time doing that in Kuala Lumpur it's like a shoppers paradise. We did a lot of walking in those few days and really enjoyed the city. We went to the aquarium which was wonderful, it was very interactive with a huge variety of sea life. There was a piranha feeding show where you saw them all eating a big fish, there was the reptile part and big tarantulas, electric eels, all sorts. Some we had never even seen before and others that we had but were still great to look at. The tunnel was our favourite part, you stood on a moving conveyabelt thing and were took through a long tunnel surrounded by sea life. There were sharks, giant rays, big turtles, all kinds of things and we were both having so much fun looking at it all. It's a shame it was so busy there really but the range of stuff to see was worth it. We really enjoyed those couple of days wandering the city and were looking forward to the new year celebrations.
We left the hotel at around 11am on new years eve with a bag of stuff to last us all day and into the next morning for the new year fireworks.
Today we did a hell of a lot of walking, and we stupidly wore our new shoes which rubbed from very early on in the day. We did a lot of sight seeing, walking up to see the islam centre, we saw the old train station which is still in use and the national museum. It had about 4 chambers with lots of old artefacts showing how old the Malaysian culture is. It taught about the vast variety of religion and cultures within the country and how that came to be, which is mostly due to it being a very good place to trade to and from via sea.
We went to china town and walked around the stalls, it was mostly just knock of crap but it was still good to see. We stopped off for a beer and people watched for a while before going to little India. By this point we were both so tired and hot, and I was desperate for the toilet. Liam pointed me to what I assumed was a public toilet as we saw a sign. So in a went, only to be confronted by a very angry lady telling me to get out. It appeared I'd walked into the side toilet that belonged to a mosque without realising, I was so embarrassed and appalled. One for making the mistake and two, I've not been scolded like that for a very long time and it felt terrible.
We were still being confronted with the need for the toilet, so that with the hustle and bustle of the crowds had but me in a foul mood at that point! I finally managed to pee, we took a moment to sit and gather ourselves before setting off again. We decided there really was nothing to see that we hadn't already seen somewhere else so decided to head towards the towers to see what the plan was for later in the evening.
We got there around 7 and there were already people waiting around for the fireworks at that time. The towers looked spectacular all lit up we had never seen anything like it before. We spent around 45 minutes just standing around looking at them and marvelling at how great they looked.
We then went to find food, and whilst eating the volume was gradually getting louder all around us. By the time we left the place was absolutely packed and we had to hold onto each other to not get separated. Hundreds of people were blowing the air horns at any one moment, people had silly string and spray on snow, spraying it at everybody they saw. It was a city gone mad but everybody was really happy with it as well, it didnt feel threatening despite the potential for danger. The streets were packed, with celebrations going on everywhere. There were areas that had performers, music, people stood around just watching others running around laughing and playing.
It took us a long time to walk to the towers, we got there at around 11.40pm, and found a great spot on the side of the lake. We were both so tired and sore by that point that just sitting down felt like a gift from heaven. Us and loads of others thought we had prime seats, we could clearly see the towers and we had a great view of the lake. But when the fireworks started we soon discovered only the first couple go off outside the towers. The rest were behind us. Luckily we only had to walk a few steps to see over the trees and we had a spectacular 8 minute show. It was unlike anything either of us had seen before, it was just amazing. I can't even describe it really, the feeling of seeing all the fireworks and being surrounded by thousands of people watching the same thing is just something else.
By the end we were ready to drop, we had assumed we could get a taxi. What a stupid assumption. We walked quite a way with the crowd and tried to go far enough to get away from the majority to find a taxi. Every taxi refused to take us because the city was too congested. So we ended up walking all the way back to the station and getting the train back. What a nightmare, sore to the bone, trying to get through crowds of people. The trains were so full they were having to send extra ones out.
Anyway we finally got home just in time as I had started to feel sick and thought there was a real chance of passing out at one point on the train. Liam felt find so he sorted me out with some water and paracetamol to cool me down and I stood over the toilet expecting to be sick for a while. In the end Liam just had to tickle me into being calm enough to drift off to sleep!
