I spent my first day in Kuala Lumper (KL) walking around pretty much the whole city! This was the perfect andidote for my sore legs, which by now were only aching a bit after the mountain adventure last week!
Unfortunately the weather was overcast all day with quite a lot of rain at times, but I didn't let that dampen my spirit and still took in the Menara KL Tower and the superb views afforded from the observation deck, and the Petronas Towers and the huge mall that sits between them (underneath them). The mall was impressive and puts the UK malls to shame as do so many out here... There was a display in the atrium of the mall with a Petronas sponsored BMW F1 car on display and some other random vehicles which are pretty cool.
I got some pretty good pictures of the towers etc, even in the overcast conditions and I took the walk along the Skybridge between the two which gives you a nice view of the architecture of the towers and great views of the surrounding area.
Outside the main building I was subjected to one of the typical 'con' artists, who attempt to make friends with you, usually claiming to have a sister moving to your home town to study, I assume that if they get someone hooked into being their friend, then they take them home with them and attempt to extort cash in some way? Anyway, being the cynic I am, and reasonably wise to all that crap, I entertained myself and told them I was from the Isle of Man which confused him a bit, and then I asked why the hell his sister was going there?! Lol
A quality night out!
Last night, my last night in KL, I met with a random French chap whilst eating at one of the many Chinese restaurants in China town. We were talking about the grand prix, as that is what he is here for. His English was ok to have a broken conversation, and a lot better than my French! It turns out he has been to a lot of Grand Prix, all over the world, and was lucky enough as a truck driver to get the job of driving one of the French Super bike teams around Europe two year ago, so gets some nice perks at race circuits because of that!
After dinner we went to his 'favourite pub' in town, which turned out to be the famous Reggae bar near China town! It is a pretty hip young pub, with loud music (not all reggae) and expensive beer, so I was surprised to be brought here. Anyway, we had a good laugh, drinking plenty of beer and puzzling the staff and punters alike with some clever Chinese puzzles we'd picked up in the market on the way. I didn't buy any, but wish I did now... hopefully I will see them somewhere else, they are a quality ice breaker! He also taught me a pretty funny gag to stitch someone up at the bar with their drink, which he took great pleasure in demonstrating on the young English students in town, lol!
Sat on a table near us was a group of Malaysian lads who were having a good night out and were happy to chat to us. They were also doing their best to chat up the white girls! ;-)
After the French guy went off to his guest house about 2am, I sat with the Malaysian guys ('Black', 'German', Ben, Matt and another who's name I forget!) and introduced a few more drinks to the equation. We really hit it off, and it is one of the best nights I've had on my trip. Sometimes you just 'click' with people, and both I and they felt very comfortable and we all got on great. I decided to go on with them after the pub closed to their favourite place across town, a jazz pub! They all play and or sing in various bands and so we went there and had a bit of a sing song. An Austrian trio came with us too, a couple and a single female, who I hit it off quite well with to the point of some seriuos flirting. Unfortunately, I neglected female Austrian relations in favour of getting smashed with the lads and as the trio went off in a taxi back to China town, I took a chance and went back to an appartment shared by two of the guys for a smoke on their Malaysian weed and to continue our conversation...
This turned out to be a superb move. These guys are geniune, down to earth, generous people, who invited me, a perfect stranger, into their place having just met that night. It was quite a unique experience that I think we all appreciated, and we spent the night waffling and exchanging ideas on a huge number of topics. We really picked each others brains and learned about our cultures from each other, but from real grass-roots. It was simply brilliant! [Their weed was fucking nice too, made me dribble a bit, lol!!] Not only in having me over to their place, but also sharing their gear with me like that was a wonderful, friendly, generous gesture like no other I've received on my trip so far. It is especially so in light of the fact that possession of even weed here in Malaysia carries an extremely servere punishment! We put a lot of trust in each other and I'm so glad I went with them (I'm glad I have a good judge of character too!). I thank the guys from the bottom of my heart for a brilliant night, and I will never forget it. I had some of my own moments of clarity of thought on a few subject too, which was good. All evoked from this chance meeting with very similar people to myself.
At around 7am German drove me to his local cafe for breakfast (after staying up all night chatting). He ordered french toast, and the chef produced french fries 10 minutes later, lol! Very amusing, but we couldn't be bothered to argue and ate the fries for breakfast... He then dropped me at the train station, where we said goodbye and I got on the crammed morning commuter train, black eyes, tired and stinking of smoke from the 'smoke room' in their appartment! Lol!! The journey was interesting in itself, so I'm glad I made it... the trains are crammed to the point of people just squeezing inside the sliding doors as they close, and not having enough room to lift yuor arm up to grab the rails... crazy!
I'm going to stay in touch with those guys for sure, I consider myself extremely lucky to have found them, and as seems typical in life, yet another memorable night has come along from a completely unplanned evening and a chance meeting. Result! I wish I took my camera with me, I very nearly took it out lastnight, but decided against it as I left my room... tut!
When I got back to my guesthouse, I showered (cold dribble of a shower!) and checked out immeidately to head down to Sepang for my luxury stay near the circuit. Since being here near the circuit I've realised that I could have saved the cost of the accomodation by staying in town, as they offer a fantastic deal on the train and buses to the circuit, however I am going to enjoy the comfy bed, aircon and sports all weekend on the TV in the room, so screw it!
So tomorrow, I'm off to the qualifying at the circuit. I popped there today to collect my ticket and bought a Lewis Hamilton baseball cap (needed a new one anyway) and a lanyard for my ticket and scoped the place out a bit. First impression of the circuit is one of smooth organisation and a very people friendly layout. It was great to hear the sound of the F1 cars out doing their practise... I am seriously excited about this weekend... wooohooooooo!
Update to follow in a couple of days...
Ciao for now!
Sloggs :)
(Enjoying life's rich experience!)
