Hope this is not too long-winded as it'll cost a fortune as well as bore you to death. We have seen too much already to express everything in detail or do it any justice. The smells, sights and noises are all obviously different and weave together to create the complete atmosphere that cannot be captured in my photos or in my words! Already we haven't taken enough pghotos that capture what we've seen as we often feel we shouldn't take photos of people and then the photos look like they could be from anywhere! Let's go back to the start and I'll try to be brief.
The morning we left home we had an incident which put a dampener on our trip and stopped us from being excited although the kids still were. I went to use the car and it blew up - nearly! There was a toxic, putrid burning stench and the engine wouldn't start. Poor Adrian was convinced it was a bad sign and that we shouldn't go! With that and the terrential rain on public transport to the Gold Coast we were a little under the weather while trying not to ruin the kids' excitement. Then that night at the Gold Coast we played with our phone (trying to out in a security in) and being the techno heads that we are locked ourselves out for now! Excuse spelling, typo errors and grammar as I'm just writing non stop without checking or even thinking.
Got up early for flight after a night of only 1-2 hours sleep for me - I was worrying about everything - did I have evrything, was I meant to confirm our flights - were we going to make it out of the country? All went smoothly with getting to our accomodation in Malaysia - we couldn't believe how easy it was. The flight was 8 hours and on time - Ash didn't travel well and through two bumpy patches he was sick. Flying into KL all we could see - everywhere- was palm plantations and following that it was just one environmental disaster after another being found. After collecting our bags and walking straight through we were practically pushed onto a bus into KL Sentral. There we boarded a train and only had to go one stop, walk out the sttaion and across the road to Matahari Lodge. It's basic accomodation with lots of backpackers(all very friendly and helpful), with 3 single beds in our room and a communal bathroom with the shower practically over the toilet bowl. The location is great - opposite the Central craft markets and a few steps around the corner to the famous Petaling Street of Chinatown - a vibrant, crumbling, smelly, dirty, slightly touristy but culturally thriving pocket of KL. I love it! Had dinner there which cost under $11 for 4 meals (all a decent size) and a local beer for Adrian.
4/3/10
I woke up in Australian time, 2 hours before the rest of the city. Waited for Ash to rise and then we went and had the free breakfast provided of whte toast with margarine and jam - a bit different from our normal diet. The other two were up a couple of hours later- they've both been sleeping really well. Took off before 10am (as the city sleeps in til 10), walking through another area of Chinatown to reach Little India - again full of interesting sounds (Bollywoodish), smells and sights. The food looked great buit we wern't ready to eat. Continued on to see one of the main towers and stumbled across a nature reserve in the centre of the city. There was a mega-tourist centre around it which we didn't bother to go into. We found out there was a guide going through the park at 11am which we waited for and it was worth it. The plants there are the same as 300 million years ago (or so we were told) and were very interesting -some 200 years old and our guide, Tony, was passionate about nature and very informative. Within minutes of entering we came across a large group of monkeys flying through the canopy. Tony said we were lucky to see these ones especially as some had there orang furred babies clinging to their tummies. We did come across more common monkeys close by but they too were not tame and kept their distance. We also were bitten by mossies- unprepared in the middle of the city for this and didn't have our repellant with us. Tony assured us these were not disease carrying breeds! Following this we just wandered aimlessly around streets and ended up lost in the backstreets - a Muslim area which was fantastic to see although incredibly smelly from the rubbish, sewerage, dried fish and cooking stalls. The traffic was manic here as well as everywhere else. Crossing the road is deadly and I'm sure HCM is going to be worse. we walked on to Chow Kit area hoping to find a wet, food market but we were unsuccessful. Everytime we asked someone where it was they sent us back to a modern supermarket! Stopped fo a refreshing coconut drink and shortly afterwards bought the kids some Indian for lunch. Headed home for a rest as all of us were exhausted from the humidity - still waiting for a storm to cool us down. caught the monorail to see the city from some height and the meandered back through Chinatown to our lodge. There are numerous stalls there with very tempting shopping - Lacoste striped singlets for $5 before hard bargaining (maybe fake but cute). Holding off for now but I'm sure there'll be some buys that I regret not taking. Love to all.
