The flight up to Singapore was pretty comfy, mainly due to there being plenty of spare seats, so the chap next to me moved. However despite it being September 1st the plane didn’t have the latest movies (as detailed in the new magazine), so I ended up watching exactly what I watched between Christchurch and Melbourne (the In-Laws). We also landed early which meant more time to waste around Singapore airport (I didn’t have to go through customs or claim my baggage despite changing carrier which was quite handy). I did think that I’d take up a lot of time going from Terminal 1 to 2 as walking it takes quite a while, but they have an automated train which only takes about a minute. The flight to KL was very quick, we were only in the air for about 50 minutes, but still we got a free drink and it was quite comfy. KL airport also has a train to get you from one terminal to the other, but it was a little bit more cramped. Immigration was very quick, especially compared to other countries I’ve been to. I should also mention the lovely welcome to Malaysia greeting they give on your landing card. IN MALAYSIA DRUG TRAFFICKING RESULTS IN THE DEATH PENALTY. Or something along those lines anyway in big red letters, just in case you’re thinking of it obviously. KL airport also has the best trolleys I’ve seen in a while (and you don’t have to pay for them unlike certain airports in Canada, America and Australia). I then took the cheap option for getting to our hotel, in the form of the 20 Ringit coach. This is about £3.50 for a drive of over 80km which I think you’ll agree is very reasonable. After checking in I waited until 11:30pm for my parents to arrive and then went to bed. I should mention our suite was again very nice it actually took up in effect the whole floor, which did also mean that the two lifts up only serviced two rooms on each floor.
The next day we decided to book up a tour for the next day around KL and go and visit the Petronas Towers and do a bit of shopping. Things turned out a little differently when we went to book the tour. The concierges were basically useless and looked in bemusement when we asked to book a tour from the pamphlet reception had given us. Then this taxi driver standing next to them states that he can do the tour for less so they book it with him. We then ask them if we can get a taxi to the Petronas Towers, so he [the taxi driver] ends up taking us. Turns out we didn’t really need a taxi at all as it was a very short walk from our hotel. Anyway the taxi driver told us where to go and get tickets to get up to the skybridge (as featured in the woeful Entrapment), and that he’d wait outside for us. I should explain that the Petronas towers are unlike the CN Tower not very tourist oriented, but do allow so many people a day to visit the lower level of the skybridge that links the two towers (and unlike the CN Tower it’s free as well). The tickets we got were for two hours later so we went back to the taxi driver (who we still hadn’t actually paid) and I was expecting that we’d just settle up and go shopping in the large mall at the base of the towers or go to the big tower in town (the KL Tower) as despite what most people think the Petronas Towers aren’t the tallest structure in the world (that still falls to the CN Tower). Anyway to cut a long story short we ended up heading off to do the tour we’d booked for the next day before going back to the tower (we didn’t realise this until after the fourth place he’d taken us to, he mentioned that we’d probably get the tour done that day and would we like to go to Malacca the day after?) We ended up going to the Kings palace (well the gate anyway), a butterfly farm, which also had a great display of all the species of beetle found in Malaysia, then the war memorial which was very spectacular and a few other places. Oh and we also got passed by the Prime Ministers car at some point.
We then got to the KL Tower for our visit and headed up to the bridge which gives quite a good view (but nothing in comparison to the CN Tower and the glass floor therein). We also spent a while in the visitors centre (basically four puzzles or tests of skill), apparently I was the only person to solve the following puzzle that day, although it’s not that tricky when you think about it. You have a six by six grid as such:
O O O O O O
O O O O O O
O O O O O O
O O O O O O
O O O O O O
O O O O O O
You have six pegs to put in, but they must be arranged in such a manner that no two pegs occupy the same horizontal, vertical or diagonal. (BIG Hint you can’t use the four corners, but that’s pretty obvious if you think about it). After the Towers we headed to a Pewter factory, an authentic Malaysian house, then a Batik factory and the Batu caves, which are located at the top of a 272 step staircase (which they kindly number for you). Despite being full of statues of strange religious figures/stories (such as the half woman/half cow and the man being cut in half) the Batu caves were full of pigeons and the occasional monkey (not sure exactly what type, but they were the ones that carried the virus in the film Outbreak). There was also some strange booth with a curtain and topless men standing outside, we didn’t find out what was in there though. We then headed back to KL and arranged with Anthony the taxi driver to take us to Melacca the next day. In all he only wanted RM150 for the tour round KL, which is not very much at all (less than £30). After getting back to the hotel we headed back to the big mall under the Petronas towers. The next day we headed down to Melacca and firstly visited a museum with reconstructions of traditional houses from each of the states of Malaysia. After about the fourth they got very boring until the last two which had bamboo floors providing a very strange walking sensation as you have to remove your shoes in Malaysian homes. I was also slightly amused by a particular Malay word: bumbung. However I’ve since discovered that this actually means roof, but it still makes me chuckle. It is also quite easy to pick up various Malay words as almost every sign, if not in just English is in Malay and English. Hence I figured out almost as soon as I got here that they have a ridiculously long word for No: Dilarang, and Keluar means exit and Merokok smoking. So now you all know some Malay. Anyway I digress, we then headed into Melacca itself, visiting the museum, and various other places including an old Portuguese church and another museum built into a ship.
I should also take a moment to mention just how bad the standard of driving in Malaysia is. If you’ve ever been to Greece or Italy, then you may well think you’ve seen a whole nation of bad drivers. The kiwis also go on about how bad they are at driving (they can’t overtake to save their lives), but in Malaysia you really are putting your life in the hands of the taxi driver. There’s no concept of lane discipline, in fact if you watch a road you’ll see most of the cars just driving along over two lanes. Changing lanes is also fun as this just seems to involve going and worrying about it later. I could go on for hours about how bad they were but I just wanted to give a little taste before describing the belter of a taxi driver we had in Penang one day (but that’ll be in the next update!)
what software are you using to create your travelog
Posted by: paul lawson at October 20, 2003 11:50 PM