The next day it was a flight back to KL, again business class, and we got a decent sized taxi to our hotel, which was this time the Ritz Carlton.
The Ritz Carlton is a very nice place and obviously attracts a certain type of guest as it’s the first hotel I’ve been in where security guards stand outside and greet you (as well as other staff). It’s also the first hotel where I’ve had my bags scanned and then had security checked stickers put on them, and it’s definitely the first hotel I’ve been to where you get butler service 24 hours a day should you require it. Very nice indeed. We decided to take a little walk out to some of the malls near the hotel (all very high priced goods – Louis Vuitton, etc) that afternoon, before having dinner in the Italian restaurant. However before dinner we headed up to the Ritz club which is free for all guests (as are your drinks) which is nice. The restaurant was quite empty, so we ended up talking to the staff for quite a while, which was nice as it made a change from them saying “It’s my pleasure”. However I did almost crack up when the assistant manager came to check how everything was, and greeted us with the line: “Where are you lovely people from?”.
The next day, after the butler served breakfast in my room, we headed to the KL Tower, the fourth largest tower in the world, not as high as the CN but probably a much nicer view and they give you an audio guide to tell you what to look for. There also seemed to be some challenge going on to bake enough naan breads to hang from top to bottom of the tower, but we’re not quite sure what was going on. We then headed to the Suria mall below the Petronas towers, before heading back to the hotel, then mum and I headed off to another mall before joining dad at the leisure club that had the amusingly altered sign in one of the pool stating Poo Dept. The leisure club was also very nice, with separate men and womens spa facilities (i.e. steam room, Jacuzzi, sauna) but also the mens changing room provided deodorant, aftershave, combs, hair products, dressing gowns etc. Classy.
The next day was time to go, this time we got a very nice Mercedes to take us to the airport. My parents were flying out at 12, I was originally meant to fly out at 14:00, but I knew since I was in Perth that the flight was moved to 15:20, except when we got to the airport just before 9, it had already been moved back to 16:15. The first bit of fun was actually getting my bags checked in, as I got passed from one row of counters to the next eventually I got checked in pretty much where we started after having some words with the Air Malaysia desk (and him then telling the check-in desk to check me in). I got my bags checked all the way through to London (even though I was changing airlines) as even though my flight wasn’t until 5:40 the next morning there was no point in clearing immigration at Singapore, staying in a hotel for all of 6 hours then going back to the airport. Anyway there’s plenty to do at Singapore airport. I saw my parents off about 11:15 and then just wandered round KL airport for a while. When we eventually got on the plane I discovered that checking in over 7 hours early has the advantage of getting you at the very front, so plenty of leg room, even though the flight was only another 50 minute affair. After landing at KL I headed for the transfer desk in the next terminal to get my boarding pass hoping to pull another cushy leg room seat out of the hat, but was told I couldn’t get a boarding pass 12 hours before my flight, so I’d have to wait until after 11pm. So I bought a Gameboy Advance and that whiled away a few hours, as well as being able to watch the qualifying for the Grand Prix and use the internet for free. I headed back to the transfer desk just after 11pm, and was told to come back after midnight. By this time of night the airport was pretty dead, most of the shops were closed, however the transfer desks had their own sort of lounge obviously meant for use only by those waiting to get a boarding pass during the day, but at night, there’s no-one about so you’re free to just sit down in their lovely comfy seats (compared to other airport seats). They also had a lovely big plasma screen showing WWE Summer Slam which whiled away quite a lot of time, when I got my boarding pass I got told that I’d got an aisle seat with two empty seats next to it, lovely jubbly! I didn’t actually manage to get any sleep before boarding the plane, and it was very empty when we eventually boarded, even though it had flown up a load from Sydney. Still I was in one of the middle fours, with two spare seats between me and the next person, which worked out quite nicely. I still couldn’t get off to sleep, so I put on the Matrix Reloaded, which was better for the second viewing, especially as I had my own sleep edit, where all the Zion crap at the start was cut out. You also notice a lot more hints (to it all having happened) before on the second viewing, I also decided to actually watch the trailer for Revolutions at the end of the credits (having found out after I first saw the film of it’s existence) and for once it didn’t give too much away. I didn’t really get any sleep on the flight whatsoever, watched a couple of other films, Bruce Almighty and Identity (which I wanted to enjoy but perhaps I was too tired to appreciate). Then despite landing earlier than scheduled (but known since we took off) we had to wait over an hour whilst Heathrow decided on which gate we could actually disembark at. The luggage then took an age, immigration was very quick, I don’t think they were even bothering to look at UK passports, apparently anyone without one could be waiting up to 3 hours that day.
And that’s that for my travels, in the end given the time difference by the time I went to bed on Sunday night, I’d been awake almost 48 hours, which is something I wouldn’t wholeheartedly recommend, unlike the rest of my trip. I’d definitely say if you’ve ever thought about it, you shouldn’t hesitate going to Canada, my personal favourite places being Valemount and Tofino. New Zealand is still a wonderful place, but I’ve probably told most of the people reading this that in the past. Whilst I still don’t like Australia as much, Melbourne, Cairns and Perth are all worth a visit, although you should be prepared to hire a car or spend out on bus trips/tours to get the most out of them. That is with the exception of Cairns where you should learn to dive, which is probably the most enjoyable and challenging thing I did on the whole trip. Malaysia is also a very nice place, and is also a very quiet at the moment. Given the JI problem in Indonesia, Malaysia seems to have been lumped in as a place not to go. However the people are exceptionally friendly, all speak English, and there is plenty to see, do and eat.
Posted by Alexis at September 18, 2003 09:47 PM | TrackBack