KL here we come

First thing after getting up and a shower was to pack the bags and get ready to check out. Our Bus was going to leave a 13:30 so there was plenty of time for break fast at our favorite place around the corner. It was rice meal with chicken for me. No cutlery required any more. The bus stop where we can catch the bus that would get us to the Sentral Bus Terminal was a bit of a walk. It actually was the same street where there was the street market yesterday. No evidence was left that it ever existed.

When we got to the bigger Bus terminal I went and bought some sun block cream and also had to visit one of the famous south-east Asian squatting toilets. It went alright and no harm done, although it did take a little longer than a visit to a European toilet would take... Enough of the details.

On the bus I got all comfy in my seat ready to leave. It's only going to be a two hour bus ride now, so I thought I better start catching up quickly with the blog.

 After a few lines we left the terminal and were on our way to KL (how Kuala Lumpur is called throughout south-east asia).

After not even an hour on the bus we stopped at the side of the road. I didn't really care for it as I had to continue writing my blog, but when I finished my paragraph I looked up and was wondering what's going to happen now?

 The bus broke down obviously and by now there were already a couple of technicians at the engine bay and playing around with tubes trying to fix the thing.

 After another couple of minutes a second bus arrived and picked up some of the people on our but but not us. But not to worry a few minutes later again there as a third bus that arrived and we jumped on that one.

Our journey continued along endless palm farms and every once in a while we could see the mountains and the jungle in the background. Slowly the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur started to pop up at the side of the six lane motorway and the sky got darker. Just 30 min to go and it started pouring out of buckets. The sky was now like it would be at dusk although it was only 4pm.

As we had changed buses we arrived at a completely different bus (or Bas as they say in Malaysia) Terminal and had to make our way from there to the Chinatown where we knew, a Hostel with a cool name (Reggae Guest House) was located.

As a double room was only a Euro more expensive than a dorm we went for the luxury option this time. After check in we went to see the only attractions we knew about in KL. The first one was just outside our door. Chinatown! It looked Chinese, alright, but by now we had seen Chinatowns in all the places we had been and I was wondering at what count the Chinese people would be if they included all external settlements as well.

Anyway, we had to pass through Chinatown to get to the second attraction. The Petronas Towers. Good thing with tall buildings is, you don't need a map to find them. So we went through little alleys and wide streets and shopping malls and finally arrived at the twin towers that were at the time they were built the tallest in the world (as twin towers they might still be?).

To get to the lift to the observation deck we had to pass through a mall. At the ticket counter we were a bit disappointed to hear that there were no tickets left for the day but we could come back tomorrow early in the morning or book online. No problem. On the way back through the streets we stopped at street vendor we saw earlier and got some beef wrapped in some leafs. We took them "to go" as we thought, we could eat them while walking. When they were ready we got a bag with plenty of leafs, some noodle pancake things and some sauce (and of course the meat rolls) in it. Not really sure what to do with it and realizing that they would be cold by the time we got back to the hostel we decided to eat them on a street in front of a fancy hotel. We mixed it all up but the noodle pancakes (similar to lasagna plates but thinner) were still hard. We assumed we had to use them and roll up the other stuff in it. It tasted great it was just not really easy to chew all of this.

When we got back to the hostel we decided to book the tickets for the Petronas Towers online. Lots of time slots were already sold out again (it was weekend of course) but there were still 2 tickets available at 1:15. When I registered to the website and all looked great my credit card wasn't accepted and I had to start over again trying to use another credit there was only one ticket left. If you ever think of visiting the towers, just remember to book online a day or two in advance.

Our plan was to leave Malaysia via a ferry to Indonesia the next day (possibly evening) so we didn't want to take tour too late and decided not to go for the towers in the end.

Now we needed some more food and as there was the Reggae Bar & Cafe next to the Hostel we decided to go there (we also had 20% as guests).

By now the craving for some Western food had already arisen and we went for the "US Cheeseburger" but that was sold out so we had to take the "Tandoori Burger". Well, it's a compromise at least :-).

Back at the hostel we had a closer look at ferries and found out the only one from Port Klang (main Port of KL) to Dumai in Sumatra was leaving at 11:00 according to the internet. Good thing then, that we didn't book any tickets for the towers. Before we could find out any further details the Wifi in the hotel broke down and we were disconnected from the rest of the world...

That means bed time then.