KL - jungle city

17^th -19^th Janaury 2011 – Kuala Lumpar (KL to everyone who knows)

Having ridden into a fair amount of towns and cities with the ever present risk of injury we decided after riding round the outside of KL to coach it in. We arrived at the coach station by taxi as it is conveniently ‘sentral’ not a missing spelling just another ‘malayglish’ word. We were shouted at from a number of different people about the next bus to KL and hurried innocently onto one of a number of buses waiting to leave. Waiting being the operative word. The 7.45 am left just after 8.15am having watched a number of others leave before us. The chairs were armchair size and our dutch café owner had warned us of the temperature in the coaches so we were dressed and prepared for the Arctic air. We had day packs and left the remainder in the room in Melaka as at £10 a night it seemed a safe and reasonable storage option as we would be returning there in a couple of days time.

The coach pulled up at a tented city, 'is this the bus station we asked?' as the last ones to leave, yes it is. Is this the bus station for KL city?, no it isn’t, that is shut for renovation! Brilliant, we now had little clue as to where we were and then the verbal assault of taxi drivers from every nation began as we clambered off. Eventually after lighting a cigar and calmly strolling away we were approached by a lady with a walkie talkie who pointed out the nearest rail station over yonder.

We went over to find that we were 10 stations away from KL centre and that as the rail system was not integrated different tickets needed to be purchased on the different lines we needed. Hey ho we did and were soon sat on stainless steel benches heading into KL, surrounded by more nationalities, forms of dress and body size than we had seen in a long time. Swapping trains halfway landed us in the city and after a wander to a number of recommended LP hotels which were all shut for refurbishment we saw Hotel Babylon…I think the name was selected because the A’s had all been used up in the phone directory, but we were able to check in by 11am and got a discounted rate.

We dumped our stuff, repacked our bags for the remainder of the day and set out to explore the capital of Malaysia. It is a green city in the sense I have not seen so much greenery in a city or town in SE Asia. It is also a city for cars and not cycles.

Lunch in an expat favourite listening the bragging of salesmen and the patience of their Scottish host and bar owner was followed by the best breakfast I have had in SE Asia. A great relaxing 90 minutes later we left and headed to the Menara Tower. 250m in 58 seconds on the way up and 52 on the way down. I still don’t understand it. The tower is surrounded by jungle in the middle of the city. There was a great view and it was an invaluable first stop as over the following days we were able to orientate ourselves based on this view. There is the F1 ride at the base of the tower which we took part in and after the view we went into the jungle via the animal park and the two-headed terrapin.

The Menara Tower

Yep - 2 heads

The jungle even has a camp site, if only we had known we could have pitched up and listened to the sound of the power tool insects competing against the noise of construction all around.

Lara Croft?

A wander through the nearest malls in the evening revealed cosmopolitan KL in all its brand glory, vibrant, alive and beautiful and very very tempting.

Day 2 began with checking out the bus station that was being refurbished. The sign proudly proclaims a 4 month project beginning in April. No year and if it were 2010 and we are now in January 2011, what happened?

We wandered through the old railway station now a heritage piece and past the national mosque on a very hot day towards KL bird park.

The largest free flight aviary in the world set in acres of jungle and forest. We anticipated a couple of hours. It took 6 and was worth every ringet of our most expensive tourist trip to date. Watching a hornbill give G a piece of papaya and then expect it to be returned was a highlight which we then saw mimicked by the hornbills to each other. Stopping to look meant that many of the birds we were told would be there we saw. Lunch in the restaurant lived up to the usual UK standards of expensive and disappointing, a first in Malaysia. However the birds we saw in as close to a natural habitat that I have ever seen was an awesome experience which photos will go some way to tell.

Love is...

Love birds

Itchy necked Stork

Look what I can do

The egret on the left looks a tad dejected!

G being given papaya by a hornbill. This was utterly amazing and moving. A moment to cherish

You had to stop, look and look again to see this Red Ibis

Night Heron

Natural DMP

today's lesson is....

Should have been in Harry Potter

We then wandered out and back to a station to get the train to KLCC were Petronas towers are. The train was driverless and where they would normally be was replaced by a viewing window, it was like a theme park ride without the screams and oooohhhhhs. We were met on exit by a rainstorm so waited for a bit, then braved the pavements to wander back to the hotel now knowing that we needed to be at the tower ticket office around 8am the next day to be in line for one of a limited number of tickets.

Times Square and the cinema to see ‘The Tourist’ was a fitting end to the day.

Day 3 – Petronas Towers was worth the 90 minutes in the queue and a return time of 1pm to have the 15 minutes on the worlds’ tallest skybridge.

the skybridge

The Towers

The view of the Park

The view of entrance

Art?

Lunch in the food court of KLCC was also fantastic for the princely sum of £2 per person. Then it was back to the station and a wait at the now semi-permanent bus station replacement for the journey back to Melaka.

I slept whilst G endured the Malaysian fascination of being first off the lights no matter what vehicle you are in or driving and bend taking at warp speed. Not a pleasant experience on a coach.

We made our way back to the yellow mansion and unpacked to repack for departure tomorrow heading south. The satay bar we went to this evening however deserves a mention. Similar to a fondue approach a pot of satay sauce is placed in the middle of the table through a hole and onto a gas burner. The fridges are lined with trays of meat, veg and unsure of. You select your sticks, pop them in the sauce and a couple of minutes later you have your own satay cooked to your liking. 54 sticks later we felt like we had had more than enough and headed back for final packing and sleep.

It was the early hours of the morning when I ninja’d out of bed at the sounds of movement in the shared lounge. I should have taken more than a cursory glance at our bikes as it was not until the following day did G realise her rear light was missing and 2 days later did I realise my front light holder had gone. The only 2 things on the bike not requiring tools to be removed. Welcome to Malaysia indeed.