Day 160 - Kuala Lumpur, Chinatown, Market and Petronas Towers

A bridge too far?

Day 160 - 30th November

So Kuala Lumpur, here it was in front of me and I was so exhausted I didn't even want to look around.

But Ross pulled me together and we both managed to pick up tickets for the subway and headed into central Kuala Lumpur where I left his at Plaza Rakyat to head to my hostel - Step Inn, situated just a few minutes from the station. Of course, I got this arse about face.

I went to McDonalds and had a breakfast whilst trying to use their Wi-Fi. Useless. A weird, old guy was smiling and staring at me so I loaded up with my bags and got the hell out of there.

Eventually, I found it was just off a street at the top of a hill, beside a small Hindu temple and a curry house. Happy days.

Because it was only 6:30am, I had to wait until 2pm to check in. Not knowing what to do in that amount of time, I instead chose to write and submitted two sports articles to GMS and two short scripts to the BBC Writers Room. Fingers crossed again on these.

Petaling Street Chinatown

I checked into my cell... I mean room which consisted of a single bed and one bedside cupboard. I did a little research on places to visit and then headed off to Chinatown and the Central Market to discover what Kuala Lumpur had to offer. It turns out quite a lot and I immersed myself in the sounds, smells and ... other things in Chinatown and the market.

Love that pork!

And that dumpling broth.

I had a fantastic BBQ Pork noodle dinner and then set off around 7pm to find the Petronas Towers. Within forty minutes, I'd passed Times Square Mall (home of an indoor theme park - I'll be visiting at some point I'm sure), the sky bars and bar strips and finally what I had come to see, those towers were mighty big and I gazed up nervously at the bridge way that connects them knowing I've got to go up there in a few days. Shite!

Just fooling around.

Ok, one without me. You happy?

I saw a movie inside the complex before heading back around 10:30pm. A prostitute asked if she could walk back with me and I joked, 'I don't think you could keep up.' Word of advice - don't say this to a prostitute, she thinks you're talking about something else when really you're referring to a walking pace!

Day 152 - Meeting Matty, Rock Bar and Mynt Lounge

Somewhere in the midst is a man trimming the grass

Day 152 - 22nd November

So it was business as usual, working on my latest book, the sequel to one of the projects I was working on in Cambodia. It's already 55,300 odd words in length but needs improvements to bring it up to the same level as the first.

I worked over breakfast until Matt caught up with me around lunchtime. He said he'd found some good places to eat and drink further up from Lamai Beach. I told him I wanted to do some work first but we'd meet up around five-ish and he could show me around.

The rest of the day I walked up and down the beach trying to generate ideas. Ideally, my second book takes part in a beach house so it's not too bad for research purposes.

The Rock Bar

By five o'clock I was on the back of Matt's bike and we were heading towards the Rock Bar, a place sunk into a rock around the bay. We walked up the beach towards the bar and after a little detour, we eventually found it. I wasn't down for having a mushroom shake so just had a Chang instead.

It was a pretty good spot and a good way to waste half an hour.

Afterwards, we moved towards the main strip. There was a Sunday market on so we had to navigate through hordes of people to make it to the restaurant Matt had been eating in since we left him on Tuesday.

The chicken and rice was awesome and the raspberry shake even better. Not bad for four quid. The chef was really friendly, coming out to shake our hands and greet us before our meal. This place isn't even one star but it's bloody good.

The Mynt Lounge

Afterwards, we went to the Mynt Lounge to see a girl, Joy who Matt had met up with. It was a great bar, with a really chilled out vibe and a pool table. Amazingly, I won five games on the bounce against different challenges in the bar, making myself look like a pool whizz. A complete fluke of course.

We rolled out around one am and headed back. I have a feeling this is how the nights are going to progress here.

Day 142 - Bangkok goodbyes and night buses to Phuket

Saying goodbye to this little angel behind the Skyline Samsen Hostel.

Day 142 - 12th November

Our final day in Bangkok had us sitting in a cab in rush hour traffic at 12pm. We were heading to Siam, Central Bangkok for lunch and a little shopping.

We found a great buffet restaurant and had some of the tastiest foods going - duck, Australian tri-tip, sushi, pasta, pork stuffed with bacon and coq au vin. For just over six pounds, who could argue? I obviously over indulged but I saw it as stocking up ready for the long night trip ahead.

Kel messing around...

And Dave!

We wandered the markets and picked up elephant trousers, magnets and swim shorts before rushing across town to jump on the night bus to Phuket.

When we boarded, we made it upstairs before the attendant called us back and told us we needed to go downstairs. We entered a cell of an lower deck - it had twelve seats in three rows and the leg room was non existent and the air con and lights switched off. I'd been telling Kel and Dave how these buses weren't as bad as their reputations. That went up in smoke.

I sat next to a Sheffield guy, Matt and tried to grab some sleep. In fifteen hours, we'd be in Phuket.