Kuala Lumpur

Got picked up in Khao Lak at 8am and said goodbye to Justin, who is heading to Krabi. Great guy and we had a real laugh on the trip.

Then it was 24 hours on a bus to get to Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur. The journey wasn't too bad actually although it's difficult to sleep when the insist on having the air-con on full blast when it's not even warm outside. Managed to get across the border alright, despite my newly shaved head and therefore looking nothing like my passport photo. Met a nice couple on the bus - Miri (Germany) and Paul (Holland). We arrived in KL (as the cool kids call it) at about 6am and headed straight for Chinatown, where all the budget accomodation is.

Myself, Miri and Paul then ended up walking around from guesthouse to guesthouse for an hour and a half with no luck - everywhere full. Eventually, we found a place and checked in for a few hours sleep. I've managed to get by this far without booking anywhere in advance but I might think twice from now on. Met a cool Argentinian guy called Hernan at the guesthouse.

Day 1: I got up late morning, went for a walk around the city and to sample some of the local food. I only had 2 days there before my flight over to Borneo so was keen to get exploring. Really hot here, which was fine by me although it did make walking around quite sweaty. I went to check out the local Mosque, which is quite a big, impressive building and I then got a ticket up to the top of the Kuala Lumpur tower to get some great views over the city and the nearby Petronus Towers.

Also included in the tower package was a visit to a small zoo they have just outside. Lots of Snakes, Lizards and Geckos that I'd seen before but also lots of animals I hadn't. This included a couple of Albino Pigtailed Macaques and White Ears Marmosets (both types of Monkey). They also had a small Chipmunk, who was funny to watch as he would not stay still, a couple of cool Parrots that I got my photo taken with (not very chatty though) and an entire cabinet of huge Arachnids, which I very gingerly approached. I'm not a huge fan of big spiders but was ok looking at them in their boxes - not real desire to hold any. Reassuring to read that the vast majority come from South America too - can't wait!

Kuala Lumpur is a really nice city I think. It's nice to walk around because you don't get hassled anywhere near as much as the other big cities I've been to. It's quite cool walking between all the skyscrapers as well.

That evening, I went to one of the big shopping malls near the towers for a walk-around and something to eat.

Day 2: Pretty uneventful day as it was hammering down all day. I still went out in it because I wanted to go up the Petronus Towers, only to get there and find them sold out for the day! Never mind, not as high as the KL Tower anyway. Had a bit more of a look around before getting sick of the rain and heading back to the guesthouse. Just chilled there and read for most of the rest of the day staying inside.

It stopped raining that evening thankfully so myself and Hernan went out for some Malaysian food. I then had a walk around the night markets for a bit and to see all the towers and skyscrapers by night.

Short and sweet visit to KL. Shame about the weather but there's only really enough to fill up a couple of days here anyway. Up at 4.45am to head to Borneo. Time to climb some mountains, see some Orang-utans and hopefully swim with some more sharks.