The adventures in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur – Melaka)

I arrived safe and sound at the Kuala Lumpur Airport after a 5 ½ hours flight from Perth. I think I was never so unprepared during my whole journey. I thought to myself I will wing it somehow, didn’t buy a lonely planet or any other guides. Since I keep changing my plans anyway I thought what’s the point.

I think I will never do that again, at least not without a map or something to have some kind of orientation in a foreign country.

I was able to find the Shuttle Bus from the Airport to the city (8-9RM depending on the operator). As soon as I stepped out of the airport I realised it was actually a little bit cooler compared to Perth and not as humid as in Darwin, but the smell and the people instantly let me know I was back in Asia, home sweet home. While sitting on the bus the girl next to me offered me a delicious pineapple tart, what a nice welcome.

I arrived at the KL Central Bus Terminal and took the Monorail (opposite the bus terminal) to the station where my hotel for the night would be. Since I haven’t had a map I didn’t really know which way to walk so I just tried it with some luck. I learned the hard way never to ask men for direction, they always know it even if they don’t. Anyway, after an hour walk around the area with my backpack I found someone that called the hotel and gave me the right direction, it was a 5 minute walk from the train stop. That was my exercise for the day.

The hotel I booked (Cube Hotel) was one of the pricier ones since I decided I totally deserved a bed and bathroom to myself after sleeping in hostels with loads of other travellers. The room was pretty small, but the standard was ok.

I quickly had a shower and got ready to meet my friend Vern at the Jalan Alor where we would eat at the famous Wong Ah Wah restaurant. The food was fabulous, especially the sting ray.

We decided to go for a walk around the city and Vern explained the buildings and surroundings we passed.

We arrived at the Petronas Twin Towers and it looked stunning at night, the lights and the atmosphere was delightful. That alone is worth a visit to Kuala Lumpur, however the city has much more to offer.

 

We went to the Tokyo Street in the shopping centre nearby and I had some banana chocolate tart, yummy. If you looked at it this way, each country is all about the food. I love Asian food and can’t have enough of it plus it is so ultra-cheap to eat here. I guess that will bring back the 10 kg I lost during my motel work ….

Since I haven’t planned anything for my stay here Vern and I discussed what my options are and when I could do them. I decided to go to Melaka the next day and do some more city exploring and other attractions on the weekend.

After we checked the bus times I headed to my bed for some needed sleep. In the morning I got up around 8:30, a bit later than I had planned. I first bought a sim card (umobile/8RM) for Malaysia, which in the end I was not able to activate since I haven’t had my passport with me. However the next day it was working just fine.

I then headed to the Bandar Tasik Selatan Station to catch my bus to Melaka. There are plenty of bus operators with different prices. The cheapest I could find was the Metrobus Ekspres for 9RM. The ride was just a 2 hour trip and I arrived at the Melaka Central Bus Terminal. The city itself is approximately 7 km away and a taxi was needed. I met some backpackers on the bus and we decided to share a taxi, in total we paid 20RM.

There are many attractions in Melaka and you better put your walking shoes on if you want to see everything, but one day is certainly enough to see the main points.

While walking along the streets I saw the Menara Taming Sari Tower and decided that I want to see Melaka from above, but with 20RM it was not really worth it in my opinion (See for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBy3gouNhsI)

This was followed by a quick River Cruise. It is nice to be lazy and see the city from the river; however the walk along the riverside looked pretty good as well. I guess if I wouldn’t have been alone I might have walked instead.

The historical walk is a good one and offers a lot of insights into the History of Melaka, if you have the time don’t miss it.

In between I sat down for some lunch, ohhh how I missed the food.

I came to the point were I was kind of exhausted from the heat and the long walk, so I headed back to the Jonker Walk and had a few snacks before walking further on the search for a taxi back to KL. At first it seemed like I was at the wrong area (don’t ask me where the hell I was) because no taxi were passing me, no empty ones anyway. So I asked a police officer if he knew a place where I could get hold of a taxi. Instead of pointing me into a direction he stopped the next passing taxi and luckily even though he had already a customer they were willing to bring me back to the Central Bus Terminal for 10 RM.

I have no idea what it is with me and all those friendly people in the last couple of weeks, but I have not met anyone yet that was aggressive, angry or unfriendly. I really like it, totally makes me happy.

The bus back was 9.20RM. I still can’t believe how cheap everything is after spending a year in Australia. For just one day I paid less than 20 Pounds and got so much to see.

Upon my return I joined Vern and his friends for drinks and a later dinner.

The next day was started with a breakfast, well more lunch since we got up pretty late.

This was followed by a visit to the Batu Caves, amazing temples and views. I found the monkeys especially attractive. I even managed to climb all the steps to the top, that certainly was my exercise for the day.

I returned to the city where I caught up with Vern and had some lovely dinner.

Later on he invited me to come with him to one of his friend’s house for a round of poker on New Chinese Year. I can’t say anything else but that it was lovely and so welcoming. Additional to that I even was lucky that night and won a little bit during the game. 

So far I am having a great time in KL and look forward to my city explorer day. I will probably update you again once I am in Cambodia.

Until then and happy travels :)