Day 2
3am: We are both awake! It might be excitement but we think it is more to do with Jet Lag as our bodies feel like it is about 10am! We think we must have eventually dropped back off to sleep and waited for the inevitable alarm going off at 6am.....
To Scott’s surprise he woke up naturally; just a shame it was 10am! He must have turned off his alarm clock in some jet lag stupor. This required a slight reorganisation of the carefully choreographed itinerary over a not very leisurely breakfast as it is only served until 11am. Not long enough for a buffet style breakfast!
We decided to head for Chinatown which was a short monorail journey away. The first thing we have learnt about KL is that if it has a motor in it then it will probably do what it likes! It seems to be expected that if you want to cross a street you close your eyes and just go for it! There are some pedestrian crossings but you are never sure if they actually working. Although every so often you see the little green man switches on with an amusing animation which appears to show him running across the road. How very apt!
Chinatown town covers an area on the edge of the city centre with many small streets with high rise residential buildings above street level shops. As you went down a street you appeared to be walking directly into central Beijing. The smell of joss sticks and incense fills the air with a heady scent which was intoxicating against the humid weather of the day. The Taoist temples were individual little oasis from their busy central locations. They are built in the most unlikely locations surrounded by shops on all four sides. Their position is determined by Feng Shui as opposed to the beauty and ease of access of a location! The locals were all very friendly and encouraged you to enter and look around and even to make a donation. Our 1RM went in the box for ‘Prosperity’! The sun finally appeared and the temperatures seemed to skyrocket. So we headed back for a rest out of the sun.
We walked down towards the nearby Petronas Towers later in the afternoon. As we didn’t have tickets to go up to the linking skybridge we decided to explore the Suria KLCC which is a 5 floor shopping mall directly below the towers. Deb was in shopping heaven until Scott decided to cut her fun short with a trip to the KLCC Park which is behind the mall. We had Caches to find (ask a friend or see www.geocaching.com!). The park is a tranquil tropical Oasis in the centre of KL. There is a large fountain display with a variety of paths leading through the park. Deb was amazed at the paddling pool designed for kids and was desperate to get her wet suit on until she was dragged away for more walking. The heavens decided to open so we made a quick exit for cover in the mall until it quickly cleared and we made our way back to the hotel. The traffic was nose to tail all the way down the roads putting rush hour in the UK to shame. People were sat in their cars reading the daily newspapers! Those of you interested in our cache success? A big fat zero out of two! Well there is always tomorrow???
For the evening we caught the monorail again to Bukit Bintang which is the central “party” district. As, you are well aware, we are the young hip twenty-somethings so we quickly left that area and walked to Jalan Alor! This is a central area to the local Malay Chinese population. Every evening the road is suddenly taken over by the roadside restaurants that strategically place their plastic tables and chairs to encroach upon the road to have a large outdoor eating area. What was a busy 3 lane road is quickly reduced to a single lane where cars and mopeds fight for room with the pedestrians and restaurant patrons! We eventually decided on somewhere to sit where several people suddenly appeared with various menus. One lady appeared trying to sell an apparent local brew called “Jaz”. Just in case we hadn’t saw it before (we hadn’t!) she had a slightly faded laminate card with a picture of the said beer; the true quality was obvious in the fact the laminate was just peeling away to reveal how long she had really been doing this job for! We turned down her Jaz and asked for Tiger bottles so she had to tell someone else who took our order. That person then bought us some nice big 660ml bottles and we paid her. Scott then ordered his dinner from a chap and Deb ordered hers from someone else. Both dinners arrived at separate times and you paid each person individually for what you had. All very time surreal especially with cars driving about 2ft from your table! Altogether it was a little under £8 for food and drink. The food on its own was only about £1 per meal! We wandered back to Bukit Bintang and found a bar which served Tiger. Just opposite us was a couple with a black ‘fluffy type’ dog. This dog was sat on a chair next to them, with a hoodie on AND had a glass of water WITH ice on the table which he would have the occasional lick from! The most amusing thing was when the dog went for a drink and the woman used a napkin to wipe its mouth! It was mesmerising to watch! We think Oscar has a long way to go until he reaches this level.We finally caught the monorail back and popped into the nearby 7-11 for supplies.
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