Holiday Update Part 2

Firstly, thanks to everyone for your comments. I wont be responding to them individually like I used to since internet is charged per hour so I have to be fast. So following on from the previously exciting cliffhanger of the holiday update that you can read here, I was at the airport blogging waiting for my plane.

28th Dec Continued

The plane boarded and left on time. The cheap Air Asia tickets were quite good. The plane was very clean and new. The bad part was that they forced you to buy drinks and you weren't allowed to drink your own drinks. I didn't feel like paying for water so I snuck a few sips from my water bottle. What were they going to do, kick me off the plane :-). When the plane arrived in Malaysia though, that's where the problems began. The customs took about an hour to get through, since there were about 5 planes that all landed at about 12am. When we got through customs, we took a train the KL Sentral Station, only to find that our connecting monorail didn't operate at 2am. Being extremely tired from all the travelling and waiting, we took a taxi to our hostel. We got there and woke up everyone and then tried to go to sleep. I didn't sleep at all that night. It's so hot and humid in Malaysia and the hostel didn't have air conditioning. Also the shared 6 person room was so cramped and right near the common area. This means people walking and talking outside caused a continuous stream of noise. The photos and reviews on websites about hotels and hostels always look so much better than real life.

29th Dec

We went to Times Square and walked around the shops and had some lunch in the food court. Food, like everyone who has ever been to Malaysia will tell you, is extremely cheap. I had a meal and drink for about $4 AUD. Paul and I then joined a tour to the Batu Caves, these limestone caves formed from millions of years of water erosion. The caves were quite good, and the giant gold statue standing 42 metres tall was impressive. I have to put photos when I get back to Australia. The next stops on the tours were at Royal Selangnor, who make pewter. The products look so good but they were all too expensive for me. The batik (hand painted silk) place also had some tempting things but once again too expensive. When we got to the chocolate place, I couldn't resist buying some almond coated tiramisu flavoured chocolates. They are delcious but I haven't had a chance to eat too many. They are currently melting in my suitcase. The thing I have found is that although Malaysia has all this great food, the really hot weather means I don't feel like eating that much. At night, we went to eat on Jalan Alor, a street full of food stalls. Again things were good and cheap. However, I was too full after the meal to enjoy some freshly opened durian. We walked back to the hostel via Low Yat and BB Plaza and looked at what was on sale in these shopping centres.

30th Dec

Today's activities must be the most common tourist things in Malaysia. Firstly we visited the KL Tower, the fifth tallest tower in the world. The view up on the observation deck was unbelievable. Obviously I took lots of photos, many of them were of the Petronas Twin Towers. After the KL Tower, we went to the Twin Towers. We hadn't come early enough (we're talking 6am early) to line up in the queue to get the limited tickets to go up to the walk way in the Twin Towers. Hence we just walked around in the very high class shopping centre beneath the towers. All the designer brands were there and everywhere you looked, price tags were in the 4-6 digit ranges, and I'm not including cents as digits. After walking around the shopping centre, there were the obligatory photos of the tower and a walk around KLCC gardens surrounding the towers. At night, again we went to another shopping centre. I don't actually like shopping but these shops are all within walking distance of our hostel so we might as well go see them. Dinner was some very yummy Cantonese food. So far, I haven't even eaten a nasi lemak, durian, or meat tea here, all of Malaysia's most famous foods. There just isn't enough space in my stomach.

31st Dec

Today we took a tour to the Malaysian Elephant Sanctuary set up by the Government to house elephants who are threatening farmers crops and hence might be killed by the farmers. This has to be my favourite activity so far. We got to feed the elephants, ride them and bath them in the river. I've never even touched an elephant before this. Riding an elephant is very bumpy actually. You can feel their bones and each step they take, you sway side and side and feel like you're going to fall off. When we got back to KL, we had dinner at a Western type restaurant (it had cool air conditioning and we didn't have to crush with all the New Year's party goers) and my beef pie was quite bad. Afterwards, we were fully refreshed so joined the crushing mass at a free New Year's Eve concert. The stream of people was endless and it was getting very very hot being stuck in there. After two hours of standing around, finally it was New Year's and we did the whole countdown thing. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..... Happy New Year's everyone from me here in Malaysia. Hope you all have a safe next year and get what you wish for. Also try to keep up those New Year's resolution. My resolution for the 5th year running is to get fitter and lose some weight, mmmmm, this donut is delicious.

Till the next exciting installment of the Thanh Holiday update, I'm signing off from Malaysia wishing everyone the best for the new year.