Kuala Lumpur

Well our bus ride to Kuala Lumpur took much longer than expected!  Apparently we were actually pretty lucky to get a bus ticket because it is the Malaysia school holiday this week so more people are traveling.  There was a lot of traffic and we arrived at 8pm when we were supposed to get in at 5:30!  Luckily our bus was very comfortable with big seats and air conditioning.  Our plan was to walk to a street with lots of hotels from the bus station and just find one but the bus stopped and everyone got out still quite a ways out of the city centre.  We then learned that the central bus station is under construction and the buses are not stopping there now!  Fortunately these two Australian guys were on the same bus as us and were going to the same place so we all shared a taxi into town to cut down on the cost.  We got settled in a nice hotel (much nicer than our usual standards...30 dollars for the night) then hit the main street to get some grub.  The main eating street here is CRAZY!  At night all the restaurants put their tables on the road as well so more people can sit down at once, and because they are on the sidewalks too the pedestrians have to walk on the road, but the cars still park and drive on the street (and of course all the motobikes too!) which makes the experience feel very congested, and a bit shocking to us after 4 days on a quiet island!  And to top it all off there are musicians singing and trying to make a few Ringett, as well as the sad cases of crippled or blind locals begging for money or selling kleenex to make a few cents.  The most heart breaking was last night when this blind man came walking down the street playing a trumpet (so loud it was ear-splitting!), lead by a man with no legs lying on his stomach on a skateboard, pushing himself forwards with his arms, flip-flops on his hands.  Brutal.  It was hard to eat dinner after that.

On a more cheerful note, we have had a pleasant 2 days in Kuala Lumpur just walking around exploring the city.  Yesterday we first figured out where the temporary bus station actually is (which was surprisingly a bit of a hassle!), then we went to the National Museum, then walked around the old railway station and Chinatown.  We have discovered these Indian style cafeteria places for lunch where we can get wonderfully spiced rice and lots of good veggies for me and chicken for Dan, plus drinks, all for under 4 dollars for the both of us!  Today we walked to the city centre to see the Petronas towers, then through the park, to the Police Museum and finally to the Orchid garden (which was lovely) and the National Monument.  There are some really beautiful parks and gardens in the city which gives it a nice "green" feeling.

Oh and I actually found a fruit that I don't like!  Durian!  It's disgusting!  We tried some last night and I only ate a little bit but immediately got a gag reflex!  No wonder there are "No durians allowed" signs in hotels and train stations!

Tomorrow morning we are going to try to head out early and catch a bus to Tanah Rata in the Cameroon Highland.  This area is at a higher elevation, cooler and is known for strawberry farms and tea plantations.  Wish us luck in finding the "actual" bus station!  We'll keep you posted!

Lots of love -

Hanna and Dan