Something blatantly obvious to both Tina and I was that we were definitely the minority on our flight from Indonesia over to Malaysia. I know this sounds obvious but really, big foot and the loch ness monster would have had a better chance of blending in than us in our neon sunglasses and haviana flip flops.
Just after I finished writing the first blog I had the unpleasant shock of walking down the isle and opening the toilet door on some poor old unsuspecting Indian grandmother who was firmly wedged into the tiny space in front of me. She definitely wasn't pleased at my discovery but lock the door for gods sake woman!!
We landed without problems and even met an older American guy called Benjy who shared a cab with us into the city to bring the cost of the fare down. It's pretty interesting meeting people for a fleeting moment, learning something about their lives and then never seeing them again. Benjy was from LA originally but had retired and moved to Chang Mai in Thailand 6 years ago, a random choice.
Although we arrived in town just after lunch it turned out to be a very uneventful day and was spent checking into a gross guest house, paying, walking out of the door and discovering a much nicer one 10 metres down the road, returning to the gross one, arguing for our money back against the lady boy on reception (we lost), checking out, re-checking in at the new place, paying again....you get the idea. It was worth the hassle though, this place is a diamond in the rough that is Chinatown and the free internet and breakfast are good perks.
So that day came and went, we tried to go out for dinner but again rather typically we'd landed in Kuala Lumpur on the Muslim equivalant of Christmas eve and everything was dead. I ended up scorching my taste buds into oblivion on a NOT mild korma at a restaurant called Spicy Corner (yes maybe the name should have been a hint) and rolling back to the hotel feeling a tad unfulfilled.
Today again, didn't go to plan but wasn't a complete disaster. With it being their Christmas Day even the famous Petronas Towers were closed and our intended trip of going up to the 41st floor sky deck which was supposed to be the highlight of KL for us didn't happen. Instead we ended up heading straight to the KLCC mall (an absolutely vast 6 floor monstrosity) and being enticed into its expensive looking shops with wide eyes and open mouths.
I'm not exaggerating but today, I found this mall experience both incredibly depressing and exhilarating at the same time. I've been wearing the same 20 items of clothing for over 15 months now, I'd virtually forgotten that the possibility of other clothing existed. Other designs, colours and shapes...
What made the whole thing really REALLY bizarre was seeing a Debenhams, a Marks and Spencer, Zara and the queen of them all...Topshop! It was like entering a temporary portal to England and it threw me.
I ran my fingers over the velvety fabrics, the silky and expensive looking rails, the glittery, sparkling (and overpriced) accessories and then caught sight of a disturbing sight in a tall full length mirror. Wincing, I realised it was my incredibly unfashionable and traveller-bum looking reflection. How had I come to look like this! I've never craved a full wardrobe replacement shopping spree so much it was painful.
Anyway, I did allow myself the mini splurge of buying a necklace, bracelet and hair band from Accessorize (another shop that made my mouth fall open) and then felt the intense and immediate guilt of spending 23 pounds, yes pounds, on those three things.
I grabbed Tina, encouraged an urgent evacuation from the KLCC pronto and then ate another mind blowingly, explosively hot bowl of noodles.
On our way home just when we thought the day's excitement was over we got lost again and ended up walking down a dark alleyway in Chinatown. Rounding a corner we both got more than we bargained for and were faced with an old Malaysian man with his trousers around his ankles holding onto his 'member' firmly, pointing it at us you could say. I don't want to go into detail but it truly has scarred the eyes and Tina's face was an absolute picture.
Think we'd better leave KL now and head down to Melaka!
No comments:
Post a Comment