I decided to take the night train from Singapore to KL since it is relatively close and is about $100USD compared to about $300USD for a flight. Originally I was going to couchsurf, but I couldn't secure a reliable couch so two nights before I booked a hotel. I also booked a premium sleeper.
The process at the train station reminded me that flying is actually not always the most inconvenient form of travel. We had to first go through Malaysian border control. There were four lines to the border control, and of course I picked the line that had somebody without the proper papers at the front trying to cross. While our line stood still, all the others moved. (I would digress here about the unquestioned superiority of a single-queue system like you find at Fry's Electronics which is the only fair way to service a queue ... but I'll save that for later). Of course I jumped to a different queue. The man in front of me turned out to be part of two families of a half dozen people and children who trickled in to join him in front of me. I knew this would be a problem, and jumped queues again to one which had a number of western backpackers in it. Fair or not, western folks get through passport control faster everywhere in the world. My moves paid off, but I still ended up spending about an hour standing in line to cross the border.
The train was clearly old Amtrak cars that had been sold to Malaysia. The steel cars with horizontal red, white and blue stripes are unmistakable. In any case, I had a room in the only first-class car on the train. It was actually not bad, with a private bathroom and a surprisingly comfortable bed. I shared the room with a Singaporean gentleman who turns out to have founded a wireless company; we spent a fair amount of time talking tech. Then about a half hour into the journey, the train stopped and we had to get out to pass through Singapore customs ... why this happens after Malaysian border control is a mystery. A half hour of standing and paperwork and we were on our way again.
When I arrived at 6am to KL I was tired and regretted the decision to take a night train. I dropped off my bags at my hotel. I couldn't check in, even though I offered to pay an additional night (for the previous night), no rooms were available. So I got some coffee, found a cab, and started sight-seeing. I went to the Batu Caves, a huge cave complex turned Hindu shrine. Some Hindu dude at a temple put a white dot on my forehead. I went to the KL Tower and surveyed the city. I visited the unspoiled jungle nearby, and watched monkeys jump around in trees. I wandered over to the Petronas towers, one of the tallest buildings in the world. I asked someone to take my picture in front of the towers, he turned out to be another American working for Microsoft in China (Shanghai). What are the chances of that? He was on his way to the airport, so we couldn't hang out.
I checked into my hotel, took a nap, then did more sight seeing. I took a walking tour through Chinatown and Indiatown. I ate some street food and went to bed early.
My second day I spent just eating and drinking and generally relaxing. I bought some English books at Borders, because it's really hard to find English books in China.
One thing KL has which I really like are food streets. These are streets where essentially every storefront is a restaurant, with plastic tables and chairs on the sidewalk and spilling out into the street. The food is always delicious and cheap. I love how everyone is out and about late at night enjoying food.
Malaysia is the first country I've visited where I commonly see women walking around in full hijab garb.
One thing that bugs the crap out of me is that you usually have to negotiate with taxis before they will use the meter. I hate that. I hate having to negotiate for normal things. Why the hell is there a meter if you need to negotiate for it?
Another strange thing is that many toilets, such as at malls and public places, cost about 0.20RM (0.07USD) to use. This means always carrying around change.
Traffic in Malaysia is typical of Asia, in other words, chaotic, but not as crazy as China.
Taxes on alcohol are almost as high as in Singapore, so drinks are costly, but not nearly as bad as the city-state to the south.
It is not difficult to get by speaking English; most people speak English and Malay, and quite a few speak Chinese and other languages.
I'm looking forward to going to Vietnam.
No comments:
Post a Comment