KL – Round 1

Jess writes: We set off on a ferry to Phuket, choosing to spend the 2-hour ride on the bow of the boat in the sun and wind. A perfect perch for Donovan to see what he thought was a dead body floating by. I didn’t see it so no confirmation from me, but if it was – it must have been a full moon party blunder. We talked with some of the locals who said that at every full moon party several people die. The party is in several feet of water and drunk tourists tend to pass out and drown. However, the Thai news doesn’t ever publicize anything. Scary. Anyway, we didn’t make it to one of these drugged trash can punch parties (literally), but I’m sure it would have been fun.

After disembarking and finding our luggage amidst the large pile on the back of the boat, we found a mini bus to take us to the airport. A short flight later and through immigration, we landed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. As a side note – not all of the countries we visited require you to pay for a tourist visa. However, there are rules on how long you can stay and how many times you can go in and out of the country. In every country it is possible to get a visa upon arrival, however with some it’s easier to get the visa prior to entering the country (namely, Vietnam. The rest we bought upon entry). There are numerous travel agencies that will help you get them in every country. For instance in Cambodia, you can get a visa for Vietnam and it only takes 24 hours. It makes traveling much easier.

So KL…we got there mid-afternoon and took a shuttle into the city to look for a place to stay. Because it was a Saturday night, hotel rooms weren’t the easiest to find. We went to three places before settling on a not-so-great hotel. It wasn’t until we could hear the cell phone of the person next door to us that we realized how absolutely thin the walls were. And their phone was on vibrate!!!! We left the next day to find another hotel that was a few steps up, but the same price.

Overall, we didn’t particularly like KL. The city itself is pretty dirty – I can’t imagine what some Singaporean travels would say! Not only that, but there seemed to be far too many obstacles on the sidewalks and streets. You really had to watch where you were going. There were large holes without any warnings on them. They are about 3 times the sized of your average manhole, about 5 feet deep and unmarked. There were concrete blocks where something obviously stood at one time, but the leftover remnant of it is about a ½ foot square and can appear in any part of the sidewalk. The streets are obviously neglected, considering the city’s growth rate and desire to attract tourism, this is a little disheartening. OK, well maybe I am a little biased about it, but for good reason. You would think they would put up a sign when they fill a hole with new concrete. At least maybe an orange cone or something. I walked right into it. What I should have done is drawn a star around my foot print in the fresh concrete, as I realized after the fact that we were standing directly in front of the Kuala Lumpur Hard Rock Café!

The highlight of our trip to KL was definitely getting to hang with my cousin Drew. He’s working in Air Force Intelligence and is currently stationed in Okinawa, Japan. He just happened to be working in KL for the month of June, so we had an opportunity to grab some beers in Malaysia of all places - a beautifully random coincidence. Drew, of course, had to work most of the time, but we luckily managed to see him two nights in a row. We met up on Saturday night for dinner and drinks and then again on Sunday night. Next stop – Japan.

In all we spent 3 days here. Malaysia, and KL in particular, is different than the other counties we visited. It is a predominantly Muslim country, as opposed to the large Buddhist influence we previously experienced. Malaysia also has a lot of oil money which is apparent in their rapidly growing infrastructure. The government is trying to grow their capital city, KL, into the countries’ commerce center. Although most likely due to the fast growth, they are obviously still lacking some aspects. Namely, the previously stated dirty streets and lack of ability to walk around the city.