Thursday 5th of October
Everything has been so hectic, trying to get as much work completed before going away, almost feel like I’ve run myself down and also gotten sick. So many things to organise and probably haven’t eaten or slept enough. I don’t end up going to the gym until 9pm, I just do some bench press and deadlifts or front squats, gym isn’t too busy which is good. Now it is 10pm, I’m really tired and hungry and have to get up about 5am to pack and head to the airport. I stop at the ATM on the way home on Hay St in Subi to take out some cash before going but I haven’t activated my new debit card so this does not work. So tired and frustrated, not good.
I probably get to bed around midnight.
Friday 6th of October
I wake up early, like 5am. I am def tired and still a little run down from work, I gotta start packing fast because I’m meant to leave about 610am to go to the train station. I get all sorted then try to carry my suitcase all the way to Daglish train station on my shoulder instead of pulling it so as not to wake people, it is a solid workout. Sun is starting to come up, it is nice and quiet. Catch train to the city and then to the new airport train station which is really nice, quite impressed. Get lost a little but meet up with Stu about 7am. Our plane departs about 845am I think. We check in, look around, I go to the bathroom as stomach is not good. Time goes quick which is always a mystery in airports and very suddenly it’s time to board the plane. We’re in the middle row of seats but have three seats between the two of us which is good. The plane departs and the sun is well and truly up, so it feels like the day has definitely started.
The flight over there is pretty uneventful, the food is good and we watch the first few episodes on One Piece on Stu’s phone. Not bad. There are some young 20 year old guys who are going to Phuket and they are talking usual 20 year old guy sh*t, part of me is a little envious perhaps because I love Phuket and loved being at this age where you don’t have to worry about as many things, another part of me isn’t as interested as I know this part of my life has well and truly passed. Anyway the weather changes and becomes a little overcast and we are getting really close to landing. We arrive in Kuala Lumpur about 2pm and make good time, we push hard through the airport, there are quite a few shops and nice food shops and the airport isn’t that lit up which I kind of like. The toilets are pretty clean too. The weather is hazy and we later find out that this is due to Indonesia burning off. We get our luggage and Stu tries to contact our Grab driver - this process takes a while as the communication is not clear from the driver and we are not sure where he is actually waiting for us. We are outside now waiting for the driver, I have a hoody and shorts on and I’m really starting to feel hot but keep the hoody on as it is good sun protection, eventually our driver turns up and we head off. The drive takes at least 40 mins before we get close to the main city, I am really tired, feel like shit and have motion sickness too, Stu is also pretty tired and not feeling great, so it is not the most riveting drive and not much talking.
From the time that we arrived it’d been sunny (a little bit hazy too) but after about 40 mins of driving we are closing in on the main highway right next to the CBD and it has become really dark and gloomy. Out of nowhere it starts raining hard and I am liking this as I love rain. We finally get off the main highway into the CBD area, it is pretty hilly and windy and also appears to me to be a little shifty as some of the bars and places with neon lights are getting set up. I’m so confused about Kuala Lumpur as there are some really modern buildings and then very old, derelict buildings too… I’m starting to think maybe this isn’t as tourist friendly as I thought. Anyway we go through all these small windy roads in the CBD / jungle and we get to our hotel, we get out of the car for about 8 seconds to take our suitcases out before we get into the hotel and we get drenched! It is about 4pm now and we are finally inside the hotel, the air con is on and it is very nice and cool. I was so unsure about this hotel since we booked it until now but the lobby looks better and bigger than I thought it would and I think I now like it.
4pm
It is so nice and cool, we get into our hotel room and it is pretty nice. I am straight onto the tv to see what channels we have: we have close to 20, about 4 with movies and two dedicated sport channels. I am very happy with the sport channels. It’s still raining hard and we are seeing and hearing lightning getting really close as we look outside the window. Anyway we go downstairs to level 5 to the pool area and have a drink, it is empty apart from a young couple, they look aussie. At about 6 we head out and leave the hotel. It is a bit like a jungle with a lot of green plants growing on the sides of the road. We walk downhill about 50 metres and there are nice bars all along both sides of the road and then at the end there are some massage parkours (most not seedy but a couple look seedy), then there is food street which runs perpendicular.
Food Street
This street is a walking only street at night time and there is so much food and fruit drinks here to choose from, I buy some mango and sticky rice, eat it and we by this time we are at the quiet end of the food street and sun has gone down by this stage but not fully dark yet. We walk around the quiet roads to get back onto the main road. We get onto the main road for the first time and this road is lively and has big pedestrian crossings kind of like what you see in New York. Also has big advertisement boards like Times Square and this place is going off. Go looking for the massive shopping center and I think it is called Fahrenheit, this is a nice shopping center and not too hectic, reminds me of like Hay St on a Friday night. We go upstairs so I can get money out and after this we head back outside. I am thinking this shopping center isn’t as big as what I was expecting but the next day Stu finds the shopping centre we were looking for which is absolutely massive! This shopping centre was directly on the other side of the road, don’t know how I missed this.
It is about 730pm now and dark, we go back to the food street to get some dinner, I’m pretty sure I just get fried rice and it’s good. It’s pretty lively on the food street but also so relaxing and warm. So much life, lots of tourists, some white but also a lot of Chinese, Japanese, Indians and Middle Eastern too. I’m not sure if I have a drink here but Stu definitely did.
We walk back towards the hotel and walk past all the bars and they are lively, we see a pretty big one called Rockafellas which has sport on and live music so we go into there. This place is not too busy but busy enough. The Cricket World Cup is on and it’s NED vs Pakistan, we have a lot of TV’s to choose from, the live music from inside also comes on and off but luckily not too loud where we are sitting outside. I have like 4 or 5 vodkas and Stu has a fair few beers, I feel like I’m on another planet as I am very fatigued, have a headache and it is warm and really lively and kind of in a jungle, I kind of feel like I’m back in Phuket like I was in my 20’s… so unusual, I don’t know if I’m living in the past or just really tired but I keep drinking and slowly forget about it. The street in between all of the bars is really busy too, definitely more so because it is a Friday night. There’s live music on but also good DJ music on too… I slowly unwind I guess and start to enjoy it. Maybe I am too uptight in normal life.
It gets to about 1045pm and we decide to leave; I’m still feeling shifty as but feeling so relaxed because I am tipsy. Some 40 or so year old man with brown skin, shaved head and eyes which kind of look like they are devoid of a soul or have been heavily influenced by cocaine use or shifty activities, stops his car in the middle of the busy road and tries to talk to us. Eventually I realize that he is trying to speak to us so I slow down a little and then he asks if we want some cocaine, I laugh a little and decline, I find it funny because again it reminds me of when I was younger in Phuket and also younger in Perth too when people would offer you drugs. We walk up the small hill past the food van, we get to the front of the hotel, I see a cat out the front of the hotel under a motor bike so go and say hi, we go up the lift and back to our room and go to bed. The next day around lunchtime I’m at the gym and I still have a headache, don’t manage to get rid of this until Sunday.
