Alex

Hello!

I spent my time in Kuala Lumpur being exceptionally lazy, and only venturing around 8 blocks all around the hostel – which to be fair are quite full of things to see!

Crazy Colonial District Skyline

There was quite a mix of people from all over the world at the hostel, and we spent the evenings chatting outside in the relative cool. One girl from London stepped off the plane, grabbed a map and took off around the colonial district – so I tagged along and we also went inside an amazingly decorated hindu temple.

I had a go at haggling at the markets for some birthday presents for Joe and Het, which was fun but I was a bit rubbish – need some practise I think.

The Melaka Night Market

On Friday I came down to Melaka with a Chinese girl that was at the hostel, so we shared the taxi fare and managed to find a really nice place in the old district of town. The streets are really narrow and packed with little shops and markets, and its quite close to the river and other tourist places too.

I’ve made friends with the owner and booked myself in here for two weeks, as I have my own little room and the wifi is fast – so I should be able to happily balance working and sightseeing.

The View From The Top - Notice The Giant Pirate Ship

I seem to be permanently jet-lagged despite zero time difference between Karratha and Malaysia – but I did manage to get up before 12 today and headed out up the hill and around to another more modern district, having breakfast at an English Cafe.

All the best for now,

Alex

Well if I thought wandering the streets of Perth was dissorientating that was nothing compared to how I felt on the streets of Kuala Lumpur!

After a pretty non-eventful departure from Australia and flight I stepped off the plane into 33 degree heat at 94% humidity… love it!

AAAHHHWWWYAYAYAYAHHHMMMMAAAAA! You know you're in a muslim country when at 7am you hear...

The trouble with that kind of humidity are the afternoon thunderstorms – which rolled over the city right as I was wandering the streets in search of my hostel! The rain came down so hard that the roads were awash with inches of rain within minutes complete with forked lighting above the skyscrapers. That coupled with shrugs or vauge gestures from anyone I asked for directions meant I lost heart after about an hour and checked into the nearest hostel dripping wet and glad for some air-con.

Not having eating since 5am that morning (now 4pm) I went straight back out and bought a handful of sweet-chilli chicken from a street vendor for a song. Happy once again, I ventured down to Petaling Market in ChinaTown and had fun weaving in and out of the throngs of people selling watches, dvds, handbags, wallets and die-cast statues of the KL Towers.

Dinner was a cashew nut chicken dish at a bustling cafe along with a sickly-sweet chocolatey drink that was served when I asked for coffee.

An amazingly decorated temple nestled among modern KL skyscrapers

Today the hustle and bustle (which reminds me very much of Libya) seems a lot less intimidating, and once settled in my proper hostel I’ve spent most of the day exploring the markets and shops around ChinaTown. It certainly feels like I’ve begun something new – its been a long time since I’ve wandered through colourful markets, jumped holes in the pavement, been harrased to buy DVDs and had to risk life and limb just to cross the road! Definately enjoying myself now!

My new office

I met a Swedish vagabond yesterday who had great things to say about Malaka – a town I was thinking of staying at anyway – so I’ll be taking off there in a couple of days to settle down and do some work for a couple of weeks.

I’ll keep you updated!

Al x

Hello!

Well well well. In my last post I said that I had 4 weeks left in Karratha… it’s now 5 days later and I’m in Perth!

The day after I put up that post my boss at Eagle Boys insulted me – which is nothing new, he sparodically insults everyone there – but that day he pissed me off so much I thought it was time to leave.

The Belltower at 9am

I toyed with the idea of going back to McDonalds for a month or else staying in Karratha, but eventually decided on getting the ruck out of the place.

So it was that on Wednesday I went in, quit, packed my bags, slept for two hours at a friends place and got an early flight to Perth the next morning! Freedom feels good.

Slightly disorientated, I’ve since been wandering around the city, doing some work and reading the final book in the Millenium series (The Girl Who Kicked A Hornets Nest). I’m staying at the YHA in the middle of the city which is nice and convenient – I’ll be here for another couple of nights before I leave for Kuala Lumpur. I managed to bring my flight forward a month, as I figure a couple of days expenses here equals a weeks expenses there.

Jeans!

I have absolutely no idea where I’ll be staying or where I’m going, and I know very little about Malaysia at all – other than a place called ‘Langkawi’ which Google Images tells me is beautiful. I plan on going to see for myself.

Leaving so suddenly did have its drawbacks however as I didn’t get a chance to have a proper goodbye with many of my friends, but I have a feeling I’ll be back in touch with a few of them in a few years time.

Last night I was so exhausted I went to bed at around 4pm to read and ended up sleeping until 8 am this morning! I slept for so long that a hot shower and an hour long walk around the city couldn’t ease the pain in my disc. It was worth it though!

Inner City Gardens

Enjoying a smoke on main street, doing some people-watching and getting to wear my jeans and a jumper again it certainly feels as if I’ve begun another chapter of my adventure. Quite where I’ll end up is uncertain at the moment, as the length of my travels and the level of extravagance partly depends on many of my as-yet untested abilities to launch and run a business…

We’ll just have to wait and see. As always, I’ll be keeping this blog updated when new things happen which ought to be quite often…

Take care,

Alex x