paraphernalia

Pretty much as soon as Michelle left, I was back on an MRT cross-island to pack for my weekend jaunt to KL. Due to bad taxi management, we managed to be late for the meeting at Kranji, and I nearly lost my phone. Thankfully everyone waited for me, and the taxi driver was honest.

So off I went, with my phone, and 29 of my closest friends (some the same as Langkawi, many new), to KL via JB and a 4hr coach ride.

This was my first real long-distance bus ride outside of school camps. It was fantastic. If only school camps had business-class coaches with reclining seats and leg rests. Apparently in the longer bus trips (8hr+), you are served refreshments!! It's like a plane trip without pressurisation problems. The only downside (aside from the time) is the temperature on the buses - its freezing!!!. We all brought jumpers, but that wasn't really enough. It was still cold. You have been warned!

I have a habit on this trip of arriving before my room is ready, and KL was no exception. We arrived at the hotel at 4:30am, to find reception closed till 7:30am! I found the nearest couch and slept soundly for 3hrs. Many others went to the pool and refreshed.

Day 1: KLCC; Batu Caves; Times Square; Lot 10; Chinatown; Beach Club.
We began our assault on KL early, queueing from 9am to get tickets to the Petronas Twin Towers. The Petronas Twin Towers, the official name for 'what was until recently the tallest buildings in the world', are definitely a must-do for tourists in KL. They are now referred to as the tallest twin towers in the world, and are definitely a point of national pride for the Malaysians. On the way up you are treated to a promotional video outlining such useful facts as the number of car park spots in KLCC (5400), and the percentage of local material used in the buildings' construction (60%). As you can see, it was riveting stuff, and definitely left you in no uncertainty as to why it was built - nationalism. It was, after all, constructed during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, at a time when every other ASEAN country was crying poor. Malaysia was as well, it just chose not to show it.

The view from the skybridge (the bridge linking the two towers, and the highest point the general public can reach) was again, a let-down, namely because of the weather. I can imagine on fine days it is unbeatable. From up there, KL looks just like any other modern, congested city - which it is. For me, it just wasn't enough - I wanted more culture, less shopping centres; more distinctly 'Malay' or 'Muslim' architecture, less bland office blocks. For that I'd have to wait until Sunday.

Our next stop was the Batu Caves, which are the main pilgrimage point in SE Asia for Hindus during the festival of Thaipusam. We visited it the week after Thaipusam, having seen the festival in Singapore, and there was still rubbish and remnants of kavadas scattered around the caves. Many people found that disconcerting, and, from a Singaporean perspective I can see why it would. At the time I didn't really pay much attention to it - I guess time spent in Denpasar and Bangkok desensitise you to congestion and rubbish. It's strange - I felt more at home in traffic jams in KL then I do on MRTs in Singapore. Well maybe not more at home, but at least the same. They remind me of being on holiday!!! Strange, huh! (For those of you reading this who don't know my history - I have been on holiday with my family three times to Thailand, twice to Indonesia, and once to Hong Kong).

The caves themselves were fantastic. The temples are sometimes carved into the rock, other times positioned in front of the enclaves. They clearly represent a focal point for Hindu's in the region, as my guide mentioned. When I post the photos it will have more meaning.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at various shopping centres, including the 'largest shopping mall in Southeast Asia' - Times Square. If a shopping centre could ever be considered too big, then BTS (Bertaya Times Square) would definitely be a finalist. It's massive!! 8 levels, one rollercoaster, no supermarket to speak of, and a million clothes stores - all selling the same things!!! Not to mention the 'entertainment centres' selling fake DVDs. Where we were staying, KL Plaza, was located in Lot 10 - another big shopping complex, with one hotel, and two shopping centres on the one block. It had a great food court in the basement, and an Isetan (Japanese department store).

The real shopping began in Chinatown that night. We walked down Petaling St (KL's Pagoda St), and realised immediately why people say KL is fantastic for shopping. Every stall had cheap, good quality fake clothes, DVDs, perfume, handbags, shoes...the lot! I think perhaps Bangkok's Pratanum Market maybe outdoes it for space and variety, but I like the 'crush' of a busy market, so it did it for me. Purchased enough to keep me happy - 3 Polo's and 3 Billabong t-shirts for RM99 (about A$30, S$50!), and some Hugo Boss Dark Blue (yes, Michie, that's 'my smell') for RM20 (about A$8). The single most popular item purchased was the Tiger Beer t-shirts - which I think will be replaced by Singha Beer ones after everyone comes back from Thailand! We are so predictable!

Saturday night was spent at Beach Bar, on the main clubbing street in KL (I don't know what its name is). Hmm....the less said about this place the better I think. The covers band were laughable - no one should attempt to cover Metallica, please!, and the atmosphere was ... interesting. It was a meat market, as someone delicately put it. Seedy old Western men with underage Malay girls. Not exactly the best club I've been to, but with 40 of us there, we made our own fun. Got to bed at some ridiculous time in the morning - 4am I think.

Day 2: National Mosque, Central Market, KL Railway Station, Merdeka Square.
Sunday was far more cultured than Saturday - mainly because we were all bored of shopping, and wanted to see a more Malaysian side of KL. We began our journey at the National Mosque - a geometrical masterpiece (Muslim art cannot depict human form, so it must be abstract - hence all the shapes). It was closed for visiters, but just walking around the building was great. Everything had 8 sides and 5 levels - representing the eight states of Malaysia, and the 5 pillars of Islam. Even the Petronas Towers have this - 5 distinct sections, and if you look at the buildings from above, they form an 8-sided star. Interesting, huh?

Our next stop was Merdeka Square (Indpendence Square) - a large expanse of green in the middle of KL. It's really nice, except there is no shade at all. I think it could be a lot more, but there are more pressing things on the minds of those in power. Like transport, and the economy, and health, and education, and well ... everything else. Merdeka Square also has SE Asia's tallest flag pole. They are obsessed with having the " 'est " aren't they!!

From there we walked (in the midday sun I might add) to the Central Market (well initially what we thought was the Central Market, and ended up just being another few clothes stalls) with all the native arts and crafts in all their touristy glory, and across to the old KL Central Railway station. Usually railway buildings don't do it for me, but this one did. The main building, and the railway offices opposite are both Muslim-style buildings, and just look so distinct against a backdrop of modern skyscrapers. This was exactly what I was looking for!

Then it was back to KL Plaza, and packing...two very busy days were over. I feel like I've definitely learnt from going to KL, and I'm really glad I went. But I'm also glad I went for two days, and not a week...I would have to leave and go somewhere else.

As I've said many times, I could live in Singapore, I couldn't in KL.

From the 21st to the 23rd, 30 of my closest exchange friends descended on Palau Langkawi (Langkawi Island) off the North-west coast of Malaysia for a long weekend of relaxing, and generally bumming around under the sun.

We did far more exploring than I anticipated, and it was awesome. I had no idea one small island (it is slightly smaller than Singapore, and has a population of 60,000) could hold so much...not to mention the 98 islands that make up the Langkawi archipelago!

To get to Langkawi from Singapore, you have a few options - bus (it takes about 20 hours in two bus trips, and then a ferry), plane (the most expensive is direct sgp-langkawi, but we did it differently), or ferry from Penang (and a bus from sgp to Penang). The route we chose (because of time and monetary constraints) was Singapore - Johor Bahru (taxi x2) - KLIA (plane) - Langkawi (plane).

Now, whilst this may have been the cheapest method given time constraints etc..., my ears really don't appreciate so much up-down-up action in one day. One long plane flight gives me time to adjust. Two 45min flights (when I have a cold) are never fun. However, having said that, my head only felt like it was about to explode once, on the flight from KL to Langkawi.

PGP-JB
From the moment we left PGP (5:30am!!), we were all pretty excited. For most of us going, this was the first real sidetrip, and was going to be one of many. I had never seen Langkawi, aside from a few pics in a general guidebook to Asia. Having now seen it, I can definitely recommend it.

Johor Bahru (JB) looked stunning at 6am. The city was dead, the water still, and the boats docked in makeshift piers reflected perfectly. The old, fading look of JB without neon lights added so much to the atmosphere. There is an old-school amusement park on the water, which at night (as I learnt afterwards on the way home) looks perfectly normal and lively, has an eerie quality with the lights out and the gates locked.

The airport was dull and would probably not exist was it not for the low-cost airlines like AirAsia. Taxes leaving JB are nothing compared to those leaving Changi (Singapore).

JB-Langkawi
Flights were non-eventful, aside from aforementioned brain explosion. At KL we had an interesting conversation over some strange cheese croissants of the merits of certain aspects of Singapore's sex policy, but we shall leave that for another time. For now, let's just refer to it as 'equal opportunity'.

Langkawi - Day 1 (Friday)
Upon arrival at Langkawi, we hired cars and drove straight to our accomodation, and then the main tourist beach on the island (Cenang Beach). At the time, we all loved Cenang. It represented the picture-perfect beach, and was great for watching the sunset. We stayed there for the entire afternoon, and discovered the cheap beer waiting for us at 7-11. RM3 for a Tiger Beer. That's just ridiculous!!! We're all hoping Singapore can instigate a duty-free policy similar to Langkawi, so all the exchange students can enjoy cheap alcohol. For those interested, cigarettes are also RM3 here ($A1!!).

A fair few of my photos from the trip come from this time at Cenang. It was the only time (aside from a few hours on Saturday night) that we had the whole group together, so we took the opportunity to take the obligitory 'group photo' about 5 times!

Dinner was, shall we say, interesting. Ah, forget it, it was dreadful. Really really bad. We chose the restaurant spontaneously, having realised that it was 8pm and we hadn't eaten. We picked an empty restaurant (mistake no. 1) on the main street (mistake no. 2), which advertised seafood (mistake no. 3). It turns out the restaurant was brand new, and had just opened. The problem was we didn't find that out until we were leaving. Of a menu of about 10 pages, only 5 items appeared to be available. Again, that would have been OK had they informed us it was the case. It was not until half an hour after we ordered that we realised our food wasn't coming and found out the chicken had finished, and there was only fish. This was after I had been told the fish was unavailable.

Eventually, around 10pm, I had really nice (and quite spicy) fish. It was unbelievably cheap (RM2.5 a fish, cooked), however the whole lack of atmosphere, and stupidness that went along with actually getting dinner meant the evening was a write-off.

Langkawi - Day 2 (Saturday)
For many of you who know me well, this won't come as much of a surprise, but today I slept through my alarm. It was set for 8am. I woke at 10, when we were supposed to be leaving. Luckily two of the three drivers were in our room, so we had to wait for them.

First stop was the waterfall at Durian Peragin. Silly Tristan had forgotten proper walking shoes, but luckily the path didn't go too high, and the waterfalls were quite small. Still a very nice place to visit, and well worth it, but I can imagine it gets hugely busy in peak times, judging from the carpark and the shop set up at the bottom.

From the waterfall we continued to cross the island to Gunung Raya, the 2nd highest mountain on the island, and the only one you can drive to the top of. The Malaysian PM visits here every 2 years for a meeting, and the guard at the top was kind enough to show us around. The place is quite large considering its rare use, and it has amazing views of Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. The day we went though, was quite cloudy, and the views didn't allow us to see Indonesia. Just saying that sounds crazy! Obviously the Malaysians agree and have placed a satellite station there. No prizes for guessing what it is there for.

By that time it was lunch, which was eaten at the most 'local' place on the island, right beside an open sewage ditch, near Black Sand Beach. Really added to the atmosphere. I felt sure that if I was going to be sick from anywhere on the trip, it would be there, but we were all fine! Malaysia is definitely not Indonesia in that respect.

The afternoon was spent driving around the island, from one side to the other, and visiting the Cable Car at Gunung Machinchang ("Oriental Village"). I 100% recommend anyone who gets the chance to ride on the cable car. You get the most awesome views over the island of Langkawi, and of the surrounding islands and reefs. It's just unbelievable. When I post the pictures you'll have a much better idea.

Our last stop before the beach BBQ was Tanjung Rhu, a beach in the North East of the island. If I thought Cenang was amazing, it has nothing on Tanjung Rhu. Unbelievably soft sand, a long, wide beach, and really shallow water. The only downside, coming from an Aussie perspective, was the complete lack of waves, or surf. Other than that it was most relaxing. Not to mention the tasty battered bananas we had (see mum, I am eating fruit!).

Langkawi - Day 2 (Saturday) [Part II: Beach Party]
The beach party, organised by Leong, was awesome! He supplied the food, we supplied the alcohol, and Langkawi supplied Cenang Beach, almost deserted. The reason for the island being so quiet was the tsunami that hit the West coast of Malaysia on the 26th of December 2004. Although it hit Langkawi very very mildly, it's impact on tourism could definitely be felt. Many places were very quiet, and this is meant to be the peak season. If anyone out there is reading this, and is wondering about Langkawi, just go - they need you and there is nothing wrong with the island!

The beach party was hampered by the efforts of the owners of the bar we were at to kick us out if we didn't spend money, and by a few other things, but all in all, it was a very cool night. Believe it or not, I think it was my first beach party - and I live in Sydney! Got to bed at 3:30am, which compared to Soren and Laura, who arrived at our room at 7am, was quite good going!

Langkawi - Day 3 (Sunday)
Today's itinery revolved around doing the 'must-do's that we didn't get around to doing on Saturday - namely island-hopping.

On our 4hr speed boat trip, we had an amazing view of Palau Langkawi, and through some of the many surrounding islands. We visited three - Palau Beras Basah, Palau Dayang Bunting, and what I think was Palau Singa Besar.

The first and the last were known for their v.v.nice beaches - with crystal clear waters (shallow as always), and lovely sand. Once again, I forgot something - this time it was a towel. At least I had a camera and sunscreen - the other two necessities.

My writings here won't really do these beaches justice - when I post the photos, you'll have a much better idea. Also, I will soon (as in, in 10 minutes) be able to add photos as single blogs very easily, so I'm looking forward to that!

The 2nd place we visited (Palau Dayang Bunting), contains the Lake of the Pregnant Maiden, which is a fresh-water lake, exisiting within an island surrounded (obviously) by salt water. It exists because of a natural 'wall' seperating the ocean from itself. Cool huh!

Believe me, its very refreshing!

No discussion of this trip would be complete if I didn't mention the monkeys. Being a tourist spot in Malaysia, there are many of them, and they have become quite adept at stealing and eating food left on beaches and on decks! Within about 30 seconds of Xavier putting some biscuits down on the beach, they were gone. For some strange reason, at PBB, they have erected a small, useless wire 'fence' around the monkeys, which does absolutely nothing, as monkey's can climb!. Who was the doofus who thought of that. Actually, come to think of it, maybe its to stop humans going into the monkey's habitat. That makes more sense.

From the island-hopping trip, we went straight back to the hotel (Kondo Istana btw, in Kuah Town), and from there to the airport, and back home. We were all so tired by the time we got back to PGP (at midnight), that I think everyone just crashed.