I must admit I've yet to fall in love with Malaysia. I'm sure it's not fair and I'm trying to reserve judgement until I can get out of these big dirty, stinky, barely functioning cities. I've been hesitating to make this blog entry because I don't have a whole lot of positive of late. But I guess ya gotta take the good with the bad, and looking back I'd like to remember these days with a degree of realism (it should be no surprise I'm not enjoying the big cities...). So, to those of you who are living vicariously through me... stop now if you only want vicarious beautiful beaches and rainbows. You've been warned!
I've had a policy all along of not booking more than 3 nights initially in any hostel in case it sucks. That backfired in Singapore and I was faced with having to move rooms every day, or switch hostels. Switching actually worked out for the best (the Happy Snail was such a great hostel :) but it left me thinking maybe it was a silly way to go about it since the vast majority of the places have been just fine. So, I went ahead and booked a full week in KL... sigh... I'm in a private room with a fan, no window, roughly the size of a prison cell. There was supposed to be central air but they really don't turn it on much so it's brutal hot most of the time. Leaving the hostel feels like I'm entering a war zone. To the right the sidewalks are all torn up like they replaced some piping or something underneath them several months ago and never finished the job - you have to pick your way through the rubble and jump over the open sewers. To the left and across the street, the sidewalk has been closed off completely by a boarded up empty lot so there's no option but to put your life on the line and walk in the street. The upside is there's a terrific Indian food place 3 blocks away where a large tasty meal can be had for about 2 bucks. That is until I got to chatting with a woman from South Africa (another middle aged woman traveling alone.. a rare find!). She told me to be sure to sit towards the front because the cock roaches kind of have the run of the place towards the back and can get aggressive about climbing on you! LOL!
I've booked a flight to Bali leaving Sept 29, returning to KL October 27th. The one thing I wanted to get done in KL was to get my visa for Thailand. I found it hard to get clear information, but had read online that they would issue a 60 day visa (extendable to 90 days for a few bucks once there) that would be good for 6 months with the 60 days starting when you cross the boarder. It took 4 hours in a hot little room with a couple of hundred other visa hopefuls to find out that it would only be good for 90 days. So, I'll have to wait until returning from Bali to get that taken care of. She did tell me I could do it in Penang, let's hope she's right. Thailand has the most obscure, nonsensical, crazy visa system I've ever heard of. It's like they really don't want tourists - or at least not backpackers arriving by land wanting to stay for a bit (a boarder visa if arriving by land is for only 14 days - by air they give you 30).
I've been out wandering the city most every day - only one day so far worth reporting. The Batu Caves are large caves on the outskirts of KL that have been turned into a Hindu shrine. It was a little bit commercialized but not too much - it's a functioning, active temple. There are a ton of steps to get to the top (272 according to wikipedia) and monkeys all along the way. People take new born babies to the top to be blessed. I saw one, it was wrapped in a bright yellow cloth, tied to sugar cane stalks and suspended between two panting, sweaty guys.
And a baby for Beth! Sorry I didn't get it's cute little face :(
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