Malaysia

Hello, here we are again - in anther city. Left my home town, Kuantan, in an over-sold express bus. We felt good when we got the "last 2 tickets" because it was the last day of school holidays. When we got into the bus, there were a few more "last 2 tickets" got sold after us. Anyway, Le and I were appropriately seated - right at the back over the engine compartment. In cold winter months, people would kill for these two hot seats, but Malaysia does not have winter - just hot and sticky all year round. The bus was like riding a sampan on a bad stormy monsoon day. The road and ali-the-kami-kaze-Shoemaka's driving didn't help - certainly helped the young fella sitting in front spewing out what he ate.


(a Malay celebration in traditional costumes)




It was good to catch up with my folks last week. They certainly spoilt us with food and local fruits. One of our favourite Malaysian fruits is the Durian and my sister-in-law has been feeding us with this heavenly fruit which smells like shit and tastes like heaven, as it is commonly known. We ate them in days and in the evenings.


(Take it from me, the Durians are yummy.)




(Got there before dawn and started the praying and offering)

Early April is the Toaists' Ching Beng (All Soles Day). Once a year, family members go and tidy up (clearing scrubs, painting, etc) the graves and to make offerings to the dead. For four or five nights we were folding the paper origami resembling olden days gold and silver ingots while reminiscensing old stories - all in good humor. On the day of the offering, the families would go to the graves and pray and sending the gold and silver ingots (together with the paper shirts and whatever one cares to send) to the other world by express post, ie burning . In the process, apart from polluting the country side, more old stories were exchanged - does not matter the stories were re-cycleed every year; it is a good tradition. With all the gold and silver ingots, the recepients on the other side must be pretty well off. Do I believe in all this stuff? Of course I do, for the same reason I believe in Santa Claus, and believe me, he is real.

(Nights of hard work folding the gold and silver ingots being sent by express post to the other world.)









(off to the next grave)





Le eventually got her dental work done in time and completing her marathon trip KL-Kuantan-Johor Bahru/Singapore-KL-Kuantan and eventually Johor Bahru in 5 days and covered google mileage. She now has the Mclean smile with a ring of confidence to meet the next challenge - 4 big bags, backpacks, camera, laptop, etc going across the forever busy Causeway into Singapore Changi Airport.

(Look at that McLean smile - a ring of confidence!!)
And, London here we come.

Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur has been raining almost every day and the outlook for the next 6 days is the same - thunderstorms. When it rains, KL will come to a virtual standstill with traffic jams and grid lock the city - anxious and exciting stuff if you happen to be travelling into the city, wondering if you would ever meet your appointment in time.

(Photos: enjoying a RapidKL bus ride in the middle of a traffic jam; Batu Cave)

(Photo: try finding a way to cross Jalan Sultan Ismail? Now that's a challenge!!)

We found out we could travel all day within the city for only two Ringgit (less then an AUD). So, technically, you could see KL city for less than a A$ a day - sitting in comfort in very clean RapidKL buses. It is a great scheme. It could, however, take you half a day just to get across the city as we found out on a rainy day. The trouble is there appears to be no fixed frequency. They don't publish the schedule and it is a secret. If you have unlimited and plenty of time and enjoy watching the amazing traffic jams, RapidKL busing is the mode of transport for you. But, if you want reliability, rail is best bet to transport within the city and surrounding districts. Don't even think of taxis on a raining day - the taxi drivers would tell you where they would go and how much you would pay (the meter on-board is superfluous). This couple in the bus stand as us tried about 9 taxis before one would take them to where they wanted to go. Saw the same thing repeated in Petaling Jaya.

(TwinTower; Entrance to Little India bazaar; a shop in Little India)

Shopping at the KLCC (TwinTower) is still catered for the upper end of branded products. OK to look around though. The use of the toilet on Ground floor will cost you 2 Ringgits. That is about 10 times the normal charge and you P into it just the same as any comparable toilets. The toilets in the Lower Ground are just as good and better still, they are free. I have it from good authority that the toilet usage charge in The Garden (Mid-Valley) shopping centre is 5 Ringgits - cost more than the cost of having lunch at a hawker store - just for something you P into!!

Every six months or so, the Malaysian tour operators would gather in a convention centre to provide the public information on tour packages. They call it the MATTA Fair which started yesterday. One could pick up some very reasonably priced holiday packages in these fairs.

(one of my favourite dish - ClayPot Chicken rice - at a hawker store. The bottle of beer costs as much as the food; if you are fond of BeanCurd, you can't go pass this stall at Petaling Street - Previously known as China Town)

Our movement within Malaysia depends very much on Le's dental work. As luck would have it, despite a sterling effort by her dentist, the dental work will spread over the two weeks - almost the entire period of your stay. It makes it difficult to get away from KL, despite that, we left KL for my home town Kuantan - on the east coast.

Malaysia

Well, we are in Kuala Lumpur. I don't know how we managed to go through the check-in counter with between 55-60kg of luggage without being charged for over weight. Even the car boot was full. Tent, sleeping bags, matteresses, etc are bulky. The counter ladies were helpful.

The climate in KL hasn't changed - hot and humid- and it is raining cats and dogs outside. The roads between the airport and city are a lot better, but the roads within the city are jammed as ever.

Now we have taken the first step on this long journey, let's take a moment to look back at the preparation in the last few weeks. Our expedition leader, Pete Deverson (Odyssey Overland), advised us, amongst other things, to get the visa to china before we leave. This was an issue as most Consulates don't issue visas more than 2 months prior to entry. It is something to be weary of for people who want to do this sort of thing. we eventually got the visas through some help from people in the China Embassy in Canberra. We also managed to get the vaccinations done. This time round, it was a very simple affair.

We have allocated some time in KL to do a bit more shopping for items needed for the trip, eg malaria tablets, imodium (very important), some sweat pants, etc. Got most of that done on the first day.

Will take some photos over the next few days - when the rain stops - and post.

Perth -The beginning

Perth 6th March 2009
Well, one more sleep and then we are on our way - 7 to 8 months of adventure. The plan was to do all the things for the trip early and have the last few days relaxing, but unfortunately it is not the case - been burning the midnight oil for the last few days.

So, friends, this is our first attempt to blog, and to provide a communication channel for those interested. Hopefully, this will also provide a record of our travel. We promise the quality of this bulletin will improve as we visit places and understand how this new-found IT tool works.

Tomorrow Sat 7th March, we will be on Malaysian Airline to Kuala Lumpur.

Watch this space....