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Destination Malaysia – Day Three: Where Is Day Two?

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Where have the days gone? Well, the international dateline is partially to blame, as today’s installment of my trip to Malaysia officially comes to you from Thursday, local time. In that timespan, I’ve been on four airplanes, two monorails, and a handful of taxicabs — which really just means that not too much has really happened worth reporting.

The first 24 hours were spent sitting on a plane. First, Delta to get me from Florida to San Francisco (via Atlanta), and then Cathay Pacific to get me from San Francisco to Kuala Lumpur (via Hong Kong). I endured 15hrs from America to Asia in the middle seat, between two lovely elderly Indian ladies, whose names I did not catch, so thus named them Fay and Doris, as it corresponded to their seat letters.

Fay enjoys Bollywood movies like it’s life’s greatest guilty pleasure, while Doris was a no-nonense kind of gal, who took a walk on the wild side this flight with her non-vegitarian meal choices. We became immediate friends during our journey, and promptly never spoke to each other once the landing gear deployed. Tyler Durden was right.

We got in Hong Kong an hour later than expected, apparently the wind was blowing too hard for our Airbus to handle. This wouldn’t have been an issue aside from the fact that my Malaysian Airlines flight to Kuala Lumpur didn’t intend on waiting for me…even though I still had over an hour to make the connection. I’ll save you the troubles of a mediocre story about an alligator, a duffel bag, and two spoons…I had to stay in Hong Kong for the night, having missed my connection.

I’d never been to Hong Kong, so that wasn’t too much of an issue (not that I really got to see anything in this deeply intriguing city); however, the added layover meant I would miss most of the tourist sights in Kuala Lumpur, something I had been looking forward to doing.

Dining in one of my hotel’s six restaurants, I was treated to the wifi that is abundant and fast throughout the country — it really doesn’t take much to keep this blogger happy, halfway around the world. The time difference here is almost the inverse of the time in the United States, meaning a late night, was an early morning for my friends and family back home.

The next morning (I guess this would mark the official start of Day Three?) was an early one, as I caught the first flight to KL after just a couple hours of sleep. A short three-hour journey with Cathay Pacific, and we again arrived nearly an hour late. I’m starting to catch on that punctuality doesn’t rank too high here as a blessed virtue.

Arriving in the heat of the day, the last few moments in the air were treated to fields and fields of palm trees. I presume the Malay are cultivating the dates, or maybe Malaysia is responsible for exporting the iconic flora to the rest of the world.

Either way, it made for scenic landing into the airport, which is situated close to the Sepang International Raceway (I was not able to see the circuit through the clouds though).

Public transit into the city is straight-forward, with a high-speed rail going into the KL Sentral station. From there you can catch a myriad of buses and trains, and for my purposes, even a monorail.

The city is hot and humid, though not as much as I was expecting. Kuala Lumpur is bustlingly big, and even from just watching through the monorail windows, I could see the small motorcycles weaving through the moderate automobile traffic.

I would hazard a guess that like anywhere else, you can measure the stratification of wealth by the distribution of certain vehicles. In the US, that might be done via automobile brands, but here in KL, it can be divided by two and four wheels.

Young kids and working adults slam through the city on small-displacement motorbikes Westerns wouldn’t recognize, while the business class rides in the relative comfort of air-conditioned cars.

A short walk from the monorail stop, and I was at our hotel, the Royale Chulan. A massive structure in the neighborhood, our accommodations rival that of any major luxury hotel chain. My tired, and slightly sweaty self welcomed the sight of a pool, visible from my balcony; while the comfort of the room soaked up this weary traveler like a sponge.

With my colleagues out seeing the town, I battled a little jet lag and got caught up with the rest of the world. That evening we hit the city streets of KL, in search of a proper local meal. While the Malay have a few unique dishes of their own, the mainstay seemed to be reinterpretations of Chinese and Thai plates you would recognize. Prices are negotiable, and on the cheaper side, with roughly three Ringgits to the US dollar.

After almost two days straight of traveling, we enjoyed the warm humid night air with our cool drinks in-ahdn, and let the city do the hustling and bustling around us. Push on to Day Four, and a proper start to our Malaysian journey.

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Day Three by the Numbers:

  • Miles flown: 20,000
  • Customs stamps: 3
  • Lost bags: 1
  • Price of a Big Mac combo meal in Hong Kong: $48 HKD
  • Cost of dinner in KL: ~$4 USD
  • Hours slept: 7

Dinner Conversation Topics:

  • Food travel shows on television
  • Beer towers, the miracle of
  • Portland steakhouses, the mystery of
  • Working girls
  • The rise of the e-cigarette
  • Worker unions
  • Medical tourism

Photos: © 2014 Jensen Beeler / Asphalt & Rubber – Creative Commons – Attribution 3.0

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