James' first taste of the Orient - Malaysia

Hello everybody!

I'm in Korea at the moment and also I'm a little hungover writing this
so forgive me if this email sounds disjointed and long winded...

Well, after an anticlimatic farewell to friends and family and
finalising arrangments, I had to wait a long 3 weeks twiddling my
thumbs and waiting impatiently for the visa process to be complete.
Finally after much delay I got the E-2 visa (to work in Korea) and
booked the first ticket I could out of Australia!

I ended up getting a flight that stopped over in Kuala Lumpur. So I
thought i'd spend a couple of days there first so I get a good idea of
what an Asian country is like (since i've never been to one before),
and then start work in Korea.

So Kuala Lumpur....

KL, despite the fact that the weather just can't make up it's mind
between sun or rain (every 30 minutes it alternates!), the temperature
and humidity is as thick as a sauna (I was shocked to arrive at 9pm -
in 27 degree heat!), is quite a wonderful exotic place. It is the
perfect place for shoppers and eaters - in fact what drew me to KL was
the food. Malaysia is a meeting point for all types of cultures;
Malay, Chinese, Indian, Middle Eastern, etc.

The restaurants would look run down with plastic tables and chairs,
dirty floors etc, but at least you can see the chefs cooking (usually
motherly types) right in front of you. The service is usually not very
good, but the food comes out freshly cooked and delicious. Nasi Goreng
(fried rice) was a favorite as was Nasi Lemak (coconut rice), served
with meat and vegetables from a wok, or overly deep fried! Mee
(noodles) was also common, served in different ways, dry or in soup,
usually spicy.

KL is also a shoppers paradise, as the whole city is pretty much a
gathering of markets and gigantic shopping plazas. One shopping plaza
(called Times Square) is one of the biggest in the world, 10 floors of
shopping pleasure. What made this plaza interesting was that it even
contained a Theme park! The rollercoaster (that's right,
rollercoaster!) went up 5 floors and was fully functional and fully
sized.

The market places always overcharge up to 5 times the real amount, so
you have to haggle. Which is kinda fun, since you and the vendor have
fun doing it like a game, acting nonchalant, or threatening to walk
off etc.

I remember hanging out with this sweet funny Austrian girl called Lisa
(who I found myself fancying and I think vice versa since we had a
certain chemistry together, and alas if she didn't have to fly out
later that day maybe something of a romantic nature would have
happened. Sigh. So in a sense it's probably a good thing too. But I
digress) where we tried to buy an umbrella (because of the sporadic
rain).

After much effort, comparing prices with Australian prices and stating
that we would rather walk in the rain!, we brought the price down to
10MYR ($3.50) from 50MYR. Rather proud of our efforts we continued on
our way, pretending not to notice the umbrellas for sale for 6-9MYR
nearby. I guess the moral of the story is to check prices of things
before entering the country so you have an idea of how much things
cost!

Another interesting thing about KL was the kooky buildings they have
there. Most of the skyscrapers and tall buildings are original,
unconventional and have no desire to fit in it's surroundings - they
don't seem designed to be discreet thats for sure. The end result
gives the city a chaotic yet modern look. A building with elements
resembling a temple will stand next to one covered with vegetation,
next to one with Islamic design..

Which brings me to the world famous Petronas Towers, the tallest twin
towers in the world (owned by an Oil company). This building was
inspired by Islamic art, the tesellations of squares and circles
tapering at the top gives the building its distinctive attractive
appearance. You can't go to the top though, only halfway to the bridge
connecting the two, and you have to turn up early and book a time to
come back later, because tickets are limited each day. At least it was
free. The views were pretty impressive though they only give you 10
minutes to go up, look around on the bridge, then come down. Which
makes sense I guess seeing it's just a building and not much else to
it.

I spent most of my time hanging out with this cool
Welsh/Indian/Portugese girl named Donna, who not only thought and did
things and held beliefs so close to my own (that it was almost like
she was my alterego, although female, left handed and vegetarian), but
she reaffirmed my reason for doing what i'm doing now, and the
lifestyle of travel that I have chosen. It's nice to know there are
people that think along the same lines as yourself, especially when
trying to live a life so unconventional to normal people. I am a
different person when I'm home in Melbourne - travelling again I feel
much more happy and alive and full of purpose. But again I'm getting
sidetracked, I did warn you this email will be disjointed... and my
hangover hasn't improved either (and I'm starting work in a few hours
time!)

Anyway, did a day trip with Donna to the Batu caves, 15km out of KL.
The Batu caves is on a side of a mountain, covered with rainforest,
and is 273 steps up through beautiful gates of carved brightly painted
Hindu sculptures of gods and goddesses. In fact the whole cave is a
Hindu temple, filled with stalagtites (turned into stone), little
temples of painted wood dedicated to various deities, and a lot of
crazy monkeys sitting around eating coconuts, bananas and flowers, and
sometimes grabbing food out of tourists hands when least expected.
Cheeky! The caves also has the largest golden hindu statue in the
world standing right at the entrance to the caves.

Anyway, after 3 days in KL it was time to fly out to Seoul.

And so I arrived in Korea... and what a fantastic place!!!!!

Which I will write about in my next big blog!

Ciao!