Today is another early start, as we have a 6:15am bus to catch to get the ferry back to the mainland.
The ferry turns into a torture chamber, as the TV is on again and this time the sound is on way too loud. There is an attempt to show some movies, but the film keeps juddering to a disturbing halt after five minutes then starting all over again. Someone must have changed the channel from a remote location because after a while we find ourselves watching a ten minute lab experiment which turns out to be an advert for engine oil. I begin to wonder if this ferry ride is some sort of experiment itself. After this, another movie comes on, still with the sound on too loud and with accentuated treble, and this time there is lots of crappy tinny Malay pop music on the soundtrack. I try to find some crew to turn the TV down, or preferably off, but there is no one to be found, the one door with a ‘crew only’ sign on it being locked. I start to think there could be a mallet on board for smashing windows in case we sink and that this could also be used for emergency speaker smashing. However, the only safety equipment I find is life jackets in the over head compartments. These each have a sewn in tag declaring that ‘the products have been inspected by the Nantong Office of the China Classification Society with shitisfaction’ (sic). I decide that they will do for ear mufflers.
Back on the truck, we have a long drive to Kuala Lumpur. Lunch is at a service station, but here the opposite applies to what you would find at a British service station. I have three fleshy sticks of fish, tofu kebabs, and a sandwich, all for less than the equivalent of £2. Good food at bargain prices.
Coming into KL, I go out onto the balcony of the truck to take some pictures and get some wind in my hair. We get lost and go half way around the city and back, so I get lots of angles of the Petronas and KL (or TV) Towers in the distance.
At the Classic Inn hostel, our home in central KL for the next few days, there is a bit of resentment as the single people have to stay in dorms, while couples get their own rooms. However, it is comfortable and clean, and very welcoming. Also, toilet standards are generally much higher in Malaysia and it’s the first country in Asia that we have been to where you can flush toilet paper down the loo!
Opposite the hostel is the Times Square shopping complex, thirteen floors including not just a hotel but also its own indoor amusement park with rides. I never thought I’d find myself doing the loop-the-loop on a roller coaster in the middle of a shopping mall, but you’ve got to take these opportunities where you find them. Now in my late thirties, I am conscious that I must be the oldest person in the amusement park barring parents taking their kids, not that there are actually many people being diverted from their shopping. I am re-assured that the wristband I am given upon paying my entrance fee reads ‘Adult Rides’. The roller coaster is exciting and sweaty, given that the ride reaches corners of the mall not covered by air conditioning.
For dinner, I go along the Jalon Alor, where hawkers serve local dishes in open air street restaurants. Fortunately, there is a sheltered part of the restaurant, as the rain comes down heavy while we are waiting for our meal. I have bullfrog porridge, which is a rice soup with bony bits of frog. For those uninitiated to frog, yes, like everything, it does taste a bit like chicken, but with a fishy edge to it. However, I would say that the pictures on the menu that they show people to entice them into the restaurant turn out to be more appetizing than the food itself.
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| Times Square Shopping Mall |
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