Kuala Lumpur: A Sky High Experience!
Trip Start
Apr 21, 2009
1
24
Trip End
Jul 11, 2009
Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Sunday, June 21, 2009
"This is the street where the hostels are," said Joy. She led me down through the intersection and through the crowds to a crowded street of bustling activity. The street was across from the MacDonald’s and on the right-hand side were all the hostels-Red Dragon, Grocer’s, and Backpacker’s, and one fancy hotel.
Joy and I went up to Backpacker’s – her friend had booked a room for us there while we were on the train. But sadly, when we arrived, and hauled our luggage up-it was full. And they couldn’t find our reservation. Instead of a debate, we headed back down to the street. We met a local lady there-she directed us to Grocer’s Inn-which was back down the street a bit. She knew this guy that worked there.
As we were talking, Joy’s friend showed up in her car-she offered to take us both to her place but it’s outside of KL. Since I had just met Joy, as well, I felt bad and didn’t want to intrude. Plus, I’m sure there’s an empty bed somewhere on the streets of Chinatown. I looked up at the yellow sign of Grocer’s Inn, the arrow pointed this way-but there was only a restaurant there. Huh? How do I get in?
“Go down the alley-the entrance is on your right!” yelled a voice loudly from above. I looked around. Where’d that voice come from? I looked up 2 storeys confused and saw no one. “Up here!” shouted someone again. “What!” I exclaimed as I looked up to see a pudgy guy with brown curly hair sitting on the corner of the balcony waving at me smiling and dangerously leaning off the edge. “Down here!?!” I exclaimed pointing to the unlit alley with the stench of raw fish and sewage. He laughed, “Yeah! On your right-it’s hard to see! But TRUST me, you’re find it!” After passing a few dark stalls, I arrived.
The man at the desk there showed me the place than we came back down and I signed in. As I was signing, I could hear thuds down the stairs. The guy that greeted me upstairs was running down the spiral staircase jubilantly. “So, you’re from Canada?” he said looking at the book. “I’m Bachir.” He held out his hand. “I work here.” Then he grabbed something from behind the desk past the desk clerk and ran upstairs again. I slowly made my way up.
In the dorm, I had the top bunk. The aircon was blasting and I was freezing. I slept with my towel covering my legs. When I woke up, there was a blanket over top of me. I don’t know when it appeared.
The next day, this guy offered to take me around but I refused. I used the lonely planet book and my ingenius navigation skills to find my way to Merdeka Square. It was beautiful! It looked like a mix of Dutch and Arabic structures and the waterfall was amazing. I met a couple from Iran and helped them take pics and a Malay couple who insisted on giving me their Friendster account. I took a walk to a crazy-looking tree-stump with lillypads water fountain and then made my way by skytrain via Pasar Seni to KLCC.
When I arrived there, I was originally told it was already all booked. But then, I got the lucky last ticket that someone had cancelled at 4:00 and was able to do the free bridge tour when I arrived. I got AMAZING pics! I was SO LUCKY!
The rest of the evening, I walked around the KLCC Park and enjoyed the sunset, the waterfall and man-made lakes, and a brief set of fireworks as well as a fountain light show. Then I sat in the green grass and looked up at the stars-amazingly bright and clear. It was wonderful!
I arrived back at Grocer’s Inn exhausted, after another failed internet attempt, grabbed some water and food from KK, and returned to the dorm which was completely empty. No one was there except one bed with a white laptop and IPOD.
I fell asleep-freezing again-my blanket was gone. I woke up around 1 am to feel something warm and fuzzy clunk on top of my shoulder. I woke up startled. The worker guy was walking past me, “Didn’t mean to wake you. Thought you were cold.” “Thanks.” I said half-asleep and unravelled it and went back to sleep.
