Malaysia – travelling, fun, friends and more

Well a couple of restful days in Kuala Lumpur and here we are again at the airport… Some reflections on this brief leg of our Temple Run….

Joe does a Superman jump in front of the super hero store at the Pavilion mall.

We were going to return to KLIA 2 the same way we arrived using the relative luxury of the KLIA express train which costs 35 ringgit for a 30 minute journey. Our wonderful host at our hotel, the Amigos KL Guest House located behind the massive Times Square mall that has its own theme park including Malaysia’s best roller coaster, informed us that there were three options and maybe the express train wasn’t the best considering that there were three of us.

He explained that we would walk to the monorail through the mall, spend 5 ringgit on the monorail and walk through the mall at the other end to KL Sentral (the main train station) to catch the KLIA express. This would (and did) take one hour door to door.

Now it is Sunday today and we left at 8:30 in a taxi which took less than one hour from the hotel to KLIA 2, which is where the Air Asia flights depart from. Total cost 90 Ringgit which makes it a better deal. To top it off, our driver, Mr. Thami was hilarious and engaging making the trip seem even shorter. We chatted about life in Malaysia and Australia and after swapping a few stories he said that had to tell us a story about three Australians he picked up one day outside the Park Royal.

Mr Thami said that these three very muscle bound large men approached his taxi and asked if he was available and what would the price be for a trip to Chinatown. Twenty Ringgit was Mr Thami’s response. The three men agreed and hopped in the taxi accepting the quote without the meter being turned on. On the way there, Mr Thami praised the man sitting in the front passenger’s seat about the tattoo on his large arm. The passenger thanked him and asked Mr Thami if he wanted to know where he got the tattoo. “Sure!” Mr Thami replied. “In Prison” was his short answer. Mr Thami was naturally taken aback by this revelation and if he showed it, the passenger seemed not to notice it, going on to ask “Do you want to know why I was in prison?”

Mr Thami, worried he might anger this large ex-criminal replied “Yes, if you are okay telling me”.

Again a short reply from the burly passenger… “For killing a taxi driver.”

Mr Thami was now seriously concerned and considering his options as he continued to drive the men to Chinatown. However, curiosity and more than a little self-interest got the better of him and he asked “What did the taxi driver do wrong?”

“He didn’t use the taxi meter” the passenger matter of factly responded.

Silence in the taxi. Sweat formed on Mr Thami’s hands. Then seconds later the men burst out laughing. At their destination the men asked if Mr Thami was available to take them to the airport the next day and how much would it cost. Mr Thami replied “90 Ringgit and I will use the meter!” to which the men laughed again and said that wouldn’t be necessary.

So for 90 Ringgit we too travelled to the airport and had an entertaining ride.

A third and cheapest alternative is to take the monorail (if required) to the KL Sentral station and then take the airport bus which costs about nine or ten Ringgit per person. It takes about an hour and a half from memory and despite being cheaper in price the busses used are lovely air-conditioned coaches.

We dined and chatted amongst the amazing Christmas lights and carols of the Pavilion Mall which always puts on a spectacular light show for visitors at Christmas time that truly emits a festive feel.

After leaving Robbie and Marg to head back to the hotel we took a shortcut through the malls to avoid the afternoon thunderstorm. We did get back to our mall but the journey was interesting as we went up and down escalators to reach a level that had a skybridge across to the next mall.

As the road heights are different, you might go in at ground level, go up three levels and when you cross to the next mall might find yourself at street level.

Another interesting thing Mr Thami pointed out was that if we wanted the city view, then the KL tower vs the twin towers represented better value for money… we will check that out on our return in a weeks time.

In front of the Times Square mall was a Mountain Dew challenge that involved racing across platforms and then climbing a wall.

Joe won the first leg but slipped on the second leg which was the climb. For his troubles he picked up a hat and a drink and had fun doing it.

The next stop was the escape room… We did the “Taken” theme and all I can say is if your daughter is kidnapped for a ransom, don’t call Joe and I to help… We didn’t even get out of the first room…

There is another one in Melbourne which Joe will check out with his cousins in the new year. I hope they have better luck than we did.

Anyway we are writing this in KLIA 2 which I have to say is way better than the original KLIA airport which is still better than many other airports around the world. After we had left the taxi we had secured our boarding passes within 5 minutes of stepping inside the terminal and after settling down for some breakfast we logged onto the free wifi to get the blog underway.

Cambodia in another couple of hours and our next adventure segment begins. Had a Facebook conversation with my niece who was due to visit Borobudur on the 12^th but unfortunately arrived there just as the temple was closing. We were worried that the temple may have been closed due to the continuing rain that has caused landslides and a number of deaths in the region over the past couple of days.