My day here in Kuala Lumpur started out sedentary – but early. For some reason I always wake up early in this part of the world. 6am is pretty standard. Today I forced myself to have a lie-in until my alarm went of at 7am. After all, I wasn’t travelling anywhere. My day was planned around meeting a Malaysian friend in Chinatown around 3pm which meant I was under no pressure. That was great as it gave me the opportunity to spend several hours editing pictures from my trip and getting them on my Zenfolio website. Most of the ones done today were from Bangkok and Thai railways – including the yellow line monorail. I posted a picture of this on social media a few days ago and it generated a lot of interest. You can find the rest of the pictures (and more besides) here.

The other thing I needed to do was get some washing done. Where I’m staying is fine for rinsing a few shirts, but that’s it, and after travelling so much in such hot and humid weather over the past week or so I really needed to get clothes washed properly before they disowned me, or I them! Now, I’m staying in Chinatown. Old jokes aside, you wouldn’t believe how difficult it was to find a laundry here. There’s a launderette a few streets away but it’s always packed. Finally, after wandering the streets for an hour I found an old backpackers (which I’ve got a sneaky feeling I stayed at 15 years ago) that’s become a laundry. It’s hard to find as it’s set back from the main street and unless you spot the sign you’d never know. After climbing up several flights of stairs I was greeted by a very nice young African lad (who slept on the premises) who confirmed that – yes indeed, they did laundry for RM7 (£1.30) a kilo, and would I like it back today? Winner!

This left me free to potter round at home, edit more pictures and be ready to meet my Malaysian friend (Alan Bligh) at 15:00 outside Pasir Seni station. Alan introduced me to a nearby coffee shop which is really rather funky. Not only is the coffee good but it’s the sort of place where (mostly young people) mix and/or work from via the internet. It’s also completely multi-racial, just like Malaysia itself. You have conservatively dressed Malay Muslim girls rubbing shoulder with scantily clad Chinese or Indian counterparts. The lads reflect the mix – along with a few Europeans who’re either studying here or just passing through.

Alan and I sat talking for several hours. He’s a mine of information on Malaysian railways, politics, the economy and much much more. We also touched on ‘travel’ TV and YouTube (but that’s another conversation) I leaned a hell of a lot, but the hard bit’s retaining it all. As I said to Alan ‘I wish I’d recorded all our conversation’! There was so much to absorb. All too soon it was time to part, but by then the heavens had opened and we were treated to a heck of a thunderstorm. Alan was also very kind enough to bring me a gift (which I’ll post a picture of later).

Back at ‘home’ I relaxed for a few hours (and edited more pictures) before nipping out to eat. I returned to a locally run stall where I ate last night. It’s got a fantastic array of meat, fish and veg. You just load your plate up of whatever takes your fancy. The cashier takes a look at what you’ve chosen and charges you accordingly (this cost me 12 ringgit, just over £2 but trust me – those plates ain’t small). I’d no idea what some of the stuff was – and half an idea with some, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I love trying food just for the hell of it. Here’s my plate.

Dodging the rain on my way home I saw this. ‘Merdeka 118‘ is the 2nd tallest building in the world. Tonight, because of the weather it looked like the tower of Sauron. Earlier, because of the low cloud, the top of the tower had been lost completely.

Tomorrow’s my last full day in Malaysia before returning to Indonesia. I’ve got a lot planned. I won’t have time to do a rolling blog but expect future pictures of the expanding rail network around KL and the Klang valley soon…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

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