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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

My final full day in Kuala Lumpur (on this trip, anyway) was one of those days where I’d no expectations so just went with the flow and the day was all the better for it. I was up early, nipped out for breakfast and was back at my desk just after nine. This prompted me to to do the research for my earlier ‘crazy anti HS2 campaigner of the week’ blog as I’d seen their nonsense on social media earlier. I do despair of the English and Welsh ‘green’ party (The Scots have their own which is far more sensible) as it’s so out of step with European green parties when it comes to railways and actual solutions to climate-change, rather than just protesting and posturing. The greens have always been much happier protesting as it means they don’t have to come up with solutions and make the compromises we need to tackle climate change. Instead they can just play ‘holier than thou’.

Having got that off my chest and edited more pictures from the past few days the day changed. Social media can be very divorced from reality. You have ‘friends’ or followers whom you’ve never met and probably never will. I’m fortunate enough to have met several and found they’re just as likeable in real life as they are on the internet. Today was a good example. Alan Bligh and I follow each other on Twitter as we share the same interests and some friends. Alan also reads this blog and following something I’d posted earlier about my enjoyment of Laksa he extended an invitation to meet up for lunch at a place in the suburbs of KL he highly recommended so that he could introduce me to Sarawak Laksa. Why would I say no?

I had a lovely afternoon. Alan was a very gracious and informative host. His parentage is a mix of English and Singaporean and his family history’s fascinating. I learned an awful lot about life here in Malaysia which I found really interesting. It’s the sort of insight you can only get by talking to someone who’s led a full life. We ended up talking for several hours – and not just about railways.

Oh, by the way, the food was delicious! Laksa is a dish that has so many variations depending on where in Malaysia you are. Alan told me there’s yet another variation where I’ll be tomorrow because a previous Sultan of Johor Baru liked spaghetti so that was added to the mix. I may have to seek it out.

After being dropped off back at my hotel I’d intended to head out to get a few more rail pictures but the glorious blue skies we’d enjoyed this morning had changed to dull cloud so I opted for a wander around the area where I’m staying and ventured further afield in order to take some street-scenes. I’m glad I did because as I walked back past the local Hindu temple they were setting up for a procession – the one thing I’ve not seen on this trip. This being 2023 the two gods on tour were in rubber wheeled palanquins towed by the sort of tractor you’d have found at airports followed by a lorry carrying a generator which was hooked up through cables to power all the lights. It’s a far cry from when the gods would have been carried on several sturdy shoulders. But, when you see the physiques of some of the priests who would be carried along with the Gods, you can understand why.

The whole thing was great fun and the people were very friendly to a curious photographer like me. Here’s a short video of the procession.

Now I’m relaxing back at the hotel, writing this in-between packing as I catch a brace of trains tomorrow in order to head South to Johor Baru once more. I’ll blog about the trip as it happens. In the meantime, here’s a couple of pictures from today.

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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

I’ve had an enforced lazy Sunday today. It’s nothing to do with my back as that’s pretty much fixed now. The weather here in KL was gloriously sunny this morning after I’d finished a few chores and nipped out for my usual Roti Canai breakfast.

Afterwards I decided to have another look at a couple of monorail locations to see if the sun was in the right place for blue sky shots. The only problem was when I got the the monorail station my prepaid card claimed ‘insufficient credit’. The ticket office was closed and the only one of three ticket machines that was working didn’t recognise my prepayment card meaning I was unable to top it up. So, I trekked back across to Pasir Seni, my local MRT station where the ticket office was staffed, only to find out they were ‘offline’. I then trekked across to Masjid Jamek station to the North and found out the whole ticketing system was down! Deciding someone was trying to tell me something and I was fated not to travel today I gave up and went for a wander on foot. That part of town was very busy today as Sunday’s the only day of the week the Indian construction workers have off, so most of them were out shopping or hanging out with friends. The rest of the city centre (including Chinatown) was crammed with cars. The place was virtually gridlocked which actually made crossing the roads easier as long as you kept a wary eye out for the scooters weaving through the static traffic like minnows.

Making the most of a bad job I spent a few hours editing and captioning pictures which have now appeared in my Malaysian rail and travel galleries before going for a wander around Chinatown. With it being so busy it’s been a good day for people-watching, seeing the different communities (Malay, Chinese and Indian) mixing with tourists from East and West. There’s a mélange of cultures, skin-colours and religions all accommodating each other. Scantily dressed Western or Chinese women rub shoulder with conservatively-dressed Muslim Malay women who even have their hair covered, never mind anything else. Admittedly, not all Malays dress this way, which is what makes it all so fascinating. Everyone seems to get along and no-one’s stressed about the attire of others.

Wandering home and recognising the time difference between the UK and Malaysia (8 hours) I said good morning to Dawn via Messenger before making our regular weekly video call and catch-up. After all my decades of travelling when letters were the only communication being able to talk face to face seems such a luxury – and for free! This will be our last call as next weekend I’ll be back in the UK which seems slightly surreal as 2 months seems to have flown by! Dee’s coming down to London to meet me at Heathrow, which will be lovely. I’m not used to being met at an airport!

But before then, there’s still some travelling to do and people to meet. Oh, and weather to experience. We’ve not had any rain today but we have had hours of the most intense thunder and lightning storm. So, my picture of the day is actually a video, shot from the window of my hotel…

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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!