Singapore and Malaysia

Upon arrival in Singapore the first thing I noticed was the cleanliness, after India it was heaven. This is a country in which chewing gum can only be purchased in chemists and the penalty for depositing it on the pavement is a brief spell in prison. The city was so clean and well organised that at times it had the feel of a ghost town; an impressive feat with a 4.5 million population.

We arrived on Paul's birthday so ended up going out and getting drunk; not a cheap past time when one litre of beer comes to 6.50GBP, it was highway robbery. One robbery would usually be enough to teach you a lesson but because Man Utd played in the Champions League semi final the next night it was essential to head out again. We scoured the bars looking for an establishment that would be screening the crucial match. A kick off time of 02:45 made this a problem but eventually we found a bar and settled in. After 45minutes the helpful landlord shut up shop and we had to run around Singapore looking for the second half. Luckily we found a place and witnessed an amazing second half: I fell off my chair when Rooney slammed home the winner.

Nothing much more happened in Singapore; after two late nights and 3pm rises the final day was a write off so we caught the early bus to Kuala Lumpur.

I haven't had a good old moan about anything for a while so i'll address the buses. Daytime temperatures of 35^oC make A/C a requirement but because the driver is limited to Cold or Freezing the journey is very uncomfortable. After trying with limited success to jam tissue paper into the vents I decided grab my sleeping bag and curl up for a sleep. Result! Partial success, but any exposed skin will freeze and I awoke from my slumber with a chill which, two days later, developed into a cold. This transformed me into a stroppy pants for 3 days and ruined my trip to the rainforest. Anyway, thats all I want to moan about; the buses: They suck!

Five and a half hours later we arrived in KL, the bag monkey on the coach snatched the microphone and began an audio tour; a thrilling dispatch that informed me of 4 buildings in Kuala Lumpur and where I could buy knocked off watches, T-shirts and so on. The 4 buildings were:
1. The old airport, no longer in service. Whoa! I was primed.
2. To your right the American Embassy, the most heavily guarded embassy in the world, I saw two police cars and only 2 coppers. I guess it's a muslim country though so he's probably correct.
3. To your right the 'insert name' building, similar to the CN tower in Toronto except "this one not so tall no"
4. The Petronas twin towers. These didn't actually look very magnificent, I was expected a whoa factor similar to when I first cast eyes on the Empire State; guess i'm too much of a seasoned explorer now, hahaha. "You wake early and queue to climb to linking bridge for tourists. Queue from 7.30 and first slots open at 8.30, you will be assigned time yes, bridge closed at 16:30. If you wish to walk between the towers get there early and not on a Monday."
5. A hidden extra sight. Having stopped at the first hotel on the journey we swung back around to see, from the left window this time, "American Embassy, most heavily guarded embassy in world". I was in awe, three coppers this time. Respect!

Our time in Kuala Lumpur has seen a continuation of the drinking session we began in Singapore, and, at a slightly lower price. Upon arrival in our hostel we immediately met an English lad named Rich and an Ozzy named Cal. Add 3 Irish fellas: Craig, Evan and Mikey plus a Malaysian: Harold or Arru (i'm still unsure), a lot of beer and that pretty much brings you up to date. Each and every one were top lads and we formed a bit of a lads club with evenings usually extending well past 4am.


I guess we did do some touristy work whilst here, we visited the 'insert name' tower and zipped up to the skylobby to view Kuala Lumpur from 400m and had a walk about the feet of the Petronas Towers. On closer inspection the Petronas look pretty
swazzydar but I was expecting them to be taller.


View of Kuala Lumpur from the 'insert name' tower.



Me looking somewhat aloof and some towers.