Wednesday, September 30, 2009

my last food franzy in singapore

I think i ll never really forget the great community of people singapore got ! there are definitely some people worth meeting thus my mission to connect with them as my trip moves forward.
Monday i met yinyu for dinner with her couchsurfer nacho from mexico. we went to a place called to the harbour front mrt station and sanjay joined us there as well.Monday was pretty busy as i left around 11 am from my host place to reach out to the singapore zoo ! it sent me back to my childhood , very interesting and lots of walking there.

tuesday, i went straight for lunch meeting with priscilla for one singapore specialty, pork ribs tea ! i just cant get my head to find the name of what we eat but perhaps future online pics will give you better indication ! anyway it was beautiful and extra delicious and cheap nonetheless !
from that lunch , moved to a few chinese temple nearby in the cbd, to holland village by bus then to priscilla's place to then make it back to bugis junction for the dinner.
Programme last night was a steamboat ! if you never had one, then come and get one because thats just as good as one meal can get if meal applies here ! its pretty much a all you can eat chinese fondue ! dipping meat, chicken, fish, pork skin, veggies, potatoes, ...and so much more i just cant quote everything here.
it was my departure dinner from singapore and had a really good time so thanks again dear friends for the wonderful experience here and lets keep in touch!

from changi airport !

antoine on its way to kota kinabalu

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Singapore , hospitality and diversity

here i am, thursday night at the father's guest house in cameron highlands really wondering where i ll end up sleeping in singapore on friday after having sent quite a few couchrequests. as i was having a great conversation with federico, telling him pretty much that everything good happens to good people and then i would soon receive a phone call offering me a couch and badaboum, someone is calling me and willing to save me for the full length of my stay. lucky me !
So here i am accepting the help of this generous and wannabe first time host on couchsurfing, Mr Singh satnam !

The ride by bus from cameron highlands was pretty luxury considering the price i had to pay 125RM but great large seat, more like a business class in a plane.
No need to say, the road was really peaceful, got drop on time at 8pm at the bus station on beach road and here was my host jumping in my arms and soon after making me jump into a taxi towards his place on circuit road.

Great Great moment that was, shopping locally and hop, in the flat for a good night of problems with the computer that ended by it being totally reset to zero !
just had no other choice as something has totally screw all my settings and in the process made me lost all my mp3s so no more music available on this trip !

Saturday morning, we went on to visit singapore all together, showed around his house to help me out locate the mrt station and direction little india, money changers and sim card shopping as the couchsurfing meeting i was organising was due to happen only a few hours later.
From wandering to super visits, we ended in the national museum for a good 3 hours of great fun and history lesson.
It was soon the time to go towards the cs meeting and took us a little while to find our direction on orchard road but in the end everything worked out and all the couchsurfers were soon stalking my cellphone to get directions or asking where i was in the pub.
we stayed there till 9pm then went to have a proper dinner which only cost me 10 sgp ( 5 euros) but the all night made my budget skyrocketting over the rooftop and 140 dollars later, it was 8 am sunday morning.
I did nothing as a consequence sunday, stayed all day in the flat planning the rest of the trip, stupidly missed on the chance to fly out for cheap on thursday thus forcing me to buy an earlier way out to kota kinabalu for wednesday morning.
i think i ll pass on brunei as it is just super expensive to get out of it by any means of transportation...might lose 65rm in the process as my flight from kinabalu is non refundable but better lose 30 euros than being forced to buy a 120 euros airplane ticket to kuching.
tomorrow, i ll visit the zoo and meet up with yinyu a local couchsurfer that almost had the chance of my visit !

good day and blue skies

antoine

Friday, September 25, 2009

cameron highlands to singapore

My very last day in cameron highlands was pretty intense as i climbed the highest peak there with federico.
We shortly met with a german couple soon after exiting the bus that took us from tanah rata to the outter of brinchang for the beginning of the trail.
took us barely 90 minutes to reach the top after quite some climbing, muddy moments, trees all over the place and more i just cant recall !
we got lucky to get to see some because soon the clouds were making their way up the mountain making it just impossible to get a clear vision of the valley.
i ll run this short as i am now in singapore after a boring ride by bus and being picked up by my host singh at the coach station on beach road.

see you all

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

The adventure tour at cameron highlands

Wednesday the 23rd.

We booked an adventure tour in the cameron highlands region with kang travellers company !
Really great peeps and lee our guide was right on time to pick us up at the entrance of our lodge.
The programme today was to see the rafflesia , swimming under the cascade, visiting a local village and use a blowpipe, visit a tea factory, an insect farm and a strawberry producer.
Let me tell you, the program is dense and super interesting.
So here we are, 8.45 am, all set, geared up to be more precise, top shoes, long pants, short shirt and the envy to kick it for sure.
The rides by jeep was pretty long and after 55 minutes we were at the bottom of the track and starting our way up to the dropping location to start a hike. After a 20 minutes of up and downs (see attached picture), we arrived and started following our guide spencer who pretty much grew up in the jungle.
The idea of that hike was to see one of the biggest flower on earth (in fact the 3rd biggest in the rafflesia family). Climbing up was no difficulties, crossing rivers piece of cake, climbing over trees almost a dream coming true but how slow was that group was quite a pain especially because of an indian family who wore their Sunday outfit, this causing all the groups behind us to catch up on us and beat us to the fairy flower.
From the flower who is only blooming once every 6-10 months for a week at most then it dies, we went on to the cascade and had quite a blast until i had the nice idea of going in with my sunglasses that i lost quite fast after using the water feature as a shower. Too bad, they were my only pair.
Visiting the village was not loads of fun but playing with the blowpipe got my excitement level slightly increased though i missed the target.
Rest of the day was pretty simple and i ll let you see with the pictures down how good it was !

Blue skies

antoine

Ciao perhentian kecil

Today was the time to leave perhentian kecil and our great host at the d’lagoon. I even get a t-shirt on my last night that i wore that morning. The dream team (federico, herma and me) took the early speed boat at 8am and made it on the mainland around 9am just in time to relax and get to see where we would make the minibus to Cameron highlands.
The minibus left a bit late around 10.30am and it was almost a ride without any incident until we changed ride to finish the last bit to our destination and actually didn't much enjoyed the risk our chauffeur was taking to speed it up, not to add that the drivers from the banana tours company were pretty rude beforehand as they were refusing toilet breaks or earlier lunch breaks.
I had to eat my indian curry at light speed as our ride was using its horn to call on us. It seems everything is pretty much arranged in advance and commissioned.
We made the ride with a spanish couple that hook me up with their accommodation plan that i eagerly called to see if they had any openings. Lucky me, they were not so busy and we got our three bunk beds secured for a mere 10 rm/night.
Soon after we went in town exploring, looking for some money and cheap booze and ended again at a local indian restaurant specialized in south indian treats. Really good, quite expensive though but we bargained the price of the beer . everything can be negotiated ! how cool is that.
A good evening that finished by grabbing gaps of the big blue, the film by luc besson ! that was just a killer and soon after i joined the other in bed.

Monday, recovering ....

Monday 21st

Today my friends went on the turtle trip and i while they were at sea, i was pretty much at rest. The scenery is still as beautiful and we are about to go for a little expedition to another beach early this afternoon with the gang and a swiss girl named andrea.
The hike to adam and eve beach was pretty peaceful and we found the hidden track without much problem…just had to know that a blue plastic bag was serving the purpose of a recognising signal to turn.
We didnt much enjoyed the beach though the view was really nice but we were looking for a good spot to observe the sunset so after a few tries at going deeper in the sea (it was low tide) and hitting the rocks and corals all the time, we split into two groups and me , federico, andrea and dasa went on rock climbing using the coast line.
Quite an adventure when you are facing 6 meters high wall and you are only using sandals or mere flip flop to climb those…same apply when you must go down from the same height ! glad i am not afraid on being on such a tight spot.
Turtle beach was definitely better and the chance for me to get the swimsuit for a while and enjoy a little bit more this freedom sense i have been searching for a while. Believe me when i say so, this kind of moment are really rare to catch and i am just so happy i got to live this till the very end.
We left right before it get really darker and the storm we have seen coming was on us short after we return…it was just a bit of rain, nothing too dramatic but a really great deal of wind which somehow didnt help the clothes getting dry.
Night went on as i was sharing my time between the long waited curry noodle chicken and a game of tarot that i lost quite miserably but hey, no luck in games aint a discovery i made since i started this trip.
This interesting couple from lyon, karine and guillaume were really good at giving me right directions and things to do. Tomorrow would be the time to leave d’lagoon and hoped for the best in cameron highlands.

Sun is shining...its sunday in paradize

A beautiful Sunday !

Today it is the celebration of the hari raya, the end of the ramadhan period for the muslim and we woke up with the smells of the delicious cooked prepared by the family of mr razak, the manager of the d’lagoon. He shared the meal with every single travellers that were present here…from peanut sauce, noodles, rice balls, mixed fried rice, chicken curry, sweets, tea..the delicatessen that was !
From there my newly joined comrades in the name of Dasa and lenka from slovakia ; federico from cremona (italy) and Herma from the Netherlands we decided on visiting the turtle beach to which i led them sooner after breakfast.
They were totally amazed by the beach and the quiet there is as we were almost the sole visitors dipping in the hot water that early in the day besides the actual fish residing here.
I found a better way to enter the sea and avoid the rocks so it was cool all in all to get to swim a little bit since i caught that sun burn Friday. I didnt stay there too long as my back start itching again and i ran fast to get a shower , rinsed myself and enjoyed the biafine for a little bit less than an hour before my partner in crime came to rescue me from my boredom.
The rest of the plan was to make the walk to long beach (more or less an hour through the jungle) which we started around 2.30pm that day. After a good half an hour of climbing up the hills and down, we were all pretty much exhausted ! it was without counting on an another extra steep road to make it to a nice view point.
No need to say, it was breathtaking. Crystal clear sea, sand beach just a quick hundred meters away from the d lagoon by swimming but so much worth it. Went on going down the stairs hoping it was on the path to long beach (o f course it wasnt) but who knew !
My dear friends went on a good bath while i was pretty much stuck there, still recovering in the heat ! i only joined them in the end to write a big capital letters, couchsurfing.org on the beach !
(attach the photo here)
Beach time was off, we were ready to leave the paradize and finish the hike to long beach but most of us were pretty tired and willing to jump in a taxi. Herma quicker that lightning stroke again and jumped on the first boat that stopped at the jetty. The driver was really cool and spent time taking pictures with the girls in his classic suit for hari raya, ready to tag them on facebook i believe ! i wasnt spared.
The driver told us he would take a break as he had not so much work and we went on waiting for him in the boat…time flew by but we soon had been waiting for an hour and forty minutes and were really fed up as federico had decided he was willing to walk to long beach and not make the taxi.
The driver came back at the moment we were ready to leave to let us know he was not a taxi and he was willing to charge us ! no need to say w e were quite angry about the situation, flatten this out and jumped in the boat. He dropped us at long beach around 6pm at no cost ! finally something free ! went on to look for federico who sure had been waiting for us for an hour at least and couldnt get our hands on him, found a quick shop and bought food and beverages before making the taxi back to d’lagoon short before 7pm (as the fare is doubled after).
Federico was wating for us there and he had to walk back to the jungle according to him thanks to the adrenaline of being surprised by the darkness and its stamina.
A good all in all that ended with a great dinner and futures plans discussions and a great camp fire we set on the beach watching at the fireworks.
I stayed there with lenka for quite some time, almost sleeping, with for only companion the noise of the waves breaking few feet away.
A moment of pure bliss !

See you !

antoine

Biafine , my friend

Saturday 19th september

Day Two on biafine diet. Yeah, my back has pretty much the nice red color i used to have when younger kid playing for hours in the swimming pool and being punished almost every single time ! this is quite good memories i sherish of my brother , me and pauline in line to be dosed of biafine all over our bodies by dad …i am telling you, one happy family bonding time that is.
The tough part of the back being hit is that i just cant reach every single part of it with my hands letting one hurting spot non being taking care of and thus not removing the pain as much as i would like.
Today was then a very quiet day so far. Got up 9am, attracted by food like usual, went back to my room after a nice shower and started spreading biafine like nuts which also had the effect to wake some good neighboors with the smell of it.
I found one bias to biafine…it really does attract mosquitoes and have the opposite counter effect to the repellant i am using to be safe from those flying fearless blood sucker.
I took finally a go at the sea this afternoon as it has been 24 hours or more since i returned and started the cure and was pretty much fed up of seeing everyone taking the sun while i was safely stuck inside my room. I went there with a t-shirt just to play it safe.
Thats it for today, i m hoping to feel better by tomorrow and make the hike to long beach. Hari raya is super close now and the gifts are starting to pack up here.

Blue skies

antoine

Turtles be aware, a bigger fish is in the sea


I guess before keeping on writing about the adventures here, i need to quickly think ! its been now officially two weeks that i left France and though  i sometimes miss my relatives and friends, i found it easier to adapt than i previously anticipated.
No more heavy swet but that could be explained thanks to the considerate weather here and the non stopping wind ! d lagoon is pretty much the northest place on the kecil island and he took me a bit of time to feel at ease as its only full of europeans frenchies, a full carriage of german to name a few…
I went this morning to my first extracurricular activity besides playing the dead french meat on the beach…today i went turtle snorkelling…yes the whole thing ! tuba, mask and speedboat nonetheless…
Great great experience, saw way too many good things and swam not even further than a small meter away from a huge turtle looking to go get some air ! the rest of the time, they are swimming at the bottom of the sea making it impossible for us, mere humans to follow them on their path, 
The guide was really knowledgeable and always managed to deliver though i didnt get the chance to meet the sharks. Its okay, i had enough turtles just for myself while the rest of the group was chasing the one !
This activity made me come back to the d’lagoon for half noon and i jumped back in the book i started yesterday (the story of J belfort, the wolf of wall street). Quite interesting piece as i am already down 350 pages ! i always loved anyway books on money makers (especially the funny way they got to spent it), it gives you a chance to feel happy with what you have.
From that moment, i felt the urge of sleeping and then realised i actually caught quite  a nice sunburn..my first thought are now dedicated to the biafine treated me and making me feel stupid again..thats what happen when you dont cover the whole surface of your back before going out at the sea !
Anyway now it is almost 7pm and our hosts here on the island are about to break the fast thus closing the restaurant for a good hour before everyone can order food and this very expensive  beer that i am not going to try again…8rm for a mere can, thats insulting !
The view is really great, i am enjoying every second of this miracle scenery and will be sending some news really soon.
The hari raya celebration is approaching really fast now and it will all depend on the moon but the little fairy among backpackers is pretty sure it will fall next Sunday if not next Monday ! thus forcing me to leave the island by next Tuesday so as to aim to the national park.
I dont know yet how i ll get there, i am still hesitating between using the minibus geared up by the d’lagoon or making my way up north to kota bahru then south again. I am trying to weight the pros and cons of such a choice also depending on how much money will be necessary to experience a good hiking experience down there. I still aim to make it to singapore before the end of the month to fly to borneo.
Though i havent sorted out the planes tickets for that final weeks just yet.
P.S : its more likely that you will read this way after the events occured but aint no internet service i can rely on here to upload the text and pictures.

With love from d’Lagoon

antoine

Wednesday the 16th september...touring around penang island

Wednesday the 16th september



This morning i got up quite early, following the flow, enjoying the vibes, knowing it would be a very good and sunny day.

The plan proposed by alexandre was to take advantage of the bike for the final day to go touring around Penang island and thats pretty much what we did from that moment.

We left home at 11am just to get enough time to prepare the road and went on for the first stop by the sea, believe it or not but it was the closer i even get from the shores in the past two weeks and it was nice to ride along some lost dirty and smelly canals with mosquitoes as our only companions.

Getting close to the excitation, i was very enthusiastic as we were finishing that little section of the road to end up at a very small fishermen spot, all pretty much relaxing as they are fasting…thus meaning for us no way to get our first meal !

It was already 1pm when we reached that place and soon our primary worry was to get some petrol in the small tanks of our rides to finish the tour.

On the way to bhatu ferrangini, we saw the new hard rock café (barely opened two days prior ), the elegants hostels that seems to show that its the malaysian riveira ! lots of european in the streets, not as many locals !

Not to add this place was totally out of our range to get lunch, we kept moving on as alex knew just the right place to end our quest for food.

Went to kill a nice little burger, mine was called the Big Mouth Bites !

Wednesday couldnt finished before visiting one more time the cheapest « bar » in the region…really outrageous pricing (5 RM for a pint when most places charged 15rm) !

I went back home on alexandre’s bike as i returned mine and thus had no way or time left to get the bus to his place , prepare my backpack and make the 9Pm bus to Terengganu.

Later on, day yann and alexandre took me by car and dropped me at the main bus station right on time after grabbing a quick bite (some local fried rice).

It was time to say goodbye to a new friend and keep going on to follow the path traced for this exploration of malaysia.

I arrived after a good 6 hours of bus that i pretty much slept through in some lost spot where «taxi drivers » impersonated by locals were waiting for us to overcharge the remaining kilometers to Besat.

I can tell you, they are very much organised and it seems that the early backpackers are all ending at the same local ticket dealer ( i reckon he is called M traveler).

Enjoyed anyway the rest of the night in the office on the couch after paying my 70 RM boat return ride to Kecil.

The boat ride itself was quite fun, bumpy all the way, having my first natural brushing in many months for free, understand here that we were all pretty much washed, rinsed and salted at the end ! quite a bunch of nuggets…

I arrived in my room early Thursday morning around 8am and get the chance to pick the one called Stingray. Farely simple piece of furniture, one bed, one shelve , one fan and no internet, no electricity in the bunkhouse.

Soon after i went to have a quick breakfast, a good shower really well desserved and my first bath in the ocean was just at reaching hands.

I thought first i would go for the lazy option of jumping in the d’lagoon but it looked pretty much infested by boats engines, polluted in some other word so crossed the whole island to reach turtle beach !

Really really nice beach, ok no sand but who cares ! i was the only one there and sandals are quite appreciated in this water full of big rocks though not that slippery or cutting.

And what an amazing feeling the first seconds i went under water to discover i was not the only fish in the sea ! tons of them were twirling, spinning around me or just fleeing away as i was trying to get closer…the very first time in 30 years that i had a see that warm and so nicely populated !

More adventures coming as i plan on taking the snorkelling adventures tomorrow morning and certainly get a small hike to join long beach (its about an hour walk using the trail from here) just to see what that beach as that i dont have here.

Maybe i will got there partying a little bit with the other backpackers later tonight just to get the chance to dive in one more time and get a social bath i tend to miss really quickly when not around couchsurfers.
Blue skies
Antoine

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

A rather different but interesting birthday

Hello everyone,

Well yes, yesterday i got to join the rank of the 30+ and to be fairly honest, i dont really think it changed anything. I am feeling very confident towards the rest of the mission i am on and really want to enjoy this deep introspection into the malaysian culture.
Last night i have been invited with my great hosts alexandre and Day Yann by Ang Hua ( a local event organiser and active couchsurfer) to a dinner that was closing some festival.
Let me tell you that we had all kind of karaoke stars, from the worse to the less worse but great laugh all in all especially when the beer was running for free.

But back to the beginning of the day, after a slow depart, me and alexandre went on to visit Penang Hill and after enjoying a rather quick bike ride in the pollution, went on to grab the cable car that takes no longer than the record time of 30 minutes to reach a 700+ meters over sea level... too bad it was foggy thus limiting the view !

From there we went on to visit the best chinese temple available in town called Kek Lok Si. Really amazing following of prayers room, souvenirs shops, restaurant to end up climbing the 6 storeys pagoda to reach an interesting elevation.

 Before ending this rather quick message, i would love to thanks everyone that wished me an happy birthday ! it was really nice to read from you and hope you are keeping it up where you are !

blue skies

antoine

Saturday, September 12, 2009

First day in penang...new discoveries

Selamat datang followers !


i just came back from georgetown on the beautiful island of penang after quite some adventure i must say.
Today  i fulfilled a long time un fulfilled dream or lets say, fear : driving a freaking scooter on the left side of the road...yeah you heard me and from the first ten meters of it (from the rental) almost met one parked car opposite..thanks to my legendary cool and survival instinct, i made it out without the bike reaching the floor or me....
from then, it was pretty much fun, going in between lanes, being stop by the cops on the way back (yeah totally...), 90 km/h on wheels so freaking awesome...
ok i love speed and thats how fast i ve been feeling free since last jump in october... grr i miss the rush so badly now... wait for some time in sydney and nz !
i have managed to upload with the very slow wifi connection almost all the pictures taken so far on here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/superyami/

i would advise you to give it a good check !

from now its almost 1am and i ll meet my shower as i am just sweating over the laptop writing this little exciting news..

from malaysia with love

antoine

une spéciale dédicace à ma soeurette préférée..je m'occupe de ta carte postale asap !

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Melaka

Hello all,

Wednesday was the perfect day for my first visit outside of Kl and melaka was definitely the best and cheapest destination to be reached just under the time limit i allowed myself to be.
I left early morning with the 8am bus. it was quite an easy ride knowing i had such a bad night before between one of the kid practising the guitar at 2am or the tv constantly being on...they do really live the fasting month in a different way.
Arriving in melaka, jumped into bus 17 that led me right down town close to stadthuys (or city council for the non dutch speakers), exact place where my walking tour was due to start.
took me a little bit less than two hours to do the first part of it before meeting with the local city ambassador yee, a master of tea from china !
He enrolled me into one of his lesson for 50 RM ( 10 euros more or less) from 1pm to 3pm.
See the picture enclose below when i am trying to remember the tea ceremony !
Melaka is really a great city with an architecture inspired by many influences (portuguese , dutch, english to name a few) and was a really main gateway for sea exchanges back in the days.
Few hours later it was time to make my way back and i was in Kl right on time to see my host elma again before heading to sleep.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Next plans

Yesterday i met with vik, a mobile dj and active couchsurfer in KL since May for dinner.
Monday has been a very good besides forgetting it was monday and jumping into a taxi from batu caves thinkin the canopy walk would be open...ending paying 25 RM (5 euros) for something i just couldnt...anyway, after a while i found myself back in KL, need to get my head to think about future plans and head straight forward sentral to buy those tickets.
I ll go next 09/09/09 at 8am to Melacca for a day trip outside kl and shall be back at night around 10.30pm.
I ll be leaving Kl to penang next friday at 10.30am and my friend alexandre is already waiting for me.
I m going for a small celebration of my birthday anyway its more likely and will certainly treat myself with a paradisiac island on the east coast few days after.

I would love my only audience to have a quick look at what i did a few days ago while touring around chinatown ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEARdK3keOY

More news soon, but pictures are taking forever to upload.

antoine

Monday, September 7, 2009

Mission Batu Caves and Forest park

Today i woke up or lets say i had a really bad night and couldnt just sleep any more so i went quickly out with the idea of reaching the batu caves.
after a bit of hesitation, i took a bus to melari lrt station and jumped towards mahjid station to get a connecting train up north..quite a bit of an effort to be then asked more to make the last bit by taxi (10 ring from putra terminal).
I ll soon upload one of the main pics i took at the caves and its 272 steps to endure before reaching them..lucky me i didnt have to do that little effort supporting the titanic theme "my heart will go on" all over !
from there its all about being asked by those drivers who knows that there is no way out that use them to go back to the main city and the bargain begin..one, two and three drivers later i found one that doesnt want to rip me out...understand its not that expensive  but its all about not paying double if not triple the price they asks at all time.
it worked a bit better to let them know i was not a stranger to the city since i was living in !!

now i am chilling in another mall, planning my day to melaka which will force me to go back to kl sentral to get the bus tickets before he ran out because of the fast.

c ya

antoine

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Lets get to altitude

I got up today quite early after a very small sleep as last night was the first meeting with the locals.
I end up meeting a group of europeans that funnily were all in the same flight friday morning out of London. its got to be a good coincidence or couchsurfers since to be really everywhere when it comes to get the cheap connection.
We ate close to the pavilion mall on Jalan Alor and had a few drinks later on with a late arrival in the presence of pascal out of switzerland, travelling around malaysia to renew its visa for philippines !
few hours later, we got finally the chance to see sabiqa and her crew making it thus turning this meeting in what it was supposed to be at first, meet the locals !
got the chance to finally grab a few minutes with Mike munwar, the local star and actual country amb for malaysia and he even gave us a ride home after the meeting as we got surprised by a good old fashioned shower...its quite the season anyway.
From there it was all about setting the couches, plugging the appliances and making it to be after a good shower !
i aint getting used to stick like glue all day but hey, its a new experience !
This sunday morning, i went on the skybridge visit thanks to a couchsurfer "hunch"who is working there and had me prevent from queuing since 8.30am...how cool !
i shot like crazy and made tons of videos that i hope to be able to upload before the rest of the trip up north.
i am starting to think that a little day trip to melaka sounds reasonable and i am going to get my tickets asap this afternoon before reaching chinatown and its night market in the india section.
So lets sum up ! SO FAR SO FREAKING GOOD

have a great day

with love from KL

antoine

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Kuala Lumpur, meet the traffic and the locals

Friday the 4th of september i made it to my host elma in due time. You know how precise i am and its part of the respect everyone shall deserve when it comes to have so many people just over two years in her premises (400 couchsurfers approx.).
My flight from London took off at 1.45am friday morning (london time ) to arrive 30minutes ahead of schedule friday night at 8.45pm.
got lucky myself through customs ( guess the thermal camera didnt measure the excitement), jumped into the bus and enjoy the rides of my life...that driver was fast !
Reached Kl sentral in a little bit less than an hour and made the connecting bus to my host....after a little while i did realise he went a bit far or stupidly i missed the stop and had to grab a taxi for a mere 80 cents of a euro to finish the job.
was up this morning around 9am and had my first bit of the city in daylight.
i must say that the scenery that Kl has to offer is quite rewarding , the smells, the noise definitely i am not in europe anymore.
I finally got my hands on a new cellphone "china made"...understand by that its a copy of an existing phone with pretty much the same shape, the same soft but without the locked simcard that i was trying to get rid of before leaving France.
I ll aim myself towards the islamic museum this afternoon before meeting a few people from Kuala Lumpur as i organised a meeting for my visit.
I already got invited to the skybridge..thats pretty much the highest i ll have ever been since october last year...

ciao and more news as things moves forward

Friday, September 4, 2009

Stansted , boring airport

just made it to stansted, quickly checked in my 13 kilos bacpack and i am now headin for a sleep ....
boarding is at 00.25am ....
more news tomorrow night