We Arrived!
Yawn, 3 am and it was time to get up as we planned to leave for the airport around 4:30 am. Our flight departed Saskatoon on time at 7:10 am. Upon arrival in Vancouver two hours later we were disappointed to learn our flight to Hong Kong was delayed one and a half hours. We only had one hour and 55 minutes to make our connection in Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur. Definitely not looking good. By the time we left Vancouver we were 2 hours behind schedule. We actually landed 3 minutes after our scheduled connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur had departed. We got off the plane around 8:30 and were greeted by several agents waving signs above their heads showing passenger names. Probable half of the flight missed connecting flights to places like New Delhi, Singapore and Bangkok. We got ushered off to Cathay Pacific’s transfer desk by our respective agent. We had the option of leaving our bags checked or taking them to our designated hotel – the rep strongly recommended leaving them checked. We decided to leave our bags checked to simplify check in that was less than 12 hours later. We eventually got booked into the Marriott near the Hong Kong airport. We had a nice room with a king bed. The foods voucher was worthless, the options being spaghetti with tomato sauce or vegetable fried rice. The rice was dry, salty and very low on vegetables. Nonetheless, it was something to get us through the short night.
We took the 6am shuttle back to the airport. Passport control and security screening was busy. Gary had to empty his carryon because of medication. We had breezed through security in Saskatoon over 24 hours earlier. Not in Hong Kong. Once past security we immediately found a fast food place for a quick breakfast, then off to our gate. We got reacquainted with some of fellow travellers from the Vancouver flight. One guy in particular, from Preeceville, is a chef at a family owned Indian Restaurant. He, unfortunately had not booked all of his flights on the same ticket through Air Canada and ended up staying in the terminal overnight.
Our flight to Kuala Lumpur took off and within a few minutes into the flight we needed blankets to keep warm. The flight was otherwise great, taking about 4 hours. The airport was a mob scene at immigration, we waited almost an hour to get through. When we got to the luggage carousel all the bags were up and we found Gary’s quickly. After waiting on Linda’s bag for quite some time, in near panic, we went looking for it. It had mysteriously been set near the lost and found. Breathing a sigh of relief we headed to the exit in search of an ATM and SIM cards for the phones. We bough Digi Sim cards. They work but the internet is SLOW.
We checked in to the G Tower hotel we thought one day late. In reality if we had arrived when we should have, we would not have had a room. With the confusion of international date line and time changes it turns out we actually didn’t have a room booked for January 8 which we would have needed to check in at 3 am January 9. If things went according to schedule, we would have been screwed! We would have arrived at the hotel at 3 or 4 am with no room. We dodged a bullet there! Thank You Air Canada, you provided us a flight and room and board!
After we `unpacked we rested a bit. Shortly after 5 pm we headed out and ordered a Grab (like Uber). The Grab app initially showed a 10 minute wait, then 6 and eventually a 10 minute wait. After 20 minutes we cancelled our ride and walked across the street to the “Spicy Garden” Indian restaurant. Beers, pakora, tikka masala chicken and naan bread. We could barely finish. It was great. Sitting outside in the humid heat was beneficial for our dry flaky skin. By the time we returned to or room our skin felt totally different. In a good way. Soft and moist.
January 10, our first full day touring in Kuala Lumpur. We walked around the Petronas twin towers and through the mall at the base of the towers.
Out behind the towers is the beautiful KLCC Park. We wandered around the gardens, pool and fountain in the park. We walked to the Banyan Tree Hotel and took an elevated walkway to the Pavilion Mall. From there we walked to a pharmacy to get some bandaids. Gary’s feel are getting raw from his flip flops. Our feet, and the rest of us, are not acclimatized to the +32 º weather yet. We ate lunch at Lot 10 which is a huge indoor food court in the basement of a building. It is all Chinese, Malay and other are ethnic food. We shared a sweet and sour chicken with pineapple and rice for 11.30 MYR (Malaysian Ringgit) equalling about $3.61CAD. Our lime and sour plum drinks, a local favourite totalled 9.10 ringgit equalling $2.91 CAD. We didn’t drink beer because of the cost, one bottle of beer was 17 ringgit or $5.45 CAD.
Traffic was terrible so when it came time to get a Grab (Asian Uber) we walked to the Westin hotel to designate our pickup spot. It took at least 10 minutes for the Uber to arrive and when he did he actually dropped off people at the Westin, then we got in. Our ride to G Tower took at least 15 minutes. Friday afternoon is Muslim prayer time, and I guess every Muslim was heading for the Mosque. Grid lock again.
After a cool down in the hotel room, we made a trip to Jalan Alor night food court. The Grab wait time wasn’t too bad tonight!! It had rained a bit while we were in the hotel room and after we got seated at a Thai restaurant food stall there was some thunder and a cloud burst. It eventually cleared up and turned out to be a nice evening. After sharing a Thai cashew chicken dish with beer, we walked around and eventually got sucked in to by ice cream vendor where we shared a small ice cream. We walked by all the foot massage places on the next street until we came down to part of the street lined with bars and restaurants. We stopped at the Brix Union Gastreo Pub where we each enjoyed a glass of beer as we people watched. After our beer we walked back to our hotel which was about 3 km. Along the way we stopped at the Petronas Towers and went through to the KLCC Park where we sat and watched the pool jet light show that was timed with music. There were hundreds of people surrounding the large pool. We weren’t at the hotel long before we crashed for the night.
Supper tonight was 67 ringgit total for rice, cashew chicken and 2 beer each. Total meal $21.45 CAD. Ice cream was 10 ringgit, $3.20 CAD. More beer at the pub, 34.80 ringgit, $11.13 CAD. Grand total, $35.78. It felt like we spent too much and ate too much, so we walked home and saved the $4.50 the Grab ride back to the hotel would have cost. All together we walked 12 km today. Economical food, drink and taxi fares with excellent weather. We love Malaysia.
Signs along the streets of Kuala Lumpur say: Selamat Datang 2020, which means welcome 2020. There are Christmas decorations and Chinese lanterns along the streets. After all Chinese New Year is coming January 25. There are Mosques everywhere that have call to prayer. The locals wear lots of clothing, Muslim women wear head scarves, even a few wear Burkas, Maybe they are tourists from Arab countries, not really sure. All that clothing in such humid heat well over 30º. Meanwhile we are wearing shorts, t-shirts and dripping sweat. Still loving it!