KaZantip 2011: Black Sea Paradise
Warning: This post contains a few NSFW photos. View only in good company 🙂 The Republic of KaZantip, the legendary Eastern European Shangri La of parties, lasts for just one month a year in a […]
At long last, I made it to Petra. Petra is a place that’s intrigued me since before I even knew its name – since I first saw Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as a […]
On December 20th of 2006, I received an e-mail from my dad. It contained this Powerpoint file. The forwarding messages all included such phrases as: “I CANT EVEN LOOK AT THE PICTURES WITHOUT GETTING DIZZY!!” […]
How many of you have heard the name “Transdniestr?” Not too many, I’m guessing. Transdniester – also known as Pridnestrovie in Russian – is a small rogue nation occupying a narrow strip of land along […]
The following is not actually a single narrative of one continuous evening, but a composite of many. It’s written as a representative summary of my average night out in Kyoto. Nothing is exaggerated. It’s Saturday […]
“They are an intriguing people. From the moment they wake, they devote themselves to the perfection of whatever they pursue. I have never seen such discipline.” -The Last Samurai. Seeing that fantastic archery demonstration the […]
My first hour in Melaka was spent, as usual, hopping from guesthouse to guesthouse in search of a suitable room. Although the lodgings are far better here than in Kuala Lumpur, for some reason it really seems like Malaysian guesthouses in general lack some pretty fundamental basics.
…Like windows.
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It took me about 5 minutes in Melaka to realize I’d be way happier here than in KL.
“Melaka has all the advantages of a metropolis: seemingly hundreds of cheap fantastic places to eat and stay, artistic and tolerant locals, diverse entertainment and nightlife and a colourful history that you can nearly touch. Yet it’s a small, manageable place that exudes a calm that’s only a notch more stressful than a tropical beach. Melt into the daily grind of dim sum breakfasts, the call to prayer followed by church bells down the road, laksa lunches, rides in crazy and gaudy trishaws, tandoori dinners and late-night drinks at balmy bars. It’s hard not to like this town.”
I can vouch for that: it really is hard not to like Melaka. Especially after a full week in the polluted urban jungle of Kuala Lumpur 😛
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Malaysian long-distance bus stations work quite differently from anywhere I’ve ever been. Rather than one central ticket office, they’re more like warehouses for dozens of unaffiliated little booths – each booth its own independent company with its own coaches, drivers, schedules, and platforms. Although the quality and prices seem to be pretty similar, competition is fierce.
What this means is that before you even get to the station, touts are literally scrambling to latch on. They wait blocks away from the terminal and grab hold of anyone walking their direction; with walkie-talkies in hand they verify the departure schedule and do their best to escort you straight to their own little booth.
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Nearly every day this week I’ve gone to bed thinking, “Tomorrow I’ll head up the Petronas Towers so I can finally start making my way South from Kuala Lumpur.”
Well, despite having been kept up until 4 by the bedbugs yet again, this time, I really was gonna do it! So with only 3 hours of sleep I crawled out of bed and dragged myself to the RapidKL across town.
Each day, the folks at the Petronas Corporation distribute a limited number of tickets – either to the skybridge that joins the two towers (for 10 ringgit) or to the very top (for 40). Ignore anything you might read which claims the trip is free; it used to be, but not anymore.
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For my second day of Kuala Lumpur tourism I followed the Lonely Planet’s other walking tour, covering the Colonial District and Little India.
Just like Georgetown, KL really is a city of many faces. You might expect that after having already witnessed Malaysia’s diversity I wouldn’t have been surprised by the stark difference between Merdaka Square, the focal point of colonial KL, and Chinatown just a few blocks away. But I was. It’s hard not to be.
The cramped, smelly alleys lined with dilapidated old buildings were gone, replaced by a huge grassy cricket field and magnificent museum-like architecture.
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