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Tuesday - Kuala Lumpur

So it was a bit of a strange night. Sharing a room with a guy i'd got to know just a few hours before seeing how simple his lifestyle was. I'd got to know him quite well, and almost had second thoughts to go back to my safe hotel room rather than restlessly lying there for a while considering how wise an idea it had been, if might harvest my organs while I slept or rape or pillage me- but soon I got to sleep safe knowing this was just another culture, another country. My host was a fellow student, albeit one studying for his masters in media communication who had been discussing his not yet written book with me. A genuine good person, with rough edges and interesting views about how asians idolise the white man, and say anything to please him.

In the morning I was still alive, all body parts intact. Despite having got up for breakfast at 5am because it was ramadan, a traditional breakful was made for me when I awoke and we headed back into the city to explore more before I caught my bus to the airport. Ridz was an amazing character, who really gave me a great insight into not just the city but the people and dynamics that make up the country, and hopefully we will keep in touch for the next time I go back there. He certainly made it an experience. Checking in at Kuala Lumpur airport it finally hit me that my travelling was over. I'd gone out on a high for sure, but i've now caught the bug for it. I've seen so many things, done and experienced so much and all in a short space of time. Imagine what I'll get up to for longer. But that will be the next adventure, and will undoubtedly be blogged about to. I hope you've all enjoyed reading the adventures i've had, there has been so much I could squeeze into these emails but this should have been a good taste of what its been like.

Monday - Kuala Lumpur

The flight to Malaysia was very smooth and incident free as it gave methe opportunity to sleep which was much needed considerning i'd been up for 30 hours at this point having had to get up so early to leave Cairns. Walking from the plane to the terminal gave me my first indication of what the weather was going to be like, as it was very warm, very humid and raining slightly. Immigration was very simple and before long I was sat on the pre booked bus to head down town. The scenery out the window of the bus was of housing development and lush green jungle spreading as far as could be seen. KL Sentral is the main transport hub for if city and very busy with huge bustling crowds everywhere, trying to get busses or trains or monorail links. It seemed though as if everything was written in dual languages, so I had little trouble finding a ticket machine. I spent 30 minutes starving hungry and very bored with the next train display which showed a time for the next train, flashed when it reached the time then displayed a new time all without a single train entering the station. The later it got, the less defined the lines to enter the carriages became, one of the most impressive things i'd spotted when I got into the station. Eventually fed up of lie useless information available I forfeited my ticket and headed over to the rapid train station, and within minutes I was at my destination in the heart of chinatown looking for my hotel. I'd read a review which had said it ever looked the market, but that was a understatement! The market was a huge number of densly packed stalls with barely enough space to walk between them. Eventually I spotted the sign for my hotel but had to walk 100m past it before being able to cross and get to the side it was on, hidden behind a stall. The room was basic and had the most interesting shower design i've seen but plug sockets were Uk standard so I was able to get all my electronics charged. I headed out for dinner, and spent about an hour and a half just walking round in circles marvelling at it all. Just as I had decided to return to a back street food vendor who looked the most interesting because of the box of frogs and box of crabs sat outside, when an innane comment to a random guy next to me led to a conversation and ultimately my own tour guide for the night. Straight away I knew I was onto a winner when he said bars and clubs he'd leave for the coconuts to show me, all he could offer were sights and sounds id not find mentioned in any guide book. Although he had already eaten, he took me to an underground cafe which only people who worked or lived in the area knew about. Amazing good food and about a 3rd of the price i'd have paid in the markets, after food if showed me round past the city mosque, the bird garden and some of the more interesting parts of the city before we got on a bus and headed out to an area of town that if tourists knew about would be forever changed. It took nearly 2 hours to get there, but if pointed out how 4 different cultures all lived there, malaysians, chinese, indians and polynesians all together in harmony. The jungle was right along side us with bout 20 different types of frog croak filling the air. After a short walk he made me look away to the left, until we reached a hill side cafe for curried pancakes and the most refreshing orange juice ever. But this wasn't why he brought me all the way out here, no the real reason was the view. Oh what a view! From the las vegas style casino complex out on one side at the top of a mountain all the way across the brightly lit city below, the twin towers and famous buildings lit up vile christmas trees. Such a site. A few minutes walk into the jungle behind would have led me to a secluded waterfall, true jungle paradise from all the story books but too dangerous to visit at night. It was here that he offered his hospitality for the night, and I accepted eager to experience as much as I could about this fascinating culture. 

Monday - Gold Coast Airport

Never a dull moment here, an alarm started going off when I arrived at the airport, not the most helpful alarm, all it said was pleas stand by. After 10 minutes of standing by it asked up to evacuate, but with no clear instructions as to where to evacuate to we all stood outside, cars and busses still pulling up and adding to the confusion as passenger told fellow passenger to wait outside, eventually after nearly 10 minutes we were told the evacuation point, and a fire engine turned up. Its a regular occurance one air steward was saying. And sure enough the fire men did their walk round and left allowing passengers back into the airport to push and shove to get checked in on time. For such a regular occurance, the staff totally failed when it came to organising the evacuation. My festival stewarding experience jumped out, making everything the staff did show how clueless they were, and how potentially dangerous this could have been if it were a real fire, or if it we later is the day when there were more people here. Big fail gold coast airport, must do better next time!

Monday - Surfers Paradise.

After a long walk along the beach in the dribbleing rain, I found a nice little restaurant overlooking the harbour, fish of the day special and white wine go a long way to making up for the miserable weather, and the was a live band to top it off. Walked on after dinner to Australia Fair, where I knew there was a cinema. As I approached the shopping complex, minibus of asians arrived and I followed them thinking they must also be going to the cinema, what else is open in a shopping centre at 9pm on a sunday night. A chinese restaurant is what! Trying to save face I carried on walking through a closed up shopping centre until I found the map telling me I was in completely use wrong building, luckily I didn't have to walk past the restaurant to get out! The rain had picked up by this point to being a fine shower, which I didn't think anything of until I was still 3km away from surfers where the bus came at 4am with 4 hours still to go and absolutely drenched. Im sure the hundreds of frog making an awesome racket loved being inch deep in water on the footpaths but I sure didn't. Rather than the casual stroll i'd had to waste time, I decided the all night macdonalds was the place to be, so I hightailed it at top speed to get there before australia went back into water shortages just from my hair and clothes soaking it all up! And so I find myself, 4am in the morning tired as a dog standing in the rain waiting for the bus. Suppose i'd better get used to it, Malaysia is predicted 34 degrees and thunderstorms for the next few days, we all know what england is like, and melbourne rains more days than are in a month. Hooray for the summer which I keep being promised is coming!

Sunday - Brisbane / Surfers Paradise

So after this mornings very early start, it's been a day of nothing really going to plan. The flight over from Cairns was good, except the woman next to me couldn't think of a single good thing to see or do in Brisbane, despite having lived there most of her life she left as soon as she could and didn't like coming back. Still the sight of the sun cresting the horizon as we flew above the clouds was awesome sight - I still prefer sunsets to sun rises but you occasionly get a spectacular one.

The early morning had done one thing tho, I spent the first few hours walking around Brisbane thinking it was Monday and getting quite annoyed at all the shop owners for being so late to open up! I eventually got into the information kiosk, and having had such a great experience of the walking tour in Sydney, found out where the Brisbane version started. I turned up 15 mins early and waited, and waited. Looking around at 11 you could see all the tourists wrong turned up checking watches and looking around, by 11.30 everyone had dispersed looking very disappointed. So off round the city I went on my own, which was a slight anti-climax much like my impression of Brisbane at the end of it all. I jumped on the train and was finally able to snooze for a bit, on the 2 hour journey. Arriving and getting a bus to surfers paradise was a very soggy experience however, and my plans of a bonfire on the overnight before getting another bus to the airport went out the window. I ended up wandering the town for a while before seeking refuge in an internet cafe, and was able to check it for my flight. This last day has definitely been a downer, after everything i've seen and done it just seems cubive wrong to end it with rain, so despite the diminishing funds in going to treat myself to a posh fish dinner on the marina, and hope I can come up with something to do for the night.

Sunday (just) - Cairns

I shouldn't have had any worries bout missing the bus this morning, in a place this size there's always someone awake, the hostel never sleeps. Cleaning girls wander around collecting mugs to wash up, late night revellers fall around half forgotten pizza in there hand, I even saw one girl trying to avoid the walk of shame still zipping her dress up and tucking back in as she walked out the hostel door onto the street. Oh Cairns you've been fun!