I was gutted, not nearly a gutted as Lesley. She had spent a considerable amount of time and a huge amount of money organising the surprise party and it wasn't going to happen. I jumped onto the cheap bus into KL and dropped Mr Nic a text to say K was in town. The excesses of last week I really wanted a quiet couple of nights. The bus trip to KL Sentral takes about an hour . For 8RM it is a bargain, compared to 35RM for the train and 100 ish for a taxi. At the bus station I was going to take a taxi to chinatown but wanted to avoid the ridiculous situation of paying hough the nose. A couple of taxi touts were outside the bus and wanted between 15 and 20RM. I finally got one for 10 RM, headed for Jalan Sultan.
I had stayed in the Swiss Inn before. I had checked the rate and the availability at KL airport. 270RM for two nights, including breakfast. When I check at reception, they wanted 170RM per night. Same deal. The receptionist refused to give me the web rate.
'Could I use your wireless please' I was provided with the code, I logged on to Booking.com and booked two nights for 274RM. I'm really not sure where the logic is there, I'm assuming that Booking.com get commission. The hotel could have had it all. Hey ho!!!
I had no plans for KL, just wander, some food and wander some more. The hotel was nit nearly as nice as I remember. Staff shortages. The cleaner waking you up at 9.00am wanting to clean the room. I won't be stay g there again.
Lesley was still having all sorts of problems in Ko Samui, we corresponded via FB. They we now running of food as no boats and no planes had been there in days. The Thai navy were sending an, aircraft carrier to rescue some of the tourists it was utter chaos.
My two nights in KL were pretty boring. I did get my bearings though and found out it is actually quite easy to get around in foot. I wandered to Bintang Walk for a coffee and a look around the shops.
I was chatting to fellow traveller Jono on FB. He was in Bangkok at the moment but meeting some friends to go to the Malaysian Grand Prix in the 6-10 of April. He needed some accommodation in Chinatown and was worried that it may get booked up because of the event. He gave me the name of the hotel (and the GPS bearings????) and I popped, literally across the road and booked it for him. Easier than the internet..
I checked outbid the hotel ad midday,I was asked if the room was OK. I told her the truth, not really. We left it at that. I defiantly won't be staying there again.
It was a chore to get a taxi to the railway station. They wanted too much because it was bus. I eventually flagged one who agreed on the 10RM going rate. Jumped on the bus and headed for the airport. An Aussie sat by me, he was on his way to Laos for the water festival celebrations. It is called various things in Asia, Sankong in Thailand and Malaysia. Thingyan in Myanmar and I'm pretty sure they also celebrate in indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia.
I was quite early but managed to get my backpack checked I, even thought it was around 3.5 hours before the flight. That made me even more cross with that Thai checking girl.... Maybe Myanmar will calm me down.
I refrained from paying 35RM for a glass of beer this time. Found. A seat and read up about the country I would be visiting. Most of the people I know were astounded I was going citing the danger, military junta lack of democracy being real reasons to avoid the place. I had heard it was beautiful and wanted to check it out. So here goes..........
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