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Hello people,
It's blog time again and thought I would let you in on my latest adventure's and f*** up's!!
So when I last spoke with you all I was on my last night in Penang. After updating the blog we decided to go out in Soho in Penang, but were quite surprised to find the price's were rather inflated. So in a flash back to our youth we realised that it was cheaper to buy bottle's of vodka from the shop and put them in our bag's and merely buy soft drink's from the bar, classy or what?!?! This also resulted in us getting pretty wasted!! Poor Lucy had to be up at 4am to get her bus back to Phi Phi in Thailand and was shocked to hear she made it!!
Myself and Nicci were getting the bus to Kuala Lumpar later that morning and got picked up at 9:30am in a hunk of junk mini bus again. We got to the bus station and were pleasantly surprised to find the bus we were put on was quite spacious and air conditioned. So we settled in for the journey and I managed to break my chair!! Just as we began to chill out we pulled into a bus station when a rather rude gentlemen jumped on the bus and started yelling at us claiming we had been holding the other bus up and that we were extremely late, how that was our fault I am not entirely sure!! So we got put on the back of the bus after getting some unflattering stare's off our fellow passenger's!! The bus was pretty comfy though which was grand. After once again settling in, the second driver came to the back and wanted to get into his cubby hole at the back and instead of asking us to move our stuff just began throwing it at us!! Eventually we reached Kuala Lumpar and the only reason we knew that was because the bus driver began screaming at us to get off the bus clapping his hands at us!!
Handily though the Reggae Reggae hostel was just round the corner and I was very pleased to get there and it was a smart hostel. After having a shower and with it been early afternoon we decided to explore the city. I was pretty impressed with the way we mastered the public transport system. We headed to the Petronas Towers and were gutted to find that there were no more tickets to go up the sky bridge at it was shut the next day, so we did the tourist picture thing outside and then headed over to the Menara Tower instead.
When we got there I was made up to find that the premier league trophy was there and you could get your picture taken holding the cup, how could I resist!! I blocked out all the Man Utd pics around and lifted the trophy just as the Liverpool football team will next season!! After that we headed up the tower to see the views of the city and it was quite impressive. We also went to the animal kingdom which is attached to the tower and found it kinda depressing. The animal's didn't really seem to be kept in quite poor condition's. Nicci got her pic with one of the snake's, I couldn't face it myself.
After having some street food we headed back to the hostel and got ready for a few drinks in the bar downstairs. Whilst there we got chatting to Ian and Jo who were holidaying in the city and we all decided to head out in search of a club or some busy bars. We got told to head to a bar named 'Gosh', I think it was called Gosh because when you got the bill for your round of drink's you actually went 'gosh, that is jolly expensive'!! Plus it was absolutely dead. After a few drinks and the bar the bar clearing us out we headed back to the hostel and Nicci engaged us in an epic mission to find tuna sandwiches!! Somehow we managed to find some in a 7/11 shop.
Next day we headed to the Batu caves which house a Hindu temple. I was kind of expecting it to be out in the countryside and was surprised to find it surrounded by factories and a cash and carry!! Monkey's live at the temple that steal food and water off tourists and they did just that!! After hiking up and down the stair's to the cave's we headed back into KL and went to the Islamic Art Museum and used my fake student ID card to get a discount and was kind of disappointed to find it didn't house any actual art!! But it was nice to get out of the heat. We then headed over the road to the National Mosque and we both had to wear robes, I looked like Obi One Kanobi!! It was an impressive building though.
We then jumped to monorail to Bajara Plaza which houses an indoor theme park that I have to say is pretty s***. We had a wander round the shops and I thought I found a good price on a laptop which was too good to be true and you guessed it it was to good to be true because when I got it back to the hostel it couldn't do anything without taking 10 minutes thinking about it when you clicked on an icon!! It had to go back and I had to do it the next day before leaving for Singapore to get my flight to Melboune. After some arguing with the scamming git's I got my money back and made a mad dash back to the hostel to get the bus to Singapore.
We had to leave KL for Singapore on the 5th which I was told would take 5 hours. We legged it to what we thought was the bus stop were a somewhat dodgy character sold us our tickets and assured me that it was direct and would get me there no later than 17:00 and my flight was 21:00. Whilst waiting for the bus we realised we were stood at what seemed to be a needle exchange!! Finally the bus turned up at 12:15 and for the first 45 minutes it kept going round the block!! We pulled into a bus terminal later on at 17:30 and told to get off the bus and get on another one. I managed to leave Nicci's I-Pod on the bus though (major oop's) and we got put on another bus. The most annoying thing about these situations is that no one ever tells you whats happening. So we made the Malaysian border at 18:00 and had to wait 30 mins for the next bus and then got to the Singapore border and I got in the one queue that every person in front of me had a problem with their passports, I was proper stressing!! Finally got through, said a rushed goodbye to Nicci, changed money and was told that the taxi would take an hour to the airport, which meant I would miss my flight. So I jumped the cab and thankfully the driver was a Liverpool fan and drove like something off the movies to get me to the arport on time!! I made the desk with 10 mins to spare. Not a border crossing unless it's stressful for me and not doing any good for my worry line's!!
So that was my last day in Asia. I would just like to say if it wasn't for Bangkok I thoroughly enjoyed Asia. Let me share some nugget's of info with you though. No matter were you go in Asia there will be a river of dreams, this terms refer's to the fact that you will be walking down the road and will just get the most vile smell and realise you are walking along side an open sewer!! It amaze's me how much s*** you can fit on a moped and that parents wear helmets and yet don't put them on on their kids!! It still freaks me out that Asian men always have one extremely long finger nail and I never found out why. There are alot of Asian men out there who want to be a lady. In Malaysia my little Proton Compact LSI is the most common car ever so have some of that.
So I made it into Melbourne at 06:00 on July 6th and was stuck in the airport for 90 mins whilst there was some problem getting our baggage from the plane. Thankfully passport control was a piece of piss and I jumped the shuttle bus to St.Kilda and my hostel. I checked in, changed and went for a wander. I was told it was cold in Melbourne this time of year but was not expecting this. It is as cold as February at home!! I do like St.Kilda though, very hippy vibe about it with some cool cafe's and bar's and is right on the beach, next to the oldest rollercoaster in Australia at Luna Beach.
I spent my first day getting to know the area and catching up on some washing, posting some things home, etc. It has been an adjustment after spending so long in Asia. For instance I saw a full b**** slapping fight in the post office over PO boxes, a women got on the tram screaming chair, I gave her mine and she still hit me with her walking stick!! She then continued to tell me she was banned from the swimming pool because they thought she was drunk and she'd only had 2 glasses of wine, I would hate to have seen the size of the glasses!! Then when wandering round the city I dropped my map and was handed it back by a very kind gentlemen, then had 2 women talking about me as if I wasn't there or couldn't understand em!! Gotta love big cities!!
So on my first full day here I did the tourist thing and headed into the city, did a graffitti tour, went up the Eureka tower and did the Edge where a glass box goes out from the building and you can see the street below (not that impressed with it). Then headed over to the Crown complex, got lost in there and then did China town and Greek town before stopping for some Dim Sum and a few drinks. Came back to the hostel and got drunk on snakebite.
Then on July 8th I headed into Melbourne and did the Queen Victoria market and the docklands, which was like a ghost town. After that just wandered round the city and came back to the hostel, had my customary pot noodle and watch a few films before heading to bed.
On July 9th I was very excited to meet up with an old friend from back home Natalie who had married an Australian and moved out here. The little angel also brought my credit card with her. After a wander round St.Kilda and some lunch we headed into Little Italy which I never knew existed. We had some spanish donuts and had a good catch up, it was so nice to see a familiar face and she hasn't lost her accent either. After that we had a few drinks and then went for a bite to eat. The place was like a scene from the Soprano's like, but thoroughly enjoyed it. Before ya knew it was late, so we headed back the car through the park and was shocked to see the park full of possum's, one of which Natalie claims bit her shoe!! We headed back to my hostel and Jason very kindly drove me through the Red Light district which St.Kilda is apparently known for!! I really enjoyed myself and have to thank them for looking after me and showing me round.
Today I have just been doing my washing and chilling out in the hostel, just what Sunday's are made for.
Hope your all ok at home and I miss you all,
Mup
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