Well the journey began early Monday morning, when I caught flight #1 to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I find myself traveling with three people who I don't know as best friends, and the four of us have only been in the same location together a handful of times this year. And yet already we find ourselves defining roles within the group and ties with each other that (after just five days together) I have a feeling will be enduring, both through our Indian adventure together and also at home.
So Isaac, Nara, her sister Arika, and I flew into stinking hot KL on Monday afternoon. We burst through the airport doors swaddled in our warm plane clothes, with front packs, back packs and a guitar being passed in between us, into a crowd of men waving tickets at us and urgently requesting we take their mode of transport. We had arrived thoroughly unprepared, with a vague name of a hostel and no idea of its location. So we delineated the cheapest bus into the central city, and settled into the hour long ride.
We arrived to 'KL SENTRAL' and became lost quickly. Thankfully the nearest McDonalds provided a safe haven of free wifi that allowed us to Google the name of the apparently good hostel on our iPhones... ah 21st century travel. But the humid, busy city had at least three separate train systems that seemed to be working against us, leaving us walking up and down the same set of stairs in circles. I think we all felt collectively frustrated, not only that the monorail station we were searching for was so difficult to find, but also that our lack of knowledge of Malaysian language or culture made us a pack of stereotypical Westerners, bleating "UM 'SCUSE ME!" at every official looking person (with very little response). But after what seemed like hours (probably about 20 minutes), we spotted some small signs pointing to the monorail we were searching for. These provided us with the relieving burst of energy that we needed to finally locate the station, purchase some tickets, and throw ourselves onto the clean, air-conditioned monorail seats.
Unfortunately this was only the beginning of the travel Gods showing us how terribly unprepared we were. We walked down what we thought was the correct street for at least a kilometre, searching for the number of 'Bedz' hostel. Got to the end of the street and realised it was the wrong one. Finally found the right street (another burst of energy), and did the same thing. 'BEDZ' HOSTEL DID NOT EXIST.
We stood in the street, dripping with sweat and staring at where number 58 should be. Restaurants, street vendors and retail outlets stood staring back at us. So we stomped into a side street, removed our shoes and accepted the first room offered to us at a poxy looking guesthouse. Paid what seemed reasonable (wasn't reasonable), spent ten minutes explaining that the four of us wanted to be in the same room, watched as the worker attempted to shuffle beds from one room to another, settled with a broom cupboard sized room with only three beds, threw our packs in a pile and removed all of our shirts. Lying in sweaty heaps on the small beds, we resolved that we'd done the best we could.
Dinner was a low key affair. Just a few hours into the trip and we were already ordering salad that was washed in unfamiliar water, justified by the copious amounts of hand sanitiser that we slathered on. After some brief conversation about what we wanted from the trip, showers and clean clothes, we fell into sleep. Mine was clammy and full of strange dreams.
Our one full day in KL saw us journey out to see the Batu Caves. I wont even go into the public transport journey there. Safe to say it was a repeat of walking in circles, timidly asking questions in English to non-English speakers, and waiting at a main road bus stop in full sun for a long, long time. The caves were beautiful though. We had a huge meal served on a banana leaf, by a joyfully grinning man who Arika developed an instant crush on, and all wet our tastebuds with fresh chilli. Then we spent most of the time there adoring the hundreds of wild monkeys who were running about entertaining the tourists and eating the abundance of rubbish left floating around (Aw look, the monkey's sucking sunscreen out of that plastic tube!).
We caught a relieving bus into central, in which the driver actually leant out of the door and beckoned us over, clearly noticing how white and lost we were. Then came another hour of wandering through the intensely busy and alive central markets, searching for the monorail station and receiving candidly contrasting directions from locals. Well we finally located it, found out our best way to get to the airport for our journey early the next morning, and headed back to the hostel. A simple Thai style dinner ensued, over more discussion and planning of our trip. Highlights included creating and designating "officer" roles for the trip, which we decided would rotate daily(ish):
*Group Director - in charge of all transport, timing and general "do this now" type stuff.
*Entertainment and Morale Officer - in charge of assessing group vibe, checking in with everyone and providing entertainment when needed.
*Cultural Officer - responsible for not only making sure we remain respectful of the culture of each place we find ourselves in, but also for providing tidbits of factual information, and handy language.
*Financial and Medication Officer - keeping track of who owes who how much, and reminding us all to take our various medications at appropriate times.
After dinner we decided to responsibly spend our remaining Malaysian currency on Long Island Iced Teas, and get to bed. The 5am wakeup and checkout of our ripoff hostel went smoothly, thanks to our Group Director for the day, Isaac. Unfortunately the boarding of the plane was not so smooth. After all going to the airport bathrooms, Isaac was told that the time was 9:50am, the time our plane left. So he sprinted through customs and security, thinking/hoping we must have already boarded the plane. However, given the time was actually only 9:20am, we then spent twenty minutes searching for him in the shops, until hearing a "FLIGHT TO NEW DELHI, FINAL BOARDING CALL" and freaking out. We raced through immigration and down the tarmac, to find Isaac standing at the steps of the plane, also freaking out. Being the last four passengers to board the plane before taking off, we thanked the travel Gods and settled into our seats for the five hour flight.
Now having been in New Delhi for a few days, I have a whole list of other adventures. But I see that I'm going to have to figure out a way to make this a more succinct travel blog, as I've taken up far too much of your time that could be better spent Facebook stalking. Perhaps I will employ my partners in crime to write the next entry describing our first experiences of India, which have been stunning in every way.
Until then... some sample photos that capture some of the moments described above:
So Isaac, Nara, her sister Arika, and I flew into stinking hot KL on Monday afternoon. We burst through the airport doors swaddled in our warm plane clothes, with front packs, back packs and a guitar being passed in between us, into a crowd of men waving tickets at us and urgently requesting we take their mode of transport. We had arrived thoroughly unprepared, with a vague name of a hostel and no idea of its location. So we delineated the cheapest bus into the central city, and settled into the hour long ride.
We arrived to 'KL SENTRAL' and became lost quickly. Thankfully the nearest McDonalds provided a safe haven of free wifi that allowed us to Google the name of the apparently good hostel on our iPhones... ah 21st century travel. But the humid, busy city had at least three separate train systems that seemed to be working against us, leaving us walking up and down the same set of stairs in circles. I think we all felt collectively frustrated, not only that the monorail station we were searching for was so difficult to find, but also that our lack of knowledge of Malaysian language or culture made us a pack of stereotypical Westerners, bleating "UM 'SCUSE ME!" at every official looking person (with very little response). But after what seemed like hours (probably about 20 minutes), we spotted some small signs pointing to the monorail we were searching for. These provided us with the relieving burst of energy that we needed to finally locate the station, purchase some tickets, and throw ourselves onto the clean, air-conditioned monorail seats.
Unfortunately this was only the beginning of the travel Gods showing us how terribly unprepared we were. We walked down what we thought was the correct street for at least a kilometre, searching for the number of 'Bedz' hostel. Got to the end of the street and realised it was the wrong one. Finally found the right street (another burst of energy), and did the same thing. 'BEDZ' HOSTEL DID NOT EXIST.
We stood in the street, dripping with sweat and staring at where number 58 should be. Restaurants, street vendors and retail outlets stood staring back at us. So we stomped into a side street, removed our shoes and accepted the first room offered to us at a poxy looking guesthouse. Paid what seemed reasonable (wasn't reasonable), spent ten minutes explaining that the four of us wanted to be in the same room, watched as the worker attempted to shuffle beds from one room to another, settled with a broom cupboard sized room with only three beds, threw our packs in a pile and removed all of our shirts. Lying in sweaty heaps on the small beds, we resolved that we'd done the best we could.
Dinner was a low key affair. Just a few hours into the trip and we were already ordering salad that was washed in unfamiliar water, justified by the copious amounts of hand sanitiser that we slathered on. After some brief conversation about what we wanted from the trip, showers and clean clothes, we fell into sleep. Mine was clammy and full of strange dreams.
Our one full day in KL saw us journey out to see the Batu Caves. I wont even go into the public transport journey there. Safe to say it was a repeat of walking in circles, timidly asking questions in English to non-English speakers, and waiting at a main road bus stop in full sun for a long, long time. The caves were beautiful though. We had a huge meal served on a banana leaf, by a joyfully grinning man who Arika developed an instant crush on, and all wet our tastebuds with fresh chilli. Then we spent most of the time there adoring the hundreds of wild monkeys who were running about entertaining the tourists and eating the abundance of rubbish left floating around (Aw look, the monkey's sucking sunscreen out of that plastic tube!).
We caught a relieving bus into central, in which the driver actually leant out of the door and beckoned us over, clearly noticing how white and lost we were. Then came another hour of wandering through the intensely busy and alive central markets, searching for the monorail station and receiving candidly contrasting directions from locals. Well we finally located it, found out our best way to get to the airport for our journey early the next morning, and headed back to the hostel. A simple Thai style dinner ensued, over more discussion and planning of our trip. Highlights included creating and designating "officer" roles for the trip, which we decided would rotate daily(ish):
*Group Director - in charge of all transport, timing and general "do this now" type stuff.
*Entertainment and Morale Officer - in charge of assessing group vibe, checking in with everyone and providing entertainment when needed.
*Cultural Officer - responsible for not only making sure we remain respectful of the culture of each place we find ourselves in, but also for providing tidbits of factual information, and handy language.
*Financial and Medication Officer - keeping track of who owes who how much, and reminding us all to take our various medications at appropriate times.
After dinner we decided to responsibly spend our remaining Malaysian currency on Long Island Iced Teas, and get to bed. The 5am wakeup and checkout of our ripoff hostel went smoothly, thanks to our Group Director for the day, Isaac. Unfortunately the boarding of the plane was not so smooth. After all going to the airport bathrooms, Isaac was told that the time was 9:50am, the time our plane left. So he sprinted through customs and security, thinking/hoping we must have already boarded the plane. However, given the time was actually only 9:20am, we then spent twenty minutes searching for him in the shops, until hearing a "FLIGHT TO NEW DELHI, FINAL BOARDING CALL" and freaking out. We raced through immigration and down the tarmac, to find Isaac standing at the steps of the plane, also freaking out. Being the last four passengers to board the plane before taking off, we thanked the travel Gods and settled into our seats for the five hour flight.
Now having been in New Delhi for a few days, I have a whole list of other adventures. But I see that I'm going to have to figure out a way to make this a more succinct travel blog, as I've taken up far too much of your time that could be better spent Facebook stalking. Perhaps I will employ my partners in crime to write the next entry describing our first experiences of India, which have been stunning in every way.
Until then... some sample photos that capture some of the moments described above:
Excitement as we boarded our early morning flight from the Gold Coast:
My travel companions Nara, Arika and Isaac
Sunscreening up in preparation for our Batu Caves visit
Tucking in to our first amazing meal of the trip
Accepting the challenge - to make it up the long staircase and into the caves
Cute monkey enjoys a depressing meal of sunscreen
The cutest of them all
Mother daughter relationship monkey style
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