So at 7 a.m , I went into the departures lounge at Clark airport, gave my bag to the departures lady at the checkout (which was a relief as the weight of the bag is increasing all the time despite the fact that I seem to be throwing away sandles at a record rate) The bag name tops the scales at 13.6 kg (That isn't including my small bag which is heavy enough also...) At least I get some exercide lugging the bag around.
Anyway, to make a non existant story short, I grabbed a few donuts at the mr donut at the airport (They put up the prices by 50% on each donut. I think that must happen at every airport that I have been to! It's a good idea though as the donuts at 'Mr Donut' are pretty good.)
I had a bit of extra time to have a look back on a few photos that I had taken through the Philippines and I forgot to put two pics on the blog which I thought were pretty cool! This was taken in Banaue when I was having my dinner overlooking the rice terraces.
View from a restaurant overlooking Banaue rice terraces
Sharing the view with one of the pet monkeys
I will share the view of the rice terraces with you Mr Monkey but not my dinner!
The stewardess asked if some of us could move to the back of the plane to balance out some of the weight so this was fine by me and it gave me the whole back row to get some more sleep!
The plane landed in Kuala Lumpur about 4 hours later. You could feel the heat when getting off the plane.I keep thinking that the temperature is similar between the 2 countries but there is a fair bit of differance. At one point last week temperatures in K.L hit 44 degrees! ouch!! and they have not seen rain here in quite a while whereas in the Philippines , you will see rain at some point during the day (at this time of the year)
Once I landed, I changed the sim card in the mobile phone back from the one I bought in the Philippines to the one I originally bought in K.L and checked to see if it was working but it did not seem to work. I put on RM 10 and it kicked into gear again.I think you have to top up every 'X' amount of days regardless of the fact tht you have credit on your phone or not. This is the same as back home but the duration of days is a lot shorter .I think you have to topup once a month over here whereas I think it was once every 6 months back in Ireland.
Anyway, I headed to Wendys (from couch surfing) place where we decided to go to the local night market [pasar malam] in Damansara Damai. This market only opens on a Friday evening but it well worth a visit as long as you do not try everything (as there are tonnes of food to try here!) Here are just a few examples of what was there.
Making pancakes with corn
You want vegetables? you got vegetables
This tastes like an omelette with some beef inside, yum!
Something smells a bit fishy here
Chickens with outstretched legs
Langsat (You peel away the outside to reveal a clear couloured fruit that tastes a small bit like an orange.Really good!)
The Obligatory milkshake!
(I will put the pics of the guy making the milkshake up on my facebook account)
Making some sweet tasting rice
That yellow tray contains water so this will proove that the watches within the tray are water resistant
Different types of fruit Juices
So, after grabbing a load of food, we had to eat some of it.At this point in time, I was fit to collapse as my sleeping patterns are a bit haywire!
Food seen through a dodgy lens
More food (I think it's time for a new camera)
1. I definately need a new camera!
2. I started a blog and nearly headbutted the screen through lack of sleep so I had to go to bed.
The next morning, we decided to visit the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (F.R.I.M) whereupon we saw a waterfall and walked across a canopy bridge. But first , there was some breakfast to be eaten! So we went to a local Chinese market.
I had some pork dumplings with noodles.
Dumplings with chilli sauce
It's a Chinese shop. You have to try the (ice) Tea!
...
Some noodles with some pork (I swear, I do more than just eat!!!)
Before touching
After touching the leaf, it closes up
Some Durian fruit lying on the ground
(the guys who originally owned the land are allowed to harvest the Durian for a couple of weeks a year)
collecting the Durian
The family live here where the Durian is being harvested
This insect lights up as a defense mechanism
View from the ground of the branches of some trees
These branches of these trees refuse to overlap each other so it creates a picture that looks a bit like a map!
A termite nest with some termites running down the tree .
There's water in them there hills!
Don't forget to vist the canopy walkway if you ever visit F.R.I.M.The bridge was build by some germans initially. Eventually , it was converted into a tourist attraction where you can see a great view of the forest and if you don't mind rickety bridges , it's a nice short walk (150 metres- ( split into 4 short bridges) ) Here is an introduction to the walkway.
Here are a couple of pics from the walkway.
Here are a couple of pics from the walkway.
This bridge should be used in an Indiana Jones film
I am not scared of heights...really!
Nerves of steel (steel is made from Jelly , right?)
Wendy patiently waiting while I bide my time on the bridge
A view from the bridge downwards
This place is a nice way t spend the day. Actually, if you get caught out in the rain , you should look for the food stalls as they tend to make a nice food served on a banana leaf.
You can choose how much you want from the food stalls
Anyway, it was time to head back into KL so Wendy dropped me off at the train station (thanks Wendy!) and I was on my way!
I am not sure if I broke the law though. Have a look at the sign on the train.
The pink sign says 'couch for ladies only'
I ended up staying in the ladies coach (which to be honest did not seem to be too much different from a normal coach) BUT there was a good tom and jerry cartoon on the t.v .
I headed into KL where I grabbed a hostel near Bukit Bintang. I had stayed in this area before but I chose another hostel just to see how different 2 hostels are. This one seemed to have no foreiners stay at the hostel as apposed to the other one which was a lways full of people from all over. Anyway, it was lights out time!!
The next morning ,I just had to go back to the petronas towers - level 4 - to find that shop that sold the Rotai Canai Temur!
This is the best tasting breakfast in the world ever! (copyright 2012)
Roti canai - temur (translated as bread pancake - egg) num num [that bit needs no translation]!!
The drink is iced Milo (Like drinking chocolate cooled down with ice cubes)
I had a walk around all the malls in KL as I needed to buy a new camera. The old one was on its last legs so I pondered getting it fixedor buying a new one. I went into the Nikon store (at Times Square) and they quoted RM200 to get the old one fixed and I would have to wait a few days to collect it. The guy trying to sell the same Nikon camera in The 'Low chun fat' mall quoted a price of RM359 for a brand new one so I opted to buy that and then i could use the battery of the old one if needs arise.
All the walking around from mall to mall made me hungry (Well, I reckon i'd be hungry regardless of the walk but itr sounds good so i'll leave it in here!) so, I bought a couple of pastries (A curry pastry and a potato one) in one of the chinese food stalls at the Lot 10 mall.
mmmmm curry pastry
It was then that I though to myself that I should check out the time of the buses that go to the Cameron highlands so I went for a brisk 25 minute walk down to the Pudu station where I completely and utterly confused the local police by asking them if there was a bus going to the cameron highlands. Eventually, after 3 attempts , I decided to take the policemans advice and actually ask the guys at the information office as they might have the information (d'oh!) So, i found out that a bus would leave the following morning.
The following morning I got up and waited for one of the guys that was running the hostel to appear as there was nobody behind the desk and I had a key to the lock on the front gate of the hostel. I waited and waited for quite some time and eventually a guy showed up and acted as if I stole his favourite toy (i.e: a toy with loads of bells and whistles) so reluctantly, he gave me the deposit for the key and I was on my way to Pudu bus station! As I arrived, a guy on a mobile phone shouted , 'where do you want to go'---- 'Cameron highlands ' I retorted so I followed him up 1 flight of stairs and past some security guards to what looked like a secret location where I bought the bus ticket. He told me to hurry up or I would miss the bus (buses wait for noone here!) As usual, I was leaning at the counter when I paid my money for the ticket and I stood up quickly where I banged my head again. II have lost count of the amount of times that I have banged my head since I started here (Co-incidentally, i dont think i can remember the amount of times due to the actual bangs to my head- stupid irony!!!!! )
Anyway, I was on my way to the place which closest resembles Ireland in terms of temperature and amount of tea drunk per head (probably).
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