We arrived into Kuala Lumpur at 0245, some 25 minutes ahead of schedule. The first bus into the city goes at 0430. There was one at 0330 from Terminal 1 but I wouldn’t have been able to get there in time. I debated waiting vs catching a Grab car. I opted for the latter at a price of MYR65 (plus tolls which surprised me a little as in other cities, tolls were included in the quote).
I checked into the M&M Hotel where I had booked last night as well, in order to get the early check-in. I climbed into bed at 0440 and with the headache which has lingered on since departure from Auckland, I decided to take half a sleeping pill. To my surprise, despite the time back home, I slept till 0940!
I had planned to go to Muzium Negara (National Museum) today. After a breakfast of roti at the ABC (Always Best Choice) cafe, I walked there through a series of walkways and subway tunnels. I had to pay MYR0.80 to enter and exit a station in order to get there.
The museum consisted of four wings: Early History, Colonial History, Malay Civilisation and Contemporary Malaysia. The museum was fairly well done but not overly impressive. For its size, it is to be expected that things are kept at a rather high level without too much detail. Overall I think it serves as a good introduction to people who are new to Malaysia.
Entrance to Muzium Negara
I grabbed a delicious chicken (and egg) biryani back at ABC cafe washed down with mango lassi. I felt re-energised to continue my day.As I was toying the idea of a new mobile phone, I went to KL’s best technology mall, Low Yat plaza. It was a crowded ride on the monorail to Imbi where I disembarked and went through the back lanes. I confirmed that some models are about NZD200 cheaper here than in New Zealand but others are about the same.
As I wasn’t that keen on making a purchase today, I returned after a quick walkaround. The monorail was surprisingly deserted on my way back.
A blind-man massage was part of my plan for the afternoon. After a brief rest in my room, I popped out to realise it was raining cats and dogs. Even though I didn’t have far to go, it was far too wet to even cross the road to the massage shop.
I managed to get to my massage about half hour later. My masseur was a 61 year old blind man who was strong. Technique-wise it wasn’t the best but it was still enjoyable and effective; I felt so much better after.
It was raining heavily when an old school friend Thomas picked me up at 1730. We drove to this lane in the Pudu area which where there was good street food. With the heavy rain, nearly all outlets were closed. Some stalls were in ankle-high water.
We backtracked to a hole-in-the-wall placed we had been to on my previous visit. In fact, it wasn’t a hole but a shed between two building. We had a very good catch-up over a dinner of steamed tilapia in chopped green cili padi sauce, plus veges and chicken fried in salted duck egg batter.
With the time difference with New Zealand, I was in bed at 2000. I was tired but couldn’t get to sleep probably because I had slept too much this morning. I played on my phone and saw a comment on Facebook that AirAsia X was suspending services to Auckland. I quickly visited their website to find the flights still selling but at an exorbitant rate from February 2019. That, to me, confirmed the suspension; it’s one possible way of blocking the flights preventing people from booking them.
I have flights booked for late January and late May 2019 from Auckland to Kuala Lumpur (both at around NZD200 each) so the latter would probably be affected. It’s fortunate that I have options as I’d hate to claim it under insurance again and create a bad track record with them.