I woke up this morning very late at 1pm. Another weekend in South East Asia and another Saturday night at a night club. I met a couch surfer named Patricia at Club Zouk in central KL. Club Zouk was listed in the top 10 for best night clubs in the world last year by DJ Mag and has several rooms catering to different types of music. It was absolutely jam packed and full of smoke so I spent much of the evening in the outside lounge area. Patricia is really into photography and fashion so she took a lot of photos of club goers. By waking up at 1pm you’d think I had a bender of an evening but in reality it was a very casual night that ended with fried noodles at a local Malay hawker restaurant. My experience in KL is that people stay up and sleep in late even if it isn’t about partying.
I’m not one to normally to spend an entire afternoon in bed so I think my body was a bit off because I woke up feeling quite homesick. Today was the first time since leaving home that I have felt this way and could have used a snap of my fingers to be home if even just for a few hours. This happens from time to time, especially if I stay in one place too long. This was my queue to get a change of scenery. I went and had a double cheeseburger then came back to my hotel to purchase a flight tomorrow to the city of Medan, Indonesia. This will be my base for some jungle trekking in northern Sumatra which you’ll read more about soon!
After watching a silly comedy movie and taking a shower I decided to go in search for something to do. It turns out I found the cure for homesickness and it’s some Lebanese food and a foot massage followed up by ear candling and some meat on a stick from a Chinese street stall. I found there are more Lebanese restaurants in Bukit Bingtang (Star Hill) than in all of Beirut! The chicken shawarma was delicious and my mint tea was a good kickoff. I wandered down the street a little and found a “foot reflexology” center. These are spotted all over Kuala Lumpur and are a good place to rest for a bit and get treated to a nice foot massage. I paid 25 ringgit (approx $8) for a 30 minute massage. I didn’t have any cash on me so I wanted to use my debit card but there was a 50 ringgit limit. I decided to add on ear candling which is a way to clean out the toxins and wax in the ear by using a lit candle. I honestly do not know how it works but I feel like a million bucks right now. I headed back to Chinatown and still had a bit of hunger so I went to my favorite local vendor of meat on a stick and picked out a couple of sets of lamb. If I could only keep myself away from the restaurants and eat street meat, my money would go so much further. It was $1 per set so after 2 sets I was satisfied.
Money has been flowing a little too freely so I told myself as of tomorrow I have to be much better with my money. I expected that when I arrived to Kuala Lumpur I would make some purchases for going forward. Chinatown has a large market of knockoff items and I got two pairs of shorts, sunglasses, a hat, and a wallet.
So, I’m ready to leave KL after recharging and will only be passing back through the Malay peninsula to go north to Thailand towards the end of the month. I’m really looking forward to the jungle. I have been doing far too much city travel and I want some more interesting things to write about than going to night clubs and walking around.