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My flight landed in KLIA2 just before 7am. The line for immigration was short but slow. Fingerprints, but no forms to fill in. The terminal is huge, and I wandered around thinking about checking out one of many mifi options, and deciding where to change money, for a while. I didn't get a mifi, but did change $50 for 202 MYR. Not a particularly good rate, I think, but no fee with CIMB Bank.
\r\n\r\nAnyway, I found the buses on level 1. I bought a ticket for Star Shuttle, having learnt from wikitravel this was a good option, from a very generic looking ticket counter which seems to cover all of the many transport options. I caught the 8 o'clock, and took the approximately 1.5 hour ride to Puduraya for 11 MYR. From there I walked about five minutes to Explorers hostel near Chinatown. I'm in a 6 bed dorm on the third floor. Aircon in the lobby and rooms; wifi only in the lobby. Movies playing on a TV in the lobby 24 hours a day; high brightness, so James Bond and Star Wars look like low-budget action flicks. Free breakfast - coffee, tea, toast, peanut butter (yay!). Lockers in the room.
\r\n\r\nI rearranged the contents of my bag on my bunk, then met a roommate, E. She's been backpacking around for a while, and just came from Penang (where I'm going next). Together we wandered through the nearby market, and bought sweet bao (lotus, sesame, yam). The heat squashed my appetite for most of the rest of the day. We reached the KL Tower, which is surrounded at the base by a small patch of indigenous jungle. There's a rope bridge through the tree canopy, and forest trails. The base of the tower is full of souvenir stands and overpriced food. There's an upside down house. A house in which everything is upside down. Also the house itself is upside down. Okay. We didn't go inside.
\r\n\r\nThe tower itself is pretty expensive to go up, at over 100 MYR to the very top. Having said that, it's about the same as towers in most major cities. Maybe I'll go up anyway. But we didn't yesterday.
\r\n\r\nContinued wandering until we reached the Petronas towers. Enjoyed the aircon in the enormous shopping mall for a while. This rebooted my appetite, and we ate in the food court, which included a vegetarian place called Simple Life Healthy Vegetarian. I asked the server to pick a noodle dish for me; it was a large portion, deliciously savoury and slightly spicy; vegetables, mushrooms, a little tofu. Plus a black sesame soy milkshake, came to 20.70 MYR. Not bad.
\r\n\r\nInside the shopping mall we found an Asian contemporary art exhibition, free to enter, with some really interesting pieces. There's also a petroleum museum on the top floor, maybe for another day. Behind the towers is a park with a big lake and fountains that do interesting things. We crossed the street to another shopping mall, and discovered that the H&M there doesn't sell underwear. In case that piece of information is useful to anyone. We spent some time in Muji (which does sell underwear) and I amused myself with the quirky signs, descriptions, and packaging. Less amused by the prices.
\r\n\r\nIt was raining by the time we emerged, so we hopped on the free GoKL bus. There are several free bus routes, which is kind of nuts, but also awesome. Except we hit it at peak traffic hours (or maybe that's all the time, I don't know yet) and we travelled like two stops in one hour. Mostly sitting still. I napped. Then we got off, because staying on was kind of silly, and walked back to the hostel. I bought a dragonfruit for 6 MYR; I think I might have been ripped off. Still cheaper than Wholefoods though.
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