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Other entries in Kuala Lumpur

the train hit 6 cows

i was glad to get the train out of singapore, as the city left no real impression on me and i felt a bit lost and confused there. it just seemed smallish and uninteresting and generally amiss (although i had two very excellent street food dinners for a couple bucks around the corner from my hostel, dining with the local rat, no less!).

the train was OLD and it showed. it creaked and rattled and even in a first class seat, which i splurged for glad for the AC, things were noisy and rickety and generally fantastic. the view was wonderful on what should have been a 6 hour train ride from 1-7 pm into kuala lumpur. however, malaysian trains, as it turns out, cannot be counted on for anything, including puncutality, safety, or anything else. about 2/3 of the way there, an INSANE clanking came under the train and there was talk that some "loose gravel" had hit the underside of the train. a few minutes later, the train came to a halt and spectators were peering out the side of the doors to get a look at what was going on. i got out of my "cushy"chair to have a look (this train was so old that the bits between the cars still had holes where you could see passing ground and track, this was NOT a high tech train), and was still leaning halfway out of the train door when the thing started up again with a jolt and i was nearly sent flying out onto the sidetrack, never to be heard from again.

later, after downing the high-buck first-class meal, which included a dingdong roll and a box of lychee juice, just as we neared kuala lumpur and the sun went down, the power in the first class car went out. this was cool because i got to see all the KL suburbs from an unlight, spooky, rickety old train car. they stopped at a commuter rail stop and politely offered all the first-class passengers a switch to the AC'ed commuter rail, but i declined thinking it was nicer to stay put and catch the view from the dark train.

as it turned out, the train was BADLY leaking oil because the earlier "incident" turned out to be 6 cows were hit on the track. apparently the conducter was a novice, had started out driving commuter trains, and this was his first long distance sing-KL trip. so the dude hit 6 cows and probably will be caned on the streets of singapore for his mishap and the fact that we spent 1/3 of the trip to KL leaking insane amounts of oil (which i smelled on my person the rest of the night, by the way).

finally, arrived in KL. today was spent sightseeing at the world-famous petronas towers, reputedly the highest buildings in existence. you can take an elevator to the 41st floor (this elevator goes 5m per SECOND - holy fuck, we were to the 41st floor in 10 seconds, LITERALLY). the towers are linked by a "skywalk" and you get a whole wonderful history of the buildings during a short informative film before your ascent. you get 10 min to peruse the skywalk and take photos before you are ushered down.

KL is cool - it's got WAY more personality than singapore, even though it's definitely "smaller" - it feels busier and more interesting. the muslim population is vibrant here, so you can see tons of ladies walking around in full garb, cloaked in head coverings and bright colored wraps. i've even seen several very traditional women outfitted in the full, black garb with nothing but an eye-slit. had drinks at the local irish pub (leave it to me) to round out the evening.

tomorrow- hoping to head to thailand by train and check into a town somewhere along the south coast. this remains to be seen.

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