Winter vacation had started!!! And it started with trains!!
We left Busan at 11:10pm on the overnight MTX train (1/13) and arrived in Seoul at 4:30am (1/14), leaving us an hour to waste before the ARX to Incheon International Airport opened. Just as if we had spent the night out drinking, we went to the only natural place to go in the pre-dawn hours of the day - McDonalds. A breakfast combo and some small talk passed the time, and before long we were seated on the express line to the airport.
With Korea in the middle of a harsh winter, it seemed as if nearly half of the waygooksalam population was queued up waiting to board an AirAsia flight bound for the sun and warmth of SE Asia. We - Jeff, Rachel, Ashley, Adam and many others along with myself - were no exception. Winter you've been a grand frosty tart, but it's time for something warmer. Still love you, just piss off. ^^
In only seven hours we were out of winter and into the new adventures of the first stop on our trip - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!
The first order of business once we were through Immigration was an outfit change!! No longer the freezing temps of SK, but a balmy, humid, hit-you-in-the-face heat in the mid-80s. Hello sweat, haven't been visited by you in a good while.
Sweaters and pants were discarded for shorts, tanks and flips; we were ready to do the next logical thing. Eat!
But what to eat? What is Malaysian food?! Eeee... didn't read up on that one. Thai food, sure. That one is easy. But Malayan cuisine?! Taste of Asia. Great! Sounds like a prefect place to have a meal. But it was still a questions of what to eat. Pictures!! Thank goodness for pictures. I don't think many Westerners, and I openly include myself in this sterotype, would survive much - if any - Asian traveling withOUT pictures. Sure you could always guess what something will be like using its English name, but should a dish only have a native name... hello starvation or the elevated chances of disappointment and saying the ever common expression, "What is that?!".
Ah traveling! You are a true gem that certainly knows how to push people out of the norm and into lands of discomfort! You are amazing!!
So I swatted away the flies, said a dish that sounded (and looked) interesting and had my first ever Malayan meal, Assam Laksa (Jeff got chicken and rice... no guessing there :-P ). After that there was only the correct bus platform to find and we were off!
I wouldn't say the ride was unpleasant, but sitting in a bus seat that doubled as a rocking chair for over an hour was definitely a new and undesired experience for me. With every stop, start, turn and move, my chair was set into motion - forward and backwards, forward and backwards. For an hour. Awe-some.
Salvation was our arrial in Chinatown and our departure from the blasted slow-rocker bus. However, salvation wasn't fully a promised land, because as one might imagine, Chinatowns are a messy maze of vendors, shops and people. Oh my! Stand in one spot long enough you might become dizzy enough to fall over from the pace of everything in motion around you. What to do?! Where to go?!
Ask. Always ask. If you get directions from one person, walk 10 feet and ask again. Always ask. Unless your point is to wander around then by all means, don't ask, carry on. But I like to wander without the extra twenty lbs of my pack - call me crazy.
After asking (four times) we finally secured the location of our hostel, Fernloft, and a good place to get a beer! Check-in complete, bags dropped, right back out for that beer! or two!! to unwind from the day of travel. But with beer you need food! And just two streets over was a labryinth of vendors on Petaling Street and tiny bits of heaven to be had.
Fresh coconut milk right from the coconut
Spicy noodle soup
Shaved pork in dark sauce (description made up - name forgetten. oops!)
Delicous. Delicous. Delicous!
Had our stomachs allowed us to eat more, I think we could have stayed there all night!! But for that there was the next night, as at this point it was time to take a rest and put the long day (and a half) to bed.
Next day :: Batu Caves and seeing the city by foot!
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