Monday, February 15, 2010

Departing: Manila, Arriving: Kuala Lumpur

Leaving Palawan was hard to do. The simple island life living really was for me and I hope I can have more of it while I journey on.  We spent one last night in our previous hostel and I was able to catch a glimpse of some Olympic action. We decided to take it easy that day, since we had a flight to catch back to Manila and a long night/next day ahead of us. So...what do I do? Eat Jollibee!! Gross...it makes my stomach churn just typing it. Jollibee is similar to McDonald's except there's an interesting sauce on the burgers and we aren't entirely sure what the meat is made from. Needless to say, the plane ride back to the mainland was interesting and sure enough, I was sick AGAIN. From the airport to the taxi ride to the metro to the trike ride, it was a long night of feeling sick to stomach at every corner.  We arrived again at Marvin's where, of course, he had food prepared and ready for us, not that I was in the mood.

We had to be up at 5:00 AM the next morning to catch the supposed bus that was to take us to Clark Air Field, since our flight to KL was not from the main Manila International Airport. I had slept 45 minutes at the most, but at least my stomach was intact. We were able to find a ride to the bus terminal right away and had a nice cab driver to top it off (sometime's it's difficult to find honest drivers in Manila). As it turns out, the bus station did exist and there was a bus departing for Clark at 6:30 AM. The ride out to Clark was reminiscent of driving through Eastern Washington. As we left the noisy, somewhat polluted Manila, sprawling fields appeared with rolling mountains serving as the background. There was some livestock, rivers, and farms and for a minute, I thought I was driving out to Spokane.

Clark Airport was somewhat annoying and the $16 "terminal fee" was one of the biggest ripoffs I had experienced since reaching the Philippines. Our flight was low key and we stepped off of the plane into Kuala Lumpur and 93 degree heat. My Washington upbringing does not allow me to prepare for such temperatures. Immigration and customs was easy but then we had to actually get into KL. The airport is about 70 km away from the actual city so we climbed aboard a charter bus which took us to the main bus hub and from there, took the metro into China Town.

China Town is somewhat intense. Tons of food and tons of fake merchandise. We found a hostel fairly quickly and checked in. It's a large hostel and it's mostly backpackers like us. Our room is quaint and it's extremely warm. With the windows open, the sounds from the main drag of China Town float in and we can always hear classical Chinese music, not to mention, car alarms too! Holy hell...that's annoying. We had decent Chinese food last night, but we will probably try to find somewhere quieter and less touristy tonight.

It's morning here, and Lucian and I are going to get out and see some city today. We have no plans past KL, so it will be interesting to see where our next flight, train, or bus leads us. Singapore, Thailand, or even...Australia!

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