Adventures

My expedition to Chennai was nothing short of an adventure á la Sindbad. Sydney airport was hospitable and my excess baggage was condoned, all thanks to my ‘milk dripping’ face. The flight, well! any emptier and it would be classified private jet. Had a splendid window seat by the wings, luxuriously for myself. Stretched my legs, watched a movie (whose name or plot I can’t recall), had a decent piece of dinner and snored away to Kuala Lumpur. KL airport was empty, clean and brilliantly confusing. The signs were anything but clear and it took me three rounds and six people to find the transfer lounge which ended being of no use whatsoever as I had to find immigration for my transit visa. Transit visa wasn’t a problem and I found myself taking the KLIA Ekspress to Sentral instead of a Teksi (Taxi). Malaysians, as you may have already guessed have a humour bone too many as evident from their unique way of spelling English words. The city was just waking up when I reached Sentral and I took a monorail to Bukit Bintang, as instructed by my Malay friend back in Canberra.

Bukit Bintang was the shopping district where I was to burn a lot of my hard-earned money but early as it was and lazy as they were it wasn’t to be open until 10 in the morning (it wasn’t even 8 at that time). Of course I forgot to mention a friend I made on the KLIA Ekspress, a Sydney guy who was also in transit on his way to Dhaka. The two of us decided to walk to Petronas or Menara Kuala Lumpur but he was such a sluggish character that he made me look positively SuperMan like. A few hundred pit stops later we reached Menara KL, more simply KL tower. Even that wasn’t open until 9 but we decided to while time nearby. The sun was up by now and it was soooo humid I was dripping (not milk… jus sweat). I stripped to my shorts and T-shirt relinquishing my jacket and trousers (C’berra has got me accustomed to a sweat-free living).

As soon as they opened, we were in, climbing the tower at the rate of about 50 metres a second to the observation deck and the view was simply breathtaking. A 360 degree view of the city with an audio tour chipped in to explain what is what. It was totally worth it. Due to the compulsion of UnsuperMan, we took a Teksi back to BB where we had our breakfast (and I called home). I did not find BB very shoppable considering my grad student scholarship. I did buy ‘Friends’ DVDs – season 1 and season 5 (and I believe I got a good deal).

I was looking for some Tamil DVDs (I was taking home a DVD player and not buying DVDs for them is like giving a bow without any arrows) and was directed to go to Masjid India. I should point out here that the traffic in KL was a let down for me. After Singapore and Australia, I was hoping for something more in that line and was disappointed to see traffic violations everywhere (foremost of which is sccoters on the pedestrian walkway). I had an almost impossible time crossing the road (even in a Pedestrian crossing). No ‘Why did the chicken cross the road’ jokes people, but I think if anything I guess to become Chicken Tikka Masala.

I took a bus to go to Masjid India and I requested the conductor to kindly inform me when my stop arrived. I must have been very tired for I dozed off and some time later, I found myself getting down in a place far far away from Masjid India. The conductor apparently forgot all about me. (What is it with me! Am I invisible or something?) I had to take a Teksi to get to Masjid India, something which I could have done in the first place and saved half an hour. Anywayz, Masjid India was everything you would expect of it. There were a lot of stalls, a lot of hawkers selling their wares and a lot of people buying it and a lot of noise. I roamed around and found some good DVDs (surprisingly, DVDs aren’t as popular in KL yet… I really had to look far and wide to find any). Needless to add, I abandoned my Sydney friend in a plaza in Bukit Bintang (intended to catch up with him as soon as I bought my DVDs). (If he is reading this, I swear I did not desert you with vile intent… it just happened)

I was directed to Imby Plaza for all my computer needs and I had quite a need given the ‘impression’ that Malaysia is the place for inexpensive computer accessories. In the end all I bought was a USB drive. I did not find anything dirt cheap (and I was running low on cash).

It was almost time to leave and I still hadn’t seen the Petronas tower up close. I made up my mind to walk to the Petronas (“Walk! You must be crazy”, told the Malay locals, “Take the Teksi la. Nobody in KL walks la!”), to click a few good snaps of it (consummate my KL sojourn) and then head back to the airport. But as luck would have it I got to go up to the skybridge (the lady at the service desk assured me that it would take less than half-an-hour) and I was back on the road (actually rail) to KLIA. Boarded the plane (again, any emptier and it would be a private jet) without any hassles about my newly heavier cabin baggage (milk-dripping face to the rescue again??). And then I landed in Chennai… but more of it later.

P.S. Sorry for the late blogpost... too unbusy in Chennai