On a Whim - Part I

Good morning Kuala Lumpur!  I'm not sure what day it is.  Is it my second or first day?  My mind and body are confused.  Hey, at least I have free toast for breakfast!

Rewind the tape.  Press play.

You have now entered 36 hours ago.

Free toast for breakfast.  I'm sitting in my bunk uploading photographs to the internet[s] when two of my new roommates walk in.  To my untrained pakeha [read - white boy] eye I file them in the "miscellaneous asian" category until I know where they are from.


"Hello!"  I say.

"Hello!" Miscellaneous asian A greets back in a think accent (possibly Korean).
"Hello" Miscellaneous asian B says in a proper English accent.  My eyebrow goes up - I'm intrigued.
"Tell me more" I think.

"Where are you guys from?" I inquire so I can place them in a smaller box.

Make sure you get your travel shots first

"Korea" says Misc A.
"London" replies Misc B in that English accent again.  Not a "You 'right guvna?" accent, I'm talking Sophie Ellis Bextor.  An accent so sexy it must be written in italics.

"Hello, I'm from London".  At that point I may or may not have swooned. I'll leave that for you to decide*.

A day or two later, the girls are checking out, and Misc B (I know her name by now but I'm the boss of this story so deal with it) pops the question:
"Do you want to catch the train to KL with me?  I'm a bit nervous about traveling alone."

"Yeah that would be untrusting** eh.  I'm keen!".  Hell, I was planning on going anyway if I got bored in Singapore.

Fastforward one stressful day of catching a train 17 stops, finding a bus stop, catching the bus, purchasing a last minute ticket for the overnight train on a cheap seat, one bus trip, 17 stops again on the train, pack the bags, find a currency exchange for some ringgits, 17 stops on the train, one bus ride and a food court later and I'm enjoying some indian food at a Hawker Center near the border.

Pro-tip:  Don't eat curry before you hop on an 8 hour overnight train ride - you might get stuck between a rather round man sleeping under newspaper and a window.

To be continued...



PS.  Girl from the front desk of P&T - you know which one you are - thank you for being so nice and helpful with my last minute change of plans.


* For the record - manly men don't swoon, and as I am the manliest of manly men [no homo]*** I did not swoon.
**the official NZ phonetic spelling of 'interesting'.
*** http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=no%20homo