Kuala Lumpur

We're now in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

It was an early morning, but we made it to the airport with time to spare. So far, I haven't seen any traffic jams in Bangkok--could be just the parts of the city in which we've been travelling, but who knows. In any case, it was a two hour flight to KL, and then about a two hour taxi ride to the hotel! Kuala Lumpur International is a major airport, but we flew into the LCCT (low cost carrier terminal) as we were flying with Air Asia, a discount airline. This terminal was pretty basic, and was a LONG ways from KL proper. That wasn't the biggest problem, though... it was the trip THROUGH downtown KL that really slowed us down. Traffic was murder! Anyway, we found the hotel and checked into the rooms the tour had arranged for us.

So, tonight (in about an hour), we meet the rest of the tour group and then head out to check out the street markets here in Chinatown. I've actually already strolled around (and got interviewed by some KL TV network?) but apparently it gets a lot livelier at night. The markets here, as in Bangkok, sell a wide range of knock-off brand name merchandise (shoes, shirts, watches, bags, sunglasses... you name it), pirated DVDs, band (e.g. Led Zepplin, Jimi Hendrix) and brand (Heineken, Versace, Ferrari, etc.) t-shirts, and so on. Don't get me wrong, this is no Khao San Road, but you get the idea.

Tomorrow morning at 8:30 we catch a bus for Melaka, a port town about 2 hours away. Looking forward to it!