Melbourne (Australia) to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
I think most people have that inherent feeling of understanding or acceptance when they know that their day is going to travel much further than the standard 16hrs or so. Mentally I was calibrating, undertaking old algebraic constructions, trading off time possibilities in my head as to where I may be able to manage sleep later in the day. These are the lies that you sell yourself, the side of common sense that gives way to 'Good time Charlie' somewhere on the dark, dank streets of a foreign city. That however was to be many hours ahead of me and for now, I was in the great Australian city of culture and style.
Usually when I'm down in Melbourne I kick things off at a little cafe in St.Kilda called Sultino's. Unfortunately it had almost been a year since I'd made residence here and it was on New Years Day 2009 where Jet and I were recovering from a night spent on AC/DC lane, post margarita madness on the Yarra. For this morning however the space was kind of warm, homely and just the right type of everything to make for a great breakfast. Not that it was extravagant, just a few cups of coffee, some vanilla porridge and I was good to go ,but how to describe it, I guess it's like catching those lost rays of sunlight on a windy, coldish day at the beach and basking in its warmth for as long as you can manage, kind of like that. In any case, I made my way down to Acland street for a little shopping post morning infusion before heading down the Tulla expressway and lining up for a 13:30 flight to KL.
My trip however could have ended right there and then at the check in counter. As I was going through a process that I'd been through many times before the lady at the counter stops me and asks whether I had another passport, 'Well, no sista', I have but one'. Her face turns a little ashen, like she's preparing herself for a barrage of abuse which will be inevitable after what she's about to tell me. 'Well sir, you only have four months left on your passport, I'm not sure we can let you fly today'. Here starts my explanation. Well, I have return tickets well before the day of visa expiry, I have a Vietnamese entry visa only valid for a month, well before the expiry of my passport, what's the issue? She defaults and calls in hired help, her faulty little pop gun was not going to take on the heat of what I was packing and ready to offload. Her supervisor rocks in and explains the situation, I come back and explain mine. He tries telling me that my visa has expired to which I responded 'Um, no mate, it's not expired but it does expire before my passport does, do you know why?' Because I'm only going to Vietnam for a few weeks turkey and I'll be back a couple of days after New Years. He comes back at me with something irrelevant and then states that the visa is 'probably working in my favour' - yes, thought you might see it my way. After a little additional banter they let me on the flight. Bloody hell, it wasn't that big a deal was it?
The flight to KL was uneventful, which is exactly how I like them. I slept a lot, watched 500 days of Summer a couple of times and then realised that the girl he catches at the end of the movie, Autumn, is way hotter and I'd much prefer watching a movie called 500 days of Autumn, instead or anything relating to Autumn really, the ditz of a guy doesn't have to even be in it, he's kind of irrelevant to the plot that's operating in my head. A few red wines, a couple of pages of reading and we were landing at KL LCC terminal right on the mark of 6:40pm as all our guide books had suggested. This was the departure point from the 'real world' and now, we entered the Frelisher zone where reality and time trading was the norm, it also suspended all semblance of rational thought as alcohol became our only companion, and so we begin.
I check into the Tune hotel which is located 2 mins by courtesy van from the airport. It's 7:30pm and our flight the next day is at 7:00am. Just to give you advanced notice, I won't be seeing the inside of this room again until about 5:00am the next day, you can kind of already tell where this story is heading, right? I also kind of know what's going to happen. I'm running logistics in my head and I know it's an hour's journey from the airport to KL proper, so two hours travel to make it there and back. I also know that Jet will be lining up for several drinks and the suggestion of an 'all nighter' will be made early. I 'know this' and yet to convince myself to move I sell myself on the notion that we'll be reasonable this evening and make our way back here, to the Tune hotel, after just a couple. As I've said many times before, many a LONG night has commenced off the back of those infamous words, 'dude, lets just go for a few'. I walk down to reception and ask the lady what's the best way to get into the city, are there direct buses? She looks strangely perplexed and asks me 'You want to go to the city now?', 'Well yes I do, I need to get my drink on obviously!Sentral from KL LCC and there I went, I was out and on my way.
Petronas Towers act like a beacon as you drive in. You can spot them kms away, they illuminate the KL skyline, they're spectacular and most importantly they signal that you're on the right track. I make KL Sentral by about 9:30pm and I'm in Chinatown, out the front of the Swiss Hotel at close to 10:00pm. After a little FB miscommunication of 'Where are you?', I'm here where are you', Jet and I caught each other at 10:30pm. Using my 'worldly' knowledge of KL and Chinatown from the April just past I offered the option of the Beatles bar, and that's where we went!
Swiss Hotel, Chinatown - Kuala Lumpur....and no, this is at the start of the night!
The Beatles Bar, Chinatown - Kuala Lumpur - 'Where many a good night are had'
The Beatles Bar is 'chillout' central. One side has a raised platform, each sectioned or kind of cordoned off by a long piece of chiffon, making the low rider table and plush cushioning kind of exclusive, in its own way. For some reason Jet was a little hesitant to take off his shoes but we managed to get him across the line on that request and thus commenced on round after round of mudslides. As the debauchery continued the mudslides just got more and more 'awesome'. It's funny, sometimes you just know that a holiday is going to be fantastic right off the bat and at other times you know that you'll need to work for the pleasure ,this holiday was going to be a killer, that's something I could tell right off the bat!
Chilling at the Beatles Bar, Chinatown - Kuala Lumpur
I don't know how many times I heard 'I am the freakin' Walrus' played but by the time we threw in a change up into the drinking mix and went for an AK-47 to round of an already hellish night of drinking we were more than three sheets to the wind with still some mileage to cover before the Hanoi flight at 7:00am (oh yeah, the flight, damn, need to remind myself of that!). We finalised the longish bill at the Beatles bar and then headed across the street to the Reggae Bar but unfortunately its standard 'schiestordom' music was blaring there, once again. A standard hideout for English backpackers, crap R'n'B music and interest being provided by the local honey pot traps that Jet swore all had testicles. He was more than likely right.
We exited and hit the streets in search of something, not really known what that something was going to be. We were strolling along, chatting happily to strangers, stealing Malaysian flags from shopfronts and then out of left field Frichot reneges on his 'no public urination policy'. Really, I'm not sure that he ever had one but I think it's something that he should implement, even if it becomes a 'no public urination in Malaysia' policy as that might save him from evil eyes and a possible rattan on the backside form of justice that this part of the world is known for.He escaped punishment, I don't know how but he did.
As our path through Bukit Bintang continued and wreaked carnage and destruction at all points, a small hamburger vendor grabbed our attention and we loaded up for a bite. Not sure what the hell Jet was doing but he was more than certain that the dude at this joint looked like Eddie Murphy. What's more, his persistent requests to get the guy to say, 'very funny mofo' (check it out on the link), kind of fell on deaf ears. Never the less as tanked as we were, the burger went down a treat, even though on review it looked like a mix of God knows what, combined with a slice of what the f*** is that!
The Atomic Bomb burger - what the hell was in it!!?
Understandably things after this point in time got a little hazy on all counts. The food that we devoured can stand as testament to that. We managed to make our way down the street a little further, who knows how long the hell we walked or travelled or what little distance we covered but we ended up at some all night Indian joint where the offering of some type of roti with chicken 'seemed' like it was a 'duck's nuts' option. I remember sitting there with Jet as he ordered up more beers trying to focus on the time that my mobile was displaying and just thinking, 'We'll be lucky to get back to the hotel, let alone catch a flight in a few hours'. Things were just kind of blurred and our well directed stagger turned just into a stagger of randomness. As we made our way back to the Swiss Hotel, mostly by good fortune than anything, we stopped in at a 7/11 to get 'something', I think at the time I needed to pick up more food. So as I'm walking around ,inside the shop, I hear a bottle smash at the front door and a little bit of commotion. At the time I didn't make sense of what was nor even did I realise that it was Jet that dropped his bottle of beer at the front door. Making my way out of the store I see that 'someone' has managed to deposit their dinner right at the entrance of the 7/11. When I question Jet on that occurrence he kind of smiles as says in that very drunken, embarrassed type of manner, 'Dude, that was me'.....
(This night will be continued in the next entry)
