~ back to the future for another new passport ~
May 01. Out to the Air Asia terminal at Tanjung Aru by local bus in lots of time. Noni comes out with me. I leave her sitting outside the terminal while I check-in. She creates a big mess around where she's sitting...litter, plant material, cigarette butts. There's a trash container within easy reach. It's her way of showing that she's sore at me for leaving. It gives the cleaners a sense of being needed. The supervisor comes out. They seem to feel sorry for her, understanding of her 'plight'. Eventually she walks off about 30 minutes before my boarding time. She's got about 5 packs of cigarettes. The cheap Filipino ones and the RM50 I could afford to give her. I stare after her with a numb feeling, moisture in my eyes. So that's that! I had been dreading a big scene. Emotions boiling over. Now I almost feel that would have been better! Mayday, mayday. I think I might need help on arrival in Kuala Lumpur. I've got RM9 cash.
“KL, as it's almost always called, started in the 1860s when a band of tin prospectors landed at the meeting point of the Sungai Klang and Sungai Gombak and named it Kuala Lumpur (Muddy Confluence). The lure of ore quickly turned KL into a brawling, noisy boom town, successively tempered by the rule of sultans, the British, invading Japanese WW2 forces and finally UMNO, Malaysia's ruling political party”. “It's a curious blend of old and new...” the guide book continues... “a fast-moving city...gleaming Islamic high-rises tower over multilane highways, though Chinese shophouses and old colonial architecture still manage to stand out proudly”. “Just south of the Masjid Jamek are the teeming streets of KL's Chinatown. This crowded, colourful area is the usual Chinese melange of signs, shops, activity and noise...Jl.Petaling is a vibrant evening street market selling souvenirs and other goods... The side streets are filled with old Chinese shop-houses and temples...” [Attribution: South East Asia Lonely Planet Publications 2001:454].
Mayday! Mayday! Kuala Lumpur. For me it's like back to the future. Dealing with big cities is my least favorite part of traveling. Public bus in from the '75km-away-south-from-town' KLIA. The bus costs Rm8 and deposits me at KL Sentral. Outside, wandering around for a couple of hours I try to get my head around a map. Where's Chinatown? I don't need a map to find an ATM though. Or an Indian restaurant. Wandering around after the meal a friendly Indian guy whose been traveling puts me right. Best to go back over the busy, big street to KL Sentral where I started out from and catch the LRT rail to Pasir Seni...the first station. Chinatown .
Done. The first night I spend RM33 or about US$10 at a backpacker hotel called 'Backpackers Travellers Inn' on Jalan Sultan. It has “typically small, windowless rooms”. It's clean but with thin walls. There's a rooftop bar. As I look down, Chinatown's alive with locals and tourists. I'm tired but happy. Alone again, naturally.
May 02. I change address today. The 'Lee Mun Hotel [Air-Con] Budget Accommodation'...as their card says... is up an elevator on the fifth floor. It's on Jalan Petaling and it's a couple of dollars cheaper at KM25. Both the room the first nite and this one have share bathroom. In the afternoons and evenings the Lee Mun's a short-time hotel for the [mostly] Indian girls and lady-boys working the outer fringes of Petaling market. Apart from an initial come on, they don't disturb me in the slightest. The cheapest hotels in Asian cities are like this. It's nothing new. It's a Sunday. It's also a day of getting used to being by myself. I aim to check out the Vietnamese Consulate and the British High Comm. tomorrow. Of course, I should be going to the High Comm. to get the passport organized first. But I need to know what getting back to Vietnam is going to set me back in total.
May 03. “The Golden Triangle is KL's premier business, shopping and entertainment district, crammed with flashy high-rises like the twin Petronas Towers...and the 421m-high Menara KL (KL Tower) telecommunications tower...At the northern edge of the Golden Triangle, Jl Ampang was built up by early tin millionaires and is lined with impressive mansions; it's now KL's 'Embassy Row'” [Attribution: South East Asia Lonely Planet Publications 2001:458].
A Monday. Mid morning, somewhat foolishly, I set out on foot for the Vietnamese consulate in Ampang Park! About five hours later, after misreading the address, but still walking, I finally arrive at their consulate...exhausted. It's closed for a holiday! I'll return again tomorrow. I won't walk again. Today I find my way less than 1 km further on up to the Ampang Park LRT station. And get the 'skyrail' back to Pasir Seni. I collapse, now really exhausted, into the bed in the room over the noisy market. It's not the market noise itself that annoys me a couple of days later. It's the advertising ditty. It goes round in circles every couple a minutes from about 3pm until 11.30pm. Drive anyone nuts, it would. That's what's with those store-holders down there! Don't hardly even notice it this evening.
May 04. It's back to see Vietnamese by LRT! Their small office is bursting full to overflowing with customers. Their charge for a one month tourist visa is 'kleptocracy' in action. RM260 or US$85 for a one month tourist visa! Would have to wait 2 working days for it. After I get the passport sorted, that is. Now I need to plead my case to the Brits! One thing about KL. Most of the embassies are conveniently in Ampang Park. The High Comm's a short way along from the Ampang Park station. One of those former 'tin baron' mansions. It's got heavy, but polite security. A supervisor there puts an end to some 'umming and aahing'. It's finally obvious to them at the FCO passport office that I'm in somewhat of a dire situation. They see the Tawau page used up by the small Malaysian entry stamp. Whew. Out of the woods yet again. Because they agree to issue me a new passport here in KL. It doesn't have to be forwared to Hong Kong as is now the FCO norm. And, I can come tomorrow to pick it up. Great! Time is of the essence of survival on a shoestring. I'm a happy LRT on my way back to Petaling.
May 05. Mid-morning the phone rings: “...passport should be ready in about an hour so why not come on out and pick it up”. The LRT again. On arriving though there's been a last minute software hitch. It'll take until tomorrow to sort out! I've experienced theunexpected before especially in PNG - land of the unexpected. I'm not overly surprised...just mildly pissed off. C'est la vie. I just get back to Petaling...nap for an hour...phone rings again. It's ready now! I thank whichever higher being is listening here in KL. Thank you, for the efficient, convenient...and cheap LRT. Funds are getting extremely low. Evening. Back at the digs above the 'inane-ditty-playing' Petaling market, Chinatown. Finally have my hands on the brand spanking new 48 page passport. RM804 or US$250 the damage! It's some kind of relief to resolve something that's been on me mind for the last 6 weeks. It leaves me with under US$200 to get to Vietnam! I have that US$450 in my account there. And work!
Decisions about the cheapest way to Saigon. Find out that an AirAsia flight to Saigon Monday is $75! But must have that visa. Another $85. Can't happen in time. I've got to get out of KL as soon as possible. An overland up to Penang, Bangkok, Phnom Penh and finally Saigon then. I'll get the cheapest visa for Vietnam possible, in Kampong Som/Sihanoukville on the way.
More of the nomadic! Why rush back to Saigon and work? But it's really going to be 'stretch.out.themoney.com'.