Let Off With A Warning!

Arrived in KL (Kuala Lumpur) at the Reggae Mansion and I must say its in my Top 10 Hostels so far on my trip.  It was great.  The dorms were all like little pods.  I didn't do much that night apart from get online for a bit and research my trip to Bromo and Bali.  At 9pm there was a draw taking place for the new arrivals.  I was lucky to be picked out and won a meal and drink in the bar worth 30 Ringgit (approx £6).

Common area of hostel

The next day I was feeling exhausted.  You don't understand how when your travelling and moving on every 3 or 4 days, it really takes it out of you.  However, I decided to head to the Petronas Towers to take some pictures.  There was a huge mall there and even though I hate shopping, I was in need of some new linen pants because my Primani specials were wrecked.  Then I decided to head for the KL Menera Tower.  The observation deck was higher than the Petronas and for an extra £2 I could have afternoon tea in the revolving restaurant....check me out lol!

The views were ok.  I say this because as I was about to head up, the heavens opened and the cloud decended.  Bloody typical!  Still got some good pictures and had a lovely time in the restaurant stuffing my face with crustless sandwiches, cakes and endless cups of tea...with milk too!  That night I was told of a pub quiz in the hostel.  There I met 2 other English girls.  We lost miserably though haha.  The next day I was going to the Aquarium and they asked to join me.

Kl Tower

Misty views

Afternoon tea mmm

In the revolving restaurant

We arrived there around lunchtime.  We had to go through the mall to get there and after a few more purchases of vest tops and underwear, courtesy of M&S and Topshop, we arrived at Aquaria.  It was fun. The fish were huge and I'd never seen half of them before.  It was a long way from the Sealife Center in Blackpool I can tell ya.  What was also great was that I could see everything perfect.  What I mean is that when I wore my glasses, the magnified tanks made my eyes water and gave me a bad headache. (Thanks Ultralase!).

That night was my last.  Later the girls came by and I told them of a Sky Bar in the Traders hotel that had great views of the Petronas by night.  Well, 3 turned into 8 of us, including Kelley ( a girl i'd met on Koh Phi Phi can you believe).  We had a great night but the drinks were expensive so we went back to the rooftop bar at the hostel.  Kelley and I won a free drink for getting up and dancing and then I won a legs competition.  No seriously, I did! Ha Ha!  So another few free drinks later and I crawled into bed around 2:30am.

Sky Bar @ Traders

Me and Kelley from Phi Phi

View from the rooftop bar

The next day was my trip to Singapore.  Easy, I thought.  Jump on the bus, have a kip and arrive Singapore 5 hours later.  Oh how wrong I was!  Everything was ok up until we hit the border crossing at Singapore.  First, i'd forgotten to fill in the arrival card so had to re-queue when i'd done it....then I got a random check and all my bags searched.  I was not bothered as I knew no one had been in them and I had nothing to hide...so I thought.  The security lady pulled out my cigarettes (2 packets), sealed up my bags and told me to come with her.  I was shitting it!  What the hell was going on??  I thought that someone HAD managed to slip something into my bag somehow and I was bricking it.

In the office she told me that it was wrong of me to bring cigarettes into Singapore and I could face a First Offence and a fine of $500 per pack!  I explained I had no idea of this rule and profusely apologised.  She then filled in a form and photocopied my passport and took me over to the tax desk.  The lady in there was a lot nicer and said that I wasn't going to get a mark against me this time and let me off with a warning and I had to pay for the tax....$15.  She also told me that if I am to smoke these in Singapore then I must carry the customs receipt to prove I have paid tax on them as there are undercover police everywhere and their cigarettes carry a special brand on them.  A little relieved (no sorry, a lot relieved!) I exited the border office....only to find my bus had pissed off!  Normally, in this situation I would have had a cigarette, but as I was probably gonna get arrested if I did...I sat down and had a little cry.

It was only 2 packets of fags FFS!

A few minutes later I pulled myself together and went over to a bus with the same company logo as mine.  I explained what happened and he said he could take me if I had my ticket. My ticket, my ticket....SHIT!!! I'd only left it on the other bus in the pouch of the seat in front of me FFS!  He then said ok $10 (Singapore dollars that is)...which I didn't have any off yet!  He waved me away and I tried another bus.  This time, the kind bus driver changed me a few Ringgit for enough to get the public bus.  I arrived at the bus station and went straight to an ATM to get some money (which was my original plan).  Two trains later I arrived in Chinatown.  I grabbed a McDonalds because i'd not eaten all day and went to the taxi rank to get to my hostel.  After queuing for 30 minutes, a cab pulled up.  He said he would not take me because it was only across the bloody road!!!  By this time I was just laughing from hysteria.  I crossed the road and low and behold my hostel was right there....2 streets across!

WHAT A DAY!!!!!  Ah well, early night me thinks and early rise....to have breakfast with the Orangutans at Singapore Zoo.  It just has to be better than the day i've just had!