TIME TO MOVE ON
Abhorring travel on the weekends, on Monday I shall move on to Kuala Lumpur. My eyes are finally a bit better. The city is only three hours away and - oddly - only about double the size of Ipoh. For a capital city of such importance (travel hub) it seems surprisingly small.
Within KL (as those 'in the know' call it) there are many different districts. I shall be headed toward the lowest rent (multiple meanings) district which is 'Chinatown'. There, I will look for cheap lodging and hopefully better internet than the crap I've had for the last month.
There are a few reasons why I think traveling there is a good idea:
1) It is a major travel hub in and out of SE Asia. It is a good idea to find out where the cheap places to stay are. By cheap, I'm hoping for a couple steps up from 'by the hour' and 'clean sheets are a luxury'. Knowing where to stay in KL should prove useful. As I normally do, I will put up the name and such of the place I'm staying in case any readers need to know.
2) Believe it or not, I've worn out another pair of shoes. It's not the straps breaking - it is another hole worn in the bottom of the shoe. As those who have seen me walk know, I'm not one for dragging my feet when I walk. That was yelled out of me when I was a child. But again, another pair of shoes has bitten the dust. The largest size you can find in most places is 44. I need 46. I've purchased a crappy pair of temporary shoes simply because I got tired of feeling the streets (and more squishy things) under my feet. I need new shoes.
3) I'm getting pretty sick of SE Asia. I need to stay here to try to save money for my eventual trip back to the USA but I'm starting to squirm and wanting to go to a different part of the world. The Ukrainian Hryvnia has massively fallen due to Russia invading part of it. Then saying it wasn't them. Then, having the rest of the world ignore it and carry on. For long time readers, yes, it was the thing that happened when I was there last. Anyway, since KL is a major travel hub, I can figure out what to do. I have several options I've been mulling over. I could just continue south after spending a bit of time there. I could get a round trip ticket to Philippines for less than $100. I could fly west into eastern Europe. I could go from KL to Istanbul then the overland route up to Ukraine. I could even combine up a couple of things and fly to Philippines then when I return to KL work my way back up the much less explored eastern coast. Lots of possibilities - only money can stop me now! Bwahaha! Super power: travel. Super weakness: money. D'oh.
4) I could go poke my head into Singapore but honestly, it's not blowing my skirt up.
RICH BEGGARS
In a restaurant, I encountered a fellow American who 'needed to talk to me about a situation he had in Cambodia'.
"If you're wanting to talk about money, it will be a short conversation because I don't have any."
He then bothered to take in my faded, mismatched clothes with holes in them and the sandals that seemed to be rotting off of my feet. And left.
Why they don't pre-screen is always a mystery to me.
It still bothers me when people dressed much better than I want to beg money from me. There aren't many tourists here but surely he can find some.
Was it an honest thing or was it a scam? My reading of his body language said 'scam'. I've been in bad situations before and felt more desperate and panicked. His was more calculating. Sometimes, you run into foreigners (for the place they are) who make their living scamming gullible tourists. Sometimes, it is people in real need.
TIMES A CHANGIN'
Each generation hopefully gets less '-ist'. Racist, misogynist, etc. To help illustrate, here is an example of cadence I remember from when I was a young man. I'm thinking it would get someone into a world of shit if they tried to sing it these days.
Abhorring travel on the weekends, on Monday I shall move on to Kuala Lumpur. My eyes are finally a bit better. The city is only three hours away and - oddly - only about double the size of Ipoh. For a capital city of such importance (travel hub) it seems surprisingly small.
Within KL (as those 'in the know' call it) there are many different districts. I shall be headed toward the lowest rent (multiple meanings) district which is 'Chinatown'. There, I will look for cheap lodging and hopefully better internet than the crap I've had for the last month.
There are a few reasons why I think traveling there is a good idea:
1) It is a major travel hub in and out of SE Asia. It is a good idea to find out where the cheap places to stay are. By cheap, I'm hoping for a couple steps up from 'by the hour' and 'clean sheets are a luxury'. Knowing where to stay in KL should prove useful. As I normally do, I will put up the name and such of the place I'm staying in case any readers need to know.
2) Believe it or not, I've worn out another pair of shoes. It's not the straps breaking - it is another hole worn in the bottom of the shoe. As those who have seen me walk know, I'm not one for dragging my feet when I walk. That was yelled out of me when I was a child. But again, another pair of shoes has bitten the dust. The largest size you can find in most places is 44. I need 46. I've purchased a crappy pair of temporary shoes simply because I got tired of feeling the streets (and more squishy things) under my feet. I need new shoes.
3) I'm getting pretty sick of SE Asia. I need to stay here to try to save money for my eventual trip back to the USA but I'm starting to squirm and wanting to go to a different part of the world. The Ukrainian Hryvnia has massively fallen due to Russia invading part of it. Then saying it wasn't them. Then, having the rest of the world ignore it and carry on. For long time readers, yes, it was the thing that happened when I was there last. Anyway, since KL is a major travel hub, I can figure out what to do. I have several options I've been mulling over. I could just continue south after spending a bit of time there. I could get a round trip ticket to Philippines for less than $100. I could fly west into eastern Europe. I could go from KL to Istanbul then the overland route up to Ukraine. I could even combine up a couple of things and fly to Philippines then when I return to KL work my way back up the much less explored eastern coast. Lots of possibilities - only money can stop me now! Bwahaha! Super power: travel. Super weakness: money. D'oh.
4) I could go poke my head into Singapore but honestly, it's not blowing my skirt up.
RICH BEGGARS
In a restaurant, I encountered a fellow American who 'needed to talk to me about a situation he had in Cambodia'.
"If you're wanting to talk about money, it will be a short conversation because I don't have any."
He then bothered to take in my faded, mismatched clothes with holes in them and the sandals that seemed to be rotting off of my feet. And left.
Why they don't pre-screen is always a mystery to me.
It still bothers me when people dressed much better than I want to beg money from me. There aren't many tourists here but surely he can find some.
Was it an honest thing or was it a scam? My reading of his body language said 'scam'. I've been in bad situations before and felt more desperate and panicked. His was more calculating. Sometimes, you run into foreigners (for the place they are) who make their living scamming gullible tourists. Sometimes, it is people in real need.
TIMES A CHANGIN'
Each generation hopefully gets less '-ist'. Racist, misogynist, etc. To help illustrate, here is an example of cadence I remember from when I was a young man. I'm thinking it would get someone into a world of shit if they tried to sing it these days.
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