Round the World — Oriental Express: the stressful version (2)
I spent some time figure what went wrong with the Uber app on my phone. Then hopped on a Uber heading to Kulai. It’s nice too see the cool-looking State of Johor flag everywhere by the road.
Arriving at the not-so-fancy Kulai bus station I purchased a ticket to Kuala Lumpur, which would depart after 2 hours, leaving me plenty of time to tour this little-known town. This would be my first impression of Malaysia — no Kuala Lumpur, no Malacca and no Penang, but this small town Kulai.
There was a small food stand at the bus station, but the food didn’t look particularly tasty. As a side note: ayam (chicken in Malaysian) means “bird” in Amis and many other Formosan languages. The term seems to be restricted a specific kind of bird after the Austronesians left Taiwan.
The bus station was really…not so fancy. But it did have wi-fi and they made it very clear.
Right next to the bus station was a Chinese taoist temple. I went to take a look.
Born and raised in a country full of taoist temples, I’ve never seen a Monkey King (Sun WuKong, 孫悟空) Statue in one of them. However I didn’t see anyone around except for unfriendly barking dogs, so I thought it’s not a good idea to continue further
There was also a small shopping mall in Kulai.
Again I loved seeing the flags flying on a lonely hill.
Mostly, the town of Kulai seemed poor and underdeveloped. I guess it’s few tourists’ first stop (or any stop) in Malaysia anyway. There was even a “Taipei Kitchen” that didn’t look particularly authentic.
Unfortunate animals in very bad shape trapped in small cages.
Interesting to see the Jawi script on some of the signs. Knowing some Arabic I could read its pronunciation.
2 hours was honestly too much for this small town. A Chinese looking girl was also waiting for the bus. Everything I’ve seen so far reminded me Malaysia as a country looked so familiar, yet so different at the same time. At one point you’d walk into an alley with completely different languages and scripts, feel an exotic vibe, only to walk out seeing familiar people, architecture and stores.
Arriving Bandar Tasik Selatan at Kuala Lumpur late at night, I started seeing a modern Malaysia average travelers would see.
Milo appeared to be a big thing in this part of the world. They even had sth called Milo Dinosaur in Singapore.
Taking the metro to my hostel near Kuala Lumpur Central Market.
Arriving at the budget hostel, I figured it’s much “more budget” than I’d thought. I was assigned a room with another traveler, certainly not the most comfortable place to rest. However I was too exhausted from the arduous Oriental Express, so went straight to sleep without a shower.
