A week in the life of a tourist in Malaysia - Monday

This is what a typical tourist into Malaysia may encounter and I would like to share it with you. Some of it may be exaggerated but most of them are true. Otherwise, I will not be writing this. Being in the travel industry for quite a number of years, I have friends who are tourists too.

Monday: Arrive at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on a Malaysia Airlines flight from ........ One of the best inflight service. I came with much expectation as this country have been strongly recommended by many friends who were here more than 10 years ago. Wow, nice airport right in the middle of nowhere. No traffic jams, I hope. Immigration officer was very polite. There were no hiccups when I collected the baggage. Customs officers just let me walk through without checking any of my baggage..... Hmmmmm......Although I welcome this... for all you know, I might be a drug or diamond smuggler. Why have warnings about hanging drug smugglers if you cannot catch them? How to catch them if you dont check their baggage? Well, that is not my problem...... Need to get to the beautiful city of Kuala Lumpur, FAST..... Take the high speed train, I thought..... noooo.. one smiling shorty came up to me 'Sir, my aircond taxi faster then bullet train, for train you wait. For me we go now... no need wait. Fast, fast reach KayEl some more, you see many things along the way. Good idea I thought. Yes, the taxi was fast.. very fast until we got to a place called Sungai Besi. We were stuck there for more than 45 minutes and I also saw 2 of the highspeed trains whizzed past us. Before I could say anything, the cab driver commented 'Aiyoo..Sir, train no have jam but I also promised you no jam. Now you oledi outside KayEL, I no bluff you one... little bit la.. maybe take sometime to go in. From here you oledi can see KLCC Twin Tower. Good view, no need to go climb up oledi. If you take train, it go too fast, you cannot see all the high high tower KayEl so famous.
After more than 3 hours we reached my hotel Jalan Bukit Bintang but the taxi fare came to 180 in Malaysian Currency. Should be reasonable. Right? Nice and comfortable 3 star hotel. Somehow the rates must be alittle on the high side. I paid 400 ringgit per night for a standard room only to be told that I came here during the F1 week. Well since I am already in Malaysia... might as well make the most of it I thought... I'll calculate the 'damages' later. I have not planned anything yet tomorrow but now, I need a good night's rest to be ready for it. Goodnight........... Can't wait to see more of Malaysia.