Welcome to the Jungle

  The plan had seemed a good one. Pre book a hostel for my first night in KL so that when I flew in from New Zealand I could relax about where I would be spending my first 12 hours in the big city.

A hostel with a glowing reference was picked from the trusty Lonely Planet, and the room booked. A taxi from KL airport into town seemed a justifiable luxury and it was from then on that the plan unravelled! The hostel was listed as being at "99a Jl Tun HS Lee" just west of the chaotic Chinatown. I got to the area at the busiest time possible as the nightly street theatre was well under way. The cabby decided that one end of Jl Tun HS Lee was as good as the other and deposited me on a crossroads nowhere near the hostel.

A quick glance at the map confirmed it, straight on was the way to go, so, carrying my overloaded pack on my back, precious day bag on the front I began banging, crashing, squeezing and apologising my way through the busiest, narrowest and noisiest night market I have ever experienced.

Eventually (and without mishap) I emerged at the other end and could see Le Village across the street. It didnt look great from the street and climbing the stairs did little to improve the scene and as the enthusiastic owner gave me "le tour" and the bedroom sliding door fell of its runners, I knew I had made a dreadful mistake. My mind was made up after seeing a pale, malnourished Austrian in boxer shorts frying a pan of garlic in the kitchen that was also the bathroom?

So I bottled out and headed for the business district, found me a nice generic four star McHotel with air con and swimming pool and saved my spirit of adventure for the Portuguese Devils' Curry they served across the street!