old town coffee house

Current location: Low Cost Carrier Terminal, KLIA Malaysia
Total distance traveled: 7,444km

I have had a great run in Malaysia.

The weather was pleasant, with the occasional evening shower to break the day's heat. The strangers that I have been meeting along the way really gracious. And somehow, despite the deep discounts offered by many shops I still have some baggage space left. Which is fortunate, because I think I'm a hair's breadth away from herniating a disc with my check-in rucksack that's weighing in at 19kg.

A stay in KL is never complete without a stay with my lovable big cousin. I was generally solo during the CBD during my day there. This time riding the bus around town wasn't as hair-raising (at least the driver was sticking to the legal direction of traffic!). I got to flex my (albeit flabby) negotiating muscle around Petaling St with a surprising amount of success. Snapped up a couple of rather convincing "tribute" items there, and a polarizer lens filter at Kota Raya. The man behind the counter in the camera store was really something else. He was a 70-something looking man with coke-bottle glasses and a totally discontiguous Superman t-shirt that looked as though it might had been from his adolescent grandson's wardrobe. As we were chatting away about pancake lenses and image distortion he would occasionally make a gum-smacking sound, as if he forgot his dentures. He was so sweet, and ha apparently let me bargain the price of the filter down to his cost price - he claimed that it was ok because he'd reached his "sales quota".

I then went to Penang for a couple of days, for the wedding of a high school mate, who I shall now refer to as the most cool-headed bride I have ever seen, considering that she needs to travel between 3 cities in span of a few days for the ceremonial aspects of the Chinese wedding. Not only arranging her own affairs around her massive extended family and hometown friends, but also managing last minute changes to hotel bookings from her groomsmen and making sure that friends from out of town are not left twiddling their thumbs during the breaks. Needless to say, it was a marvel to see it all unfold so organically and beautifully, and her family was just a joy to stay with.