For someone bought up in what is known as the 1st world, travelling in Malaysia comes as a bit of a shock in as much that the friendliness and helpfulness of the locals is unlike anything you will have ever experienced before. When i stepped off the bus that had brought me from Kuala Lumpur airport to the centre of the city a man waiting said hello where are are you going and to my reply Sungai Petani he wrote out a ticket for the equivalent of £10, said come with me and strode off shouting into his walkie talkie. My immediate thinking was that I was about to be duped, probably sold off into slavery and never seen again but fortunately a saner side said stay with him and see where we end up. Eventually the walkie talkie got a reply and a man with one arm appeared in the distance and I and my ticket were handed over ... again we strode off going eventually down to an underground car park where the bus for Singai Petani was leaving in 3 minutes. This all happened while every car on the street seems to be hooting .. most people seem to be shouting .. the car fumes thick ... street vendors are trying to sell you everything from cold drinks to curry and it appears to be chaos and confusion but it all works as is shown by my finding the right bus for the next stage of my journey and trundling off through the constant traffic jams within 10 minutes of arriving. The bus journey itself took 7 hours with 2 stops and all around me were people wanting to know where i came from ... how many children i had .. where am I going and all of them determined to ensure that i got off at the right place with instructions of how to get to the next village where the yoga centre was located.
Tea and toilet break
I wonder if it will catch on!
Highly recommended
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