The start of my three month trip around Southeast Asia was in Kuala Lumpur. This is my second time being in Kuala Lumpur, and after seeing the sights once it isn’t really necessary to see them again. Regardless, KL is a great place to get delicious food and cheaper (than the rest of Malaysia) beer. The lamb curry is to die for.
David and I arrived really late into KL and checked into the only hostel that I am familiar with, Wheeler’s Guesthouse, because I had a decent experience there last time. Truth be told, I wanted to get another view of the eccentric people that run it.
The next morning we had plans to take the Jungle Railway from KL through Gemas and on to Jerantut, in order to get the jetty to Taman Negara. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like these plans were going to follow through because I started having a huge ache in my foot from doing the 10k hike along the Great Wall two days before in China.
First things first, David and I went to the train station to get the tickets. It’s always cheaper to go directly to train stations to book your tickets, and getting around on the public transportation in KL makes everything so easy. We booked sleeper seats on the train, which left at 8 PM and arrived in Jerantut at 4:30 AM.
After we booked, I realized that I probably needed to go to a clinic or hospital to get my foot checked. Having a stress fracture is no way to start a 3 month backpacking trip. But since we were getting sick of yanking on locked doors on every clinic in Little India, we realized we better go ahead and have lunch like the rest of KL and try again after 1:30 PM or so.
I made the mistake of not getting my traveler’s insurance from World Nomad’s before I hurt myself. But it didn’t matter because one doctor visit, a couple xrays and a package of pain medication later, I was only 40 USD in the hole. I love you Malaysian health care system.
Since we had about 6 hours to kill before the train left, we walked around Little India sampling food and fruit beverages. I normally dislike tattoos, but I felt the urge to get a henna tattoo made because “when in Rome…”. Some shaky-handed lady started making a mess on my arm and I immediately cut out half the order on my fore arm.
Thank God that wore away in about 3 days.
Soon enough, we were off on my first sleeper train experience. I absolutely loved it. It wasn’t as cheap as a bus, but actually being able to lay down flat and sleep in air conditioning is amazing while traveling. We were informed that the part of the Jungle Railway starting from the very bottom of Malaysia all the way up until Jerantut wasn’t the “jungliest” of the Jungle Railway so it’s okay to sleep through it and not catch the view. The best view is from Jerantut up to Wakaf Bharu.
Cozy in his tiny bed on the train.
I slept really well on the train, but getting woken up at like 4:15 AM to hop off at a train station in the middle of nowhere wasn’t the best. After a few games of cards in the dark, David and I decided to walk into town to get some coffee or snacks. We would need to take a bus or cab from Jerantut to the jetty, which was about 30 minutes away.
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