Kuala Lumpur – Day 1 – TRAVELS WITH SUPERMAN

Waiting for an 11:35pm train is no easy task. Tuyet, Tai, and Tia were asleep in the waiting area by 10pm. Kim held out pretty well ’till 11:15pm. I managed to only nod off a couple of times. At 11:35pm, we all got up and got in the Q (que = line) for the train (except Tai, he was still asleep).

The train was a pretty old looking train. Something you’d see in a classic romantic movie from the 50’s but a bit more run down. It was perfectly fine though. We were all very excited to sleep on a train for the first time. We each had our own bed (even Tai, although of course he slept with mommy so we put the stroller in his bed).

Two things to note about sleeping (or trying to) on a train in SE Asia… they don’t turn the lights out and it feels like you’re trying to sleep on a roller coaster!! The kids did great, but Tuyet and I hardly slept at all. Also, there’s no space for your luggage other than in the bed with you so I was a bit cramped up there in a top bunk with 3 bags at my feet.

When Tai woke up, he was in HEAVEN! “Mommy! Are we sleeping in the train?!! YEEEEEHHHH!!!!” That was at 5:30am…. he didn’t go back to sleep after that.

We arrived in KL (as the locals call it) around 7:30am. It was a very slow start to this day, Sat. May 9th. We found some storage lockers to hold our luggage then had breakfast in the train terminal. We had planned on walking from the KL Sentral (central) station to Chinatown (one train stop away) and were getting up the energy to do so when “KA-BANG”… it started to pour rain!!! We took a vote… stay in the station and hang out or grab our gear and take the train to the next station and try to check into our hotel early. We elected to grab our stuff and go. Once we got to the next station, it stopped raining. We checked into our room and relaxed for a bit. 11am, we took off exploring.

It seems everywhere in the world there’s a Chinatown. And yes, there is one here as well (our hotel is located in Chinatown). We decided to walk around Chinatown ’till noon and find some lunch. There was a nice walking only section when plenty of shops and such.

After lunch we did some more exploring just outside Chinatown…

…then ended up in Little India. WE LOVE LITTLE INDIA!! Why don’t they have a Little India in every city?? We’ve found Little India to be so much more interesting and flavorful than Chinatown… especially here! The sights, smells, tastes, people… it was amazing… completely buzzing with life. We happened upon a Saturday market where they blocked off at least 6 or 7 blocks and had tons of stalls. It seemed to never end! We walked through twice!!