"Platform 13"
"Where is the bus leaving from?"
"Leaving... ah platform 13!"
"Platform 13?"
"Ya, platform 13"
I walked away a few meters then thought I'd better check again.
"So the bus is leaving from platform 13?
"Ya, platform 13"
I wrote the number 13 down on the back of my ticket so I woldn't forget.
Puduraya bus station in KL is considered one of the most confusing bus statios to be found, there are 50+ different bus companies operationg on overlapping platforms to overlapping destinations. I'm told that when the amazing race came here they skipped the Pudu bit.
Afew days later I was at the station again, basically its like a huge warehouse, a huge, crowded, shoulder to shoulder, sweaty, 34 degree, smoky warehouse. I was with my cousin and I thought I'd better take advantage of his Malay to confirm my bus. First came the task of remembering the bus company, we started asking around and were sent to 3 different stalls before we found the right one. The name of the bus company that appeared on the ticket was not actually the same as the one on the stall. After some inquiries I found out that the bus I was catching was called the Guning Raya ekspress (however it did not travel to the town of Guning Raya, but Penang instead), a fact that was not pointed out to me when I bought the ticket, as well as that the platform number was actually 19..... Hmmm.
Anyway, despite that all went well and a 4 hour bus ride and 30 minute ferry ride later I found myself in Penang. I have since sampled its world famous cuisine: Rojak (fresh fruit, tofu and squid covered in a fermented prawn paste, yum yum), the delicious Penang laksa, the fatteningly delicious chow kwo tiao, and a few pints of tiger beer (my mum's old schoolfriend put me up for the night and I went out with her son and his friend, a 30 something british raised Malay Chinese piano teacher who alternates between a heavy British and heavy Malay accent.)
After the initial "incident" my stomach has been handling everything well and i now eat anything and everything without trouble.
Anyway I have just booked my train ticket into Thailand (stopover in Ko Pha Ngan, you know, from 'the beach'). I have also booked a ticket back to KL a little early as I am hoping to catch the HIndu festival of Thapusan at a cave temple where apparently thousands of Hindu's congregate and pierce themselves though the cheeks, back and tongue with sharp hooks.
Later people,
Khai Lin
