Monday 29 November 2010

Gone shopping

Monday 29th November 2010

MP3 track of the day: Foundations - Kate Nash

Weather: well I've been quite cool as I've been in a shopping center all day, however it's been really hot outside with massive downpours ... apparently
















Last night was another late night; however this time instead of heading out, I had a nice evening in talking to other British people. Quite a lot was drunk (British people drinking a lot ... shocker) resulting in one guy getting very drunk indeed. We chatted, played cards and then went to the night market to have something to eat where said drunk Brit snorted muswabi (the hot green suff you get with Japanese sushi ... not recommended).

Again this morning I got up late, lazed around for a bit and then booked my hostel for Kuala Lumpur (KA). After this I chatted for a while with others until I eventually headed out. There wasn't really anything else in Melaka that I wanted to look at; I had seen all the sights yesterday and so I decided to head to the shopping center for a bit of necessary shopping (oh and the air conditioning).

First up was a new pair of knee-length shorts; I found some designer ones that had 50% off, down to forty-five ringgit (£7). I tried them on and they left really comfortable so I had them. I had now rang out of cash and so I withdrew around £200 (which is my standard withdrawal and enough money to last all of my three weeks in Malaysia). Being quite conscious of carrying such an amount I went about spending a little more.

Next up was a satchel that I saw in the shop where I bought the shorts from. Currently I have a small rucksack that I use as a day bag; the problem with that, in this humidity, is that your back (or front depending on how you carry it) gets really sweaty. I could go out without a bag, however it would mean me carrying my camera bag for all to see (therefore people knowing that I have a camera ... no, no). This satchel's pretty good; first of all being a satchel, it stops my back getting sweaty and I can twist it around to my front in crowds. It also has a zipped main pocket that I can lock and it looks cool too. The only problem, being a satchel, is that it only has one strap and so I will have to watch for people trying to cut the strap and stealing it. Another fifty ringgit down (£10).

After that I then got another camera memory card for £12 and finally a USB memory stick for £5. £34 spent today, a very expensive day ... however it didn't stop there. Whilst in this shopping center I went up to the top floor where I found the entertainments section; within this part of the complex there was a children's pool, a bowling alley, a cinema and, bizarrely, a indoor archery range. It all looked quite good fun (and maybe I can get a group of people from the hostel to go bowling or something) however I had only one thing on my mind, Harry Potter.

It was nice to see that a film ticket only costs 8 ringgit (£1.60) here therefore, whilst in Malaysia anyway, it looks like the cinema could be a good place to cool down if I want to. After another 6.50 ringgits I was armed with a drink and some popcorn, I then went in and sat at my allocated seat. I won't spoil the film for you however I thought, as a film, it was pretty damn good with 'none stop' action. The only problem for me was that I had forgotten the plots of the other Harry Potter films and so I couldn't quite remember what had gone on before. I would certainly go and see it again.

It was 5:15pm when the film finished and so I decided to head for home ... until I saw the rain pouring outside. Knowing that any down pour here didn't last long I went back into the shopping center and had a look within the book shops. After discovering that none of them had a history section I then left the shopping complex as the rain had now stopped.

Once outside I had to re-adjust to the hot weather, which takes some doing. I made it back to my hostel where I repacked my bad, binned my ripped trousers and got ready for tomorrows trip to KL. I have to say that I can't be bothered to go to KL; it's not that I don't want to go, I do, it's just the thought of having to carry all my stuff to the bus stop, then switch buses and then somehow find my hostel in KL in this heat. I can't see myself doing too much moving around within South East Asia and I think that I shall be chilling a lot more in this part of my trip. I've booked into KL for four nights as I need to pick up my Thai visa, which I reckon might take a while.

So I've been in Southeast Asia for a week. Apart from the heat and loads of people staring at me, (with or without my new stupid hat) which is starting to really annoy me, it's all okay. Other travellers are great and I've been socialising a lot more here than anywhere else. Money wise it's difficult to really tell how much I've spent as I've been exchanging left over currency that I don't need anymore. I think my average in Singapore was about £30, which was ten pounds over what I wanted to spend, however I spent a lot less time in Singapore than I originally planned. Having only been in Malaysia for three days it's too early to say about costs here (especially since I've been on a shopping spree today) however things are cheap.

Tonight should be a quiet, early night as I'm moving onto KL tomorrow, however we shall see.

Toodle Pip!

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