Aaaaaand... I Made It! Start of My KL Life


Amazingly, my stupendous luck held (Orny must have rubbed off some of his on me!) and on all 3 flight legs I had no one sitting next to me!  Must remember to make a gratitude offering to the travel gods!  Overall, for the duration of flight that it was, it ended up being reasonably ok. 

View from the plane as we were taking off form Hong Kong - lots of interesting... I don't even know what to call them - on the water

View flying into KL
 


Absolutely hilarious immigration process.   In both Pittsburgh and Boston I had pretty lengthy delays, where the folks at the desk actually took my passport and work visa paperwork and I think went to check with the Malaysian embassy to confirm.  In contract, in Hong Kong they didn't even bat an eye and just sent me through, and at the actual Malaysian immigration...

Ok, picture this: huge hall, almost completely empty.  (Initial surprise... I'm used to immigration being lengthy and packed...or maybe I'm misremembering...?) Anyway, I'm in line with like 2 ppl ahead of me.  When I'm up, I see another booth with a green light, so I tentatively approach.  The woman sitting there has her eyes closed, taking a nap!

I gently ask if she's open, and she reluctantly reaches for my passport.  She snaps a picture of the passport, one of me, takes my index finger prints, asks my flight number... And that's it!  I mean - c'mon, even when you go into Canada they ask the purpose and duration of your trip...  Funny!

Baggage claim... It's been so so long since i'd checked any bags.  I'd almost forgotten that special brand of adrenaline reserved by the body for just this situation: "omg omg is that mine?? Or are the wheels wrong?  Can I catch it??  Where the hell are my bags??  Oh no, that one looks just like mine!  I hope someone didn't take mine by mistake..."  

Bottom line: all was well at baggage claim.

At the exit, after I got my taxi voucher (thanks for the tip, Lonely Planet - get your taxi voucher inside and pay there, so you don't get ripped off by unscrupulous drivers) an official at the exit stopped me and asked to see my passport, and upon seeing the name on my luggage asked if I was Russian (mine is a common Russian name).  I said I was born in the Ukraine, but after seeing my American passport he just waved me on (with a helpful tip as to which door to take to get my prepaid taxi).  No idea if he was just making conversation or checking something.

I had initially thought it may be a good idea to get a SIM card at the airport and be done with it, but had given up on this idea after not seeing any obvious place to do so along my lengthy router.  I did stop to exchange some USD into Malaysian Ringgits (RM), just to have some cash (even though I know that the exchange rate is poor at the airport).
I got "Package 3" - glad I at least have this for info....

Lo and behold, just as I was heading to the final exit, there was a little stand selling Phone accessories, and SIM cards.  I figured - what the hell, let's just do it!  For RM 80 (roughly $20), I get 8GB / month of data for the rest of 2018, though only a 10RM limit for calls and SMS at .24RM / min for calls and .10RM per SMS.  Honestly, just too tired to figure out if this is a decent deal or if I got ripped off;  will do the math on what I think I'll need and what that actually is when I get to the hotel, but should at least be a starter for me until I can talk to folks at work and get a better idea of what's what.

It's definitely a scary experience, though,  handing over your phone to a stranger and having them poke in the settings...  presumably to set up the new card.  I confirmed that I have data working, but applications seems to open up on their own... hopefully a fluke, and I wasn't just horribly hacked...

The drive to the hotel was uneventful, other than that it's going to take some time getting used to cars driving on the wrong (ahem, I mean left) side of the road!  I was surprised at the variety of vegetation, and that the outskirts somehow reminded me of the drive up to Toronto - lots of sprawling high-rises, and lots of ongoing construction.


The room itself is nice enough, though no real desk / desk chair 
The area around the hotel is odd - massive construction zone, it seems.  I'm sure I'll be exploring this much more in time.  The hotel lobby, as some on TripAdvisor indicated, is a temporary set-up, rather odd.  The room is nice, though not sure what exactly got lost in translation when I asked for a quiet room, and got one directly facing a massive active construction site - it's Saturday and there's jackhammers and banging and all sorts of activity...  Though I already put some of my stuff away, it may be prudent to see if I can get a room facing the other way.  Quiet respite this is not...  I wonder when they'll call it a day?? 

The view out of my 21st floor room...

Comments

  1. I believe those are landmaking or dredging barges in HK harbor. HK has done a lot of landmaking, especially around the airport. See the History section of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_International_Airport

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  2. I think you should try to ask to change the room for another facing the other side of the building -- unless they have a construction site there too...

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  3. Construction in Asia is usually 24 hours...earplugs and good noise-cancelling headphones might help.
    Enjoy!

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