Awas! (Caution!)

There are many things to look out for in Malaysia but I'll just give you my top 3.

1) Maps are useless because most of their streets are not labelled, which makes it very difficult to find your way.
2) Malaysians really hate to disappoint or upset you in anyway, which means they always tell you what they think you want to hear even though it might not even be remotely true.
3) Motorcycles drive everywhere, especially during rush hour traffic when you are liable to get run over on the sidewalk if they decide the street traffic is moving too slow (and most of the time it is.)

Today I set out to explore some Yoga and Malaysian culture. This required hopping on the transit line to get from Masjid Jamek, where I am staying, to Bangsar. Considering that Bangsar is just 3 stops away you wouldn't think that this would be such an ordeal, but here's the scoop. In KL there are 6 different train lines that run from the center of the city out, but they are run by 4 different companies and are not at all integrated. Generally to transfer from one train line to another requires getting off the train, walking out of the subway station, locating the next station down the street, buying another ticket and then boarding another train. Depending on where you are going this might occur multiple times in one journey. I was intimidated, but luckily this first trip was only one train line, so as long as I located the right company station I was good to go.

Turns out that the journey to Bangsar was uneventful and somehow when I departed the station I walked in the right direction and it took way less time then expected to get to where I was going. I felt confident and direction-worthy all through my yoga class and all the way back to the subway station where I set out for Muzium Negara (National Museum), but that feeling faded right as I exited KL Sentral Station.

I was searching for Jalan Hashimuddin which was supposedly the road just outside of the station. So, I asked a nice Malay girl if this was Jalan Hashimuddin in front of us, but I should have know better then to take her directions when she repeated the name back to me like she had never heard it but I just figured I was mispronouncing the words. When I said I was looking for Muzium Negara she lit up and said take a taxi. I told her I'd rather walk and explore and was the museum located in this direction? She said yes, but it is a long way, better to take a taxi.

I'm not a taxi person, so I started walking. But let me just say that she wasn't kidding - it was a L O N G way to the museum, although it wasn't because the museum was far away, oh no. It was because she had no idea where the museum was and not a single street I was looking for was labelled on my map. After walking in the wrong direction for 10 minutes I stumbled into Little India, which requires no map to recognize. That was when I realized I was headed off course and happened to be at least one street too far to the south. I gave up on the map and just starting walking in the direction I needed to go. This involved a lot of running across multiple lanes of traffic, dodging motorcycles, cutting through construction zones and slowly & steadily walking straight onto (don't read this, Mom) an elevated highway.

This was both fortunate, because I could now actually see the museum, and unfortunate, because there was no clear way to get there - underneath the elevated highway was what appeared to be another highway, this one with 8 lanes of traffic. So, I backtracked and with determination finally decided to walk up the off-ramp of the highway to get to the other side. There I found a staircase that carried me down and across to the base of the Muzium Negara. I made it!

Now, time for a Tiger Beer.