Pondok ‘palace’

2nd Dec 07

I could not possibly have stayed in the Empress Hotel at Sepang again. There is nothing that I look forward to at that location even though it is probably, geographically, the most convenient hotel for the LCCT portion of KLIA and indeed KLIA itself. So I took a gamble and booked one night in a backpacker lodge near to Bukit Bintang in the centre of KL. I was not looking forward to it for many reasons. I took the bus from KLIA LCCT to KL Sentral. That is only RM8. From KL Sentral I was quite happy to take a taxi to the Pondok Lodge in a road off Bukit Bintang; More than anything because I didn’t really know where this Pondok ‘palace’ was. At KL Sentral the authorities deem it appropriate to operate a taxi control system that involves the purchase of a coupon from an appointed box office in the complex. Coupon price of course depends on destination. All designed to work in favour of the unknowing or unsuspecting possibly virgin tourist who has no suspicion that questions like ‘is your meter on’ or ‘why is your meter already showing RM15 and we have not moved yet?’ frequently need to be asked and even asked several times if they are ignored or met with a reply of negative inclination. Not realising there is more than one reason that one might choose to take a taxi, such as I don’t want to walk but I don’t want to walk and I don’t know where this address is AND I don’t want to get lost in this heat with two rucksacks and dodgy balance, the coupon sales person helped me tremendously by recommending an alternative mode of transport. In fact it was not only recommended but fiercely promoted, because, the attendant considered it less expensive which I would normally applaud as very tourist friendly. Take the monorail to Bukit Bintang and it’s right nearby was the response to my wafting of the Starbucks receipt with the lodge address on the reverse under his nose. How much is the taxi? No, it’s much better that you take the monorail to Bukit Bintang and it’s right nearby. Oh Ok.. I do succumb very easily to suggestions of cost reduction which is what I assumed this to be. So with 2 rucksacks laced across my upper limbs and and a shoe bag hanging from the fingers of the longest one I swung on my heels to peruse the city horizon for what may pass as a monorail or even better a monorail station. In the polluted distance I could make out the form of what looked to be a large elevated bus shelter. An apparent route via covered market stalls seemed to be beckoning from across the road. Isn’t it odd that humidity, heat and a little anxiety produce such an outpouring of moisture. I hadn’t walked more than 50 paces or been approached to buy low priced sports attire more than 10 times before the bags I carried felt as though they had moulded themselves to my body. Before long the throng thickened and I was fighting football match like densities of people and, I noticed, had a major road crossing to negotiate. I am sure the perspiration must by now have turned my light colored shorts dark in all the embarrassing places. Which just served to raise the self consciousness and the rate of perspiration to a new level. Oooh traffic jam. Swing in between three lanes of stopped vehicles quickly before they move again. No chance..they move anyway when they have a chance of impaleing a heavily loaded white pedestrian with their Proton paraphernalia. I skipped and swerved a little ungainly at times but arrived at the steps to the KL Sentral Monorail station ticket office feeling and probably looking like a water otter moving house. With ticket purchased and escalator only paces a way I felt the rest must be simple. Initial indications were that my hopes would be correct. On a lightly populated platform there was little to do but watch the lights that soon suggested a vehicle was approaching. I was convinced the worst part of my journey was complete. Bukit Bintang was the fifth stop and being one of the early passengers into the vehicle I made my way to the far side and unloaded the baggage. At the third stop I suspected a possible error. The vehicle acquired an unbelievable quantity of passengers and the perspiration switch was thrown once more. If the fourth stop doesn’t deliver a large quantity of these people to their destination I may be on this vehicle for a while I thought. The fourth stop delivered no one to their destination but served as an apparent opportunity for Malaysians to attempt a world record attempt at the number of passengers in an over heated monorail car. I was at the back and due to alight at the next stop. Care I did not. Hope was disgarded at stop three. I readied myself for a monorail tour of KL. Deep breaths and salacious thoughts that included a sofa, dressing gown, slippers, comfortable temperatures, hot chocolate and possibly a girlfriend were ushered into my consciousness. A smile meandered across my hot face. I slipped away from reality in an exercise of mental consolation. The Bukit Bintang station arrived and the good Lord smiled on me. More than ninety percent of the passengers alighted. I began to reload my baggage bracing myself for the doors to close in my face. The good Lord continued to smile and I was allowed to walk from vehicle to platform unchallenged. From a gaggle of exits from the station I plumped for the simplest; the nearest. Outside I enquired at a Maxis promotion booth of directions to Pondok ‘palace’. A short walk to traffic lights, turn right and it’s not far down there. S i m p l e. Beyond the traffic lights and 5 requests for further directions later that had produced completely conflicting results I turned my attention to taxis. ‘Five ringitt’ danced the black lips of an Indian cabbie through the open window of his Proton Wanka who was clearly well tuned to making a fast buck from a naïve newcomer to the district. No meter but aircon. He drove 10 yards to the corner, turned left and another 10 yards and dropped me outside Pondok Lodge. We both smiled.

I won’t return to Pondok Lodge. I can’t complain about the cleanliness but I struggled with the sheer blandness of the place and the room with no window.

The photo here is actually shot in Boracay in a little kite surfing beach location which will be the subject of an upcoming blog entry. I was not inspired enough to dig out my camera on the short visit to KL that was the subject of this blog entry.