First Impression of Kuala Lumpur

When the plane touched down, and I walked into the airport, I had a sudden feeling like I was back in Manila. And that's not a compliment.

The weather is hot and humid - not KL's fault. The moment people got to the arrival area, everyone rushed to the doors of the waiting monorail called the Aerotrain, which will take them to the immigration area. I go "What's the rush?" The KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) is big and new. Doesn't anybody want to stop and look around for a while? Later, I found out why. By the time I got to immigration, there's a long long queue. The early birds are milling around the baggage conveyor belt already. The immigration counter people are not smiling, either.

There are two exits - one for Goods to Declare, the other for No Goods to Declare. Nobody was manning either of the exits. People naturally went for the obvious choice. I knew I should've smuggled some bad medicine or diamonds or exotic birds or whatever it is people smuggle.

There were some official-looking guys trying to get foreigners to book airport taxi. They're not fooling me - this guy's a veteran from Manila. I went straight to the KLIA Express train booth. 75 kilometers in 28 minutes - non-stop to KL Sentral. I asked the lady how much are the tickets.
One-way or round-trip?
Round trip (of course).
That would be 70 ringgits.
(Hands over cash.)
How much is a one-way ticket then?
35 ringgits.
Ah, so.

Welcome to Kuala Lumpur.