Keane is blasting from the speakers here on the balcony of the OHANA hostel, one of the best hostels I've ever stayed in. Am looking out into the murky night skyline of Kuala Lumpur. It's a soulless megacity, a bigger contrast to India is almost impossible. I sought out a new pair of thin long trousers to wear in the jungle as I feared having just one pair would come to haunt me. Sure enough, here in Kuala Lumpur you're tripping over malls. Everything is a mall....

I got a rough sleep on Sunday night meaning I wasn't exactly primed for the long journey to here in Malaysia. I spent my last hours in Varanasi talking to a nervous Australian traveller about Varanasi before taking an uber to the airport. Weirdly I brought a book about Mossad. Anyway, the airport was small and quite crowded but overall quite efficient. I flew Vistara, which is Singapore Airlines's Indian son, sat in a row with a couple of Italian nervous flyers...