With my arrival by train, I was left a tad bewildered and aprehensive about my boarder-crossing into Malaysia. The customs offices for each country are not located along the same route and as such I got a departure stamp for Singapore, but no arrival stamp for Malaysia. Enough people seemed to be going along with it however, so I just went with the flow. Fortunately no problems have followed... so far.

The train to Kuala Lumpur was pretty interesting, it looked a tad dirty in the station at Singapore which was anything but the norm for them. In a way that set the tone for Malaysia as a whole - or at least the parts of it that I experienced. A combination of different Asian culture, food and people made up the bustling city of Kuala Lumur. Kuala Lumpur seems to me to be a city that aspires to be Singapore, and is getting there to a certain extent. However, as previously stated, there are huge influences of Chinese, Indian, Thai and Malay cultures and customs that interfere with the cosmopolitan cleanliness that sums up Singapore. Modern buses and monorail systems are combined with the ruggedness and unreliability of India. Recently laid asphalt and paving slabs are stained with chewing gum, unheard of in Singapore. The aspirations that Kuala Lumpur has seem impossible to achieve with such a huge, economically driven country behind it. If I were to be mean I would say that it is a cheap imitation of Singapore with very little other than the Petronas Towers to offer the tourist. But this is just Kuala Lumpur, beyond the great slabs of concrete lie quite a beautiful country with so much diversity and variation that it would make your bowels quiver. Luckily, I won't experience any of the latter as Kuala Lumpur is barely a transit stop so my bowels will stay in tact. Also - one of the strangest sights I've seen so far here in Kuala Lumpur - 3 Buddhist monks, orange robes, shaved heads and all, bartering for a digital camera of all things. A sight to behold. Just a shame I didn't have my camera handy!

However, my money woes do continue into another country. I originally planned to wait for the arrival of my credit card here but, after a combination of finding out just how little to do in this city there is, and how long I might be forced to wait around (3-5 days from tomorrow) I decided to get moving again. Having lost a fair few days on my incredibly packed schedule I decided that a re-shuffle of my plans was in order. Instead of overlanding to Thailand, I am tomorrow flying to Siem Reap, Cambodia. The ticket cost a fair amount but the real money right now for me is time - it might as well be I have nothing else to speak of. I emptied my pockets (except for a few bits of fluff and my trusty ipod) once more and booked a flight. Bring on my first true objective of this year's escapades - Angkor Wat!