Back from the land of dead

My brain finally took Charon's bark over the river Styx (or Acheron - whatever you prefer) and returned from the land of dead. It took more than seven weeks from my last post and six weeks after my return from Hong Kong - last stop of my infamous journey. You can imagine how hard is to think and writing with brain missing and imagine that for someone like me - impossible... Anyway, now with all superb memories forgotten, there is no fear of suicidal depression arising and I can write about rest of my journey (although rather short just to stay safe) and time in the darkness (even shorter as I am lazy and not much happened :) ). Read on!

Kuala Lumpur
I get into Kuala Lumpur (locally known as 'KL') with one of my favorite budget airlines - Tiger Airways - for free or if you spin it other way, for airport tax fee and insurance. I admire the business model of Asian budget airlines (e.g. Air Asia and Tiger Airways) - they manage to stay in black while offering huge discounts and plenty of free seats. Their complementing schedules and flights make it very easy for travelers from around the world to explore the beauties of Southeast Asia and Oceania. What a difference compared to Central European dying breed of budgeters.

In Kuala Lumpur I spent two wonderful days wondering around city, visiting local monuments, museums, enjoying local food (viva China town!) and architecture. I had the pleasure to witness some true tropical storm with 20cm rainfall in 2 hours. Besides enjoying local hospitality, when all locals are smiling and helpful (another country which can smile) I realized that Malaysia is not at all third world country as I initially expected. The streets are clean, infrastructure working and architecture positively modern or even futuristic (especially in KL with its National Mosque, Dataran Mandaka square and Petronas Twin Towers). Maybe it has something to do with British rule (another country driving on the right side :) ). All in all, I was positively surprised by KL and country as a whole and decided to return someday to explore some historical palaces of Malacca and Georgetown.

Mt. Kinabalu
As a part of my preparation for Hong Kong marathon I decided to climb Mt. Kinabalu - one of the highest mountains in the region (although marketed as the highest, it is not true as my more affluent friend from India told me). In fact, I climbed it because during planning of my trip I felt that I would need to see some actual jungle after days spent in Singapore and KL. This trip turned out to be another highlight and belongs to the hall of fame moments of my travel. Not only I met THE people (Sydney/Thailand couple I shared ride from airport to Kinabalu park and awesome threesome of Queensland), but also we together climbed 4,000 vertical meters in two days (and returned to zero). For the first time in my life I saw people capable of smiling and laughing constantly. Awesome threesome inflicted and literally forced their sunshine nature on everybody they met - not only other tourists but also on porters and staff at the resort, park rangers, taxi drivers, anything and everything that moved - they even attracted bevy of squirrels on each stop up to the mountain. I am eternally thankful for opportunity to climb up with them and stare in mute astonishment - hats off mates and thank you! :)

Climb was by itself magnificent and although not particularly demanding (no need of technical climbing as path was clearly marked, it required normal fitness from the climbers), by keeping 'near running' tempo we burned some calories. Due to cloudy weather our waking-up time of 2.30am was completely useless. Also, most of us did not bear well the 25 degrees centigrade drop in temperature (compared to sea level), it was pretty much freezing at 5 o'clock in the morning at the top of Mt. Kinabalu :) On our way back to warmth of Laban Rata huts we were rewarded with spectacular views of Borneo mountains (again pictures are coming sometimes soon). After some feeble attempt to threaten the current Mt. Kinabalu Climbaton record books (really a feeble attempt) I managed to get back to civilization, and more importantly, airport at Kota Kinabalu (or 'KK' for locals) on time for my return flight to KL.

Hong Kong Half-Marathon
After another pleasant day in KL I flew to Hong Kong in order to participate in the local half-marathon. This might sound pretty strange but main it is true - only reason for my second stay in HK was half-marathon. Although, I have to admit that I love this city and I have enjoyed walking its street very much. Half-marathon path was unlike the one in Shanghai, uneven with several ascents and subsequent descents. With start at Kowloon we run on the highway and under the sea to finish among the skyscrapers of Hong Kong island. Sunny weather and architectural beauty of the financial heart of Asia combined for breathtaking atmosphere. Of course, I needed that breath to finish within some decent time limit which I did not. My official time of 1:41:45 was five minutes better than in Shanghai but still worse than my brothers and 1:45 minutes above the time limit I eventually want to achieve. Better luck next time I hope :)

Six weeks in the land of dead
With Hong Kong-Shanghai express I was able to get back on Monday and indulged in sorrow of my memories of what I saw and experienced while traveling. Besides that, I...

...wrote an incredibly crappy paper but still passed the class. As of today, I am carefully considering whether I should share it with the readers of this blog in new section listing all the bollocks I have wrote, or I should save the world from it and leave it peacefully go on (as a responsible citizen I always consider pebble in the water theory).

...tried to summarize my life on four PowerPoint slides but the only one who got it, and get kick out of it was my little brother. I guess this by itself summarizes my life perfectly :)

...didn't do any sports as it is too cold to run and I am too lazy, I guess, to play badminton in training suit and undergarments.

...got seriously ticked off and little sick by swings in Shanghai weather. 4 days almost summer like sunshine and plus 23 degrees and then within one day drop of 10 degrees centigrade with strong northern winds does not do it for me.

...got two new jeans at tailor market for ten euro each (cut to the liking of Levi's 501 model :) ) and could have get better price but was too lazy to bargain more.

...started to sort pictures I made during my trips since I came to China - still c. 2,500 to go. Some of them I will post on here (see Photo section).

...kept myself somehow busy (I think so) although I can't remember what exactly I did.

...finally promised myself to start solving the global problems and not selfishly write about my travel experience which, I selfishly admit, is pretty painful thing as those memories are so great (especially in cloudy cold Shanghai :) ). And there go my last readers... :D