Confessions of a Dangerous Blogger:

Well here I sit in KL again. I was all decided to stay in Jakarta and wait out my new card. Then I did the math. It was going to be essentially 3 days of waiting, during which I would have no money. Then, I would have to reorganize my flight to Melbourne, buy another flight to KL and pay for the extra hotel days. I called Malaysian Airlines and they confirmed some spare seats on a Melbourne flight the next day. Which meant that all I needed to do was follow my original plan and survive one night in KL. So in a matter of minutes, I threw all of my posessions into my backpack and made a beeline for the airport to catch my flight. Luckily I have been carrying around various amounts of foreign currency as a souvenir and this currency can lend a hand for a meal or two. I’m hoping that I’ll have enough for my bus from Melbourne airport and train to Frankston when I return.

I never mentioned this before, but I bought my first backpack. I am making the transition from traveller to backpacker and I have to say, I like it more. Mind you, I’m not really fitting the stereotypical mold of the backpacker quite yet. After all, I’m typing this on my laptop which has been in my backpack this whole time. My iPod is charging as I’m typing. I have a little ways to go before I have one pair of clothes, mosquito coils and spare rope for a washing line and go about telling people how I bought everything I own for 25 cents from a guy in an Indonesian jungle. To which the response would be, “man you payed too much”.

I had an idea for a comedy sketch. These guys are chatting on a plane about where they are going. “Me? Oh I’m going to Jakarta then I’m off to Bali. How about you?” then the other will reply “Oh I have some business here, but then I’m travelling to Medan.” But then the plane crashes in the sea and they are all swimming around in their lifejackets. So they swim up to each other and continue the conversation. “So where do you think you’re going now?” then the other one replies “Oh I’m just going to paddle over this way to those islands, how about you?” then the reply “Oh well I’m just going to follow the current along here and hopefully float into the Gulf of Melaca where I’ll be picked up by a rescue boat.” But then a shark comes and starts to nibble on his leg and he says “Oh, no I guess I have to change my plans. I’ll be eaten by this shark now and spend the next few days inside his belly.” And that’s where I abandoned the idea. For the best I guess.

The train journey is half over now. It takes 28 minutes from the airport to KL central and it costs 35 Ringitt which works out to about 13 Aussie dollars. They advertise the 28 minutes a lot and I guess they can guarantee their service. Not like anyone is going to be out with a stopwatch though, checking to make sure they are exactly on time. If I see someone doing just that I’ll punch him because sticklers are ruining society. Letigious, by-the-book, I must have what it says and nothing more or less kind of people. Just try to talk to an operator these days and you’ll see what I mean. I was on the phone to the Visa card people and asked him roughly how long would it take.
He said, “I really can’t give you and answer on that because it depends on how fast your bank responds and until I get an answer from them I….”
“Really, really, really roughly just give me a ballpark figure” said I.
“As I said sir, it depends on your bank and until….”
“One day, two days, one hundred million years..?”
This stopped him for a second.
“I really can’t say.”
I was getting impatient. “I really promise I won’t sue you if you’re out by a few days. Let’s assume that my bank is a normal bank which responds in a normal way and they haven’t been taken over by a pack of monkeys weilding sharp objects. How long would it take?”
“About 3 days but I can’t promise…”
“Fine with me.”

And that’s the reason we have to stop these people. Because someone at some time sued someone else for saying 2 days when it turned out to be 3 days and the company lost 100 million trillion dollars and won’t take that risk again. So yes, I will punch you too if I see you timing the 28 minute train because why are you in such a rush anyway? Personally I hope it takes longer because my iPod really needs the charge and I am not sure that I’ve completely finished ranting yet. Oh damn, I have to. We’re here.

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