Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
and Chennai (India) 2024-2025

Day 7: Bank Negara Malaysia Museum & a Flight to Chennai

 

17 December Air Asia Flight AK13 from Kuala Lumpur to Chennai
With another nighttime flight I had all day to do stuff in Kuala Lumpur. In the morning before checking out, I worked on this journal, then after check-out sat down in the lobby to write 10 postcards.
 
On a previous visit to Kuala Lumpur I had enjoyed the artworks at Bank Negara Malaysia Museum & Art Gallery, so I headed there by taxi. Unfortunately the 3rd-floor art gallery was closed, so I just viewed the well displayed Numismatics Gallery with exhibits of treasure and money used from the earliest civilizations until modern times. I also went through the Bank Negara Malaysia Gallery, Economics Gallery, and Islamic Finance Gallery but found them of less interest.
 
Sparse raindrops began to fall as I got a taxi back to the Airbnb place to pick up my bags, then another taxi brought me to the Brickfields post office, where the heavens open up in a deluge of heavy rain and loud crashing lightening. I got soaked in the few seconds needed to hop out of the taxi and enter the post office. I mailed off the ten postcards, which cost a bargain 90 sen (about US 20 cents) each. Restoran MTR 1924 was just around the corner, and I dived in for a vangi bhath—rice cooked with bits of eggplant and spices—that was new to me. I also had a familiar idly and vada along with a masala tea. By the time I finished the very nice snack, the rain had completely stopped and flooded streets had drained.
 
A short walk led to KL Sentral station, where I got a RM 55 ticket on the KLIA Ekspres train that runs nonstop to the airport’s two terminals. I arrived at the airport in plenty of time and easily checked in for AirAsia Flight AK13. I bypassed the long immigration lines by using an automatic gate (no wait at all) similar to the way I had entered Malaysia. My flight had been scheduled to depart at 9:35 p.m., but was delayed until about 10:10 p.m., not a problem. From the window seat I watched the spread of lights below until the plane headed northwest across the Bay of Bengal. A meal of Hyderabadi vegetable biryani arrived, then I got some rest after a long day.
 
In a bit under four hours the plane landed at Chennai a little before midnight. (I had gained 2.5 hours from the time zone change.) Immigration went quickly with my ten-year Indian visa. I went outside into the cool night air and followed directions to a pre-paid taxi booth, where a driver led me to his car in a parking garage. Despite the late hour, a lot of people were coming and going from the airport, and a traffic jam of taxis slowed progress until well free of the airport grounds. Normally Chennai roads are crazy packed, but in the middle of the night my driver had an easy drive to my guesthouse, Treebo Eco Stay Nandanam, booked through Agoda for 24 nights at a cost of $518.36 ($21.60/night). The modest 3rd-floor room was clean with a hot-water bathroom and a little balcony; weather during my stay was pleasantly cool, so I used the ceiling fan instead of air-conditioning. A pack of street dogs would bark loudly at times during the night, so I put in ear plugs. I had stayed here last year, and my phone and computer still had the wi-fi password.

 

On to INDIA: Introduction

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