Man oh man, I’ve had quite the experience with cab drivers in Kuala Lumpur over the past couple of days. Yesterday afternoon while switching from the Le Meridien to the InterContinental, I got rather nervous as the cab driver seemed to be driving in circles (and I believe it to be true, since the fare was double that of what it was in the other direction the previous day) and was constantly talking into his walkie talkie while giving me what I perceived to be a pretty strange look. Eventually we started talking, and he said that he wasn’t actually a cab driver, but his friend who is a cab driver was sick, so he was just filling in. He said he was an executive at Pepsi.
Then I was planning on meeting a friend that was staying at the Novotel for dinner, so I asked the friendly bellman if he knew where the Novotel was. He said “of course,” got me a cab, and told the cab driver where I was going. To confirm I said to the cab driver “we’re going to the Novotel, right?” He said “yea, yea, Nova hotel.” Okay, I figured we were talking about the same thing, given that his English wasn’t very good.
It was supposed to be a 10 minute ride but took over an hour due to the awful weather and traffic as a result, though eventually he dropped me off. He explained that the hotel was one block to the right, but he’d have to drive around the block in the other direction to get me there, so suggested I just walk as it would be faster. Despite the pouring rain I agreed. I spent half an hour (in the pouring rain) looking for the Novotel, and eventually asked a local where it is. They pointed to the building a couple of blocks away, so I went there. As it turns out, it was the Hotel Nova. FML.
In the pouring rain I tried to hail a cab, though after trying a few different ones no one knew where the Novotel was. Now, I’m an idiot, I should have written down the address, but I’ve never had an issue with a bellman telling the driver directions, especially after I confirm it with them. So since no one knew where the Novotel was and it was pouring rain, I headed back to the InterContinental.
I had yet another interesting cab ride, the only part of which I’ll share is the cab driver guessed that I was 38 years old. Again, FML.
Now I’m quite looking forward to my flight on Sri Lankan Airlines as the next portion of my journey begins.
And I can promise that I’ll post one of the coolest darn pictures ever in the next 12 hours. Guaranteed, or I’ll refund your monthly subscription fee.
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