Seven Stars - Day 4 - Tuesday - 24 Hour Party People

 

Tuesday

Seven Stars
24 Hour Party People

Twenty four hour party people plastic face 'carn't' smile the white out
With the twenty four hour party people plastic face 'carn't' smile the white out

When I do wake up I assure you it’s by complete accident that it’s in the nick of time to make it downstairs for breakfast. I wake unsure how to deal with the new day so I switch to auto pilot following my usual routine, the hop step cripple stagger to the toilet played to the sound of a rusty Tuba, the Hansel and Grettle trail of breadcrumbs as pieces of clothing from the bed to the bathroom, where I proceed to squat thrust drop guts and reality hits the shit, “Oooh my head”.

I get myself clean and barely make it downstairs for breakfast, I go for the usual, the cooked English breakfast and while walking around the buffet table in a daze I manage to spot Joggy and Soly sitting outside. I go to them like lost child, “Mr. B?” asks Joggy, and it’s more of a question than pointing out one’s arrival for breakfast this morning. I just look at my food unsure what to do next. Joggy is positively beaming, “Good night was it?” he asks. All I can do is nod my head and rub my forehead.

I try my best to eat breakfast and then wash it down with juice and try some coffee to kick start my frontal lobe. But try as I might nothing going to budge the slight sting and the sideways in and out feeling of nausea. Lively joins us at some point and fills in Joggy and Soly the details of last night’s adventures into the backstreets. I share this morning’s newspaper with Lively and he encourages me to sip down some coffee which in the end is just too much for my wretched stomach.
I persevere with breakfast as long as I can and tell Joggy that I’ll be back downstairs by 10:30 and that I need to talk to the porcelain god.

I head upstairs to my room and try my best to heave, I feel forewarned that this effort is useless when all I can bring to bear is spittle and bile dotted in blood. And i’m sure to feel seedy as fuck all day.  So to combat the nausea I down two valium’s and then apply some Issey Miyake to disguise the sweat odour of toxins seeping from my pore.

I head downstairs and find that the entire crew has assembled, Joggy sends me a curious look sideways, I shoot him a look back that says reassuringly, “I’m fine”.
Jeff has joined us and he goes straight for the clinical diagnosis and suggests, “Maybe it was something we ate?” and as I get closer to both Jeff and Nathan I make my own summarization that it was perhaps the iced water used to prepare the shaved iced coffee drinks. But then Nathan discredits this theorem of mine and says, “Kym had the iced coffee too” and Kym is fine.
Joggy chimes in and affirms what we had discussed over breakie, “So KLCC is it today?” and I nod my head. I ask the gang, “Is that what everyone wants to do? Shopping at KLCC for this morning?” and it’s Jeff who asks, “And we stay there for lunch?” and everyone seems to be accepting of the plan.
As we get up from the couches Joggy ashes out his cigarette and says, “Lead the way Mr. B”

We walk out the front and the taxi rank manager whistles and does this hand jibe with a waving twist that signals two premier taxis to move up from the rank onto the hotel driveway.

And these are fairly decent premier taxis today, the first is a soccer mum mid range 4x4, while the other is a Camry. Jeff goes to make some quick remark linking my family roots to Indian stereotypes with the arrival of the Camry, but I cut in him off mid sentence warning, 'Don't you fucking dare!" and he can tell I’m in no mood.

Jeff, Joggy, Lively and Soly, rhyming like characters from a children’s book go off in the lead taxi while Nathe, Kym and I trail behind in the second taxi, the Camry.
I climb into the front as I intend to pay for the cab ride, once inside I curl up beside the window. I feel fucked and that's somehow unlikely to change until I can eat properly or likewise take a proper shit or puke, it's a trifecta of possibilities.

 It's not a long trip over to KLCC but the arrival on to the grounds of the PETRONAS twin towers is spectacular, we come in the designer gallery entrance, the first boutique I see is Louis Vuitton as we arrive through the main doors, a little further down I see can Alfred Dunhill, Cartier and Davidoff, a cigar store I want to visit. I point it out to Nathan and he hushes me while Kym is within earshot, as Kym is very much against smoking. Once Joggy and the rest of the crew arrive we drift towards the centre of the mall stopping at an information kiosk to sign up for a centre wide discount card. While there we all agree to meet back here in 2 hours and then we’ll find somewhere to go for lunch, but for now...it’s time to go shopping.

It’s like someone fired a starters gun, we all head off in different directions. I liken this shopping trip to a gameshow, you are one of seven lucky contestants, you have a fat roll of cashish and have just two hours to get all the stuff you want on your list, now contestants are you ready, get set, GO!!!

Meh...to hell with theatrics, I’m fat and running about to and fro isn’t going to cover as much ground as I’d like anyway so I decide to try and take in what I can. Jeff, Lively and Joggy head over to a Boost fruit juice bar and order drinks, while they do this I walk past Supergra staring in the window to see if there’s anything I like, I also check out a window display from LeSportsac and don’t get why this brand gets the attention it does in magazines. I look for Zara for Men but I can’t remember what level it’s on.  I go into Top man and leave after just a minute. Sure it’s this seasons fads, but these could be sold in any no frills store like Uniqlo or Zara. When I come out Jeff and Lively are close by and suggest we head upstairs. While Soly and Joggy head off in a different direction the three of us check out Converse. Here, Lively furnishes himself with some new kicks, he notes the price and once he’s paid when we do an honour lap of the store looking for t-shirts. While we do this Lively notices that they’ve already switched the price tag to a higher price than what Lively paid for his shoes. “Hahahaha can you believe this shit”, Lively is beside himself, he’s holding the shoe pointing it at me laughing, the two store attendants meanwhile can only look on and blush from embarrassment.

While Jeff’s not too keen on Converse he is interested in the Quicksilver store further down this level, we go inside and Lively asks about DC (DeConstructions) this is a well known skating shoe company that Jeff bought shoes from last year. The store attendant tells us that Quicksilver stopped stocking DC’s in November last year and then it clicks, that’s probably why Jeff got his pair so cheap last year. Lively looks around the store hunting for t-shirts hoping to find shorts. Meanwhile I make a longingly stare over at the Fred Perry store across the way but decide against going inside, nothing fit me there last year and I have some doubts as to whether anything will fit me there this year.

While on this level I go over to Nike and end up buying a pair of straight legged tracksuit pants in blaze blue and then the three of us head over to British India and while there we all buy shirts for the dinner we have planned for Thursday night. I buy a navy blue short sleeve shirt that is light to the touch, it’s expensive but it’s also easily the best shirt I’ve ever bought.

When we come to the elevator to go up a level we run into Joggy and Soly, while trying to cram into a lift we get split up by tourists pushing and shoving and the max weight of the lift forcing the doors to close then reopen. I get fed up with this and as I step out the lift doors close behind me and I lose sight of Lively, Joggy, Soly and Jeff. But then a wave of calm washes over me and I find myself saying “Ahhh, at last”, I’m on my own, time to do some shopping.

I walk around several floors window shopping, I go to Bally and look at a pair of classic Bally loafers that are worth a mere 1600 RM. The store attendant asks if I want to try these on and I know that if I do I’ll easily fork over the cash and buy these. I smile and while this is the shoe store of dreams I make sure I politely excuse myself. I go up another floor and decide to do a lap of the second floor shops, here I go into Lacoste to ask for basically anything besides standard polos in sizes 8 or 9. But as guessed they don’t have any polo’s beyond a size 8 and nothing else in the store is above a size 6. I’m remiss wishing that they had a Ralph Lauren store here, but they don’t. But then I recall they do have an Isetan here and I was pretty sure that at one time Isetan stocked Ralph Lauren.

On the way to Isetan I go into Marks and Spencer and basically walk in and out, the store reminds me of Target or K-Mart back home and it fails to make the proper intended impression on me.
When I get to Isetan I zoom up an escalator to their menswear and instead of finding Ralph Lauren Polo I instead find that fake ass Beverly Hills Polo Club brand that tries to do it’s very best at imitating Ralph Lauren Polo at every opportunity.  I come down the escalators the way I came in, I look at luggage but don’t see anything I like, I’m scanning the Samsonite cases but really holding out for something interesting like a case by Benetton or Mandarina Duck. I come downstairs stopping at the men’s aftershaves. I buy Carolina Herrera CH for Men. While on the same level I head next door into Parksons and while there I buy a twin pack of Byfords underwear and hunt around for socks, I manage to find a twin pack of Paul Frank socks in black and grey and then while looking at the digital display on my mobile phone I feel a strange sensation of time ebbing away, I suddenly feel a little like Cinderella trying to avoid midnight....no wait, that’s gay as fuck, let me start over.

Anyway, while looking at the time display on my mobile phone I realise that it’s almost time for lunch and soon I will have to meet up with the others back at the information stand. I come out of Parksons and decide to go to the ground floor and from there I’ll head over to Davidoff. I know that there’s still time and as I’m rushing downstairs I run into Jeff, Joggy and Lively coming out of Davidoff. Jeff’s like, “Oh man when you stepped out of the lift it started to go up to the next floor and when it got there the doors wouldn’t close coz it was so over loaded, but we left it stuck there for 10 minutes man, it was beautiful”. He’s practically crying in the retelling of the events, I should be pissed off at being separated from my crew but instead a warm smile comes over me because I recognise that young Jeff is happy, finally enjoying his holiday and this pleases me greatly. Since Jeff has had this cunning opportunity to act like a prick to the good people of Malaysia, this little stunt should hold him over till lunchtime and I know that after he’s had his feed he’s likely to be more subdued. Meanwhile, the business of cigar shopping continues, here at Davidoff, Lively has decided on a five pack of cigars in a large gauge. I manage to steal the attendant away as she’s barely finished ringing up Lively’s bill at the cash register and she escorts me back to the humidor. Inside the humidor I ask about the Tubos cigars I’ve seen advertised, I ask about the number 5’s or 6’s that are supposed to be equally good and I learn that the numbers are meant to reflect gauge sizing, diameter. Jeff decides that the G2000’s will be his cigar choice and I settle upon the Tubos 2000’s, a slight variant of the G2000 series. At the cash register I spy a small packet of Primero’s in a metal tin, I’ve seen these in the In-Flight shopping magazine on the plane, so very cheap to buy on the flight over and I decide that I must have a pack so I grab these as well. The store attendant is pleased to gift us with these key ring hole cutters for our cigars and we get one each.

As I’m coming out of Davidoff Joggy says, “It’s time” and we all head back to the escalators to head up to the second floor to the information booth. We walk past a Harrods chocolate store and I wonder where the main Harrods store is on this level.

We linger around waiting for Nathe and Kym. Across the way I see Soly standing in front of a boutique, and when she stands away from the sign I realise that it’s the Edwin Saw hair salon that the Trip Advisors have been talking about. Soly reminds me that I’d mentioned it once or twice in the lead up to our trip and that this is the place to get a style cut or a manicure. Together we go through various prices but decide that there isn’t enough time here today to really plan for anything. While this is disappointing Soly says not to worry and that we may be able to get a manicure and pedicure at Kenko’s later on in the week. I know it sounds girly but it’s something I’ve always wanted to try.

Once we head over to the KLCC food court we find the place is packed, it’s everyone’s lunch break, yet somehow we manage to find a table to fit all of us, we take it in turns watching our bags while we get up and go off to get food. And I’m relieved to discover I actually am hungry and when it’s my turn I get up and scan the food court, remembering what my sister has said about this place, “It’s all clean food”, nuff said. I head over to a curry bar and order a Nasi Lemak curry and pile on the sauces, I bring it back to the table and I sort of pick the eyes out of it, the chicken meat has bones it in and it’s like navigating a mine field. I say, “To hell with this” and shelve the food on an empty table nearby. I’ve managed to eat nearly a half a plate of food so far but since I’d skipped breakfast and was feeling seedy already it’s probably a good idea for me to try for something else. I’m walking around the food court, I’m looking for something to tide me over, but a drink to wash it all down with is high on the agenda too. I buy this watered down mango juice and two sips later I’m looking for something else. I should point out I would never ever waste food in this way but since it has cost us almost nothing in the exchange of dollars to ringgits, I figure that I should be able to enjoy whatever it is that I’m eating, after all it costs next to nothing so I can afford to be fussy. 

After a full lap of the food court I end up at a Japanese food bar with Lively, Lively decides to go for some elaborate Bento box of food, this is like a Whitman’s sampler box of Japanese cuisine. I’m not certain what I will get, but then the Tori Kage chicken looks pretty decent, it comes with Japanese mayo and a drink of your choice. I look at the A&W beverages they have on tap and then I see it, ‘oh my’, the purple stuff of dreams, they have A&W Grape drink.  I order a bowl of chicken and rice though my only real concern is the Grape drink.
Coming back to the table I notice Lively is balls deep into his Bento box, he’s absolutely loving it. I ask him how it is and he says, “Not bad, the raw salmon is nice”. I am so proud of Lively at this moment in time, this coming from a guy who only a few days ago admitted to us all that he hasn’t really had too much foreign food and here he is, at every opportunity, ready, eager to try something different.
Soly offers a few tips on adding the wasabi to his soy sauce to dunk his bits of salmon into and the look of discovery of the hotness of the wasabi is priceless.

When we’re done with our feast we all have the satisfied looks of victors, our shopping/Viking quest done and we’re ready to go. Jeff mentions he’s keen for the potty, Joggy too, only Joggy is remiss when Kym and Nathe suggest we all walk back through the parklands around the base of the Pertronas towers, I get the sense that Joggy would have liked to do more walking around than cabbing it to and fro. So here we leave Kym and Nathe and they walk back through the park so that Kym can take some photographs.

 I come back to the hotel with the lads and we hang out in our rooms before finally deciding to come back downstairs and have a few drinks. It’s still early in the afternoon and by the time Nathe comes back he asks would I be keen to take a run over to Low Yat Plaza. I leave Joggy, Lively and Jeff at drinks and then head out to Low Yat with Nathe.

We walk to get there which isn’t bad, along the way Nathe tells me more of the dynamic between him and Kym, it’s interesting to see how they’re such close friends and knowing the background makes me more sensitive and appreciative to it. I’m unsure where Kym is right now but once we arrive at Low Yat Plaza Nathan is revved up and keen to get some I.T. shopping done.

We venture into one of the large I.T. supermarkets we had been inside earlier in the week and Nathan asks me what I paid for my 32Gb micro SD for my phone, he’s doing the math and a quick conversion in his head. We look at a lot of portable laptop speakers, Nathe asks to test the sound quality on these and this goes on for about 15 minutes. We look at portable hard drives and decide that the cost on these drives is only a few dollars different in the exchange from store prices we’d pay for portable drives back home. In my search around two different I.T. supermarkets and dozens of single store kiosks I manage to find a Logitech G9x gaming mouse gathering dust, it’s hanging off a hook near some other gaming mice and given it’s shelf location in the store I’m not really surprised that it’s been overlooked. I go to buy it from the guy at the cash register and I ask him if he can get RAT 7’s or 9’s and he tells me to go upstairs to the other I.T. supermarket and that he’s seen them there, he stresses, “RAT 7’s only, no more 9’s”. And I’ve been after a RAT 7 ever since Lively and Minor acquired theirs, the whole clan knows how good and customisable that they are, it’s disappointing to know that the cordless RAT 9’s are all sold out but if I can get myself a RAT 7 I know that I’ll be happy nonetheless.  I hand the guy at the cash register the G9x and I tell him I’ll be back for it if I can’t find the RAT 7, I ask him what he thinks of the G9x for gaming and he sort of scoffs at it and says, “They’re kinda old now” and he’s right about that, but then...so are the RAT 7’s.

When Nathe and I head upstairs we separate so to cover more ground, I go to the isle where the peripherals are dangling off hooks, but I don’t see the RAT 7. Instead all I see is more domestic business orientated Logitech devices and more and more of the Razer gaming mice, keyboards and headphones. Razer seems to be all the rage here in KL, I’m told later that it’s the hottest peripheral maker in all of Asia. But I’m a Logitech guy and prior to seeing the RAT 7 up close, I would have snapped up that G9x faster than you can say Seven Stars.

After an intense scan of the isle I find some boxes on a low height shelf and on one of these is stencilled in lazer font RAT 7. My ePenis get a little excited and I mutter “Oh joy”, when I discover that it’s the real deal. I grab the box and make my way to cash register where I meet up with Nathe, he hasn’t returned with any swag but he reassures me that this shopping expedition hasn’t been in vain and that he’s done some good recon here this arvo and that he’ll hit up some more stores in Sungei Wang for the laptop speakers now that he has a ball park price point.

We walk back from Low Yat and when we come back we find that the gang is again poolside. Joggy hollers, “Get in here Mr. B” and I wave him off until I can race back to my room, change into some board shorts and dump the RAT 7 is the closet. 
I come back down from my room with Nathe and ask whether or not he’s seen Kym and he says that she is still out and that he’ll come for a swim in the meantime.

Nate and I come downstairs and grab the complimentary beach towels for a swim in the pool with Jeff, Joggy and Lively. Soly sits poolside under the pergola with a beverage all chilled out, very rancho relaxo. But before we've even had a mere 10 minutes to dunk our junk it starts to rain heavily which forces the pool attendant to round us up and then have us exit the pool area.

Grudgingly we climb out of the pool, throw on t-shirts and footwear. While we're about to head towards the elevator Joggy stops and says, "Hey do ya wanna have a spa instead?"
A hearty cheer from the lads is affirmation enough that this is the plan, we all march towards the
downstairs gym and hotel spa relaxation centre.
Nathan decides to take off upstairs as he’s expecting to meet Kym in their room but the rest of us, Joggy, Soly, Jeff and Lively head down the lobby escalator to the basement floor.

When we get down to the Gym and Relaxation level we’re greeting by an attendant sitting behind a desk. Here we are given more towels and pointed towards the spa and sauna. On our left is the Gym, Lively said that he checked it this morning before breakfast and we can see that it’s well stocked with some decent equipment. Going inside the relaxation therapy wing of the hotel we notice that it's divided for men and women. Disappointed a touch, Soly waves goodbye to us all as she is herded down the right hallway and we tromp down the left. When we get to the spa we notice that the use of the spa area is intended for use on alternating days for men and women, separately. And today is a day reserved for women patrons only. Fuck.

Joggy suggests we all go for a sauna instead. We head into the sauna area and dump our shoes and tees and other personal items into wooden lockers. Then we all quickly rinse off the pool water before we go into the sauna. It's one of those traditional pine wooden sauna's with the heating oven against the wall, and the smell fills my nostrils, it's pine, wooden and burning. I sit down on a bench and throw my small towel over my head and chill out. I stay quiet savouring each breath and letting the effect of the sauna do its job. It’s tuff work as the heat is so blaringly intense and each breath is like hot fire.

 Jeff and Lively are Chatty Cathy's, they keep talking the entire time we’re in the sauna while Joggy on the other hand says relatively nothing and keeps to himself. I suppose that he’s trying to find his groove to settle in for a good sweat session.
We’re all in the sauna no more than 10 minutes before Jeff and Lively have already bailed, which is fair enough. After all you really don't want to mess around being in a sauna, it's tough on the blood pressure and if you misjudge what your body can with stand you’re likely to pass out.
Another ten minutes go by after Jeff and Lively have left the sauna, it’s then that I look over at Joggy and say,"I'm gonna try out the steam room"

I come out of the sauna and Jeff is already in the middle of getting changed, he says,  "You had enough B?" and I’m like "Nah bro, I need to get into the steam for a while" And off I go, and true to form I’m in there in a while, a long bloody while.

Inside the steam room the air is heavy, thick, like you could taste it and you get a taste of boiled water, the steam vent comes from a hole in the floor about the size of a briefcase and I go over to it, standing in a Jesus Christ pose, I’m broiled by the gushing steam and its magic.
The room is in a standard U shaped configuration stepped out as three tiers in height, I sit down on a tiled step, removing the towel from around my waist and doubling it in half and drape it around my shoulders. I keep the smaller towel around my head, this helps me block out everything else and allows me to check my breathing, to watch the breath, breathing in and out, in and out. My lungs don’t feel the fire they did from the sauna instead they feel eased somewhat. I think I’ve always preferred to take a steam bath over a traditional sauna. I’m not sure why but a steam bath feels as though you’re being cleansed inside and out.
Joggy comes in and try’s it out for a minute or two but doesn’t really like it that much and leaves opting to go back to the sauna. But me, I really get into the steam bath, I’m in there for almost 15 minutes easy, I feel good, not woozy or anything, I don’t wanna delude myself into staying in here any longer than my body can take. And soon my better senses kick in and I get up and go.

When I come out I feel good, I wash my face with cold water from a basin and find Lively and Jeff dressed and ready to go. We grab Joggy and then empty the locker. I don’t bother to shower or change instead I throw a t-shirt on, slip on my Birkenstock sandals and we head out to the Gym attendants desk, dump the towels and ride up the escalators to the lobby elevators and return to our rooms.

Before separating we all agree to meet upstairs in the club lounge at 5:30pm, I go inside my room and flop down on the bed. My body is sore but in a good way and I realise that I’ve probably released some toxins in the sweat session so I get up and decide I should take a shower.

As I do this I notice for the first time a bouquet of flowers are carefully positioned on the beverages table. At closer inspection this is a mixture of red and pink roses in a decorative pattern covered by a light red veil of tissue paper. Carefully positioned in the mix of flowers is a card and it says, “For someone who stole my heart, from someone who lost his heart” and then, “Kiss my roses”.
I’m like, what the fuck? I run down the likely suspects, are these meant for me? Bad English perhaps, or is it one of the downstairs staff putting these in my room when they are actually meant for someone else”. I carefully replace the card and decide to shake it off and mentally file it away, promising myself, I’ll speak to housekeeping later on.

In the shower I run a razor across my face and shave away all of the accumulated three day growth.
I wash my hair with shampoo and conditioner and soap myself twice. I’m feeling as clean as I’m gonna be and when I come out of the shower I step to the window looking out onto the city, here I see the afternoon light make silhouettes out of the skyline, skyscrapers backlit by the setting sun, the last lingering light of the day shines so bright reflected off mirrored glass facades and catching on high tower windows making them appear like golden glass. I realise that sundowners must be soon, it cannot be far away. I grab my phone and check the time and realise that I’ve not got too much time left until the club lounge will open and soon the canapés and drinks will start flowing.

*             *             *

Arriving at the club lounge I’m greeted by familiar faces, the gang has assembled before me around a large round table and there is an empty chair waiting for me.
I plonk my tablet down on the table and run off to pour myself a vodka tonic which I’ve grown accustomed to. I turn on the tablet and thumb ON the blue tooth keyboard built into the protector cover I bought to safe guard my Samsung tablet, I click Gmail and scan for emails from home.

Bru,

 So jealous.
So your massage, was it a R&T? 
Could that be is why it was so brilliant?  J

 Hey, did you go to the ship?

 X

Kelly quotes from my first email from the first day here, I try and work out the meaning of R&T and then it dawns on me, I say to myself, “You naughty girl  – Rub and Tug!”
Then I click below this message and discover that there’s another, but written today in response to yesterdays (Monday’s) email.

Goodness me – did you write email drunk?

 How do you friends like KL?

Yeah, I love exploring grocery shops in KL – a big one is in the basement of BB Plaza or Sungei Wang
( I can’t remember which)

Has the hotel pool had a makeover yet? 
It was a bit crapola when we went.

X

With the baby home there is no time for 20 page emails, everything is short and sweet and right to the point. I take the time to look at the sequence of replies and realise that she’s playing catch up, So I decide that I should email her again to wrap up my day here today, but for some reason I don’t.

We all decide that tonite we will visit China Town and the look of dread that comes over Jeff’s face is priceless. I recall our last visit to China Town and I remember how fucked up a time Jeff had there.

We decide not to walk on the account that it’s still raining sporadically, so we cab it across town. Kuala Lumpur’s China Town may be the last vestige of fake counterfeit goods this close to Australia, that is besides Bali. All the effort that goes into this trade of goods, all this much trouble to come off looking as close to the real thing as possible makes me wonder why bother. I really don’t know why tourists like this sort of fake shit as much as they do, but tonite like any other night it’s everywhere. We stroll on in and immediately the crew starts to break up into pairs, Joggy and Soly, Lively and Jeff and I tag along with Nathe and Kym. I shout at Joggy meet up in the middle before 10pm near the walnut vendors and he nods his head.

We walk up towards the top of China Town and I pass by stands of fake shoes, Nike, Adidas, Timberland and Gucci clones, then stalls that sell pens by Mont Blanc, jewellery of every kind, Sunglasses by Christian Dior, Gucci and Ray Ban. Wrist watches by Omega, Rolex and even the Casio chunky G-Shocks have been copied. For most of these the copy itself is so bad you’d expect it to come alongside a happy meal as some defective piece of plastic crap. But for some the effort can be recognised.

Nathe is walking up and down the stalls looking for wallets, and the particular wallet he’s looking for must have a card holder, coin purse and must be a certain size and colour. And it’s painful to watch the vendors go into action for him. They ask me what I want and I ask to see any passport holders they may have, but all they seem to have are these LV ones that aren’t stitched together, they’re glued and the effort is so bad that I have to refuse.

While Nathan torments the leather goods owners for his idea of the perfect wallet I watch Kym looking at artwork on paper with a bamboo cane backing, I’ve seen these before as a child, its art on paper then with the cane you can roll it up and later hang it when you get home. I’ve seen calendars done this way and these were a regular trinket from various relatives’ trips overseas. The art that Kym negotiates for is a top quality and I watch as she works the deal in her for favour for not one piece but two and the price is always curving in her favour.

All the while we’ve been here in China Town the rain has been on and off, every once and a while I’ll stop by a stall and ask do they sell towels and the translation is so off that I might have well have been asking to buy a vowel. It’s crazy I even do my little dance showing them what a towel is and they have no idea what I mean. But later it turns into a win because asking for a towel becomes my get out of jail free card.

Catching up with Kym and Nathe we come off the side streets of China Town and continue to walk upwards, we pass by stalls selling many fake bags, bags by Burbery, Coach, LV bags galore, Prada and Gucci. I look at a LV overnight bag and can’t be sure of the quality of the stitching in this light so I pass, I see a courier bag with Supreme blazoned across it and I’m not sure Tyler the Creator would approve of the obvious fake. We go into these shop stalls that are anchored off the main strip and we go into one where we see this awesome multi monogrammed shirt by Burbery, this thing has more emblems, sigils and logos than anything I’ve ever seen in my life, it’s so fake that it passes as hipster cool and I know that I would have bought it if I could have found it in my size. I see other polo shirts by Ralph Lauren, Lacoste, Nike, Adidas and Fred Perry, and I’m sure that some of these would more than likely fit but I decide against buying any.

Nathan and Kym are getting ahead of one another in the final walk up to the top of China Town, Nathan stops and finds a stall that is selling laptop speakers. Nathe carefully works the deal towards his favour and he even calls Kym over to support him, but then somewhere in conversation Kym accidently reveals, “Oh are these the same ones we saw for 65RM at Sungei Wang the other day?”
I watch Nathan’s jaw clench and unclench and the young stall attendant now knows that she has the upper hand. Nathan says something to Kym in code that makes her recoil and she walks off in a huff, Nathan try’s to salvage the deal with a few quick words but knows that it’s botched. He says to me, “Did you see that shit?” he curses and I honestly can’t blame him at all for being kyboshed, but then I wonder that it was probably unintentional. I watch Nathan catch up to Kym and they have words and it’s awful, I feel like I’m watching my parents have a spat.

We round the top of China Town and then we bump into Joggy and Soly, I detach myself from Nathe and Kym and pal around with Joggy and Soly on this side of China Town. Joggy asks, “See anything good Mr. B?” and then I go off in a rant about Kym and Nathe’s hissy fit and tell him about the Burbery monogrammed short sleeve shirt. Then I tell him about the search for a towel, I say watch this, I go to stall selling sarongs and other body wraps certain that they would have some knowledge about a towel. But they don’t. The stall attendant points to a wafer thin LV body wrap scarf or something but when I touch it I know that it will be too thin to get dry off. This all feel’s like a scene out of the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, me without my towel and these alien folk have no idea what a towel is.

On the walk back to the centre of China Town we catch up with Jeff and Lively, Lively has been lucky enough to find some decent baseball caps and a pair of DC’s, the DC’s are fake but they look to be crafted okay, Lively says that he’s going to give these shoes to his cousin. Jeff has bought a pewter Petronas towers display, he says, “It’s for mum” and I smile as this is something that I should definitely do for my mum at some stage. Nathan meanwhile has continued to harass store owners with his idea of the perfect wallet and continues to come up short, when Nathan and Kym catch up with the group I see that he has acquired a white plastic bag with the contents being – laptop speakers. I’m like, “How the fuck?” and Nathan is positively beaming and says, “Kym helped” he goes on to say that Kym helped him in his routine and he ended up getting them slightly cheaper than he would have if he’s had bought them from Low Yat or Sungei Wang Plaza.

When we go to leave China Town most of the stalls are packing up and closing, we look for a taxi and everytime we come by a red one they are off duty and are rude when we ask if they are in service. Some suggest prices that are outrageous and not worth the trouble. We walk on and cross the road over a footbridge, here today’s newspapers are blowing to and fro and there are one or two homeless people asleep up here.

While I can’t be 100% certain I’m pretty sure that Jeff and Lively hopped into a taxi as we were leaving China Town on the account that Jeff needed to go for a shit. I’m thinking that the rest of us got a blue cab because I have some vague recollection of Soly asking the taxi driver how to pronounce “Towel” in Malaysian. All I know for certain is that when we all get back to the hotel Jeff is there to greet us and he and Lively have been sitting downstairs drinking listening to the house band. And then it hits me, “I’d better go see the concierge” and the guys are all like, “Why what’s up?” and then I tell them the story of the flowers, telling them that have been put in my room by mistake, Lively and Joggy suggest that it might be one of the downstairs bar staff that sent it, Joggy says, “Maybe someone has a crush on you Mr. B”
 My heart goes a flutter and then I get my senses back and decide out loud, “No no i’d better check with the front desk” and as I’m about to walk off Jeff says. “Wait...we sent you the flowers”
My head explodes and instinctively I want to throttle Jeff, but everyone is laughing so all I can do is stand there and take it. The upside is that it’s still better than Jeff’s implied threat to us all prior to leaving Australia, that he is going to upper decker in one of our toilets. So considering that, this prank with the flowers, I got off lightly.

Everyone dumps their bags of China Town crap off in their rooms and when we reassemble downstairs Joggy has the idea that we should all eat something. It’s still raining on and off and I really can’t be arsed walking around in the drizzle to find a restaurant that may or may not be open at this time of night so early in the week. I ask Jeff about the late night dinner menu and he promptly goes up to our hostess Elis and asks her for a few menu’s. Then Joggy suggests that we sit outside under the beach umbrellas and I have planned ahead and brought my tin of Davidoff Primeros in case anyone wants to join me in an after dinner smoke.

Elis follows us outside ready to take our orders and to see if we want more drinks, Joggy begins to put two of the round tables and their umbrellas closer together and this actually causes somewhat of a stir with the late night staff. Joggy negotiates for the removal of an umbrella and for some help in shifting the two tables together. Eventually the staff get the idea and help out as much as they can but it’s still a trifle of bother over nothing and Joggy takes unpleasant note of just how difficult everything is made out to be when you request something that’s just a little bit different to normal.

Since my appetite is back I decide that I’m going to eat the club sandwich that Jeff has recommended but I also order a side of chips. Joggy and Solly go for various skewers of satay chicken and Lively orders a hamburger while Jeff orders a chicken bolognaise.  Nathan and Kym order later just as my chips are coming out, I make sure everyone shares these, there’s three dips in little ceramic pots, and the chips are flat thick oven baked and with gravy they are absolutely the best.
 Our mains come next and after just a few minutes of eating everyone is smiling and feeling nice and full. In between bites of my club sandwiches we talk about tomorrow and the excitement of going to Sunway Lagoon to ride the water slides.

After dinner we go back inside and sit in the club lounge, here we are greeted by the lead singer as her Australian friends. In between the band’s sets she comes over to chat with us and she asks us about our homeland and how we all know each other. We try to explain that we’re a part of an online videogame club and we’ve only met up in person maybe once or twice before. She can hardly believe it but she likes the fact that we’re actually interacting with the band, she says, “Most people are here for business they have a drink, they don’t smile, they don’t talk” and then she exclaims, “But you people” with her arms open wide, “are very nice and welcome”. This leaves us all smiling and blushing and before she leaves she asks me what song did I want to hear tonight as it’s the last set, I ask her if she’ll sing ‘Breakout’ by Swing-out Sister and she happily agrees.

Elis comes over for last orders and I order another vodka tonic, Nathe reminds me we have a bag of beer to drink before we week is out and I ask him if will he have a last drink with me, even while he should be upstairs, he reluctantly says yes, so I ask Elis to order another vodka tonic. Since Kym has gone to bed I’ve all but forgotten about the cigars I’ve been holding. Joggy says, “Don’t worry Mr. B, we’ll have them tomorrow night” and all I can think about is the water slides tomorrow, I’m giddy and excited like I haven’t been in a long while. And tonite is a night not unlike the last, everyone is happy, smiling, jokes are being told and the liquor is flowing. Soon the intro music to ‘Breakout’ begins and the lead singers says, “To my Australian friends” and we all cheer coo’s of “Woooh!” each of us grooving along to the beat, heads rocking back and forth.

Nathan, Joggy and even Jeff catch me out from time to time mouthing along with the words, they know, like I know, that this is the happiest any of us have felt in a long time and even though it’s a long way for us all to have come as what other people might consider as relatively strangers, we’re all here, the seven us, together as the best of friends, so good, so bright, so right. Seven Stars.