So, after a long gap since my last update, here is the story of KL part two!
Before we set off Nin and I joked that she should take the next few days off and I'll be the tour guide in KL. Trying on one of her Gap Adventures t-shirts we realised perhaps I'll just wear my own clothes but she, and surprisingly the group, were all up for it.
breathe in ! |
View from the hotel |
A
few of the group headed off to museums and to experience some of the culture of
the city and the rest of us headed off to the roller coaster and shopping!
The weather was lovely so we headed off on a walk to the mall, me
confident in where we were going.
We
arrived at a mall and I proudly guided my group in. Walking through the
shops things began to look a little unfamiliar. 'Hang on guys', I said. Looking round I realised we were in the wrong mall and I was lost. I had been to the roller
coaster mall so many times and for some reason completely forgotten where
it was. I decided not to let the group
know this, and basically told them that this a good mall for your much cheaper bargains - I don't think they realised. I quickly approached one of the security
guards and asked him where the correct mall was and he pointed the way.
We
arrived at Times Square mall and one of the things Nin taught me was that
as a guide, you can try and get group discounts. So as the gang spent sometime shopping, I
headed to the archery range, bowling alley and the theme park to do some deals.
Some
of them worked, some not so. For the
theme park I had to speak directly with the marketing manager and convince them
that I would be bringing further groups back.
They offered a 20% cut off the price which wasn’t so bad. Though in the end some of the gang decided it
wasn’t for them and so I didn’t have the numbers that would warrant the deal.
The
guys that did go loved the rollercoaster, and some of the more stomach churning
rides which I wasn’t too keen on (I got flashbacks to the rides at Leeds
Festival; “please buy your tokens from the cashbox for the next ride” – they
really made me feel ill).
After meeting in the lobby of the hotel for a few warm up drinks we
all ventured out to the famous Reggae bar, a place I frequented a few times on
my last visit. It was great to party the
night away after a long day getting lost, ahem, I mean shopping and really good
to meet up with some other travellers and knock out a few games of pool – I
lost quite a few times, despite playing several games of pool a day during my
six week stint in the Philippines (though the table was wonky there so perhaps
that’s what I needed in KL).
A nice cup of tea... |
...well vodka and coke, but still classy in a cup and saucer! |
Waiting for the rest of the gang before we head out (left to right, Naomi, Jenny, Gabby and me) |
Our gang looking so civilised! |
Me and Nicole |
Jenny and Gabby |
A very dangerous cocktail with Sven looking super cool |
The
next morning a few of the group headed out to some of the other touristy
destinations I recommended (with a little help from Nin). Though my peaceful day was interrupted with a
knock on my room door from one of the girls in the group. I immediately thought what has Eric
done? You see, he didn’t come home that
night. But no. I wasn’t being awoken from my slumber to hear
the words, “Where’s Eric?”, in fact it was…
“Where’s
Emma?”.
Emma
was a great girl from the UK. Really
kind, sweet and funny too. She was out
with us all the night before and stayed with a few others when I left. However those girls didn’t remember her going
home with them – in fact they barely remembered anything.
Our last known photo of Emma (on the left, with Nicole on the right) |
One
of the girls was concerned that they recalled seeing a dodgy group of guys from
another country try it on with them but told them to get lost, however Emma, a
kind person that she was, began talking to them.
They
tried calling her phone at first, to which they didn’t get an answer. They also tried texting her too and at first
no reply.
It
wasn’t until an hour or so later that they received a text reply back. The text message didn’t make sense, wasn’t
written in clear English or ‘text speak’ and started to arouse our suspicions
that she could be in trouble.
I
started calling her from my phone using both my local and UK SIM card, the
other girls did the same. We then got a
reply from her again with ‘I fine’ (or along those lines), this then made the
girls even more concerned and me too. I
thought before we get the police involved we need to go back to the bar and see
if we can get any video footage.
Arriving
at the bar we had a look round, seeing if anything would jog our memory and it
didn’t. We asked the bar for assistance
and initially they weren’t helpful until I spoke to the owner over the
phone. He was happy to help once I
threatened bringing the police in. He
suggested that if she doesn’t arrive in the evening then he’ll go through the
video footage with me.
When
we got back to the hotel I decided that we needed to take advice from the
British Consulate, so I contacted the embassy and began the process of
reporting her missing. To be honest, as
a group, we all agreed that if it was another one of us we wouldn’t be so
worried – it was just that it wasn’t in Emma’s character at all, and coupled
with the very dubious text messages and her speaking to some suspicious looking
non-Malay guys it was a sensible approach to take.
The
embassy was extremely helpful and supportive.
They advised what the procedure for missing persons was in Malaysia and
what our next steps should be. I previously
told the group that we had planned to meet up in the hotel lobby at 7PM to go
for dinner and I felt that this time was a good cut off point for us to go to
the police. The embassy agreed and asked
me to contact the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London at 7PM my time
with an update.
It
was 7PM, and we were waiting in the seated area of the hotel. Nothing.
I went to get my phone out of my pocket to give the FCO a call. And the doors of the hotel began to open. Walking through them was Emma. Still wearing the clothes from the night
before.
The
girls ran over and gave her a huge hug for relief. Emma looked confused as hell. We sat her down and asked her to recount the
story of last night.
She
explained that after we all left she followed but lost us and couldn’t find her
way back to the hotel (it was literally five minutes from where we
partied). She kept walking in the
streets and began to give up, so found another hotel and stayed there until the
morning. However she slept all the way
through to the afternoon and began her long quest to find where we were
actually staying. Her replies to us were
half asleep replies whilst she was still drunk and her battery went flat so
couldn’t call us to ask us for the hotel name.
She
felt so guilty for what we went through but we didn’t care. For two reasons. The first and most important was that she was
safe and well – though suffering a very sore head. And the second, it was now no longer just
“Where’s Eric?” it was now also “Where’s Emma?”.
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