Arrivé

Where to start? Arrived here, in St Die-Des-Vosges, Tuesday afternoon France time after about 48 hours on the move. As expected, the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Paris was long and tortourous but I seem to have pulled up pretty well. Having touched down in KL at about 6.30 Tuesday morning, I had the rest of the day to kill before the flight out at midnight. Grabbed the KLIA express - a convenient 25 minute shuttle train service to the city. A city armed with two humungous steel and concrete towers...KL must be the New York of Asia I thought to myself - an intriguing, pulsating metropolis. Not quite. Actually about as alluring as a hatful of a*seholes. Thanks for the tip, Ted! First I tried to mount my assault by marching up the one of the spaghetti-like freeways linking Sentral Stasion (that's Malay, friends, the poor man's language of love) and the city. Soon discovered that cities with perpetual 90% humdity are not designed for backpackers. I shamefully chucked a u-ey (why isn't that in the online dictionary?) and took the soft yet logical option of the train.

Got off at KL station. Aesthetically, the city reminded me of Brunei and in a two hour period of spotted 23 locals having a well-deserved mid-morning snooze (on the sidewalk, in parked cars, etc.) which reminded me yet again of Brunei. Same for the perplexing feeling that by smiling at whoever I had to deal with, I was actually causing them some discomfort. Which reminded me of Brunei. Not quite sure what area I trudged through but it was mostly rundown, smelly streets with monolithic concrete office blocks sitting next to small restaurants, some medium sized buildings whose architecture seemed to take some inspiration from the colonial period. Walked past the beautifully restored court house, which dates back to the 19th century.


Back to the airport. Had a great Nasi Goreng and frankly must rate that as the highlight of the stopover. The airport really is something else - very large, plenty of shops and eateries, easy to get around. One of the best I've seen. Was glad to grab a room at the transit hotel for 6 hours for a much-needed shower and nap. I'd recommend doing so to anyone on a long-haul flight with time to spare. Flew out at midnight.

Into Paris at 6.15. Quite a few Aussies on the flight - here to see some rugby perhaps. The city was just starting to wake up as I grabbed the RER to Gare du Nord and then walked over to Gare de l'Est, Paris' link to its Eastern towns and beyond. A pretty, well-preserved station in an area whose surrounding streets are named after these regions, Rue d'Alsace, Rue de Strasbourg, etc. Trip on the ultra-fast TGV was comfortable and swift. Picturesque countryside - mostly wide-reaching plains and fields broken up by farmhouses, pockets of forest and quaint (apologies, I'm sans thesaurus) villages. Changed trains at Nancy for the regional service out to St. Die.

Haven't had a decent look at the town yet, but its located in a lovely little region near the Vosges mountain range. Very lush with wooded areas, streams, hilly surrounds. Will be able to provide a better description and some photos at a later date. I was welcomed at the station by Patrice, who is the Adjoint-Principal at the school. They've gone to a lot of trouble to put together some living quarters for me at the school, fitting out a few rooms in the admin block with a kitchenette, bedroom and bathroom. The three most senior school staff members (including Patrice) live on campus as well. Off to see the Ireland-Argentina match in Paris on Sunday with a group of 25 students and three teachers. Should be interesting!