Back in KL

I had to get up at 5.30am to get to the airport for my flight to Kuala Lumpur. I had one last bowl of phở to say goodbye to Vietnam after an amazing three months.

Once I landed in KL, my first stop before checking in to my hostel was to eat some Indian food. I looked up the best banana leaf (the name given to the amazing dish where rice, curry sauce and various vegetable sides are put on a banana leaf) and it didn't disappoint. It was great having proper Indian food again and I love eating it with my hand like everyone else does. It's also incredibly cheap too: this chicken biryani with sides and a massive iced tea was about £2.

I arrived at the hostel I'd used a few times before and the staff recognised me even after four months. It was great being back there. The name, BackHome, is very apt.

In the evening I had another curry and was about to have an early night when an Australian guy in my dorm asked if I wanted to join him for a drink at a place called Sky Bar. Even though I was knackered from a long day, I thought I'd have one drink and enjoy the nice view. I assumed it would be a relaxing rooftop bar like the Helipad bar I'd been to last time I was in KL. Instead it was a crowded club with swimming pool (which wasn't being used), loud music and everyone was dressed up. I felt totally out of place in my Vietnam t-shirt and realised it was a mistake as soon as we arrived. The view wasn't that great either, unless you had one of the window-side private areas which apparently get booked up months in advance.

We queued at the bar and were given a happy hour menu. Malaysia is always expensive for alcohol so I was fine with paying RM20 (£3) for a beer. We handed over RM40 for the two happy hour beers and were told it was actually RM76 and that it was no longer happy hour. The barman got angry when we questioned it, saying we should have read the menu properly and pointed at the small text in the corner which said it finished at 9pm. Then why were they handing out that price list? We got ripped off and should have just left without having a beer but the Aussie guy paid before I could suggest otherwise.

Neither of us wanted to be there and we were having one of the most expensive beers of my life (especially given that it was a small bottle). Lesson learnt!