Cutting corners in Kuala Lumpur

I am in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on a visa run to renew my Indonesian visa. Aaah! You just have to accept the inefficiencies. I am trying to look on the bright side. I stocked up on some hard to find books at a huge Borders bookstore here and got some much needed toiletries (like contact lens cleaning fluid). I am also taking in the free wifi everywhere that KL has to offer.

I am sitting in Chinatown right now at an OldTown White Coffee (like a Starbucks). I booked the cheapest hotel I could find and lucked out in that it is in a local neighborhood away from the typical tourist destinations. I am sitting here amongst circles of local men chewing over the day's headaches and gossiping while watching a World Cup match on a big screen t.v. My hotel just covers all the bases...just. Unbeknownst to me it seems to cater to a, how do I put this, vivacious, transient crowd of couples. The walls are so thin that I could hear every word and kiss and...of the Asian couple in the room neighboring mine. They weren't speaking English, but it was clear what was going on. I can only imagine why they were doing what they were doing at 4.30 on a Thursday afternoon, but I try to tell myself they were just lusty tourists and not a local guy and his escort.

I turned on my television to the National Geographic channel just loud enough so I could hear the words of the program and so could my neighbors, thus, making it clear that I could hear them if they could hear my television. I hoped a documentary on shark fin poaching would squelch, umm, quiet them down. No luck. They just went on louder, now with mocking, vulgar language in English. It was like listening to a bad X rated Asian movie that's been dubbed over in English (not that I know from experience, but I can imagine). I changed rooms.

On the ride up from exchanging my room keys at the front desk, I noticed the women at the front desk's narrowed eyes and terse whispering and, following their gaze, stepped onto the elevator where I joined another questionable couple of obviously different ages (the woman a decade younger). Thankfully, the couple got off at the first floor and I continued to the second.