[Jay]

Nice pics there Tifosi (KK), Awesome write up from the Yeti as usual, keep it coming...

[theMAG]

Enchanting write supported by pics that are alive. Any group track pics?

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

We park our tired bums at the foot of the tower and sit and take in the sights. We simply cannot believe how huge and beautiful these steel towers are.
The time is 20.00, 6th april 2007.

[Sam Kapasi]

We’ve finished the bucket of Carlsberg, over some interesting conversation. My nerves are getting more numb as Nikhil and I proceed to sing “Sweet Home Alabama” at the top of our guts. We’ve kicked the bucket and it’s time to move on.

It is hot in KL. Over the day, I have consumed multiple cans of Gatorade, Ice tea, Diet coke, watermelon juice and Lemon juice from the street, Beer and of course good old water. More than thrice the usual intake. There is something in the hot air that’s making me constantly thirsty and I’m realizing the same is with almost everyone. I have easily consumed 4 litres of liquid since the morning. But have not visited the toilet yet. Have I perspired that much? Or has my popo stopped working? These are the kind of philosophical thoughts one tries to suppress when one is trying to enjoy oneself..

We’ve already cleared the cheque when it arrived, so we just get up and leave. It’s still early and The Rum Jungle is full of middle aged white people and some locals. No happening crowd yet.
Walking out, about 100 metres to the right is a BIG club, Aloha.




Looks inviting, but there are these rather large bouncers at the gate. Will they allow 7 single men in? They usher us in with a wave and a smile, so far so good. Aloha is PACKED. Like that train, only everyone looks hot and smells good. There are more good looking women here than Table Coasters. I walk up to a waitress and ask if it’s possible to get a standing table for us. Canno’. Says she. We walk closer to the stage (Second club with a stage, I guess live performance is appreciated here).




I am very pleased because all speakers here are JBL. This causes me to bob my head harder.


We look up and see that the club is fabulously constructed and has 2 private levels upstairs. This is where the F1 personnel and members will party for the big Johnnie Walker Mclaren party tomorrow night. Can we get a pass?? “Keep Walking” says someone.


The music is clubby, loud and fun. Some of us continue with our beers, some switch to whiskey. (Be a man!).

NC takes his cap off and the girls go wild when they see his hair and eyes. Lol





We kick this bucket in about 30 minutes and decide to trickle out of this club too. Choo Choo train our way through the sardines and we’re out. I get out first and blink hard. There’s a live formula one car at the entrance. How on earth did we miss this on our way in?
Last year’s car. Kimi’s Mclaren, in all it’s livery, complete (well, I’m told there was no engine inside). The rest of the boys come out, slapping each other’s backs and generally being masculine. Upon seeing the car, we all turn into little girls at a Justin timberlake concert. We’re jumping up and down, trying to hop and lie down at the same time. The car looks hot. I a no Mclaren fan, but they do have a hot looking car. Though I have seen a few F1 cars at close personal quarters in Europe (A Ferrari and a BMW.Petronas). seeing one here, in this mood and energy gets to me too and I’m also behaving like a famished man at a free buffet. We click approximately 600 photos here. Do not touch says the sign. We didn’t. Almost.














Hunger strikes. Besides, eating will give our insides an opportunity to digest the alcohol easier. The only one who hasn’t had a drink is KK. Being official photographer, he could not allow his solitary eye to wander or get lazy and click pictures out of focus, or Rudra would place a boot on his backside.

We walk on to another club called The Beach. There’s a lot of women outside. They look like trained professionals (Do not try this at home gentlemen), but I could be wrong. What do I know anyways. Again we are ushered in with a wave. The Beach is really happening. There are 2 sections, one with loud music and dancing, the other that looks like a restaurant. We decide to eat something first. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that most girls here are escorts. Some are nice looking and are wrapped around old men like a mink coat.
We gather round a table and order our food. GTO and KK are vegetarian. They order a pizza. Ajmat and I order a Stingray and Vietnamese Beef Ball Noodles between us. I discover that Ajmat has a deep liking for oriental street food and eats anything that used to move. NC is open to experiments, but no squid, no beef, nothing shocking, no rats etc etc. We order Satays and NC gets his first taste of Mee Goreng. He’s soon hooked to it for life.
Right above Ajmat’s head, I can see the Petronas Towers. They are completely lit up and looks surreal. The steel reflects the architectural lighting in varied manners and it looks unearthly. Makes a beautiful view. We decide to go visit the towers later in the evening.

Dinner’s over soon, we clear the cheque and make our way back into the club. A quick discussion, regarding whether we should order and entire bottle of Chivas between us, is quickly squashed. A young bunch of escorts are plonked on 2 tables near the floor. The Manager takes one look at us and orders the girls off the sofa and table. Like clearing away empty bottles. The music is loud and retro. There are black tipped sharks swimming in massive tanks above our head. The floor is full of people, dressed in F1 colours. Suddenly a guy that looks like Michael Schumacher walks in (he’s a little older though) resplendent in Ferrari overalls and a helmet in his hand to boot. People cheer, he enjoys the attention and orders a drink.

Ajmat and I are dancing. No, not together. The music is rocking hard and then he suddenly plays KC and the Sunshine band. Ajmat almost pops a vein with delight. He lets loose, dancing with gay abandon. (Gay=Happy) and I join him. We sing and dance the night away. It is great fun. NC is chilling and laughing loudly. His impression of Ajmat was one of a proper oldish man. It is shattered now, say he.





By now, I’ve switched over to Chivas too. KP keeps thinking he wants rum, but never orders it. KK has taken 100 photos in the club. People think we’re page 3 celebrities. (If you want to see more pictures of the revelries, keep wanting, lol)

It’s time, we move on outside. The street is buzzing with people and energy. The time has changed and so has the attitude of the gates at all clubs. No longer are we ushered in. There is a “drink commitment”, a fancy word for cover charge. OR we can order a bottle of chivas and saunter in. Only 3 or 4 of us enjoy Whiskey. The idea is scrapped. Also the cover charge is high (about Rs.400 a head) especially for KK, who doesn’t drink. Besides, we’re tired. We decide to skip the clubbing scene and head for the towers.

The towers are stunning. Words cannot describe the effect they have by night and pictures will fail us too. We’re floating on the dancing, adrenalin and the beer/whiskey and decide that it’s time to lie down under the towers. GTO and Nikhil are tired and they take a bus back to the hotel. And then the 5 of us just lay there.
Staring at those towers till about 11.30. It felt really late, because we’d started the revelries early.









We’re just lying there, all of us and wondering what it would be like to have love with someone you sex right there. Heh heh. Oh the drunken words of drunken men. So politically incorrect.



We then caught the last monorail and walked back from the station to the hotel.

Back at the hotel we decide to meet up in our room. NC and KK transfer some pictures to the laptop and look at them laughing. I regale everyone with stories of Thailand (3 weeks ago). We have wireless broadband, but somehow it doesn’t work on the higher floors.
Ajmat starts nodding off in the middle of my stories. It’s time for bed. We’re all tired and happy.

End of Day one.

[Technocrat]

I have easily consumed 4 litres of liquid since the morning. But have not visited the toilet yet.

You mean Tandas right

[Dippy]

And boy that is just Day one . Waiting for Day two

[moralfibre]

End of Day 1 still no signs of Sepang circuit. But I didn't miss it either .

[navin]

KK, did you get any pic with GTO smiling?

[normally_crazy]

Originally Posted by navin

KK, did you get any pic with GTO smiling?

Navin - only fo you la - special pic la

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by Dippy

And boy that is just Day one . Waiting for Day two

Sorry, have had a busy day all day. Have been unable to write. I'll write some more tonight.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

We walk on to another club called The Beach. There’s a lot of women outside. They look like trained professionals (Do not try this at home gentlemen), but I could be wrong.

You're right. The Beach is full of trained professional women. They're called SPGs (Sarong Party Girls) - if you're an old Massaleh (white in Malay)/Gwailow (White Ghost in Chinese) you'd have an SPG or two twined around you.

[revvedup]

You all had a great didn't u heh hearing a f1 car at full chat is simply surreal .Good writeup and photos felt as I was there .Didn't any one of u stray into the pit lane by any chance would have been funny if the yeti crashed into a raikonnen or something Altough after being the orignal initiator of the f1 meet it feels bad to have missed all the action for reasons like 12 th hai na stay at home watch it when it comes to delhi in 2009. .However there is always next time.

[Sam Kapasi]

It is time. Today is qualifying day. Half the reason we all came. The schedule tells us that the bus will arrive at 0945 to pick us all up.

I have tried desperately to contact Ishan’s pals from delhi, including calling their room at 2 am before sleeping. I try once again at 0830. The phone rings and a sleepy voice answers “Hanji?” Touchdown. “It’s me Sam, where the hell are you guys?”. He explains to me that they have had a terrible flight to KL, they slept all day and because of that they could not sleep all night. Hmmm.

I go down and meet NitinBhag and his wife Revati. Lovely people and we all hit it off instantly. Ajmat, KP and KK are down before us, GTO and Nikhil are there shortly. Neel and Manjesh join us, only to tell us that they’re not coming to the qualifying as they have some stuff to do. Hmmm. The 2 boys from Delhi are ready to go, their having breakfast too.
There are now 13 of us in the group. Zak phones. He’s arrived, he changed his flight and in the confusion, there’s no pick up for him. After some phone calls, it is suggested that he go straight to Sepang, which is close to the airport anyways. He reaches sepang by 0830 or so and is waiting there in the sun, at the parking lot, with his luggage.
We get into the bus, with about 50 people from hotels nearby. The tour Guide is called Ramlee (we just can’t get rid of that name now lol) and he is full of stories and anecdotes. We’re a mixture of tired and groggy and charged for the formula one. It’s a nice road. It takes us about an hour and a half to reach sepang, to parking lot PA3.









We cannot locate Zak. I call his local number (He has had the presence of mind to procure one) and realize he’s close by. There are hundreds of identical buses, this will be tough.


We decide to climb up to the main road, that goes around the circuit, in the hope that we’ll see him. Suddnely we hear it. An F1 car. It’s LOUD, even though we are pretty far away. We all go berserk, torn between making a dash for the circuit and waiting for Zak. Oh where are you Zak?


Meanwhile, Zak’s having a terrible time. He needs to find our bus, place his luggage on it, then meet up with us. He’s had a long night, went straight to the airport from a wedding, still wearing his Arab dish-dash (Mrs Bhag taught me that word). He has flown all night, changed airplanes at Singapore and arrived. He locates our bus, places his bags and arrives running. He too can hear the engines and it’s making him batty.

Alright!! Ladies and Gentlemen, Speedzak is in the house.



We now start walking in the same direction as everyone. We are ill informed. We should have taken the circuit shuttle bus and gone to gate C2. Instead we walk in the hot sun for about 10 minutes and enter what appears to be the entrance to the circuit. There’s action here, people, music, F1 shops all looks great. There’s a BMW Petronas car here for our viewing pleasure. The Engines are running, the cars are probably warming up around the circuit. And it is LOUD. Even I’m excited by the engine-vengine sounds.

We find an official looking girl, who tells us that we’re in the wrong place. We need to go back on the road and take the bus to gate C2. We all walk out and luckily find a bus instantly. The bus takes us to gate C2. A quick walk up the hill and we’re there. Almost instantly, a Renault car drives by and I feel a serious pantywetting emotional moment. We’re all finally here. We all get onto the hill covered stand and sit in awed silence. It’s about 10 times louder than we all expected and insanely fast. GTO and Nikhil aren’t around.







After a few minutes of sitting, I decide to explore. After walking to the edge of the hill, I discover an amazing view. GTO, Nikhil and the 2 boys from Delhi have already discovered it and are there. Allong with a few hundred people. It’s not very crowded. I immediately run back to get everyone else. 12 of us sit on the grass on the hill. It’s about noon and there’s going to be a 2 hour break now, before qualifying starts. On our way to the circuit, pretty girls try to sell us wirefree headphones, to listen to the commentary. We pass. A decision I regret later.

It’s now 2 and the qualifying has begun. It’s madly exciting. I run and buy myself the headphones. It’s a long hot sunny walk and I’m in a rush. Turns out they are FM stereo headsets. If my mobile phone had FM and I had a headset, I could have heard the commentary on FM.
We’re all happy and enjoying. The heat is a bit much, but the stand is covered and it is tolerable.
The 2 boys from Delhi have disappeared. We find out later that they went home, before the qualifying began. Hmmm.


The lady behind NC is Revati.


The guy standing in the shorts is nitinbhag.


No Prizes for guessing who this is.

GTO’s chill on the hill.


The cars are wailing, roaring and sputtering. It is time for qualifying. And it is pure thrill. I feel like calling up the whole world and telling them “This is what it really sounds like”







It’s a brilliant time. Soon qualifying is over and it’s time to get to the bus that brought us there. It’s a tiring walk, again in the heat and we manage to reach the main road. The circuit shuttle arrives, but is packed. We’re Indians, we can handle a good squeeze. We clamber on, albeit in 2 parts. Back to PA3. Our bus has been replaced by a garish one, with thick velvet seats. Just sitting on them makes us hotter.


Some of us chat with some other people on board. Zak is pleased to find a South African couple (he grew up in South Africa) and we all chat away merrily. The others are pooped.


The bus practically takes forever to start up and we spend a good hour in the heat on those ugh velvet seats. We all decide to try and rent a mini van for the next day.

We then reach the hotel, retire to our rooms. A quick shower later, we are ready for another long and hard night of partying.

End Of captain's log. 7th April 2007. The Time now is 1830.

[navin]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

...We all decide to try and rent a mini van for the next day.....

Given that it is the F1 can you get one at an affordable rate?

[normally_crazy]

Originally Posted by navin

Given that it is the F1 can you get one at an affordable rate?

Await the Captains next blog for the answer Navin