Malaysia, Part 1
February - March 2008

 

 

Monday, February 25th

The main pool at the apartment building. Lovely and refreshing and not too deep. I can stand comfortably at the deep end.

There is also a shallow paddling pool which Hazel enjoyed crawling about in.

Then she enjoyed a nice chill out on the lounger. She arranged the towel herself on her bed.

After our swim we walked to Plaza Mont Kiara, about 5 minutes away, for some supper. It was all too much for Hazel and she conked out in her chair while we were still reading the menu at the Thai restaurant we chose. We woke her up for some fresh orange juice, rice and stir fried broccoli. David had a very, very spicy beef dish and I had beancurd with holy basil and chillies. All very tasty.

On our way back to the apartment we spied a couple of tiny lizards on the ceiling. They move so fast! I looked away to see another one and when I looked back the first one had vanished.

We all headed off to bed around 9pm but Hazel and I were up again at 3am, wide awake. There was a thunder and lightening storm outside and lots of rain. We stayed up for awhile and then tried again. I roused briefly at 8:30 but fell straight back to sleep and we didn't surface until 10am. Hazel was still sound asleep.

Tuesday, February 26th

We made it out of the apartment around noon and caught a taxi to the centre of "KL" (Kuala Lumpur), to the Petronas Towers.

The taxi ride was on the meter and came to just over 10 ringgits which is less than £2! Amazing.

We thought about going up to the sky bridge between the towers but you have to get your ticket very early. There were still some available but not until 5:30 so we gave it a miss.

There is a shopping mall at the base of the towers so we headed in there to find some lunch. We tried the food court and milled around looking for something that would a. be vaguely familiar and therefore hopefully Hazel would eat it and be not too spicy for her. We settled on Chinese! She didn't have much appetite but I guess that's understandable given tiredness from jet lag and the warm temperatures. From there we went out the back of the towers where there are nice gardens and fountains. I left David and Hazel resting on a bench and walked to a little bridge to take a photo of the towers. When I had finished an Indian man started chatting to me, asking where I was from etc. His younger sister is due to go to London next month to work as a nurse at Guy's Hospital for a year. He invited me to his house to meet her and give her some tips on life in London (like I know?!) and also to reassure his grandmother because she was quite worried. I politely declined, of course! It was quite funny though. Then from one strange experience to another -- after Nick and I said our goodbyes, I was approached by two more Indian men and I thought that they wanted me to take a picture of them by the towers. But no, they wanted to have a picture taken with me. Why? I have no idea! So, with one hand firmly on my purse just in case, I went along with it. First I had my picture with one fellow and then they swapped places and I had a picture with the other. Then we repeated the procedure only this time we had to shake hands for the photos. It was all very jolly but a bit surreal. Maybe they mistook me for a celebrity? David wondered what had taken me so long!

From there we headed back to the front of the towers and got on the Hop On Hop Off bus.

 

We rode it all around the city centre, past Petaling Street and Chinatown, the Central Market, the Menara KL tower and lots more.

 

We stayed on until we reached the Lake Gardens as Hazel wanted to go to the butterfly park.

There were ponds dotted around with gigantic Koi and there were other animals around the place including these white rabbits. There was a rather large python-like snake next door which made me fear for the rabbits, but who knows.

I am afraid all of my butterfly photos were blurry but I have kept one photo of a (slightly blurry) dragonfly.

After an ice cream we caught a taxi back to Plaza Mont Kiara for an early dinner in the hopes that Hazel might stay awake. Hazel joined some other children in playing chicken with the water fountain jets. Good thing I was carrying a spare pair of socks! We thought we might try the Chinese but the menu was very limited, mostly incomprehensible and everything seemed to involve chicken. So after a brief stop into an Asian supermarket for some snacks and supplies we went to Subway. I'm embarrassed to say it! Still, it was good to get something that Hazel would eat a bit more than a few mouthfuls, keep her strength up, etc. And it was quite tasty -- haven't had a Subway in years. David hasn't had one since he used to visit me at Hartwick!

When we got back to the apartment we changed into our swimming gear and headed to the pools. Yesterday they were quiet but tonight there were lots of children. They were all good swimmers and I think Hazel would have liked to have joined in with them if she could. One of the little girls let Hazel borrow her kick board so that was nice. We need to find her some pool toys and water wings. She has settled off to bed nicely tonight with only a brief trauma a few minutes ago when she fell out of bed with a thud. We've moved the bed near the wall now and put pillows on the floor so at least if she does it again she'll have a softer landing.

Well, better get to bed if we are going to get an earlier start tomorrow. We're planning to go back into KL to go up the Menara tower (they hold Towerathons there where you have to run up the hill to the tower and then run up the 2,000+ steps. Mad) and maybe over to Chinatown.