3 Cities, 5 days!

Hey all,

Well yet another manic session of my travels (its a tough life..isn't it!). In a nutshell I arrived in Kuala Lumpur on 17th February from the Cameron Highlands. When we got there it was throwing it down with rain..it was monsoon weather that i have never seen before. We checked into a hostel with a Canadian guy that we had met in the highlands...only a 4 bed dorm so it was Kelly, Em and myself and him so not bad for a first hostel experience!

Em and I checked out the city once the rain had stopped. We took a wander around and saw so many types of architecture...Mosques, the high court buildings. In the centre of the city they have a huge flagpole at the foot of a park. To the opposite side of the mosques, there is a row of tudor houses. If that wasn't enough of a mix, there was a newly developed wharf style parade of buidings that incorporates the National history Museum. Em and I checked it out but unfortunately it wasn't too inspiring!

From there we strolled around the central market making a few jewlery purchases. The market is indoor and is just shop after shop of the same sorts of stuff, however you could get a t-shirt printed to your design too! If by now we hadn't had enough of browsing the local wares we went to chinatown. Due to the chinese new year we were told that it was a quiet day...well i'd hate to see a busy day. It was humid and bustling, stall after stall of knocked off merchandise.

We were total glutons for punishment and on our way home we bypassed the Suria KLCC shopping centre, the biggest mall in Malaysia. Our hostel was right opposite so we didn't have far to drag our weary bodies!

On the 18th we had a bit of a splurge and checked into the renaisasance hotel...for only 23 quid each night we had pure luxury that was so desperately needed. Dressing gowns, slippers, complimentary tea and coffee, tv with cable, internet access,a bathroom and bed to die for, a desk (not sure why i needed to state that!) and best of all a gym and an outdoor swimming pool. I steered clear of the gym but after day two of checking out the city i took a well earned nightime dip, looking over the KL skyline! Our view was also stunning from our room, the KL tower was directly in front of us!

Our day was spent checking out the city as Kelly was now with us. We went to the Lake gardens and had a picnic in one of the many parks. There was a bird park and butterfly & orchid gardens to also see. We had booked ourself into seeing the Petronas towers first and had to return at 3.30. This resulted in us rushing around on the Monorail and only just making it. The view from the bridge between the towers was spectacular. Well worth the rush!

That evening we all got dressed up for dinner. The girls surprised me with a cake that they had asked the staff to bring out with a candle on. The hotel had really gone to town and what had started as 4 pieces of carrot cake became one large cake decorated beautifully with cherries,strawberries, cream and a chocolate plaque saying 'happy birthday ms Tina'. The waitressing staff all came over and sang me happy birthday...it was such a fantastic surprise. Kelly had also bought me a few gifts too which was amazing. We ended the night by drinking and eating cake in the hotel bar!

So from KL we travelled to Singapore and I stayed at sleepy sams hostel for only 1 night. A truly great location, set in a backstreet full of botique shops and cafes. We visited the long bar at Raffles and had singapore slings and threw our peanut shells on the floor!

The following day we did a whistle stop tour of the city. First we jumped on a bus to the Botanical Gardens followed by a stroll down the infamous shopping mecca of Orchard Road. Everywhere is so clean and well maintained...London could sure learn a thing or two!

We then got the MRT to Chinatown and took in the scene, stalls of more local wares everywhere. A very quaint area with town house style buildings. Clarke quay was our next stop. We took a river walk along the quay and through the wharf area where there are lots of modern bars and restaurants. Everywhere is so spotless and well maintained, its a place of perfection! I then continued alone to Little India. At last somewhere not spotless! It consisted of one main street with about 4 side streets filled with lots of gold jewlery stores, souviner shops and restaurants.

I made my way back to the hostel and the time i was dreading had arrived. I had to say goodbye (well for a bit anyway) to Kelly, Emily and Lucy who have been my fantastic travelling partners for the last 3 and a half months in SE Asia. They saw me off at the MRT. Hopefully we will meet along the east coast of Oz somewhere. So off I went to get to the airport for my flight to Adelaide. The nearly 8 hour journey seemed a breeze after all the long distance bus rides i have endured in SE Asia.

So all is well, I am now in Adelaide and loving my Oz experience so far. An Adelaide Blog will also hopefully follow soon.

Hope all are well, take care, miss you all

T xx