Singapore: large international diversion, check! Unknown allergic reaction, check! Tropical disease...

Tuesday

It was time to move on to our final stop on the continent of Asia, Singapore. We had a coach booked for 11:30am so made our way to Kuala Lumpur Sentral Station after breakfast. We figured out the unnecessarily complicated station directions and found the desk of the coach company we were travelling with. We were informed that the actual coach we had booked had been delayed and that we had been moved in to another coach leaving an hour later at 12:30. This was a little bit of an annoyance as there had been no attempt to contact us and it was fairly apparent that there had been no delay, they had just moved us to a different coach because they had 2 half empty ones going in the same direction. Furthermore, we couldn't buy any food or drink while we waited as we had spent the last of our Malay Ringgit getting to the station. We waited it out on a bench and played a game that Charlotte's mum had sent out to us via Nuchy. After seeing 2 coaches go the other direction, towards Penang, eventually the man behind the desk called us for our bus to Singapore. We had allocated seats downstairs but were shocked at just how uncomfortable they were. I think they were supposed to be considered luxury as they had a massage system in them but mine didn't work and Charlotte said how pointless they were. In mine the bit that massaged your back was stuck halfway up my back and made me sit awkwardly. After some 'gentle' persuasion, I managed to shift it down so it was more comfortable. The rest of the coach was more acceptable. After we departed we plugged ourselves into the seat back entertainment system and picked out a film from the very limited selection they had. This helped to pass most of the first half of the trip. During the film, a stewardess (for want of a better word) brought round a microwaved meal each which was a nice surprise as we were rather short on food due to the lack of local currency. The meal was nice, although due to spice again, I had to be at Charlotte's portion. After a short toilet break we were back on the road and hurtling through a rainstorm as we approached the Singapore border. Singapore is a number of islands located at the point of the Malaysian peninsular, so to get to it you have to go through Malaysian border control, cross a large bridge over a causeway and then you hit Singapore border control. The queues on the Singapore side were significantly longer than the ones on the Malay side, so we had a little bit of a wait before we could get our passports stamped. Despite the queues outside it wa absolutely dead inside and we flew through passport control. We carried on on the coach for about 20 minutes before arriving at our destination. Our hostel was easy to find, only one road over from where we had got off the bus. We checked in and got to our room. The hostel seemed nice, apart from there being only female toilets on our floor, which would cause a problem or 2 later on during the stay. We didn't looted in the room long and headed out on to Beach Road to do the usual reconnaissance, like trying to find a supermarket and where is good to eat. The hostel pointed us in the direction of a supermarket, where we picked up a drink and some washing powder. Dinner was harder to decide upon though as everything had gone up significantly in price from Malaysia. We considered Pizza Hut and tried to find a  Subway but couldn't remember where we had seen one. Eventually we went for a kebab just a block or so down from our hostel. Even this was quite expensive for what it was but we didn't really have much of a choice. It still did the job though and we headed back to our hostel.

Wednesday

We had set an early alarm as we had a considerable to do list already. First up was make use of the free washing facilities provided by the hostel, as we were pretty much out of clean clothes. This is where the washing powder purchased the night before came in handy. The hostel supplied it but it cost £1.50 per wash, whereas we paid £1.50 for a bag that would last us the whole time. We could only use the washing machines from 8am due to noise and we were the first people there. Because we had so much washing, we took up both washers. Shortly after we put ours in 2 other lots of people came up to use them but they shouldn't have had that extra 10 minutes in bed, they snoozed, they loosed. To pass the time while that was washing we went down and made the most of e free breakfast put on by the hostel. It was only toast, cereal, tea and coffee but it's free, so we couldn't complain. The washing was done and the queue was growing. We had to do a bit of queue policing when someone tried to jump in front of the people we knew were next but the second washer was just finishing anyway. Now we just had to wait for it all to dry but for that we only needed one dryer. To pass the time that took we tried retrieving some photos of my mobile phone that had broken the day before in my pocket. It was hard work trying to do it with 2/3rds of a screen missing and only managed a handful of photos from Europe. By the time the washing was done and we'd struggled with the phone it was fast approaching midday and we were keen to get out and about and explore the city. We retrieved our fresh, dry clothing and headed out in the direction of Gardens by the Bay. Along the way we got caught in one Singapore's numerous heavy showers, so we took cover in one of its numerous shopping malls. It was lunch time, so we picked up a coffee from a coffee shop and after drinking that, found a huge supermarket on the bottom floor which had more reasonable prices than the one we had been to the day before. We did our old trick of buying some rolls and getting cheese and meat to fill them. Add to that some fruit and a chocolate bar and we had a feast that would have cost twice as much at a cafe or restaurant. By this time the rain had stopped so we found a nice shady spot opposite a fountain and tucked into our lunch. We had to rip open the ham we had got which caused the juice to go everywhere. We didn't realise until after we had eaten most of the lunch that the ants were massing behind us. Fortunately, we got up before they could start eating us and we cleared all the rubbish away. We wandered on and found ourselves next to the Helix Bridge, which leads towards one of Singapore's iconic buildings, the Marina Bay Sands hotel. We wandered around the bay and took a seat soaking in the Singapore skyline and just able to see the statue of a merlion across the water, which is the national symbol of Singapore. We ate a couple of apples here and then moved on towards Gardnes by the Bay. To get there we had to walk through Marina Bay Sands hotel. This was a sight in itself. It's made up of 3 identical towers that contain all the rooms and suites. These are all joined at the top by a single roof that we could see was covered in palm trees and we had read houses an infinity pool that looks out across the rooftops of Singapore. We would have like to go up and use the pool but you had to be staying at the hotel and it would have also cost us just to go up and look at the view, so we didn't bother. Anyway, to get to Gardens by the Bay there is a walkway through the hotel that then leads you down into the gardens. By now the sun was out and it was a hot and humid day, good to enjoy a wander through the greenery. The gardens by the bay aren't of the botanical nature but consist of various themed gardens (Malay, Chinese and Indian) and groups of plants (fungi, palms and fruit bearing trees). The area was huge and provided a good half days worth of entertainment. About half way through we were running out of water and had to make a pit stop at the onsite McDonalds in order to purchase ourselves a very sizeable refreshment. To drink it, we sat in the shade of one of the "Supertrees" which are the centrepiece of the Gardens. We carried on looking around, despite the draining heat and stumbled across an area that looked like it was being set up to host a concert, with the sound check in full swing. There was nobody around though and we didn't really think we should be there, so we found a way out the other side and headed towards the exit. We were sticking in the area for the time being and after walking back through the huge hotel with palm trees on the roofs we entered into its own mall on the other side of the road. The inside of it had been made to look like Venice, with a faux canal complete with rideable gondola and bridges to traverse the canal. There was even a restaurant suspended above the water. It was also so over the top and we weren't surprised to find out that the hotel and shopping centre had been built by a company based in Las Vegas. We wandered around the mall looking for dinner. We found at one end a huge food court serving every type of food imaginable. From Asian to Pasta and everything in between, despite the choice, we really did struggle to choose something to have. After almost 2 complete circuits of the court we settled for a Singapore noodle dish with plenty of bean sprouts and a few slithers of beef. It was filling and relatively cheap for Singapore, so we enjoyed it. We had planned to visit Gardens by the Bay again after dinner as it gets lit up at night but the access through the hotel was closed so we decided to leave it for another night when we were feeling slightly more energised. When we left the mall, we just caught the end of a water and smoke show on the bay and made a note to revisit that too. We wandered home via the large supermarket in order to pickup food for our visit to the zoo the next day. By the time we arrived back at the hostel, it was quite late and my body was aching from the huge amount of walking we had been doing. The bed was a welcome relief but that doesn't mean I slept well!

Thursday

When our alarm went off in the morning, it was pretty clear that we weren't going to be making it to the zoo. I'd come down with something overnight and just didn't fancy getting out of bed anytime soon. Fortunately, we had plenty of time in Singapore and our zoo ticket was for any day over a week so we'd be fine. I skipped breakfast that morning as I had no appetite but Charlotte made it down on her own to get some food. I hadn't moved by the time she returned and we decided to call this a rest day as the time was flying by. At one point, I went to the toilet, only to black out, stumble past someone who I asked for help but ignored me and then collapse in the stairwell (told you the gender specific toilets on different floors would be an issue!) for an unknown amount of time. It was at this point I thought I had something serious and just about managed to stumble back to the room to inform Charlotte I had collapsed and maybe we should get an ambulance. So far we had just assumed it was heatstroke from a day in the gardens the day before. The staff at the hostel were really good and even gave us a couple of complimentary energy drinks to try and give me a boost. The paramedics were pretty fast but didn't really help too much. They didn't take my temperature and left the decision of whether or not to go to hospital to me (we thought they were paid to make that decision?!). We decided not to, all in agreement that I had heatstroke and plenty of drinking and rest would solve the problem. For the rest of the day, I made no improvement.

Friday

Despite our hopes the broken night sleep I had made no improvement. We thought we'd try one more day of good rest and kept our fingers crossed that it would improve. I started to show signs of improvement during the afternoon but crashed again in the evening.

Saturday

We awoke again and there was still no real signs of me getting any better. By this point we were pretty fed up and decided to go to the walk in clinic 2 doors down from our hostel. The Doctor was very helpful and told us to go to Singapore General Hospital in order to get a blood test done, as she couldn't do one and get the results back as it was a weekend. We hopped straight in a cab, arrived at the hospital within 10 minutes and donned our face masks ready to enter the fever area. After some paracetamol to get the fever down, they took some bloody and fitted me with an intravenous drip in order to rehydrate me. While they took my blood, the first mention of Dengue fever occurred. In my head, I immediately ruled that out, it was too far fetched that either of us would contract a tropical disease while we were travelling. The tests would give us an answer though. The drips seemed to take an age while we sat in the freezing cold waiting room. When the second drip eventually drained into my hand, we were stocked up with tablets and told to rest while we waited for the blood test results. We left the hospital and waited a good half hour pressing the "call taxi" button. Eventually, we gave up and walked the short distance to the road and flagged one down instead. The rest of the day, what was left of it atleast, was spent back in bed.

Sunday

Day of rest and recovery.

Monday

Singapore general hospital had told us to make our way to a polyclinic this morning in order to get another blood test. We hadn't received the results from the original test from the hospital yet but we went anyway. Well, the polyclinics were all in suburban areas and a fairly long taxi ride so we asked the reception if there was any alternative. They recommended Raffles Hospital, which was just around the corner from our hostel. We made the short walk and got sent up to the clinic. We were seen within 10 minutes of sitting down and then they took my blood again. The test would look for Malaria and Dengue and the results would be back in a couple of hours. To pass the time we walked to Raffles Hotel, which was located at the end of the road our hostel was on. We had planned to go to afternoon tea at Raffles one day but the illness put pay to those plans. We made it, took a few snaps of the outside and headed back to the hostel. After a quick turnaround there we walked back to Raffles Hospital for the test results. They had them ready and handed them over to us before we went would see the doctor again. We had a quick nose through them and found everything was fairly normal until the last page. The Malaria test was negative but the Dengue Test was positive. This was the first confirmed diagnosis we had received and it came as a little bit of a shock. We saw the doctor and went through the results but we didn't seem to concerned with them, mainly because I had woken up that morning feeling slightly better. The 5/6/7th days are key to Dengue and it can take a turn for the worse, causing low blood pressure and low platelets (blood clutters). He told us to return the next day to keep an eye on it. After the hospital we wandered to a mall close by in order to do a bit of phone shopping. My old one had broken in Kuala Lumpur and Charlotte's was playing up at the time. After a fairly long hunt, we found a suitable shop and managed to pick up a new cheap mobile phone each, in order to keep in easy contact with home. When we arrived home Charlotte tried to get in contact with Singapore General hospital in order to find out their results of my blood test. After almost an hour of ringing, she got through and then got passed around from person to person as nobody seemed to be responsible. Eventually, she got through to someone who informed her that the test hadn't even been done yet and that the results would be back the next day or the day after. It was at that point we pretty much gave up on Singapore General Hospital. The rest of the day we rested.

Tuesday

It was back to Raffles this morning to get another blood test to see what was happening. To pass the time today we picked up a Starbucks and sat around in the waiting room. The results were worse today and after the doctor had taken my blood pressure he was sceptical as to whether we would be able to fly to Perth the next day. He told us to come back one final time for one final blood test and a check of my blood pressure. After the hospital visit we treated ourselves to an easy lunch in McDonald's and then managed to pick up a pin badge despite our lack of tourism. We headed back to our room and packed in preperation for our flight. With the weight limit being a stingy 15kg we had to leave our almost empty smellies behind.  It only took an hour or so to get packed and ready so for the rest of the evening, we relaxed and enjoyed some chicken soup. 

The Dengue fever had been a huge annoyance, unsurprisingly. We had both been looking forward to Singapore but it had pretty much been ruined by a pesky mosquito. We missed out on a visit to a zoo as well as a trip we had planned to a large water park. Charlotte was excellent the whole time, looking after me and even managing to get refunds for both of those pre booked excursions.

Maybe, one day we will go back and be able to see Singapore properly, but with it being a 12 hour flight from the UK and almost the same from New Zealand (in the wrong direction aswell) it seems unlikely. Probably the most disappointed we have been so far.

With the Southern Hemisphere and Australia next up, it was pretty hard not to get overexcited about the next 2 months though!!

James and Charlotte

Kuala Lumpur part II: Or as some call it, Oompah Lumpah

Due to lack of Wi-Fi, photos will be posted as soon as possible.

Saturday

We had wanted to be up bright and early today, however, we seem to have very quickly forged a routine that sees us get to breakfast for 9 o'clock every morning. Today was no exception. The reason for this was that we had changed our mind about getting back on the hop on hop off bus (our ticket was vaid from midday to midday). The stop we would get on at was a good hour and a half away from where we wanted to go so we figured it would just be quicker and healthier to walk there instead. BBC weather said rain and thunder was due again first thing but that failed to materialise and it turned out to be a hot, sunny day. After breakfast we got our things together and hit the streets. It was pretty much the same route we had walked to the Petronas Towers a few days before, apart from a right and a left just before we arrived, so we knew which was we were going. Our first destination was the Craft Cultural Complex. This is a place full of locally made crafts and souvenirs for sale, such as wicker, pottery and pewter items. As with most places we had visited so far, from Russia onwards atleast, we had tried to pick up a souvenir typical to where we were. After an Internet search we had a few ideas, most notably something pewter, and the craft centre seemed like a good place to have a look. After a short detour (okay, we took a wrong turning!) we found the building and headed in. Rather surprisingly for a Saturday morning, the place was almost deserted, with us being the only Western tourists to start off with. We wandered round the relatively small shopping areas, pleased for once that we didn't have someone on our shoulder the entire time, claiming that everything is suddenly on sale. Everything in the pewter and wicker sections were far to large and expensive to consider and the pottery just wasn't particularly interesting. With a 15kg baggage limit coming up for our flight to Australia, we really needed something dinky and made of helium. With nothing really available we left empty handed and headed back out into the sun. Our next stop was Binteng Walk, which is the shopping and entertainment district of Kuala Lumpur and was only a 10 minute walk from the craft centre. Our first reaction when we arrived was to walk straight into a shopping centre, just as an excuse to get out of the sun for a bit. Shopping centres are something Kuala Lumpur is certainly not lacking in, them and very tall buildings. This one was no different to the one at the base of the Petronas Towers but we decided to have a wander round anyway. It was nothing special and lunchtime was upon us so we decided to stop off at a cafe and have some food. As we were asking there, we spied a travel shop and managed to pick up a rain cover for Charlotte's bag, something that had eluded us previously. It was a bargain and we went to lunch pretty chuffed with ourselves. We chose a busy cafe and grabbed a seat, ordering some flavoured iced coffees, a sandwich and a pizza. After lunch we left the mall and walked straight out into gas mark 5. It was so hot, almost unbearable. We stuck with it though, thinking that it was probably the air con from the mall exaggerating the heat. Our intention had been to explore the area a bit more but as it was so hot and we'd done far too much window shopping already, we walked back in the direction of our hostel. Tensions seemed to be high in the city today as there we armed police, dog handlers and helicopters out and about. After a long sweaty walk home it was nice to finally be out the sun have a fairly easy day after being very busy since we had arrived in KL. You guessed it, blogging and photos, as well as some napping was how we passed the time until dinner. We decided to try the curry house we went to on our first night and ask for something non spicy for Charlotte. She opted to the Tikka Masala but despite the waiter saying it wasn't spicy, it did still have a bit of a kick to it. In her defence she put on a brave face and ate it all and we both left full to the brim.

Sunday

Sunday means rest day and we were definitely grateful for it. We'd done a lot of walking in George Town and KL in intense heat. We still had to get up before breakfast finished at 10 am but returned to our room afterwards to relax. At this point I was getting so close to catching up with this blog after being behind since entering China. I wrote up a post and Charlotte added some photos before lunchtime came around and we decided to head out. We also wanted to go to the Central Market again to try and find a good souvenir to buy. We got there and had a look around all the pewter shops but there was either nothing in our price range or we were to concerned about how genuine things were. Wooden things were plentiful too but again nothing took our fancy. The other problem with wooden items is that we are heading to Australia and they can be very particular about what you take in. We were hungry by now and went upstairs to check out the food court. It was what we had been after, genuine Malay food alongside western and Thai food. First of all we went for some chicken rice, mine sesame and Charlotte's lemon. It was really good, although Charlotte found hers slightly spicy while I found hers tasted like lemon bathroom cleaner. We also noticed a satay stand next to where we had got the rice and once we had finished our chicken and rice, we went there and picked up some skewers each. The quality of the chicken wasn't great, slightly fatty but the peanut sauce it came with was nice. It also said it came with a rice cake, which seemed like  large congealed lump of rice cut into cubes. It was very bland but when dunked into the peanut sauce it was edible. After our feast, we went back down and wandered the aisles for a bit. Something caught Charlotte's eye in one of the shops that she had seen elsewhere in Malaysia. They were small ceramic figurines that the shop owner described as happiness statues. They were good looking little things, all brightly painted with big cheesy grins and they all represented something different things such as wealth, protection and career. They came in varying sizes and we were considering the 2 smallest ones. As ever we were being incredibly indecisive so I suggested that we head home, have a look on the internet about them and then make a decision, as we still had one more day to get back there. They seemed perfect so we were pretty sure we'd head back to pick a couple up. We got back to the hostel and after a quick google, we couldn't really find anything about them, which didn't really fill us with confidence that they were what the shopkeeper was saying they were. Charlotte asked the receptionist, who said they were depictions of gods or mascots and they were part of Malaysian culture. We decided to leave it for the night though and head back there tomorrow to decide which ones we fancied. We carried on with some admin before heading out for dinner. Unfortunately, we cheated again, opting to go to McDonalds for ease. That was only our 6th fast food visit since we left home but our 3rd while in KL. After dinner we had 2 good long Skype sessions with both sets of parents having not really spoken to them since Christmas. 

Monday

Our last full day in Kuala Lumpur was actually going to be another pretty easy one. We got up and had breakfast, then lazed around the hostel for a couple of hours. I finished off a blog post, leaving me with only one outstanding while Charlotte had a very quick nap. At about midday we headed out into the heat. We were walking in the direction of the Narional monument. We had intended to see this twice before but something had always prevented us from doing it. Today we were determined to get there. We walked through Merdeks Square where the cricket pitch is and a protest had taken place the night before and down a main road towards the monument. It was fairly easy to find, located on a hill in a park opposite the botanical gardens. We climbed some steps and found it surrounded by coach loads of Chinese tourists snapping away like there lives depended on it. It was quite an impressive monument built "for Malaysian sacrifices during the struggle for freedom". It was situated on an island platform with a pool surrounding it. We made our way across the steps leading to the platform to have a closer look trying our best to get in the 10 million photos the Chinese were taking. In a quick break in Chinese waves we managed to get a photo each but then got asked to move out of the way by one of them. We frowned and took our time. They never move out of our way so we were reluctant to do so for them. We seen what we'd walked to see anyway, and moved on beyond the monument to the cenotaph behind it. By now the coach loads had all returned to their coaches and it was nice and peaceful. Written on the cenotaph was "To our glorious dead". We took a snap then headed off in search of some lunch. We went to the 7/11 by Merdeka Square that we had had lunch in on our first day but the cupboards were pretty much bare, so we moved on. The next 2 we found near the central market were pretty empty to, so we gave up on that plan and went to the chicken rice place we had been to the day before in the Central Market. This turned out to be the better option as our lunch came to a grand total of 11 Ringgits 60 Sens, which meant we paid less than £2 between us for a very filling lunch. We headed down and back to the shop we had been browsing the day before. We had very little cash left at this point and he didn't take card so we had to plump for the smallest figurines he had. After almost 10 minutes considering which ones we wanted, we came away with 'Protection' and 'Postiviity' (not something we are very good at, so we could do with the added help). After a quick barter, we also managed to get 2 for £5. Pretty happy we had done what we wanted to do we headed back to the hostel in a pretty good mood. Saying that, we did have one more intention for the day but it would have to wait until the evening. To kill time we sat in the icy cool reception area, writing blogs, posting photos and making our way through the large tin of we coffee we had bought 3 and a half months ago in Moscow. That all passed the time quite well and before long we were sorting out our things and heading back out into the city. The plan for this evening was simply to visit the Petronas Towers at night and see them all lit up.  We walked there as we had done on our previous visit but arrived before it had got dark. We sat and had some dinner at yet another western fast food establishment very wary that we were running incredibly low on Malaysian Ringgits and we still had to get the metro home and buy provisions for our coach ride the next day. For that reason, we skipped drinks and just went with the tap water we had brought with us. After eating our food we made our way outside to admire the towers and also watch a bit of the colourful fountain show that takes places between 6 and 11. It was all very good, pretty and definitely worth the visit. We didn't hang around too long but took some photos effort walking to the metro and getting that back to our hostel. Before going to bed we packed all our things ready for our departure from Malaysia.

We enjoyed KL as much as we enjoyed George Town. The combination of Malay, Indian and Chinese cultures made for a very varied experience. It also helped that it was incredibly cheap for food, transport and entertainment. We weren't getting our hopes up that our next stop would be as cheap though, Singapore is notoriously expensive!

James and Charlotte

Kuala Lumpur part I: May the spice be with you

Tuesday

Our alarms were blaring just before 6 o'clock. Not that we needed them. During the night it had rained so hard it had woken us both and we had really struggled to get back to sleep, so despite our tiredness we were up and ready in no time. We skipped breakfast, mainly because we'd been told it doesn't start until 8 o'clock so we had bought provisions for our train ride instead. We walked to the ferry port, hoping that the early hour and darkness would keep us cool. Yeah right, we sweated as much as we would have at midday in direct sunlight. We had a brief wait while the ferry came but we couldn't complain as it was a free journey. We piled on with the commuting locals and others who just seemed to be making the ride for a bit of fun, and found ourselves a seat near the front. 10 minutes laters, we had disembarked and were waiting in Butterworth station for our train to start boarding. Bearing in mind it was heading to Kuala Lumpur and then on to Johor Bahru, which is a city close to the border with Singapore, the train was surprisingly quiet. For the first couple of hours we got our heads down and caught up on some sleep. The rest was simply eating our lunch of Pringles and cookies and watching the leafy, tropical countryside of Malaysia fly by the window. With half an hour left to go, we hit the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur and we took to staring out the window in the hope we would catch a glimpse of the famous Petronas Towers. Just before we got to our stop, there they were in the distance. Or atleast, we think it was them, we'd have to compare when we see them up lose tomorrow. With terrorist incidents in Bangkok and Jakarta recently, Kuala Lumpur is on high alert and apparently someone was even arrested on public transport a few days before we arrived on the way to  blow themselves up. We had expected it to be an intense atmosphere and crawling with police, but we didn't see any and there seemed to be a relaxed atmosphere. We made the change from our train to the subway and had reached our destination in no more than 5 minutes. After that, it was a short walk, past McDonalds and Burger King (choices, choices!!) to our accommodation. Back Home hostel is the top rated speciality accommodation in Kuala Lumpur so we were expecting good things, I'll pass judgement further on during our stay though. We got into our room and tried the wifi. It was a huge relief to finally be able to get out first lot of photos uploaded in about a month, so fingers crossed the blogs will be up to date in no time. We were still exhausted, so reluctantly let ourselves sleep for a few hours before dinner time. After a quick look on trippy, there seemed slim pickings in our area but we picked out a curry house for our first evening. It was only one street away from where we were staying so it was easy to find and it was pretty much empty when we arrived. We ordered a Tikka Masala and a Korma (so experimental in our food choices) and they were on our table in a flash. We were both surprised when they turned out to be quite spicy though, as they aren't really known for that back home. I had to finish Charlotte's off but we were both full. We headed back to the hostel and caught up with some photos and blog writing before heading to bed, ready for our first full day in Kuala Lumpur.

Wednesday

As I mentioned, we had planned to go to the Petronas Towers today but after some consultation with our map over breakfast, we decided to postpone that until the next day. Instead, after making the most of the complimentary toast and cereal, we headed in the direction of Kuala Lumpur's botanical gardens. On the way we made a quick stop at the central market. We will visit properly later on in our stay but this was just to use the toilets and see if we could find a better map at the tourist info point located inside. It turned out we couldn't, they had exactly the same one our hostel had provided us with, so we just had to stick with that one. We headed out and tried to find a half decent route towards the botanical gardens. It was slightly unorthodox, crossing slightly main roads where we probably shouldn't have been crossing but we were on the right track. We passed Kuala Lumpur station (not to be confused with Kuala Lumpur Sentral station), which looks like a mixture of Brighton Pavillion and a Ventian prison. We took a quick photo and moved on past the National Mosque. Finally, we found some signposts telling us the way, so we followed them rather than concern ourselves with the map. After passing the National Museum and taking some photos of a few old locomotives just outside, we found the entrance to the botanical gardens. On our map the area was huge but when we first entered it seemed rather unassuming but we carried on regardless. We were greeted by lush lawns and a medium sized lake with a few fountains lining the centre. After skirting the side of the lake, our path was blocked by a rather large lizard sunning itself in the middle of the pathway. It seemed more scared of us though, as we approached it quickly scarpered off the path and regarded us from the side of the lake as we passed by. We followed the signs for the playground, which was at the opposite end to where we had entered so we could work back on ourselves. After a brief go on the swings and the seesaw (any excuse!) we started back and came across the sunken garden first. True to its name it was sunken and had a star shaped fountain in the middle. After that we visited the palm area, edible plants and had a short escape from the sun in a bamboo tree house. The topiary garden was up next but they seemed to only be able to cut the trees into the shapes of mushrooms, which was a little disappointing. The Indian Laurel Fig tree just next door was really quite impressive though, with its latticed trunk. Our final visit was a walk through the deer garden, although most of them were sensibly tucked away in the shade, which is something we should have thought about doing sooner. After our walk though, we headed in the direction of the exit and tried to decipher our map to get a route back into the city. Eventually, after braving a dark, narrow road tunnel and shimmying our way round road works we got back to some normal civilisation. We had a look at our map and realised we'd made it to a place called Dataran Merdeks or Independance Square. We decided to leave visiting for a while and walked instead to a 7/11, where we refuelled on tortilla wraps, chocolate and ice cream. After our pit stop, we walked back up and had a look around the square. We admired the large flag pole bearing the flag of Malaysia, crested some steps and were rather surprised to see a cricket ground spread out infront of us. Not something we are expecting to see in Kuala Lumpur, later found out it is the Royal Selangor Club. After taking some photos, we both decided we'd been out in the sun far too long and headed back to the hostel. We spent the afternoon, as ever, doing photos and catching up on this blog. With no kitchen in the hostel, it was out for dinner once more. We decided to let the hostel do the work for us this time and they recommended a different curry place in the same road as we had eaten the night before. The atmosphere was more like a diner than a restaurant but the food was good, portions were generous and it was very cheap. Still slightly on the spicy side for Charlotte but she tried. We were determine to hunt down some Malay food for dinner the next day though.

Thursday

After putting it off the previous day, we had decided today we would make seeing the Petronas Towers our priority. We were in no rush to get out so we had a late breakfast, making the most of our first pieces of good fresh fruit for almost 2 months. At about half 10 we were out and walking. We quickly stopped off at the corner shop to pick up some water before turning and heading in the right direction. It was only supposed to be a short half an hour walk, so we opted for that instead of the quicker but more expensive metro ride. Somehow, despite being able to see the towers the entire time, we did mange to get ourselves slightly lost. After consulting our map and using our instinct, we made our way through the forecourts of the Traders Hotel and the Exxon Mobil building, past all the suits trying to look busy and entered KLCC park. We thought we had come the wrong way round them but this was exactly where we wanted to be. The park is an anomaly in an otherwise crowded, noisy and built up area of the city. When we arrived, despite the work going on in a playground, the park was nice and peaceful and we found a quiet stop with a good view of the towers. We toyed with the idea of going up them but with Charlotte not liking heights and things like that being unnecessarily expensive, we decided to just admire them from the outside instead. We took some photos of each other and tried in vain to get a decent one of the both of us using the selfie stick. Frustrated, we gave up for a bit and carried on walking round the park until we found yet another quiet area for a photograph. This time we succeeded, which meant we could give up on the endless photography and enjoy the park and the towers. The park was great, a real treat to wander round, enjoy the shade of the trees, watch the fountains and chuckle at the lengths people go in order to take a photograph. As we walked past, there was one man lying flat on his side in an attempt to get a snap of his family. If they moved back to where we started, they wouldn't have of that sort of trouble. 

By this time midday was fast approaching and we decided to have a look round the rather sizeable mall located at the base of the towers. Initially, we went in just for some refreshment, in the shape of a fruity drink from Starbucks. However, Charlotte and I both noticed the cinema on same floor as Starbucks. I had been wanting to see the new Star Wars since it had come out before Christmas and this just seemed like a good opportunity. We walked up to the automatic ticket machine and found the showing at 2pm and were taken back by just how cheap it was. Fancying a change from endles tourism we purchased 2 tickets with still enough time to sit and get a drink at Starbucks (I hope they are paying me for constantly using their name, or giving me free stuff). Afterwards we headed back and rather than have lunch, opted for a large drink and popcorn plus a medium popcorn for Charlotte. Overall the visit to the cinema cost us 38 Ringgit, which is just over £6, from memory that is almost half what we would pay for a single ticket at home. It would probably work out as cheap to fly to Malaysia, take in a film and fly back, rather than shell out for it back in England. I won't review Star Wars but I really enjoyed, Charlotte was slightly confused, claiming that she had never seen any of the previous 6 films. It was a nice, cool way to spend an afternoon, despite the fact that nobody could shut the door to the screen, so we had to keep getting up and closing it. Afterwards we wandered round the mall, Charlotte was in need of a rain cover for her large backpack. We found one in a travel shop but it was slightly too small so we had to give it a miss. At a miss with what to do with ourselves we wandered aimlessly out if the mall to the opposite side of the towers to where we had been that morning. 

The day before we had enquired at our reception as to where we could find traditional Malay food, instead of the endless Indian and Chinese places scattered around our hotel. They showed us an area near a metro station in the north of the city called Kampong Baru. Being only one stop away at the time we thought we'd try to walk it but that only took us in a circle through an incredibly large cemetery. So we hunted down the metro instead. When we disembarked the metro the station seemed modern enough but one left turn and it was like being back in Cambodia. Uneven road with small hut like houses, Kuala Lumpur seemed a million miles away. A 180 degree turn of the neck though and there were the Petronas Tower bearing down on us still. Stupidly, we had left the card the restaurant names were written on back at the hostel, so this was just a look around and we decided to return when we knew where we were going. We passed a few satay stalls which looked pretty tasty but Charlotte looked rather sceptical, fearing they may be spicy. We turned around and headed back to the station, intending to return one evening over the weekend. We hopped back on the metro and returned to our hostel area. Rather than suffer through a spicy dinner tonight, we opted for Burger King (cheating, we know!). That was that for the day and we retired to our hostel to sort out some photos and blogs (when don't we do that in our spare time!).

Friday

Today we had earmarked the town of Melaka as a possible day trip but after a bit of research, the rather long coach journey didn't seem worth it for a place that would end up being quite similar to George Town. Instead we decided to go for the Hop On Hop Off bus tour that takes you in a circuit of the city. We had done them in Barcelona, Vienna and Budapest previously and this was by far the cheapest we paid, so it seemed like a good deal. It helped that we could get them cheaper from our hostel reception too! We headed out to the Central Market after breakfast, in order to pick up the bus. Thankfully, it was only a 15 minute wait before one crawled round the corner in the slow going Kuala Lumpur traffic. We climbed on and ascended the stairs to the open top portion, where, despite the heat, the movement of the coach cooled us down nicely. We realised almost straight away that this was a mistake though. We struggled to hear the information from the loudspeakers due to a lady a couple of seats infront of us speaking incredibly loud to a couple sitting across from her. Stubborn as ever though, we stuck with it and bit our tongues. We passed the Sentral Station, which may sound boring but provided us with probably the most interesting bit of info in the whole route. Apparently, it is the only train station in the world that has its own airport code and you can check in and drop your baggage at the train station and then hop on a train to the airport. That sounded pretty nifty to us. The next stop was the national museum which we had already passed on a previous day but we got off at the next one, for a glimpse at the national palace. The stop was long enough to allow us to jump off, take a snap and then jump back on. On our way to the next stop, while waiting at a traffic light, there was a loud crash and everyone gasped and stood up on the bus. As we rounded the corner we could see a motorbike driver had been knocked off of her bike. It seemed a little disrespectful that everyone stood and stared but maybe that can't be helped, the smirking however was completely out of order. We left the poor lady behind and past parts we had already been to, so for the next hour or so we just rode the bus around town, taking in the information and enjoying the view. The loud lady had long since departed when he hopped off just past the Petronas Towers.  Our destination was Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre where the Aquaria KLCC is located. It is a large Oceanarium located below the convention centre. We had spotted this on the top things to do and as our hostel was selling discounted tickets, we decided to combine this with the bus ticket. It was interesting but maybe slightly smaller than we had been expecting, I'll let the photos do the talking on this one. Before our trip to the Oceanarium we stopped by the food court and picked up some Asian food for Charlotte which wasn't spicy (woo hoo!!). We left the convention centre to be greeted by pouring rain, thunder and lightning. We had seen this was predicted, which was another reason why we went for an inside excursions for the afternoon. Being so close to the cinema we had been to the day before we considered our options. Whether to go and watch another film while the rain fizzled out or to hop back on the bus, head home via the central market and complete the remaining places we wanted to visit for the next morning. We plumped for the latter, knowing that we still had photos and blog writing to do. After a fairly long wait, the bus pulled up and we made our way upstairs to the top deck. That, again, was a huge mistake. Who should be there again but Mrs.Loud still deep in conversation with the same couple than before. We tried to block her out and were pretty happy when she departed at Chinatown. Ours was the next stop though and we got off, relieved to see the rain had slowed to a gentle spit. We made for the central market and wandered up and down its aisles not really with the intention of buying anything though. That soon changed when we found individual pin badges at one of the stalls. After some tearing open of the ladies packs we managed to get 2 matching ones and decided to head back to the hostel before dinner time. We did some catching up of admin before we headed to dinner, which I'm ashamed to say was fast food for the second night running. Subway got our business this time, as we attempted to avoid spicy food.

James and Charlotte