Malaysia

Last day with my mum during her holiday, and what better place to spend it but in Kuala Lumpur, on Independence Day!

The weather was glorious if very hot, so after a lie-in, we headed into the KLCC park to walk around and enjoy the views of the towers. Lots of locals were running laps of the park, which was more than I wanted to do; I was happy just gently strolling.

We had booked our tickets for the Petronas Towers Skybridge for 12pm so we went into the KLCC Suria mall to get some breakfast, which failed; mum’s chosen breakfast comprised two very undercooked eggs, but luckily we were able to exchange this uneaten monstrosity for a perfectly acceptable croissant.

After perusing the gift shop, we went up the towers with a large group of Indian tourists from Bangalore. Weather wasn’t too hazy so we got a great view across the city!

Love the Skybridge for the feeling of walking above empty space but I’ve always preferred the observatory near the top of the tower.

We then went over to Merdeka Square to see the wonderful contrast of the old Anglican Church, the old colonial pavilion, near skyscrapers and the Malaysian flag flying high in the middle of the square, with ornamental gardens at the end.

As we couldn’t get access to the pavilion as it is a members’ club, we decided to find another bar elsewhere. We went to another colonial era bar which was a ten minute walk away, the Coliseum Café, which was a favourite haunt of W. Somerset Maugham. Had a delicious “Gunner A” to drink which was a mixture of ginger ale, ginger beer and angostura bitters. Yum!

Finally, we started to end the day – dumplings time! Jumped in an uber to the restaurant, ridiculous traffic on the way, but great food 😊

An early night was due as we had to be at the airport before 7am tomorrow 😞 Night night Malaysia! I’ll miss this hotel with its spectacular views, lush bathroom and most comfortable bedding ever!

Final day in Bali, our flight is at lunchtime arriving at 4pm in KL, so we had one last breakfast. We had previously experienced scrambled egg with tomato in it, and today it was toast which was much more acceptable… Or so one would think. It was a toasted sandwich, and guess the filling – banana! Accompanied by another incredibly thick smoothie, which was also banana. I never want to see or eat another banana ever again!

We got a driver to take us back to the airport; the journey from Sanur to Ubud took well over an hour so we allowed 2 hours for this journey; of course somehow the journey was incredibly quick this time so it took just over an hour all the way from Ubud to the airport! Checked in the bags, chatted to a friendly Filipino man in the queue, and then went to grab something to eat in the airport before going through security. I chose a chocolate brownie – wasn’t quite like any brownie I’ve ever eaten as I could feel the texture of sugar in my mouth rather than cake. Nah…

Flight was delayed by an hour so we went through security (so easy!) and hung around in the airport for 4 hours(!) before finally boarding the plane. Was sat next to a German girl who had decided it was a great idea to eat a pot noodle on a turbulent flight when food is provided free of charge, but still better than the last flight where we were sat next to a man from “Perth” (which sounds like the start to a bad limerick) who was the most miserable man ever. Another turbulent flight and we landed in KL!

We caught the KL Ekspres to KL Sentral and then ignored the various taxi touts and got a voucher to the hotel for 18 ringgits – so cheap! Just as well we didn’t rely on the meter, as it was Merdeka eve so the traffic was crazy. The following day would be Malaysia’s Independence Day, so on the eve of independence or Merdeka, they would put on a big fireworks display near the Petronas Towers. Just as well we’d booked a hotel room with a view of the towers!

Arrived at the hotel eventually and our bags were taken up to our room while we checked in. We got up to the room… And wow, what a view!

After freshening up, we went to the restaurant within the hotel and had steak and a margarita – when in a 5* hotel, you gotta live the high life a bit, right? Great live music while we were eating, delicious food and great service. Could get used to this!

To best enjoy the fireworks, we decided to watch them from our room rather than go up to the sky bar and pay £10 entry. We ordered a carafe of wine as room service… How lovely 😊 And the fireworks weren’t half bad either!