Kuala Lumpur!

DAY 1

Once we had loaded up on toast at the hostel (this was free so we took full advantage) we got ourselves onto the hop on hop off bus tour of the city. First stop...the Lake Gardens! We didn't actually manage to find the Lake Gardens themselves but we did stumble across the Hibiscis Garden which was cute!

Then onto the Bird Park which is the world's largest outdoor aviary! We had a leisurely lunch at the Hornbill Cafe whilst being watched by several Cattle Egrets....they were after our club sandwiches I'm sure! Whilst in the park we watched the eagle feeding, saw some chicken eggs hatch, enjoyed a bird show (which Jo and Adam forced me to go up on stage to participate in!), played in the children's play park (I know, we really need to grow up) and fed the parakeets!

The parakeets showed a particular fondness for Jo...at one point I think she had about fifteen birds flying at her / sitting on her head / hanging off her arms! Very funny!

Back on the bus to our next port of call; the Kuala Lumpur Tower! What we hadn't bargained on was a huge storm and insane traffic jams. After sitting on the freezing cold bus for two hours in the pouring rain, we made the call to postpone our trip up the tower until the day after. I don't think we would have seen a thing from the top owing to the pouring rain and the black clouds. So instead we got a taxi to Chinatown and stuffed our faces in a cafe before looking round the market in search of cheap tat to adorn Adam's desk with when he gets home. We were of course successful in this; Adam now has a "beautiful" snow globe of Kuala Lumpur that lights up in different colours and a "tasteful" bell that he can ring when he needs a cup of tea at his desk! Lovely!

DAY 2

The weather this morning was amazing so we got ourselves up the Kuala Lumpur Tower. The views of the city were incredible...we could see for miles! Whilst in the tower we bumped into Noémie and Chloé who were on our tour in India! It's a small world!!

The rest of my day was spent in the Lot 10 and Pavillion shopping malls. Some of my clothes are a little worse for wear after wearing the same things over and over again for over two months so I decided a little shopping trip was in order (and there is an H&M here which I was very happy to see)! I think I got a bit carried away and am a little concerned about packing tomorrow...fingers crossed! The Pavillion shopping centre was incredible. And it had the most amazing Winter Wonderland scene in the middle of it...beautiful giant Christmas trees! I happily spent half an hour in Dome cafe drinking an iced coffee whilst listening to Christmas tunes! My evening was spent planning out our next week and a half in Borneo whilst eating cheap noodles from the 7/11 down the road!

Jo and Adam spent the rest of their day after the Kuala Lumpur Tower in the Aquarium and at the Lake Gardens. It was in the aquarium that Jo discovered that sharks dwell in the river we will be staying next to during our wildlife tour in Borneo. Eek!!

DAY 3

Sadly, Adam had to leave this morning to fly home. We don't envy you having to go back to reality Adam although we are slightly jealous that you will be home for Christmas! Have a good journey back :-)

Jo and I spent a couple of hours in the shopping malls this morning as Jo also needed a little wardrobe refresh due to things falling apart! We then passed a 'thrilling' two and a half hours in the laundrette down the road from the hostel. We would have only been there an hour had an almighty storm not started! We waited it out as long as possible to try and avoid drenching our just washed and dried clothes. But it got to the point that we had to make a dash for it otherwise we risked missing our flight. Somehow our laundry stayed dry...we did not!!! Back at the hostel we had all of ten minutes to pack our bags before hopping in a taxi to the airport. How we managed to fit in all our stuff in that short amount of time is beyond me! Miracle! And we made it to the airport in time to have a quick 'Marry Browns' chicken burger (it was awesome and cost less than 80p!) before catching our flight! Phew!!

We're staying in an aiport hotel tonight as we're catching a flight down to Sandakan tomorrow morning. I think we're going to sleep well!!

Tam xx