Westover Lodge Kuala Lumpur

... were pleasantly surprised that there were still slots available for the sky bridge. We selected the hopefully dusky 5.30pm slot and set off back to the Golden Triangle for some shopping. Sure enough 5pm came around and the sky blackened with the daily late-afternoon thunderstorms (so THAT's why they still had tickets...). We splashed our way back over to Petronas, sat through the 3D film explaining how excellent Petronas (the state oil and ...

... much more impressed with KL this time round...but it is still a city and still not our cup of tea.

More importantly than the city was our being able to spend some time with Chris. We forget how daunting it is to set out alone to foreign parts. He was in really good spirits though and we thoroughly enjoyed the time together. We realise that perhaps we hadn't given Chris the credit he deserved in the UK. He has suffered a lot of stick about getting jobs, sorting his ...

... flavors to choose from. (Hey, we didn't want to risk insulting our host so "had" to have some hookah! Plus you know that saying "when in Rome..."- this can be applied worldwide.) The next day Sree joined us as we toured Kuala Lumpur, and he introduced us to our first try of delicious banana leaf vegetarian Indian food. As Westerners, we are unaccustomed to using our hands instead of utensils for the ...

... wrong, maybe we would miss the plane maybe the cheap plane would crash, maybe we would be abducted by aliens and be held accountable as a human being for all the Barry Manilow and Cliff Richard albums ever made! After five months of traveling I thought I would be over all this, just goes to show you can be your own worst enemy in any new situation.

Well I can happily report the flight was fine, the flight was comfy and 'flew' by (boo) Air-asia staff were friendly, the food ...

... down and hail a couple of little ladies over then point at the various items I would like to try. They look at me, I look at them, I point to the food, they look at each other, and then they head off and bring back the DE-Li-CIOUS food to me. They brought my selection of food over and I thanked them, although I noted that they still have not grabbed the western concept of service with a smile!!!!! I realised when I had finished my meal that this is because I did not ...

... I was surprised to learn she was only 19. Apparently, a classy English accent and a year of world travelling makes one seem a little older and wiser. After 2 AM the bars closed and we headed back to the hostel. By the time we got back there after getting slightly lost it was 3 AM. I had arranged for a cab to pick me up at 4:30 AM and I was too nervous/excited to sleep. That morning I went to the airport and had a short flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia...

... Deciding where to stay in Kuala Lumpur provides a little foreshadowing on the countries culture. Travelers can choose between the old china town, the lively little India, or the modern business district (we went with China town).

We only spent a day in town and weren't planning to visit any of the major sights because we'll be back twice to meet old friends and then return again for the ...

... workers. She showed me where the thread was, and we got talking about our travels etc. She told me about her son who lived in the UK. After asking about my occupation and finding out that I also worked in a supermarket back in England, she seemed to like me even more and started giving me lots of shampoo and shower gel samples to take with me! haha. Get in! I decided to give some of the anti-dandraff shampoo to Tom because he needs it! haha [Tom: Thanks ...

As I probably mentioned, I chose to fly through Kuala Lumpur on Air Asia to save some bucks on the flights. Air Asia requires that you purchase each segment separately, so there are no "connecting flights". As a result, it was easy to schedule a few days here before heading to Indo.

I had no real expectations of KL...another big Asian city and I've seen maaany ...