Blogs from Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia, Asia

We made it to Kuala Lumpur, hurrah! After landing yesterday from a 12.5 hour flight and walking in the 38 degree heat all afternoon we were all shattered by 6pm and ended up crashing at 8 till 9am today! We managed to see all the sights today and are heading to Pulau Pangkor tomorrow (an island off the West coast) for Lewis' 24th birthday. Will keep you all updated and add pictues soon! Much Love DDLL... read more

I have not been to the Maha Vihara Buddhist Temple for the past two years. I am either on assignments or just plain lazy(my second name). Usually in the month of May, Vesak Day is celebrated grandly throughout the world, particularly in Malaysia. This Maha Vihara Temple has confidently celebrated this festival since the day it was open some 50-60 years ago. Many Buddhist do throng to this grand festival to pay respect with various offerings, to receive blessings on this day and to volunteer community service. So, I decided to go this year. It was on the 5th May 2012, reached there at 5.00pm. Prayed and continue with my business....photography. I walked the street outside the temple where there are 26 floats awaiting to make the journey with the devotees. The call to start is ... read more

Early start this morning having booked an elephant tur for the day. It was supposed to pick us up between 8am and 830am but didn't show up until closer to 9am. A quick stop in Chinatown to register before beginning an almost two hour drive out towards Taman Negara Reinforest. First stop was a place called Deerland where we got to feed and pet deer, an ostrich, rabbits and see some other animals like birds and snakes. It was actually a lot better than anticipated. The deer were cute, my favorites being the younger and smaller ones rather than the big ugly old ones. I was slightly scared of the ostrich though, and certainly not a fan of the snakes. We spent a good hour or so there, Soma held one of the carpet pythons as ... read more

With the excitement of my speaking engagement at the now concluded Malaysian International Tourism Bloggers Conference & Awards (MITBCA) not fully subsided, I was further enlivened by additional surprises of the most pleasant kind. Since I have previously purchased Royal Selangor pewter as christening gifts for my nephew and niece, I decided to visit their Visitor Centre. Fi, (who has been travelling for four months) joined me for the tour, and this was the tenth country we had met - a fine achievement – despite this occasion being dictated by the necessity for me to carry her broken Nikon camera to Australia for a warranty repair. Arriving at the Visitor Centre, we were conducted on a brief, but interesting tour which involved admiring everything from the delicate finery of intricately designed tea pots to the imposin ... read more

I was startled upon receiving the following message from Ali, Travelblog’s Founder: “Hey Shane - any chance of a miracle recovery by 8th May? I can get you a public speaking gig in KL on travel blogging.” The timing of this invite to the Malaysia International Tourism Bloggers Conference and Awards (MITBCA) sponsored by Tourism Malaysia was problematic. Still in the final phase of a six month recovery from debilitating scrub typhus, I hurriedly received approval from my doctor, my passport’s priority renewal was completed in an impressive 3.5 hours, and following official approval and confirmation of my attendance from the organisers, I was bound for Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. With only two weeks to prepare, I was still refining the presentation on the flight from Australia, and crammed 22 rehearsals of the 15 minute speech ... read more

Fairly early start this morning to get to the Petronas Towers before tickets were sold out, so after breakfast we headed there via monorail, followed by what the hostel guy said was a 'five minute walk.' It so wasn't, more like a ten minute walk. The monorail was absolutely packed and we had to squish onto the carriage, probably due to it being peak hour. At Petronas Towers we had to line up for a good half hour, but luckily could get tickets for any of the afternoon tours. We opted to go for 7pm, hoping to get some night or late afternoon photos, perhaps even the sunset. After a quick stroll through the shopping centre at the base of the towers, we hopped a train to go down to Chinatown. Essentially we were going to ... read more

April 23 - 25 / 2012 The flight from Clark in the Philippines to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia was one of the most turbulent we've ever had! Other than that, it was pretty uneventful. We arrived in the city we know and love in the afternoon, took the bus into town, then the metro train to the area we stay in, Bukit Bintang. Also known as the shopping & finance district. Here you'll find great nightlife, skyscrapers, delicious food and many malls and markets. We checked into our usual hotel, Pondok Lodge and made our way to our favourite little Arabic/Indian restaurant, KC Corner. They serve some of the best food (roti channi, naan breads, many types of curries, byriani, fried chicken and other noodle and rice dishes), at a very low cost. The next day ... read more