Blogs from China Town, Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia, Asia

After a 5 hour scenic bus ride through date palm tree plantations, along a very well maintained and modern highway, we arrived at our second destination, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Although we were here for a visit last year, we had a mission to discover different areas of the city. There is so much diversity with the various religions and cultures that make up this country, that it is easy to experience something new around every corner. Upon leaving the hotel yesterday afternoon, our concierge recommended that we take an umbrella that was provided by the hotel. We regretfully declined and found ourselves in a monsoon rainstorm very far from our hotel. We continued to explore late into the evening. We also discovered that the taxi drivers were reluctant to pick up to drenched tourists. Lucky for ... read more

It's been a while since my last post, so lets see if I still remember how to do this. After 5 months of being in Thailand we finally got all the stamps, visa extensions and nods we needed to actually leave the country without nullifying our work permits. After going through this whole process, I have a whole newfound respect for immigrants living in America...this is hard! The week began with my first visitors from back home. First to come visit was a coworker Jimmy who came to Thailand to visit his sister up north and decided to swing by the islands before heading back. Next came one of my oldest friends, Jessie and her (recent, congrats by the way) fiancé Brian! They were a welcome reminder of home and a much needed reality check of ... read more

We diddled around for a while before our lift to the airport (negotiated with a driver at the entrance to the hotel, as the hotel didn't seem to have a record of our booking, and saved over £1 - happy days!), had our nails done and bought our standard travel snacks (cheesy ritz crackers) with the last of our rupiah. Then went back to the air-conditioned splendour of our room. The staff obviously wanted to clean but we stuck it out! We were very pleased to have got down to our last 50,000 rupiah. Oh dear - big mistake! TRAVEL INFORMATION - there is a departure tax of 150,000 - in my far-reaching travel research I missed this vital fact. We found out once we'd been through security and spotted a pay desk. Sam wondered if ... read more

When you are full of free time, you stretch your time to decide minor things like should you take a day or night train from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur (KL)? How does it matter? Anyhow, after much deliberation and a long list of pros and cons, I finally decided that the morning train suited me so that I can feed breakfast to my fishes and look at the scenery. Next morning, I took Singapore MRT (Mass Rapid Transmit), to reach Marsiling station. Then bus 856 to Woodlands train station. After formalities, I sat in second class chair cart. The train left the city and I saw greenery and more greenery. There was hardly a soul around, no villages, ponds - nothing.I went off to sleep. It just happened that the cost of the day ticket was ... read more

In the space of just under 24 hours it seems like we've been transported to another world. As we left home on the first day of the new year a cold wind howled, the rain poured almost vertical and the sky was a dark slate grey colour. At 3.30pm on the second day we were sat on a bus backing out of Kuala Lumpur International Airport bus station. Instantly we felt the warmth from the sunshine through the bus window. Instead of watching bare forlorn looking trees as we passed by, as we had done in England, rows of palm trees made a beautiful backdrop against a deep blue sky. At last we've escaped the British winter!! January 3rd We grabbed some breakfast on a rooftop cafe before making our way on the monorail to the ... read more