A few days in a little bit of luxury never hurt anyone!

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I arrived to KL (Kuala Lumpur) on the bus at around 7pm, and Nicky went straight to Chinatown to look for accommodation, whilst I called Fiona's mum, as I was going to stay with Fiona's parents for a few days in KL. They sent Den, their driver to pick me up from the station, as they live far away from there. It was so nice from them. When I got there, they were doing their prayers so I had dinner and waited for them to finish. I also meet Bing (Purificacion from Philippines, but they called her Bing as it's easier to pronounce), who is the wife of Den. When they finished we all had dessert together with their friends, and chatted about my trip and other things.
The following morning I arranged to meet up with Nicky at the Petronas very early in the morning as it's the only way to ensure a ticket, so Den drove me there at 6.45. When I got there I was very lucky and there was only about 20-30 people in front of me. There whislt waiting for Nicky I meet a really nice Austrian guy called Markus, and we chatted about our travels, work, etc. We all managed to get into the first tour at 9am (so lucky). After a short 3D documentary about the Petronas empire and the towers, we took the lift to the 42nd floor only (so not even halfway up), where the skybridge (bridge that connects both towers and the observation point) is. The views were amazing and you could see a lot of KL (except that in some areas there was a little bit of fogg). We only had 10 min on the top, before we had to come back down. From there the 3 of us (Markus, Nicky and myself) went straight to the shopping center for some breakfast as we hadn't had anything to eat that morning yet. I started with a spring roll covered in sweet chilly sauce, delicious, then a roti canai (I've been having so so many of these here in Malaysia), and then some type of deep fried mix of flour and water (like the spanish churros), which I forgot the name, that you dip on a delicious mango sauce, and also some other pastries. Then we walked all the way to the KL Tower, another really high tower with even better views, in my opinion, and more information, as they give you an audioguide to follow what you can see from each of the windows, and also photographies for easy recognition of some of the most important buildings in KL. It is a telecommunication tower and also has a restaurant on top that moves around. Then we also went to little India for a walk around the streets, where they are selling all sorts of Indian products, like textiles for saris, bindis, jewelery, etc, and of course there was also lots of street food stalls. After that we were all really nackered from walking all day so decided to call it a day and meet up the following day to go to Batu Caves. I had dinner with Fiona's parents at their house, with the delicious meal cooked by Bing (she is a great cook!). Then they took me to see Chinatown at night, and went to the night market there full of stalls selling from T-shirts, to sunglasses, trainers, etc..all real D&G, Gucci, etc..not!
The following day when I got to the meeting point no-one was there, so after waiting for a while I decided to get to the Caves. Batu Caves is a system of 3 caves just 13 km from the city centre. The most famous is temple cave, because it contains a hindu shrine reached by a straight flight of 272 steps. Almost a 1million pilgrims come here every year during the hindu festival of Thaipusam , to engage in or watch the spectacular masochistic feats of the devotees. Before arriving there you can see the entrance from far away with a big golden statue in front. Before starting to go up there is also another beautiful hindu temple. I was about to start going up the 272 steps when I saw Markus, who had just come down, so we arranged to meet a little bit later to continue our day tour of the city. On the way up there was so many monkeys getting food from the people there. It's a pretty and big cave with a little temple inside with some devotees doing their prayers and offerings, but I've seen so many caves now that all looked nearly the same (same same but different). Markus and I then took the bus back to town and went to the Central Market to have a look around and for lunch. This is a beautiful covered market with really nice things to buy (I had to resist the temptation, but at the end I gave in and bought a couple of things). Then when we wanted to walk around Chinatown a big storm started, so we stayed in the market for a little bit longer before going back home. That night Fiona's parents took me out for dinner with their friends Philip and Tina to a great balinese restaurant where we had an amazing meal with prawns, fish, meat, rice and different spicy sauces, all delicious. Their friends were really nice and we talked about my trip, life, etc. Back home we had some coffee and durian (the king of fruits here). I had to try it again as Fiona's dad was trying to convince me that this is a very good fruit, but I had tried it before and I knew I didn't like it, but still I tried again. I still don't like it, sorry! The following day, Sunday, I spend it with Fiona's parents and I did everything they normally do on Sundays, so first thing was to go to church. It was actually quite good and refreshing to see the way the preach , with songs and music and not just the sermon and communion like they do in Spain (boring). The pastor was very charismatic and even made some jokes along the way, which made my time there very pleasant and not boring at all. Then they tooke me for brunch to Mid Valley shopping mall and meet up with their friends Philip and Tina again, and this time we went to a Penang restaurant and finally had the laksa soup I know from London. The problem was that here is called curry mee!!! It was delicious, and it reminded me to the times I went with Fiona to our little restaurant in Chinatown! Back at home we had some coffee and then watched the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, which was being repeted on TV, and then straight to the closing ceremony, live, whilst we had some wonderful Spanish wine that I had just bought at Mid Valley and then other wines (as we had more than one bottle in all afternoon/evening. In between we had a wonderful dinner with chicken satay (the real deal), fried rice, fried chicken and salad. I love home made cooking and here everything has been deliciously cooked by Bing. When we had finished watching the ceremony I started teaching them a little bit of salsa and cha cha cha, that they picked up very quickly, as they have done some before. The following day it was my last in KL, so went to town to buy my bus ticket to Singapore and then again to walk around the central market, chinatown and little india before going to the Tourism center for a cultural performance with dances from different parts of Malaysia and their different influences, like chinese, indian, portuguese, etc. It was beautiful and their costums all very nice and colourful. After that finished I made my way back home as I had promised them to cook a Spanish omelette (which was in a square shape at the end as they only had one pan with a handle, as the rest were woks, and not good to turn the omelette around), and Philip and Tina were coming back as well for more salsa and cha cha cha lessons. For dinner we had more chicken satay (can't get enough of it), chicken in mushroom sauce, patay, fried eggs, rice, etc. All of course, delicious. I even think I've put a little bit of weight in these days I've been here with them. They treated me so well and I can't thank them enough!!! Many many many thanks!!!
After dinner it was time for more dancing lessons. We had a great time and laugh. I've been missing dancing and teaching so much that it was such a pleasure to teach them, and they have been great students.
On the 26th I was flying to Tawai (Borneo) in the afternoon, so after packing everything again (I would say this is the only thing I don't like about travelling, all the rest I'm loving it and I can't have enough!!!), Fiona's parents took me out for lunch to the golf club to the restaurant that Fiona loves (BTW Fiona, they have stopped the dim sum, but don't worry as your dad was going to make a complaint, so hopefully by the time you come back again, it will be back on). Everything was delicious. Then they took me to the airport where we said our bye byes and hopefully I will see them again, here, or UK or Spain, who knows. They have been so wonderful to me, thanks Fiona!




Llegue a Kuala Lumpur (KL) en autobus alrededor de las 7 de la tarde, y Nicky se fue directamente a Chinatown a buscar acomodacion, mientras yo llame a la mama de mi amiga Fiona, ya que me iba a quedar con ellos unos dias. Enviaron a Den, el chofer, a buscarme a la estacion, ya que viven lejos de alli. Cuando llegamos a la casa, ellos estaban rezando como hacen todas las semanas, asi que cene y espere a que acabaran para conocerlos. Tambien conoci a Bing (Purificacion de Filipinas, pero la llaman Bing porque es mas facil de pronunciar para ellos), que es la mujer de Den. Cuando terminaron todos tomamos el postre juntos con sus amigos, y mientras hablamos de mi viaje y otras cosas.
A la manana siguiente habia quedado con Nicky de encontrarnos en las Torres Petronas bien temprano ya que era la unica manera de asegurarnos un ticket (solo dan 1400 cada dia), asi que Den me llevo hasta alli a las 6.45. Cuando llegue solo habian 20-30 personas enfrente mio. Mientras esperaba a Nicky conoci a Markus, un chico austriaco, asi que nos pusimos a hablar acerca de nuestros viajes, trabajo, etc. Todos conseguimos ticket para el primer tour a las 9 de la manana (que suerte tuvimos). Despues de un corto documental de 7 min en 3D sobre el imperio de Petronas y las torres, nos llevaron en ascensor hasta la planta 42 solo (ni siquiera a la mitad de la altura total de las torres) donde se encuentra el puente que une las dos torres y que es el punto de observacion. Las vistas eran increibles y se podia ver casi todo KL (excepto en algunas areas donde habia algo de niebla). Solo tuvimos 10 minutos ahi para disfrutar de las vistas, antes de que nos devolvieran abajo. De ahi los 3 (Markus, Nicky y yo) nos fuimos directamente al centro comercial a uno de los puestos de comida a desayunar (bueno a varios). Yo empeze con un rollito de primavera buenisimo recubierto de salsa agridulce con chiles, luego un pan de roti (me he comido unos cuantos en estos dias que llevo en Malasia, es que estan tan buenos), y para terminar una especie de churro malasio super bueno, que se moja en una salsa de mango, y otras pastas tipicas de Malasia. De ahi nos fuimos directamente a la Torre KL, otra torre super alta con incluso mejores vistas en mi opinion, y con mas informacion, ya que te daban un guia audiovisual para seguir lo que se puede ver desde cada ventana, y tambien habia fotografias para identificar facilmente los edificios mas importantes que desde alli se podian ver. Es una torre de telecomunicaciones y tambien tiene un restaurante en lo mas alto que se mueve mientras estas cenando. Tambien hay unas cuantas tiendas y pequenos restaurantes en la parte de abajo. De ahi nos fuimos a la pequena India a andar un rato por las calles, donde vendian todo tipo de productos de la India, como telas para hacer saris, bindis, bisuteria, etc, y por supuesto habia un monton de puestos de comida en la calle. De ahi como estabamos tan cansados despues de andar durante todo el dia decidimos irnos a descansar y quedamos para vernos al dia siguiente y ir a las cuevas Batu. Cene con los padres de Fiona en su casa, una riquisima comida cocinada por Bing (cocina super bien y estaba todo super rico!). De ahi me llevaron a ver Chinatown de noche, y nos fuimos al mercadillo nocturno con un monton de puestos vendiendo desde camisetas, gafas de sol, bambas, etc todo D&G, Gucci, etc todo real ....no!
AL dia siguiente cuando llegue al punto de encuentro no habia nadie, asi que despues de esperar un rato me fui hacia las cuevas. Estas cuevas estan formadas por un sistema de 3 cuevas a 13km de KL, la mas famosa de las cuales tiene una templo indu al que se llega despues de subir 272 escaleras! Casi un millon de peregrinos vienen aqui cada ano para la celebracion del festival hindu de Thaipusam, para ver o participar en el. Antes de llegar a la cueva, ya se puede ver desde lejos la entrada con una gran estatua dorada. Estaba a punto de empezar a subir las escaleras cuando me encontre de nuevo a Markus, que acababa de bajar de la cueva, asi que quedamos en encontrarnos un poco despues y continuar nuestra ruta por la ciudad. Subiendo las escaleras habia un monton de monos a los que la gente les daba comida. Es una cueva bastante grande, con su templo donde algunos devotos estaban haciendo sus pregarias y haciendo sus ofrendas a los dioses hindus, pero como he visto ya unas cuantas cuevas en este viaje, la verdad todas me parecen ya iguales. Markus y yo de ahi nos fuimos de vuelta a la ciudad donde visitamos el Mercado Central para echar un vistazo y comer algo. Este es un bonito mercado cubierto con un monton de recuerdos, ropa, etc para comprar (tenia que resistir la tentacion, pero al final acabe comprando un par de cositas). De ahi queriamos irnos a Chinatown a pasear un rato pero una gran tormenta empezo, con lo cual no pudimos movernos de alli. Al cabo de un rato mas decidimos irnos cada uno a nuestras casas, ya que no tenia pinta de parar pronto. Esa noche los padres de Fiona me llevaron a cenar con sus amigos Philip y Tina a un restaurante con comida tipica de Bali, donde nos comimos un plato delicioso con gambas, pescado, carne, arrow y diferentes salsas picantitas, todo increiblemente buenisimo! Sus amigos eran muy amables y simpaticos y nos pasamos el rato hablando de mis viajes, de la vida, etc. De vuelta a casa nos tomamos un cafe y durian (el rey de las frutas aqui). Lo tuve que probar de nuevo ante la insistencia del padre de Fiona de que es la mejor fruta del mundo y que tiene muchas propiedades nutritivas, pero ya lo habia probado antes, 2 veces y no me habia gustado nada, pero aun asi lo volvi a probar. Sigue sin gustarme, que asco (es que solo el olor es para tirarte para atras). El dia siguiente, Domingo, lo pase con los padres de Fiona y hize todo lo que ellos normalmente hacen los Domingos, asi que la primera cosa fue ir a la iglesia, si lo que ois a la iglesia. La verdad es que no estuvo nada mal y fue refrescante la manera en que lo hacen aqui, con canciones y musica, y no solo el sermon del pastor y la comunion (como en Espana). El pastor era bastante carismatico y incluso hizo algunas bromas, lo que hizo mi tiempo alli nada aburrido. De ahi me llevaron a comer a uno de los restaurantes en un centro comercial (Mid Valley) donde nos encontramos de nuevo con sus amigos Philip y Tina, y esta vez me llevaron a un restaurante de comida tipica de Penang, y finalmente me tome la sopa que tantas veces habia probado en Londres y tenia muchas ganas de probar aqui. El motivo por el cual no la habia probado es que aqui se llama totalmente diferente, se llama Curre Mee!! Estaba buenisima, y me recordo esas veces que Fiona y yo habiamos ido a un pequeno restaurante en Chinatown! De vuelta a casa nos tomamos un cafe y nos pusimos a ver la ceremonia de apertura de los Juegos Olimpicos, que estaban repitiendo por la tele, y de ahi a la ceremonia de clausura en directo, mientras nos tomabamos unas copitas de vino espanol que habia comprado en

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