Kuala Lumpur: Shopping, Schumacer and Street Food

Greetings from Malaysia.

Our first stop of our SE Asia tour was Kuala Lumpur. We stopped in a hotel (Citrus) just outside of the Golden Triangle, which had a superb view of the Petronas Towers, however the transport system is so easy to use in KL that we just hopped on the train and within ten minutes were we in the city centre.

Kuala Lumpur is a modern, clean and cosmopolitan city which we loved. There are malls everywhere so I was very happy to spend a good few hours shopping especially as they all have A/C which is a relief after walking on the humid streets. I even found a Marks and Spencers which was like being in heaven after being used to Indian market stalls. My mum very kindly gave us some Easter money (thanks mum) so we treated ourselves to a few things from M & S and also the Apple shop for accessories for our itouch.


This is the view from our hotel room












We got a little bit lost on the way to the Central Market but saw some lovely buildings, this is a mosque we stumbled across. We loved how although it embraces being a modern city with it s towering skyscrapers but it is scattered with beautiful Islamic buildings.










When we were in the Central Market we came across a couple who had their feet in some water, on closer inspection it was a fish spa. You put your feet in the water and the fish, called doctor fish, nibble at your feet. Me and Andrew had a go and as you can see from Andrews face here, the sensation is weird at first but then you get used to and it feels great. You can choose either little fishies or big fishies and there was another tank where you could have your hands done - we tried all 3 between us as we loved the sensation, saved me having to get a pedicure too.









This is Andrew having his hands done and this is my feet in with the big fishies.































This is the KLCC shopping plaza













We went up to the Sky Bar at Traders Hotel to have a cocktail and to see the view of the city. This is Andrew with his Mojito with the Petronas Towers in the background. A bit pricey in this hotel though due to the view - we paid £25 for two drinks!















Me in the Sky Bar, Traders Hotel

















This is Jalan Alor which is where all the street food is, the food down here was lush. As you can see from the picture it is very popular with locals and tourists alike.













Vendors on Jalan Alor, the choice of eatery ranged from proper restaurants, trucks, vans, shacks, stalls, plastic table and chairs - a variety of ways to eat


















Durian stall - this is the fruit which is also known as stink fruit - we didn't try any as the smell was repulsive so god knows what it tasted like, apparently it is meant to taste like sick... nice...we saw loads of local people eating though so it must have something going for it.









This is the some of the street food which we sampled, the fish on the left is called chicken fish - it actually tasted like chicken and it was yummy. On the right these are braised pork ribs. We are not sure if calling it street food does not do it justice as you conjure up a image of something nasty however it was some of the nicest food we have had.


























Andrew on another trip to Jalan Alor, it was the cheapest place to eat in KL


















This was our main mode of transport - the monorail













This is my first pint of Cider in seven months, we went to a Irish bar to watch the United/Chelsea game. Although Andrew had a bit of a heart attack when the bill came as it was a pricey £7 a pint! Oops, it was worth every penny though.















We ended up staying a extra 3 nights in KL as were enjoying it so much. On arrival in the city we were greeted by numerous signs for the KL Formula 1 Grand Prix which was due to be held on the Sunday in Sepang so we decided to stay on and watch that. It was very hot and noisy but we had a great day out really enjoyed it as we had never been to a Grand Prix before.










Me and Andrew on the bus on the way to the Grand Prix in Sepang











This is Hamilton, Alonso and Massa (we think).












This is Lewis Hamilton overtaking a driver from Force India












This is me and Andrew at Sepang race track, it was very well organised however you would need to be very rich to follow this round the world.








Well that's about it from our time in KL, as you can most probably tell we had a brilliant time so we were sad to leave however as we only have 5 weeks in Malaysia it was time to move on to somewhere new (plus the credit card couldn't take any more LOL). The plan was to go to the Cameron Highlands however we decided to fancied a bit of beach life so booked some flights to the island of Langkawi instead..... to be continued.

Love Andrew & Sar xxx






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