Kuala Lumpur

So we arrived in KL around 4pm, all very tired indeed.  The kids were amazing, Alex had a pretty rough night on the plane, he had trouble sleeping so I ended up squidged against the window trying to give him room to lay out, not a great way to kip!

Our hotel is quite posh but old, it's great, it has a pool....! which is I have realised is essential for us.  The kids have been rushing around interested in everything, swimming afterwards is sooo great for them.  That night we went off to explore. We are in the banking area near the Petronas Tower, it's so Asian.  Fabulous architecture and amazing 'malls' interspersed with mad roads, half dug trenches, cables, building works and no footpaths (at all..), loads of mopeds and street stalls.  We managed to navigate our way to the Petronas Towers (ugly but stunning..) without getting killed - seriously no pavements! The kids were horrified by the smells (both), amazed by the mopeds with kids hanging off (Alex) and ladies covered completely (amie).  Amie can't get over the covered women here and all the little girls in the pool wearing full scale black costumes neck to toe. She keeps asking why, which is hard to explain when there was a men with a skimpy teashirt and his man boobs hanging out at breakfast... She also can't get over the heat - she has been really shocked !

Yesterday we slept late and headed to the Batu Caves by train.  At reception, after asking if I was alone (a very common question..), they were all desperate for us to use taxis.. But we have our secret weapon. Amie is a brilliant navigator - she has sussed the monorail, tube and train network completely and got us to the batu caves without a hitch (not counting the dodgy loos at the train station - kids not impressed at all...!).

The Batu Caves were a crazy tourist fest, 202 steps (we counted) up to a serious of huge caves and hundreds (literally) of thieving monkeys. The kids couldn't believe it.  Alex was not all keen and held my hand all the way around (something he hasn't done since he was four,  but Amie loved it, snapping photos all the way (I have had no look in at all with my new camera!).  We had roti and curry for lunch at a road side stall and the kids got henna tattoos. We had a great time. We went to the railway station behind hotel to get back. Any sane person would assume that you would be able to access the central business district (and hotel) outside the station, but no, there is a massive flyover totally blocking the way....?! Was all good though, as we found ourselves in a Malay Kampung full of houses on stilts and street stalls. This was of absolutely no interest at all to the children, who were busy counting and photographing the local cat population.... sigh...

 In the evening we took a monorail to China town and Petaling Street.  Roads of shop houses and crazy Chinese selling knock off kit to tourists, interspersed with food stalls and small temples. The kids were fascinated, especially when I started bargaining for things.  Alex thought this was great fun, Amie was very worried I was ripping people off because I was not paying the displayed price....bless her. She soon got the hang of it. Times have changed, it used to be all coco channel, now it's Cath Kidson anyone.....?!

Today we took a train to the local Chinese suburb.  I really wanted the kids to see a wet market.  It didn't disappoint.  There was  a shiny new Malay shopping mall adjacent to the local Chinese markets.  It was chaos. A covered, dark place with a rabbit warren of stalls all chopping chickens, fish and vegetables. The floor was awash with veg, chicken guts and fish bones.  The kids were stunned, Amie was filming when Alex saw a huge rat run passed us, he was shrieking and pointing as it zipped under a stall, much to the hilarity of the locals. It was great to speak Chinese again. We stopped a few times and the conversation in Chinese was pretty much standard...!

hello Aunty (me)

ahhh....you speak Chinese...wahhhh

Aunty then says: where  your husband....?.(always first question)

he is not here aunty ..(I was tempted each time to say 'law di Chang' which is chinese phrase for 'I am the last orange in the basket' ..but that would have really confused the old ladies, given I had kids...)

the next statement is always...'you are sooo tall'
,
yes, auntie I am English I am tall, my children are tall, you are Chinese auntie, you are small,

much cackling from Aunty and other market aunties

where you learn Chinese..your children speak it..?

in HK auntie, they were born in England - they do not 'gong' (speak)

ahhh, boy, he very handsome ...(aunties always rate boys,,,girls not so much)

you be  careful tall lady..we good Chinese,.. lots of very bad Chinese in those tourist places, they  take your bag if you no careful. 

Classic....

We also went round the pet market turtles in plastic bags, dead hamsters in cages- was good for the children to see. They have realised that English pets are very well treated !!!

We are now chilling - lots of photos to follow including Amie's video of the wet market.  They are really loving it - I am so proud of them, they are tired but still up for anything.  KL has is so familiar - it has made me seriously consider work overseas again!!

Amie and Ales's blog to follow.

Amie's blog: I really enjoyed how I got to see all the amazing things in the market we were lucky to see rats running around, the amazing fruits and the chicken's waiting for their heads to be chopped off. Right now we are eating rambutan, they are prickly red things and you have to break them open to eat them.

The Batu Caves were enormous. The dark cave has bats in, I really liked the Ramayana Cave . I thought it was really interesting with all the ornaments inside and the stalactights and stalacmights growing.

The Chinese market was huge. We got to see. Men making bean pudding by mashing up all the red beans in a huge pot which was boiling and all the smells were disgusting.