Saturday 23^rd November 2002
Another moving day. Relaxed morning packing. Hitler from reception rang to check we were not staying as at 1055 we had not left our room (checkout vill be at 11 o-clock!). A Buddhist monk has to obey 227 rules – sure there are 228 at Winner Inn. Our BMP guide arrived as arranged to take us to the airport at 1130. Plane is running 35 minutes late so will only have 25 mins to change flights at BKK. Its alright we still have our lucky strings. Flights with Thai Airways. Very good service and masses of leg room. Flight transfer works fine and luggage even arrives KL same time as us. Fly past KL to airport – city very distinctive group of skyscrapers. Fun and games at KL as we try to control errant luggage trolley up and down lifts while looking for ATM that gives us money. Determine that best option to hotel is taxi – must buy coupon and take airport taxi for 70RM (Malaysian Ringit ~6RM=£1), but taxi driver appears when needed and we go private for same price. 48km to city, pleasant taxi driver who gives us low down on Malaysian religion and politics.

Arrive at Novotel Century but they don’t expect us till 26^th, they haven’t heard from Bridge The World. Never mind they provide a room and will sort it out on Monday. The new laid back Pete and Glyn take this in their stride. View of Petronas Twin Towers from the window. Sit and watch a film followed by live premiership football at 11pm. "Use only a legitimate smart card. Failure to do so may result in a fine of up to 100,000RM, 12 months imprisonment, or whipping."!!

Room has arrow on ceiling labelled Kiblat – huh? Glyn has flash of inspiration – must indicate direction for Muslim’s to pray, not east but kind of north west.

Sunday 24^th November 2002

Huge breakfast. With all the different religions/cultures in KL there are 3 different styles of breakfast, including curry! Could eat all day. Off to station to book train to Singapore. On way out ring Grace. Hasn’t been receiving our emails and doesn’t know we have arrived 3 days early. Agrees to meet us at station. Taxi to station (10RM) and buy tickets (68RM for 2) but train leaves 0730 (Hmmm). Buy travel guides for KL and Singapore. Meet Grace.

Grace, husband Lewis and eldest son Jia Le (5 yrs) take us to Butterfly Park and Lake Garden Park. Excellent butterflies, lovely park near centre of KL. Jia Le has lots of energy, quite a handful. His mother tongue is Mandarin but speaks mixture of English, Malay, Mandarin. On to shopping centre, heavy thundery rain, pick up internet card, Chinese meal – try Chinese rolls, and new desserts, under expert supervision. Grace and Lewis so kind to us and have arranged to take holiday on Wednesday to take us sightseeing outside KL.

Manage to connect to Internet but fail to send mail. Pick up incoming mail OK.

Monday 25^th November 2002
Late breakfast, sort out Internet, send emails and log. Buy some water, cokes and beers for the fridge and real biscuits, don't think will bin these when we move on. Set off to Chinatown at 2pm. Very different to Bangkok, lots of food stalls, lots of fake designer goods. Buy 2 CDs for 10 RM (under £2). Playing one now on laptop - seems OK. Look at "Timberland" shirt priced 39.90RM, walk away and price drops to 20RM! Trouble is really don't want another shirt.
Walk through to Hindu temple, and then Chinese temple. Hindu temple quite bare but intricate sculpture on towers. Chinese temple feels like a shop, but has hanging coils of incense which drop ash on head. Two beggars outside. Not many beggars in KL and none very pushy.

Check out some restaurants then walk back through side streets. Lots of stalls preparing food for evening. Chicken in cages, fish, loads of vegetables. At 4pm Jalan Petaling is closed to traffic and store holders take over.

Reflecting on clothing needs. Really pleased with sandals. Since first day in Bangkok when took socks off because of floods, haven't worn socks at all. A couple of pairs of trousers and shirts to alternate are all one needs. Maybe an umbrella would be good. Could easily have all gear in small backpack! Never cold unless AC turned up too high/low. Dress code very relaxed.

Back to yesterday's restaurant for dinner. Fried bullfrog with ginger and spring onions, deep fried prawns, and chicken with broccoli. Frog seems to have lots of legs and small bones otherwise quite nice - another tick in a box. Oh and walked down up escalator yesterday - always wanted to do that.

Tuesday 26^th November 2002 Off to the Petronas twin towers today. Skybridge connects towers between levels 41 and 42 (88 floors in all). Access is free but limited to groups of about 20. Queue to get ticket which is scheduled for specific time - in our case 1315, so we have a couple of hours to kill. Get a drink and wander around the park. There is yet another huge shopping complex at the base of the towers. Also an auditorium for the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and a ten screen cinema. The KLCC site was originally a racetrack and occupies an area of 100 acres. A good percentage of this has been developed into a park area with lakes, fountains, children's play area and paddling pool. Trees and "grass" are carefully manicured by a team of workers (some armed with paint scrapers doing the weeding). We visit the cinema and decide to watch Harry Potter 2 (Chamber of Secrets) after visiting the skybridge.

At 1300 are admitted to waiting area for bridge where there are presentations showing its construction. Whisked to the 41st floor at rate of one floor per second. Then have ten minutes to look and take pictures. View is better than expected but photos probably won't work well. Pete enquires about tower movement in the wind. The bridge section has freedom to move about 1ft either way to compensate for towers swaying. Can see limestone cliffs to north where are Batu Caves.

Straight to cinema for Harry Potter (subtitles in Malay and Chinese (Mandarin)) then back to hotel. Rains and have to use bin bags again. Umbrellas would be much more elegant.

Out for dinner with Grace, Lewis & Jia Le at nice restaurant. Do our best to order things not too expensive but think we got it all wrong! Pete has "coral grouper" in sweet and sour, Glyn goes for crab (prices must have been by the cm or 100g, or claw or something). Grace sneaks off to pay the bill before we can catch her – got to do something about this! Home via Merdeka (Independence) Square, the tallest flagpole in world, and nicely lit buildings.

Wednesday 27^th November 2002

Get up early – training for Friday. Grace & co pick us up at 9 and drive to Malacca – 2 hours south on the coast. Discover have left passports in hotel room, not in safe. Brief panic but decide nothing can be done and put it behind us.

Stop at Museum of Orang Asli (a mainly nomadic aboriginal people of Malaysia). Simple but interesting displays. Take a short ride in an ox cart. The oxen are controlled by a rope through the nose rather than a bit in the mouth.

Pit stop at Macdonald’s. First Asian whippy ice creams – must now stop at all Mac’s. On to centre of old town Malacca. The town is colonial Dutch and Portuguese. Visit the Stadthuys but museum is closed. Walk to Maritime museum housed in large replica Portuguese "man-of-war". Again simple but interesting exhibits. Jia Le is into everything but it is left to Pete and Lewis to do the real damage by touching what they shouldn’t. Normally Jia Le is with child minder – don’t know what she’s paid but it can’t be enough! Jia Le has attached himself to Pete.

Stop for light lunch. Grace and Lewis eat enough to feed an army, Pete has fruit platter, Glyn tortillas with tomato and melted cheese. We manage to pay! Walk up hill at centre of old town and stroll back to car past various interesting buildings, including the palace of the Melaka Malay Sultanate, and exhibits, including planes, trains and automobiles.

Its 6pm and decide to drive back to KL for dinner. Jia Le refuels with half hour sleep, as do Grace and Glyn. Stop at traditional Malaysian food court to eat. Order various dishes from individual "kitchens" which are then brought to the table where they are paid for. In the confusion Grace spends more money but Glyn manages to pay for a jug of beer. Try lots of different foods. Again too much for us but Grace manages to finish nearly everything! Glyn unhappy because Grace so thin.

Another great day with lots of fun. Grace, Lewis and son have been good company. And it didn’t rain.

Thursday 28^th November 2002

Grace & Lewis (only) pick us up at 1030 to go to Batu Caves. These are large limestone caverns in which the Hindus have built a temple, various shrines, sculptures, and paintings. Many statues with four arms, or three heads, or elephant trunks. There are 272 steps that lead up to the entrance of the cave, and monkeys live on and around them. Inside, the largest caverns are open to the sky. Glyn’s knees suffer from the steps up and down.

Refreshments: coconuts for G & L, ginger beers for P & G. Heavy rain while under cover. Before moving on, pay our respects to some elephants brought from Thailand to amuse the tourists. Feel quite protective towards them and feed them bananas. Elephants seem bored and restless. A long way for them to have come in back of truck.

Next stop at FRIM (Forest Research Institute of Malaysia). Extensive research site with accommodation for staff and families. Open to the public with forest trails and arboretums. Find information office and enthusiastic man tells us where to walk and what to see, map with "must see stops" labelled. Lewis stocks up with supplies, Pete with cameras, and we set off into the "jungle". First off are some ponds where we are told that there are fish which are over 2m long. Slow, massive stirring of the weed gives location of enourmous red and black scaled fish glimpsed amongst the weed. These are dragonfish or Arapaima gigas . Awe inspiring. Many turtles/terrapins also. Passed enormous bamboo. Supplied Grace with Torridon "Jungle Fever" insect repellent. G & L gain sustenance from sunflower seeds. We walk through forest for about an hour with excellent views, particularly the canopy above. After walking we drive around park stopping at Terngganu house and Melaka house – two wooden buildings built in traditional style dismantled and brought here for preservation. Then on to a picnic spot by mountain stream. We walk up to a pool below a waterfall and paddle in the cool water.

After leaving FRIM drive to new Chinese temple in KL. Very large and in traditional style. Eventually find ourselves in the canteen (Lewis was leading) where we partake of food from Fatman Steamboat. Select several different strange foodstuffs on kebab skewers which take to table and cook in boiling water in centre of table – fondue style. Strange thing in such a hot country to sit around a boiling pot! Pete eats all kind of stuff including snails, jellyfish, fish and squid cakes, some sort of chicken innards, and clams.

Pick up Jia Le from his holiday school and visit G & L’s home. Apartment on 7th floor of block. Meet Grace’s parents and show them pictures of Torridon. Father speaks good English but mother none. Apartment has fans but AC only in master bedroom. Kitchen is divided into two with cooking area separate from preparation and storage area. Very useful when most food fried in wok. Three bedrooms. Huge TV which remains on during visit.

Go for dinner wth Grace, Lewis & Jia Le to Sunway Lagoon. Indian food. Banana pancake! Back to hotel and say goodbye to Grace and Lewis. We are very grateful to them.

Thoughts on Kuala Lumpur:
Novotel Century Hotel – Pro: centrally located, fridge, safe & hairdrier, good breakfast; Con: Poor standard of maintenance, linen and administration.
Thoughts on Malaysia: We had a busy time which was greatly enhanced by Grace & Lewis’s kind attentions. KL’s main attractions are eating and shopping, and seems well organised and prosperous. Our visits to Malacca and FRIM, together with the train journey gave a better insight into the country.