Arrivals

I spot another Westerner waiting for someone on the same flight as Mike and I ask her how long after to flight lands do the passengers come through, as I really want to get a coffee, but am afraid that Mike will come through and wander off, lost in Malaysia… Anyway, she doesn’t know, but it’s not long before the person that she’s been waiting for turns up yet there is still no sign of Mike, and I am beginning to think that he may have got rage whilst waiting in line for immigration or something and is being detained, or someone planted drugs on him and he is currently being strip searched by a couple of eager Malaysians wearing an evil smile and a pair of latex gloves…

Suncream

Mike is arriving tonight at about 7 pm, so I need to get to the airport for about 6, just so I can find somewhere to park (the website is not very informative about how to park when picking up passengers) and I set off about 5. The drive is easy, as is parking; I wonder why I thought it would be any other way? 

Anyway, I am early and the flight is slightly delayed, so I have to hang about a bit, having a coffee in the hottest Starbucks ever (no aircon) and I get a chance to look about the shops: I need some after sun lotion, as I can feel my head radiating with the heat, and my arms beginning to sting from this morning’s session. Ah – a Bodyshop – they’ll have what I need.

As I approach, all four shop assistants welcome me to the shop with a sing-songy "Hello sir" that is very annoying, but anyway, I go to one of them (who is trying not to stare at my burnt head) and I ask if they have any lotion for soothing said head, and she points me towards some pink concoction that smelled like grapefruit and was for softening the hard skin on your feet. 

Err, no. I want after sun cream, you know, for soothing burnt heads, like the one I have got and that you are staring at! How can you not understand ‘sun tan lotion’ in Malaysia? Weirdly though, they don’t actually sell anything like that, just lots of cucumber and mint foot lotion. So I abandon that and leave the giggling assistants behind. There is a general store over the other side that sells everything, and I find some luminous green aloe vera gel, which should do the trick.

Rediculous

Mike is arriving from the UK this evening, and I am picking him up later from the airport. I've got a few hours to kill, so I head out to Titiwangsa Park as the weather is great. 

Actually, it’s incredibly hot.

I find a nice spot by the lake and watch the boating going on – with my top off (though I do have a vest on so as not to upset the locals here). I get a few people smiling at me and some kids on the horse and carts wave at the gweilo with his top off (but with vest on) as they go past.

I lie there for about an hour and then decide to head back home – I feel like I have caught the sun a little bit on my face (good!) and have been sweating like a wotsit so need a shower.

When I look in the mirror, I realise that I have burnt and look completely 'red'-iculous. 

Lovely.

Mojitos and M&Ms

The management team are over in Kuala Lumpur this week, so there's been a lot of activities (mainly eating, drinking and them getting to see the place and to know the team better) - it's been good... Anyway, tonight is the last night and the whole department go out to a Thai restaurant in the eCurve called Funky Villa. It was OK, until the band that play in the One World Hotel foyer – the Chinese Bananarama – started playing. 

They are still shit, and (worse) VERY loud. Why is that? They turned up the volume to an ear bleeding level in the bar we went to last night (Traders). Maybe they see it as having fun, or they are all deaf, who knows? Anyway, fun, noise and photo sessions over, we leave the restaurant and head (without the rest of the team) to Bangsar Shopping Centre and to a bar called WIP. The last time I went here, with some other UK colleagues, I don’t remember leaving. It was fun and we spent the evening getting merry on Royal Mojitos – a normal mojito, but with sparkling wine rather than soda water: lethal! 

We left at 2 am-ish but I didn’t really feel that drunk, so I thought I'd watch some telly when I got in...

…and woke up on the sofa at 5 am, fully clothed, lenses in and the telly on, and feeling like death. Great.

I was tired and hungover – I would had liked to have had a lie in, but Duti the Cleaner comes today and is usually here by 8, so I have to get up. 

Cliff And The Cicadas

I wanted to explore a few other places of interest that are in my guide book of Kuala Lumpur and decide to go the Forestry Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) this morning. It’s only about 10 km from where I live, but feels 100s more – marvellous. 

I get there about midday and it's lovely and humid, with an abundance of tropical plants and the noise of cicadas adding to the atmosphere. I take a walk through the forest, starting at the Souvenir shop (where an initial misunderstanding nearly cost me 80RM – the shop keeper thought I wanted a guided tour of the place when really all I’d asked for was a map…) and into the forest, along waterfall paths and eventually back to the car: all in about 3 hours. There was a bit of a surreal moment when walking through the forest and all I could hear above the cicadas was Cliff Richard singing ‘The Young Ones’.

I was lucky actually – as soon as I got back to the car, there was a deafening clap of thunder and the heavens opened. I was a bit scared driving home to be honest, as the main road had now turned into a river and the other drivers not really slowing down, but instead formed a single line of traffic that snaked at high speed along the motorway. I had no other choice but to join in which I figured was probably the safest way of getting home.

Ping Pong, Gim Or Squasy?

The weather is nice this morning so I decide, after the gym, to head to Tasik Titiwangsa (Lake Gardens) for investigation. There are not many parks here, in my opinion, where you can just sit in the sun and catch some rays. KLCC Park is too touristy and full of people wanting to take your photograph; the Lake Gardens lacks places to sit – it’s just like a big circuit. I am hoping that Tasik Titiwangsa is different: it’s slightly out of town, so I am expecting it to be more provincial. 

I make a wrong turn from the GPS and end up in the National Theatre (Istana Budaya), which turns out  OK actually, as I get a parking space and a chance to take some photos of this building – it reminds me of the Sydney Opera house. I should make a trip here to see some theatre...

Tasik Titiwangsa is next door and (after walking in the wrong direction and ending up on a motorway) I find the park entrance: it’s lovely! Nice big lakes, with fountains, cafes, boating lake, jogging circuit, picnic benches and loads of places to sit in the sun and catch the rays…I can also come here to play a game of Ping Pong, go to the Gim or try my hand at Squasy...

Perfect – I shall come here when I want to get some sunshine (weather permitting). I walk round the big lake and decide against the second one, as the weather looks a bit thunderous. I was right to do that: the heavens opened so I make my way under the shelter of the trees back to the car and head to KLCC for some shopping.