Malaysia / Indonesia (9 to 16 Dec)

by Fudgie…

From Sri Lanka we headed back to Malaysia to spend a few days with our friends Harriet and Duncan Lang. We used Kuala Lumpur as hub in Asia for our AirAsia flights, so we had been in and out of KL numerous times now! We knew the drill and the way around that airport like the back of our hands!

Kuala Lumpur

Dean had been too busy with cricket when we were there in September to see any of the sights. Other than seeing the hotel, cricket pitches, a few restaurants and bars (especially The Beach Club, ask Dean for more details on that experience!), he had not seen any of KL so we decided to tour around the city. As I had been to all these places I was somewhat an expert and along with Duncan we were Dean’s guide for the day! (Unfortunately Harri had to work, so she couldn’t join us!) We toured around Chinatown, The Central Market, Merdeka, up the Menara Tower (although we are told that if you say that in Malay then you are saying Tower Tower) as well as the Pavilion Mall (ultra modern shopping mall in Bukit Bintang area of KL). After our day touring we ended it by having a great massage near food alley in Bukit Bintang before meeting up with Harriet.

After meeting Harriet at the train station we caught a taxi home, but the boys stopped at a local bar to have a few drinks and watch a Premier League match. Harri and I headed back to their place and chatted the night away. I also got to meet her two brothers and gorgeous new nephew on Skype.

Melaka

The four of us headed on a little weekend adventure to Melaka. We caught a bus down to Melaka for the miserly price of USD 3 each. We arrived 2 hours later and had a hard time trying to get a taxi that was not going to cost us more than our 2-hour bus ride! Sure is crazy to think that for the price of two 2-hour bus tickets that was the same price for the taxi for 20 minutes to the old part of Melaka where we were staying.

Harri and I had randomly booked a hostel the night before, this hostel had no reviews, however, looked great, well located on the river and we just had a good feeling about it. Sure enough we were right! It was a great hostel. If you ever go to Melaka and want a well located, cheap cute guesthouse, stay at “Tidur, Tidur”. Stanley the owner is a cool dude and in addition to the guesthouse his main business is creating and selling his own designer t-shirts (see our link section for his details).

We enjoyed our weekend in Melaka, walking the old Portuguese style streets. There was also a night weekend market that we enjoyed walking through, stopping at almost every stand to sample the local delicacies! We also tried the famous Chicken Rice Balls, which were a little disappointing (but I think we might have chosen the wrong).

We had a fab weekend and from Melaka headed back to KL in time to catch our flight to Bali, Indonesia. Thanks Harri and Duncan for being such great hosts. We loved being your first guests since your move to KL and had an awesome time hanging out with you guys! Hope all is well in KL and your place is looking more like home now that your shipment has arrived.

We made it to the airport in time! We even had time to spare and had a great healthy McD’s (NOT!) as we were flying Air Asia and you don’t get fed on their flights. An easy flight and got to our hotel late that evening.

Kuta, Bali

We had a few relaxing days in Kuta, Bali before heading back to Brisbane, Australia. We spent most days by the hotel pool reading and sunbathing. We also went for a few walks along the beach. Dean spent some time updating our website. It was a very relaxing few days for us before heading to Australia.

Kuta was not our favorite place. The beach was dirty and polluted with rubbish everywhere from the night before. It was also way too touristy with too many bogan Aussies for our liking!

I had been to Bali before with my friend Esther when I lived in Thailand and we went to Ubud and a lot of gorgeous places, so if you get out of Kuta then you get to experience Bali the beautiful place.

Next stop… Brisbane, Australia to see Dean’s family and friends and be in one place for a month!