Malaysia

We've arrived safely in Malaysia and day one of the holiday is over. It's hot and humid as I expected and we are drinking lots of water to compensate. The Equator Hostel is basic but nice. It's very close to the shopping area so was a good pick.

Got in very late on Monday night after a good flight. Mum and Dad drove us to the airport and I am sure that they were impressed by the relatively little luggage we were taking for a four week trip. The lady at the check-in desk as even more impressed as we were both well under the 20kg limit (15.6 for Euan and 16.8 for Suzie) and commented, "I like that!".

We spent the flight watching movies (The Shooter & Wild Hogs), playing computer games and being fed. Very impressed with Malaysian Airlines - good service - Euan liked the bit where they came down the aisle with the tray of beer. Dinner was salmon curry for me and mushroom ravoli for me with a snack of chicken roll later on.

We landed at about 9.45pm local time so I wasn't keen to get the train so taxi it was. You buy a voucher at the airport then stand in a queue to be allocated a taxi. Very nice car and driver although it fast became obvious that he didn't know where the hotel was. We ended up driving past it three times. First time I spotted it as we went past, the second time the driver didn't listen when I told him where it was so it was a case of third time lucky. I always feel a huge sense of relief when I finally get to the hotel in a foreign country and get a bed.

Despite being fed on the plane by tummy was telling me it wanted food so we wandered down the street to a small cafe. Unfortunately the kitchen had closed but by the time I had finished my drink I was ready to go to bed anyway.

Day one proper of the holiday started early with a basic breakfast then we headed out to see the sites with a map and some instructions on what to see. Well, as they say about the best laid plans... Found the monorail station and then told Euan that if we follow it we will come to the first stop for the hop-on, hop-off bus. So off I strode confidently with Euan trusting my map reading skills. About 20 minutes later I realised we had followed the monorail in the wrong direction. Much more walking ensued until we reach china town. Our journey hunt was through the boring area although we did see a fire station and saw their fire motor bikes so not completely a waste.

In china town we had our first coffee for the day and some pastries which put the world to rights again. Waiting for the tourist bus we met some Melbournians (small world out there). Finally got ourselves on the bus and headed to the National Museum. It was a good display of dress, culture and customs of the different people who inhabit Malaysia. With native, Indian, Chinese, Portugese, British influences the country has seemingly embraced all of those cultures. Whilst the official national religion is Islam it's clear that not all of the population is Muslim. We have seen a wide variety of dress from full burkas with only the eyes showing through to not much covered. All appear to live together peacefully.

After we visted the museum we headed over a very busy highway via a covered walk-way to the Planeterium. Good thing it was cheap (1 RM each) as there wan't a great deal to see. The 360° view of the city was good and made up for the large number of stairs we climbed to get there. As we wandered along the road to get back to the next bus stop we passed by the Police musuem and headed inside. It's beautifully presented. Found the weapon display the most interesting which surprised me as I'm not a big fan of guns but they had a large proportion dedicated to various home made weapons that have been seized. A whole new use of an old fashioned bike pump was shown where a sharp metal spike had been welded inside ready to be drawn out. Not much use if your bike tire goes flat.

Euan was obviously getting tired and stumbling a little as he isn't used to doing so much walking, especially since he broke his leg. That unfortunately led to a rather nasty looking cut on the bottom of his big toe with a five cent piece size piece of skin peeled back. We patched it up as best we could with a tissue and onward we walked. Soaked the tissue off later with some saline and I tortued him with betadine and it's now got a very large bandaid on it. Fingers crossed it will now heal on it's own.

Found the big shopping centre, Berjaya Times Square, and had an early dinner/late lunch and the most fabulous Lemon chill drink which was so refreshing. I had Mushroom soup and Euan has pumpkin and we shared a bowl of wedges. I noticed that Transformers was showing on the Imax screen so bought tickets and watched that rather than try and walk too far. Excellent movie and I especially liked it on the huge screen. The robot transformations were really well done and I liked the cast and the storyline. The transforming Camero was hilarious.

Tottled back to the hotel for an early night so we are up bright and early today. We are going to the Petronas Twin Towers and the tall KL tower today and we will see how Euan's foot holds up.