A Family Weekend in Kuala Lumpur

We spent part of the Easter weekend in KL. We all needed to just have a relaxing break and we certainly had that. This will be quite a picture heavy entry!

We made the trip on a Wednesday afternoon. Poor Tet flew into Changi at noon and we were back at the airport again by 4.30 pm. We flew with Jetstar for the first time in Asia and we were very happy with the flight and the very low airfares.We were a little anxious about the journey as it involved 2 taxi rides, a train journey and the plane trip. Miss Three is much better travelling either late at night or in the morning. We really were pushing it flying at this time of the day. She was a trooper although I do feel sorry for the people sitting around us as she did sing quite a bit on the plane. She finally fell asleep in the taxi to our apartment in KL which meant she had a very late night!

She was up super early on Thursday morning so she and Tet went out on an adventure letting me have a lie in and a gentle start to the day. Some of these photos were taken by Tet.

Checking out the kiddy pool on the 22nd floor of our apartment building

After having a look at some of the facilities at the serviced apartments we were staying at, MT and Daddy headed into the area around KLCC (the convention centre). There is a huge public space with lakes, playgrounds, fountains and a water play area. It is child heaven, especially early in the morning before it hits the 36 degrees it was each day we were there.

The Petronas Towers: until recently the tallest building in the world

The biggest playground ever!

Whale and dolphins cavorting in the lake

We were totally surprised to find blossom in the tropics

We spent part of each day in this area. MT just loved having so much space to run around. There was even a soft running track for her to race her parents. We were surprised how far and fast she can run now. I would totally recommend this area of KL for staying if you have younger children as there is so much free and appropriate space for them to hang out in.

When they returned to the apartment we went to the restaurant on site for breakfast.

The food was great and very reasonably priced. The views were pretty great from the 22nd floor.

We spent most of that day just pottering around the apartment and checking out the mall next to the playground area. We ended up eating room service for dinner and it was really fantastic. We had intended going out for dinner but just as we were about to leave there was a massive tropical downpour.

Room service dinner

We chose to stay at The Ascott Serviced Apartments. We have found having the extra space in an apartment is so much better with a three year old. We cannot always afford to take this option but in this case the apartment was over $100 a night cheaper than the hotels we were looking at. As a bonus we were upgraded to a 2 bedroom apartment so we were in a huge space in a great location. My only complaint was that there was no wifi in the room which was tricky when it came to buying my Studio Calico kit at midnight...

The living room

 Enjoying the comfy chair before bed

Modelling the linen basket in the main bedroom

Enjoying the pool

One of the other major reasons we came to KL was we have a couple of really good friends who live there. They are moving to Bangkok soon so this was a great opportunity to see them while they were still in KL and it meant that Scarlett could get to meet their dogs.

Suburban KL

Meeting the dogs

Yoshi the shih tzu - he loved MT - the other two not so much

Alan and Indera were such good tour guides and drove us around a lot. We really enjoyed Alan's cute little Peugeot car with the glass roof. It was awesome for looking at all the skyscrapers in the KLCC area. They took us to some great malls and interesting parts of town including the Pavillions Mall and Bangsar. We also had an amazing breakfast at an Indian restaurant in Bangsar.

Paper Dosai and our friend Indera

A gorgeous cafe in Bangsar

MT loving the car

MT being totally spoilt by Uncle Alan and Uncle Indera

 We just has such a great relaxing break in KL and are definitely going to return with my Dad later in the year. 

Scarlett playing with the Lego in Parkson Department Store

Dancing with the robots

We did the reverse of the journey we made up to KL but left a little later in the evening and MT was much better. She fell asleep on the plane journey on the way back. We found KL airport was very good with small children. There were plenty of places to eat and there was a great children's playground right next to the gate our flight departed from. There were also massage chairs which we all tried out. We felt unstressed and happy on the homeward journey and were ready and bale to get stuck into Easter Sunday upon our return.

On the train to  KL Airport

Playing by the gate at KLIA

Squirming on the massage chair

I hope this was an interesting look at our weekend. We had a wonderful trip. KL is a fun place to spend a few days and, like the rest of Malaysia, the food is wonderful.

Listmania 8: Reverse Bucket List

I have to admit I was not entirely sure how to go about this post. I have not had the most exciting life ever. I am quite widely travelled I guess and have lived in a few interesting places but I still feel there is just so much more I would like to achieve.

 

Overseas Experiences

• My parents, who had never been further than Australia, moved our family to Singapore when I was 8. What was supposed to be a 2 year  experience turned into a nearly 20 year love affair with Singapore for my parents and an enduring second home for all members of my family.
• Travelling all around South East Asia on dodgy buses, no name airlines and cockroachy trains in the 80s. One trip we went on consisted of 24 hours on a bus to reach a city in Southern Thailand that turned out to be the red light capital of the region. Eek! Did I mention we had our 80 something year old Nana on this trip too?
• Travelling to the UK and France as a 15 year old on my own. I had a great 5 week trip visiting York, Bath, London, Derbyshire and Paris. I spent some of the time staying with friends but much of it I was on my own staying in B and Bs and hostels. 
• Finding a great travel companion in a work colleague when I lived in Singapore as a teacher at an international school. We went all over the place and it was great to go with someone who was happy to do their own thing and not bothered if you had a pool day or went off to a market without them while they had a massage. I have especially fond memories of a trip to Vietnam with her.
• Our babymoon to the US. It was just supposed to be a holiday but we found out we were expecting shortly after we booked the trip (to take our minds off nearly 4 years of trying for baby). I was 18 - 20 weeks pregnant and we drove from LA up to San Fran through Yosemite National Park and Death Valley down to Vegas and back across to LA. Amazing trip that I would do again in a heartbeat although I am not so sure that Miss Three would cope with all the driving. Oh and we did a day trip to the Grand Canyon (self driven) too. We saw a lot of the country and got to see the Killer live in Vegas. It was magic.
• Family holidays to Phuket around Christmas with my family on the years we didn't go back to NZ. We have introduced the same thing with my family now and I love seeing Miss Three enjoying the same food, clear water and amazing hospitality that was part of my childhood.
• Living in Singapore for the third time with my family (ie hubby, daughter and me) and experiencing a very different Singapore from that I had experienced in the past. Singapore as a SAHM is a very different kettle of fish from Singapore as a single woman or a child/teen. It was always the dream for my imaginary children to get to have a similar childhood to myself and circumstances have conspired to make it a reality. I am very blessed.
• Visiting Japan - a country I had no interest in (in spite of having a Japanese husband) and falling in love with it.

Education

•  Getting to attend an international school for a big chunk of my education. The best part is the acceptance of different cultures it gave my siblings and I from a young age. I am still in touch with lots of friends from this period of my life and see someone from my old school at least once a year either on our travels or theirs.
• Going to boarding school. I loathed every second of it but I have some amazing friends to this day as a result of the 13 months I lasted there.
• Being able to discover what I really enjoyed at Uni. Fees were low enough that when I discovered I really did not like law I was able to change and complete a history degree without it being a hugely expensive mistake.
• Teacher training in spite of having said (as the daughter of two teachers ) that I would never do it. It is a skill that is so useful and transferable and now that I am thinking about working again is something that offers enough flexibility to be able to work and spend time with my family.
• Insurance qualifications. It sounds like the driest topic ever but I loved getting my quals. I miss insurance way more than teaching but it does not work well with a family.

Real Life

• Going way out of my comfort zone for one day and meeting my husband.
• Throwing caution to the wind and getting engaged after having spent less than five weeks in the same place as my husband
•  Changing careers so we could live together - it seemed like such a huge step but I found a career I loved just as much and we were in the same place!
• Overcoming significant family traumas including the deaths of three of our parents, being in Japan during the big quake 2 years ago and losing friends in the Christchurch quakes and becoming even stronger as a couple as a result.
• Thriving after the shock diagnosis of a life threatening chronic health condition when we thought hubby was just a bit run down. It has certainly made us take more chances and live our lives more fully.
• Giving up on the idea of having children after 4 years of unexplained infertility only to conceive the week before we went back to the specialist to see what else could be done. Miss Three was so worth the wait.

This has been such a great exercise in gratitude. I have had so many extraordinary opportunities in my life and more than a little bit of luck. I would love to see you take part in this week's link up at Home Life Simplified . 

Have a super week!