But how nice to be greeted by David who has come in much further than us from London for the Easter weekend, he of course, had arrived in a little more splendour than us via various VIP lounges and the proper, rather than low cost terminal..... We had gone to the airport direct from a whole day in the humid jungle, so were looking, if that were possible, even more backpackery than usual! David was as polite as he could be but we did strain his sincerity! He came bearing gifts, chocolate and mags (how nice to be catching up with Hello! and OK!), so it was a little like Christmas...
We were back to flashpacking at the Mandarin Oriental, chosen of course for location, and no, not because it is next door to the magnificent Petronas Towers, but because it is within thirty seconds of the largest, poshest shopping mall, the Suria KLCC Mall in Kuala Lumpur.... very impressive as we trawled every designer label known to man.
We felt that before giving ourselves up to shopping, we really should see some the city so set off cameras in hand for the usual KL landmarks, and braving the surprisingly easy metro system we see the old mosque, Merdeka Square and big flag, the National Mosque and the Museum of Islamic Art - well we speeded through the exhibits but did spend time in the cafe and the gift shop... The city is a real mix of very old and very new, big skyscraper buildings, some very 80's in design, some newer and some still being built, the Petronas Towers of course, huge modern malls all side by side with old Chinatown and bustling Little India, and Central Market.
David is as adventurous as Ant when it comes to food so our day two breakfast was taken at the Imbi Market where, perched on small red chairs they munch away at mainly unidentified local delicacies.... Gill of course, giving the local delicacies a miss sipped at the worst coffee ever and looked forward to a latte and a doughnut at the rather more hygienic Coffee Bean later... Then without Gill, who was being wimpy (again.....) they go up the KL Tower. Having done our worthy sightseeing, we then felt we deserved to enjoy the serious part of the day - shopping. All I will say is that it is a good job David brought out extra bags..... But they did get some respite with half an hour in the fish foot spa, so important when there is all that mall walking to do!
And of course food is important so in the evening we eat on the streets in Jalan Alor which is heaving with people and stalls and fragrant (?) with the smell of bbq, durian fruit and fish head curry. The food was really good and amazingly cheap. Major downside, for Gill at least is the absence of wine, this is a beer only street. But we make up for this by stopping at the trendy Sky Bar at Trader's hotel on the way back. Up on the high top floor of the hotel, it's a smart, noisy bar with a long swimming pool running straight through it..... David looked the part, but Ant and I didn't feel completely on trend in the best our backpacker wardrobes could come up with.... The night time view of the Petronas Towers on our walk back with the Mandarin Oriental just in front is pretty impressive.
Easter Sunday and last day here for and Ant and David, so, again without wimpy Gill, they go up to the top of the Petronas Towers at 88 floors and just over 450 metres, to see the panorama of KL below them. For mere mortals, this means getting in a queue at 8.30 am in the morning to get tickets, then waiting in another queue to get up there.
But of course in the Mandarin Oriental, there is nothing the conch can't achieve. For the princely sum of fifty quid, you can pay someone to do the queueing for you, so it will come as no surprise that "outsource Ant" did exactly that!
Finally an afternoon at the pool with champagne and club sandwiches, and a monumental storm with probably the heaviest rain we have seen so far in Malaysia, must have been the sky crying big tears as Ant and David had to go home. We had a great long weekend here in KL, it's an ideal city for a bit of a treat, lots to see, good shopping and food and a laid back vibe, a good background to a relaxing time.
But now they have gone, I am Gill no mates again, my flight back into Thailand isn't till tomorrow..... sympathy please.......
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