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Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Stubby Coolers in Bali

If you want a Stubby Holder made while in Bali in Australian stubby or can sizes. Call in to see Taka at Golden Key printing service, he is located across the road from Indo-national Restaurant.


more shopping see here

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Friday, February 8, 2013

Kuala Lumpur 2013



Day 1

4am, god I can’t stand staring into the darkness any longer. Time to get up; the excitement is too much for me.  By 430am I had packed my backpack and re-checked I had our passports and tickets and now to wake the girls up. And what a better way to get the blood pumping, two pans bashed together “bang bang bang” “bang bang bang” . Two kids sat straight up with their heads swinging from side to side like two Meerkats sticking their heads out holes and having a look around. There were a few colourful words used, as I walked away giggling to myself.
Toot Toot, our lift was here, hurry girls. My brother works in Sydney and offered us a free lift, but we would be an extra hour early. Which I didn’t mind as it has saved me a small fortune in airport transfers.
Once at the airport we checked in we had no checked luggage but the women insisted we weigh our hand luggage, Miss G was just pushing 7 kilo and both Miss C and I only had 5 Kilos, passed immigration and grabbed something to eat and waited at our gate for our flight to Kuala Lumpur.


I have decided to leave my laptop at home and jot down notes in a book. My IPod and phone both have internet capability and suit my needs and weighed a lot less.
Our flight was coming to an end with the captain coming over the intercom asking to cabin crew to get ready for landing at LCCT. I sat peering out the window but the thick cloud was making it hard. Just then like a magician yanking a cloth off to reveal a mysterious treasure beneath the clouds parted and presto there’s Malaysia.  I was soon disappointed to see what I thought was jungle was lines and lines and miles upon miles of palm trees. I sat wondering to myself is this all for palm oil.
Once we landed it was the mile walk to the terminal, we cleared immigration with-in minutes of entering the terminal. Just after immigration we took the escalator to the ground floor where the Tune Talk shop/stall is located. I had pre-purchased 3 sim cards with our ticket. I also recharged these with 15 MR on each card. The 15 MR recharge lasted for our time in Malaysia and we also used it in Singapore, so 15 MR goes a long way but we were mainly texting Australia.
We left the terminal and turned left and walked towards Mc Donald’s and followed the path around to the right where we found the Sky Bus to KL Sentral. I had pre-purchased bus tickets with our airline tickets from memory it was about $5.50 return per-person not too bad for a 100 km round trip. The bus waited about 15 minutes then we were on our way to KL Sentral.
Once we arrived at KL Sentral we took the escalator up to the first floor and saw a sign pointing left with LRT written on it. We went to the ticket machine. “Oh, shit” I thought it’s in Malaysian, I know a fair bit of Indonesian so I was slowly working it out. When Miss G said, dad what about the English button, DOH! This made life a lot easier. I bought 3 tickets to Pasar Seni for 3 MR which is then next stop. Once we got off the station we were told to head to the Maybank on the corner and turn right and follow the road to Petailing Street.


Our quest was then to find our Hotel Chinatown Inn which wasn’t that hard. We checked-in and made our way to the 4th floor and our room 409 a triple room. Consisting of a double bed and a single bed, the room is very basic with a very small TV no fridge but it was air conditioned and has free Wi-Fi. The bathroom was small you could brush your teeth while showering on the toilet. But it was very clean and pretty quiet for its location. We went back out to Petailing Street to find a quick snack and a drink, and then back to the room and a shower and bed. 


Hotel China Town Inn web site - here

Hotel China Town Inn photos - here

Hotel China Town Inn business card - front - back

Day 2


There goes the alarm 545am, hurry up and lets go. Most of Petailing Street was shut up but some shops were still open especially the food shops and one selling duck feet parcels, yum.  We soon made it to Pasar Seni and catch the LRT to KLCC which cost 3.50 MR for the 3 of us. 


The girls went wow when they saw the Petronas Towers and had 2nd thoughts about wanting to go up them. Pushy dad wouldn’t listen to them. We hurried in the door to find about 10 people in front of us and it was 630 am. About 7am they let us inside to line up it a big long snake line. About 730am a shop opened up so the girls and many others raced to get a drink and crap to eat for breaky. About 8 am we were given a card assuring us 3 tickets. And at 830am we got in to purchase our tickets and select our time we selected 7 pm sunset. I really think on-line booking would be so much better and for the money they charge it’s pathetic to line up at a stupid hour of the morning. My last visit was 2008 and was still the same stupid idea of lining up but back then it was free.


Back on the LRT to Pasar Seni then we crossed the bridge to a train station and took the KTM line to Batu Caves. It was 6MR for 3 people one-way. We waited 15 minutes for the train. The trip took about 40 minutes; the station is just a stone’s throw from the caves.


The Batu caves special edition havaianas.
 
We slowly wandered around as the midday heat and humidity were stifling. It was time to start the trek up the 272 steps to the caves. We took a slow walk up the steps and carefully dodged the monkeys. Once we reached the top we quickly grabbed a bottle of water and drank it and rested for a few minutes. Then we wandered around and looked at the statues around the first part of the cave and then decided to head up the last lot of steps to the top temple, were the Hindu Holy Man called us over for a blessing he said a small prayer for Miss C and me before rubbing kumkum (white powder) on our foreheads. It was time for us to start heading back to KL there was still a lot to see and do. 


Once we made it back down the stairs, Miss G spotted the henna tattoo’s and like a shot was over there and when her sister and I finally caught up she was looking at designs and couldn’t make up her mind so the lady said I will do one free hand for you. Miss G agreed and 15 minutes later it was done.


We started off toward the station to catch the train back to KL Sentral. I stopped and bought a pretzel type thing I really have no idea what it’s called but it tasted yummy. 


Once back at KL Sentral we took the monorail to Bukit Bintang and looked around a few shops, by this time it was late afternoon. We jumped on the free bus that comes with free Wi-Fi, only to find out we got the wrong bus by not all was lost as we got dropped off not far from Central Market so we had a quick look around. Then walked back to our hotel, and felt just slightly worn out.
We showered and got ready for part 2 of our massive day. We grabbed a meal on Petailing Street and quickly made our way to Pasar Seni to catch the LRT to KLCC for our 7pm date with the Petronas Towers. 

 


We gathered at the entrance of the towers and passed by the security check, and started our tour; we watched a short film on a smoke background that one family who just thought it was funny to blow the smoke making the rest of us miss the film. I guess there’s one idiot everywhere you go. Once the film was finished red tags went one way and the blue tags went another.  We shot up to the 41st floor at a fantastic speed and soon were on the Sky Bridge admiring the view. It was raining slightly, my 2nd time on this bridge and both times now its rained. But the view at dusk was wonderful and to watch the cities lights turn on was a fantastic experience.  
  

Soon we were ushered together to go up to the 86th floor.  Wow we felt like we were in the clouds, talk about high, I was blown away seeing a spider outside in its web. We enjoyed the 360 view and holding up our tickets in front of the TV screens to get info on the towers. 


Back down to KLCC station and on the LRT to Pasar Seni and on to Petailing Street for a good look around. I found these markets a bit overpriced and very tough to bargain with, we didn’t buy anything and saved our money for Thailand.
We staggered into our hotel totally worn out. After the massive day we have had, we enjoyed our time in KL.

Malaysian Money here

KL free bus - here

KL rail system - here


Day 3


7am and that alarm is rubbing me the wrong way. Time to pack and get ready, Phuket here we come. We walked to Pasar Seni station lugging our packs and caught the train to KL Sentral and stopped in Mc Donald’s for some breaky, I do love the cold milo drinks and wish we had them at home, but my waist would have other ideas. Once we had eaten we made our way to escalator down to the Sky Bus parking bay, got on-board and took our seats. With-in 10 minutes we were on our way to LCCT. I sat by myself and the girls sat across from me together sharing the IPod. While I stared out the window thinking how much I love to travel, for me the destination is a bonus getting there is where the adventure lies.
We self-checked-in and made our way past immigration found our gate and waited for our flight. Soon we did a short walk across the tarmac to our Air Asia plane to Phuket. The flight was good and quick and we landed in Phuket about 1 hour and 15 minutes later. 

We quickly departed the plane and got past immigration in record time. Once out the terminal door we quickly turned left and changed $50 AUD for some Thai Baht. Then did the turn and headed to the other end of the terminal building to the fixed price taxi stand, ignoring all the touts along the way. I quickly secured a taxi and had to wait 5 minutes. This was a great opportunity to rip the back off my phone and insert the free True Move sim I was just given.  The taxi arrived and we bundled our packs into the boot and enjoyed cooling off in the a/c of the taxi. 


The trip was great until we made it to the bendy hill into Patong where two cars have had an accident, I said “nice brake foot Rhonda”, and the taxi driver just looked at me with a confused look on his face. I just smiled.
The taxi stopped out front of Nicky’s Handle Bar; it was great to be back in Patong again. Though I prefer Kata Beach, the girls don’t. So this trip I caved in and decided to stay in Patong. The girls both went wow once they found out we were staying here. We are bike people and both girls help my brother out with his bike accessories business from time to time when he goes to bike shows.

We booked in and were given room 211 the tattoo room on the 2nd floor, we just started to settle in when we received a phone call asking if we wanted to swap room to a ground floor room. Yes please I said and with that we gathered our stuff and moved to room 104 Nicky’s handle bar room. All the rooms are themed and I love the use of tools and engine parts around the hotel. 


We had a walk around town and headed back for an afternoon swim at the hotel. Later we freshened up. I needed to get some washing done. I walked across the road and under the big arch for Andaman Beach Suites Hotel and past Beauty land on the right to take the first turn left and a couple of shops down is the nicest lady who does washing for 50 THB a kilo. We walked back to the big arch and had dinner in a small street side restaurant on the left which was cheap and yummy and all for 200THB for 3 people.


We walked to the beach road and to Jindas shop and grabbed a few things, but I found the stuff a bit cheaper to start off with but I managed to get better prices bargaining hard in other shops or markets. We headed to Bangla road for a drink and to giggle at the sights there was a really shitty smell on Bangla road and most of the drains are covered with thick mats. Later we walked home and grabbed a banana pancake, which was very yummy but a little too fatty.

Nicky's HandleBar web site - here

Nicky's HandleBar photos - here

Nicky's HandleBar business card - front - back

 If you enjoy our travel stories and photos, can you please either click the small red g+ sign under each post or click on one of the ads.