KUALA LUMPUR & LANGKAWI MALAYSIA

So, where to begin?

Well, at the beginning I suppose?

Back in July we had the pleasure of going to our friends' daughter's wedding in Colchester, we had a lovely day, as I mentioned in my last post. While Hannah and her husband flew off for the start of their honeymoon and once our five day sleep over with our grandchildren had come to an end, we had to get  packed. Hannah is half Malaysian and after two weeks in Bali the happy couple were heading to Malaysia for more family wedding celebrations. We and her parents were to meet them there in Kuala Lumpur.

We have never been to Asia before so this was a brand new experience for us and to be there for such an event, was just amazing. Hannah's family made us so welcome, they took us sightseeing and definitely got us to try foods that we probably would never have tried if we'd been on our own.

Out of the 900 photos we took, don't worry, I'm not showing them all, I've picked quite a few for you to see.

This is the entrance to the Batu Caves.

 Only 272 steps took us up to the caves to see the religious temples.

Monkeys were plentiful, scaling the rocks so quickly, on the look out for food. Some people were feeding them bananas and rice which made them scurry around your feet even quicker. 

One day we visited the bird park, a huge aviary, the largest in Asia, where the birds flew freely above our heads.

Even the pelicans!

The Orchid Gardens had lovely views of the K L tower

and some stunning orchids too!

In the centre of Kuala Lumpur are the Petronas Towers. These building look and are amazing!

Tickets to go up and take in the view aren't readily available, fortunately they now take online bookings so we were able to get them for the latter part of our stay.

Courtesy of a family member who drives a taxi, one day we went right off the tourist trail.

These are the Sungai Gabai waterfalls.

We enjoyed a spectacular evening when we stood at the very top of the K L Tower waiting for the sun to set. (Even though, we had to sign a declaration to say we wouldn't jump!)

Another very special evening was of course the wedding celebrations.

This was held in a colonial building in Lake Gardens. 

When I first walked into the room my first impression was, amazing!

This photo doesn't really do it justice, as once the lights had gone down and all the guests were inside, many wearing colourful saris, it was definitely 100% amazing!!

A couple of days after the wedding a party of 9 of us including the bride and groom flew to the island of Langkawi for 3 nights.

The view through one of the doors in the hotel was stunning.

This was a really nice place to stay and I would quite happily return there just to do nothing but swim, read and relax.

Oh and have a cocktail or two or perhaps, even three!

While in Langkawi we went on the cable car to take in the views.

We also hired a car and driver who took us to see more waterfalls

and more monkeys!

Our driver was our guide on a boat trip through the mangroves,

where we went in a bat cave,

and we fed the stingray at the fish farm.

Well, Michael did.

As he bent to feed the fish, I grabbed his super duper Australian kangaroo skin hat of his head in fear of it being the fish food for the hungry stingray,

when I saw something fly through the air

and then went plop, down by the side of the fish, to the very depths of the net.

Flying fish, was my first thought but no,

husbands brand new, bought at Heathrow airport, Rayban Wayfarers!!

We asked the fish farm owner if he could reach them with a net.

"Too deep, too deep!" he replied.

Yeah right, we thought!

(So if you do ever see a stingray wearing Wayfarers, think of my husband!)

The last couple of days of our holiday were spent back in Kuala Lumpur.

This is when we did get up to the top of the Petronas Towers.

This view is from the skybridge between both towers on the 41st floor

and this, from the 86th floor.

There's a nice exhibition up there to look at and though you're on limited time on both of the floors, we found it to be plenty enough to look around.

Also, it's not crowded as only a few people are allowed up in each time slot.

We finally left Malaysia to return home while Hannah and Lewis are continuing with their tour of Asia before heading on to New Zealand and then Australia.

We won't see them again now until after the New Year.

I've promised to knit them both socks for Christmas, because I think they may well feel the cold when they finally get home.

GRANNY SQUARES

I was really pleased with the progress of my blanket, I was crocheting at least two or three squares a day. However since we've had these lovely warm summer evenings, we've been eating even later than we normally do, outside in the garden and by the time I've settled in front of the tv it's been nearly my bedtime. I know this because once seated I'm nodding off before I can complete even 1 granny square, hence this is why I still have seventeen to do.

What a wonky photo, don't know what happened there!

July was a very busy month with birthdays as I've already posted and last weekend we went to two weddings. On Friday my cousin's son and his beautiful bride got married and we had a lovely time, a gathering for family and friends, just a perfect day. Then on Saturday I donned a different outfit, a different fascinator and off we went again, this time to our friends' daughter's wedding. This was also a lovely day and in my next post, i'll tell you more about it!

The next day came and to be honest, so did exhaustion. Someone had asked me when I was still dancing at just gone midnight, where I found my energy. Well by Sunday afternoon I was wondering about that question myself, to be honest I was so tired, I think I could have cried at a drop of a hat. Fortunately, I didn't!

Anyway another couple of days passed and fully rejuvenated yesterday morning I collected our grandchildren for a five  day sleepover. What could go wrong?

Within the first hour we completely confused the the self service till in ASDA, had to be assisted twice by a shop assistant and then confused it again when I gave the cereal box to Jessica to hold while walking back to the car and she decided to promptly put it back up on the till to be scanned yet again. The poor girl had to be summoned for the third time and let's just say, I think they were all waving flags by the time we headed out of the door.

From there we called in at the farm shop, where Charlotte without my knowledge decided to stroke the cat which gave her a nip. Thankfully it didn't break the skin but before we unpacked the car, the first job was to clean it thoroughly and talk to the nurse in the doctor's surgery. I'm to keep an eye on it but I've looked at it this morning and it's all ok.

Finally yesterday afternoon we went off to swimming lessons where Jessica got accidentally kicked in the head by another swimmer. So, first aid had to be administered, an ice pack held on her head and forms had to be completed.

Not much room for crochet for the next few days, I think!