My first blog entry - I'm finally in Malaysia! Left Birmingham at 2.15pm Tuesday 16th June and, after 2 flts, a stopover in Dubai and 2 time zone changes I arrived in KL a day later. Had a quiet evening at my hotel -it's in a very quiet area and not too many around so feel very relaxed already! However, my body isn't sure whether it's day or night so was wide awake at 3.30am!!

And so to my first adventure - today was my first cookery class. There were supposed to be 3 of us, but 2 cancelled at the last moment so I had a one-one class with my tutor, Saadiah. Today I learnt how to make Kuih cara berlauk (savoury meat filled cups); Sago gula melaka (sago pudding with palm sugar); Nasi lemak (rice in coconut milk) and sambal udang(prawn in sambal sauce). Saddiah demonstarted how to make each dish, explained all the ingredients and then I made the dishes along side her. At lunch time I ate with the staff - including the owner Ana and it was great trying out all that I had made. Sago still reminds me of my childhood and how we called it frogspawn so I didn't enjoy it but the rest of the dishes were really tasty, spicy and turned out well. I'll try them out when I get back (except the sago) and hope they turn out as well without Saddiah's expert guidance!

Now it's time to lie back and enjoy the sauna, steamroom and pool for a while after all that hard work!