I woke again this morning eerily knowing that Manchester United won last night! Yup that cafe next door again (it's not a bar because its Halal) I cant get my head round the concept of people staying up till 4:30 in the morning to watch Man. U. without a drink! Kojo you'ld love it here!!! For some reason there's no pay per view and they get all the live matches I reckon there are more M.U. supporters here than in Manchester (Actually that goes without saying because everybody knows that true mancunians support City!)

Had a little discreet check round to make sure that Martyn's texts last night (see yesterdays blog) hadn't bothered any of the residents but nobody seemed to have noticed. Strange because the walls are made of hardboard and they dont actally go up to the ceiling!

We set off about 9:00 to get the benefit of the remaining few hours of our hop on hop off 24 hour bus ticket and hopped on to grab a ride up to Jalan Cenderwasih which is on the edge of the national park. Touted as the lungs of KL this area extends for several hundred hectares and contains some secondary rain forest, a deer park, a bird bark, a hibiscus garden (The malaysian national flower) and an orchid garden. We started in the bird garden which boasts the bigest free flying aviary in the world. Because of our early start we missed the crowds and had a very pleasant although very hot and humid wander around the 21 acres of fairly steep valley with beautiful tropical plantings and many waterfalls and other landscape features. It was inevitably touristy with areas where you could have your picture taken with the parrots for a few ringgits. Didnt want to make our amazon, Billy jealous though did we, so we didnt do that! We did encounter a troupe of monkeys raiding the bins by the ice cream stall. Are you sure you haven't got any guys on long leave Eddy?!!

We knew we had done the right thing by starting early as when we left we passed long lines of school children queing to get in. We then wandered over to the orchid gardens and because it wasn't Saturday or Sunday we escaped paying the exhorbitant 1 Ringgit entrance fee (20p) That was absolutely beautiful. Elegantly laid out in a colonial style, with every sort of orchid you could imagine. As we wandered around we found ourselves in the hibiscus gardens which had a completely diferent feel (of course they did you twit, its a completely different kind of plant!) The heat and humidity gradually increased untill the atmosphere could hold on to the rain no longer and down it came. So heavy that within minutes the water was inches deep on all the paths. Once again we avoided getting wet, this time by standing for a few moments in a pagoda. We dashed for a taxi during a brief lull in the downpour (Its a little known fact that you're never more than ten meters from a taxi in KL) and took a ride down town to find something to eat. Martyn got it wrong again, today the rain started at 1:00, but this was very convenient as it coincided with our gastro-intestinal urges! This time we chose a moslem cafe and selected rice, chicken, vegetables and curry from a buffet. The food was delicious although Mandy was a bit worried by the fact that the food was less than hot. Quite usual here apparantly but probably not first choice for Waitrose food technologists and EHOs! Although at 22 ringgits (less than 4 squids) for two meals including drinks (Non alcoholic of course) I thought it was brilliant value and even Mandy agreed that it tasted wonderfull!

After lunch the rain had stopped and we walked back to Bukit Bintang and the Red Palm where we had a shower (well a shower each actually I'm over 50 now!) and chilled out for an hour or two. We are leaving early tomorrow morning for Borneo and we didnt want to be up too late so we went for a twilight wander round parts of the area which we hadn't yet seen and as the sun went down the Kay-Elians came out to play. I HAVE NEVER SEEN SO MANY SHOPS! and thousands and thousands of people. This place is not for people do not do crowds. Actually I hate crowds but this was so unbelievable I was totally absorbed! We found ourselves irisistably drawn to a chineese restaurant and this time we had a very helpfull, slightly english speaking waitress who helped us make our selection. If any of you have read McCarthy's Bar (or was it Bill Bryson?) you will be familiar with his never ending search for the best singapore noodles in the world and I have some sympathy with the urge that drives him to do that! (Incidentally if you haven't read McCarthys Bar or any Bill Bryson, you should!)

Anyway that cost us about 100 Ringgits (20 squids) and we staggered back to base where we booked another night for when we return to KL on the 24th and packed the rucksacks for the next stage of our adventure.