After weeks and weeks down south on Bali and Lombok we have finally managed to pull ourselves away and go somewhere else. Although it is really only so we can get a new 30-day visa to Indonesia and go back to Bali!

We're now in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, after a 2,5 hour flight journey from Denpasar airport on Bali. It is very different from there, in many ways.

First, the population here is primarily muslim instead of hindu. Lots of head scarves and quite a few burkas too. I (Agneta) had a few uncomfortable hours on the first day as I headed out on the street in a sleeveless top (no cleavage though!)- I got stared at A LOT! By both men and women. No one wears sleeveless here appearantly, even though it's 32 degrees. But after I changed to a t-shirt no one gave me any notice and we could move on.. Planned to do some sightseeing during the five days we've got here, but so far we've mostly done shopping and then some more shopping! Jake, who normally never can't find anything he likes in the shops in England, is in ecstasy as there's so many nice clothes, sandals, trainers and man bags for him here! And they're all about 10 pounds/150 kronor! We're shopping lots and we ain't stopping anytime soon! Haven't quite figured out how we'll get it all home yet though.. oh well!

Today we finally did do some sightseeing though. We visited the Petronas Twin Towers, the third largest towers in the world and the highest twin towers in the world. There's a sky bridge on the 42nd floor between the two towers, and after a short film viewing about the Petrona company (compulsory to get the free tickets for the viewing) we got taken up in the lift, which did 42 floors in 42 seconds. As you can see from the two photos we took on the Sky bridge, the weather was crap. Rain, thunder, lighting and lots of clouds didn't do any favours for the view, but it was still interesting to have been up there. Shared the lift down with the biggest holidaying indian family ever, who filled up the rest of the lift.

Not sure what I really think of KL. My opinion really depends on where I am in the city. I love the shopping areas and would really like the place if we were staying in some nice hotel in those nicer areas. As it is however, we're staying opposite the local bus station close to China Town, and our hostel can best be described as rustic and basic but at least relatively clean (compared to a lot of the other places in the areas - I'd rather sleep standing up than sleep in those places). There's a lot of street noice, and every time I walk past a local food court with Malaysian food I get the urge to vomit as I think it absolutely stinks! I do not know what it is, has got to be some kind of spice or oil they use, but it smells BAD. But it's not all bad. For breakfast we pop across the street to a stall at the bus station and pick up some freshly cut watermelon and egg sandwiches for breakfast. KL is also relativey small so we can walk to a lot of the places, and often when you're indoors (restaurants, tube, cinema) there's aircon- although they like to put it up to freezing temperature!

KL is a nice city contrast to Bali and Lombok. We love the countryside of both of Bali and Lombok, and have even found a strange liking for the hustle and bustle of Kuta town on Bali! Had a great two weeks with Olly and Lou before we came to KL, when we spent time in both Kuta and on the island Nusa Lembongan a stonethrow from Bali. Met up with Olly and Lou in Kuta after returning from Lombok. We'd tipped them off about Hotel New Arena, (where me and Jake had got stuck the first week on Bali as we enjoyed the aircon rooms, pool, dvd rentals and room service too much), and spent some more time with them relaxing by the pool! Rediscovered a Kuta gem- the Bamboo Corner restaurant. I was a frequent visitor five years ago last time I was travelling, and Olly and Lou had now also discovered what good value their menu was. Nowhere else can simply beat their prices and great food! I've lost count on how many meals we had there in the end, but I can tell you their watermelon juice and chicken steak is excellent!

Nusa Lembongan was great. We had a so-and-so start by staying at the cheaper "backpacker beach", but soon realised our error and moved to Mushroom Bay where the beach was absolutely lovely and the accomodation actually wasn't too expensive at all! Spent a couple of days sunbading, frisbeeing, swimming, snorkeling and snoozing. On our return to Kuta we had a big night out, Kuta didn't know what hit them (or we didn't..)! Really had a great time with Olly and Lou, including lots of laughs, Arak Attack and Balinese Vodka Mixers! Shed a tear or two (of course) as we saw them head off to the airport and back home to Weston, but we'll have some good memories to laugh about with you guys when we get home!

Only got another couple of days here and then we fly back to Bali, where we'll put our selfish, relaxing holiday on hold for a while and try and do something useful for a while. Three weeks of working for the International Humanity Foundation (http://www.ihfonline.org/), helping kids with learning English and Maths, will be a challenge and experience. We're really excited about it but quite nervous too! Not sure whether we'll have much internet access while we're there, so this homepage might go a bit quiet for a while. But we've put on lots of new photos and also VIDEOS for you all to enjoy! (?)!

Terima Kasih (thank you in Indonesian AND Malaysian - we're bilingual!)

for reading! Summer is back in Europe I think and we hope you're all getting some sunshine too!

Lots of love,

A&J