Kuala Lumpur is a modern city, and we were staying right next to the Petronas Towers, with its parks, malls and skyscrapers. Our time here was a little tainted by Coronavirus as the world went into shut down and we were consumed with our decisions about whether to go home or not. Lots of things to do here though.
Day 201 – To Kuala Lumpur with the Petronas Twin Towers and their evening light show
Our flight back to the mainland was at 10am, so we didn’t have to get up stupidly early to make it to the airport. As it’s a domestic flight, and a small airport, we didn’t leave our usual huge amount of time. We used the automated bag check in process, printing our bag tags and joining the rather slow moving queue to drop them off. Only to get to the front, scan our boarding card and be told that we were too late to drop bags of. What!? We had over an hour until the flight!
We were directed to the large queue at the ‘closing flights’ counter. The bags from here were added to the same belt so we couldn’t see how this did anything other than slow our bags down… it really didn’t seem like a good system. Still, they didn’t seem worried when they directed us to the end so we decided not to worry either.
In the end, we were overweight and had to pay extra anyway (it wasn’t much) so auto check in was never going to work. Wondering how we had managed to gain 6kg more stuff whilst travelling through Malaysia we were finally able to make our way through security and to our gate where they were actually boarding early.
The views from the plane during take of showed the islands we’d visited well…
KL airport is about an hour south of the city, so we had a bit of a ride to get there, met our host and checked into our rather lovely apartment. It’s not even that expensive AND has views of the twin towers (well, one of them anyway). Sometimes there are benefits to staying in cities. We needed lunch so headed straight across the road to Jom Jom’s kitchen. Which was delicious. Aiden and Chris weren’t feeling great, all of us were feeling pretty tired. Possibly the sun from the day before, the flight and the coronavirus stress?
We had had more discussions on the way to the mainland about this morning’s news. Other countries like India and Manilla are closing up, Europe is cancelling a lot of flights and we have had a guesthouse in Sri Lanka cancel on us asking us not to come and saying they are closing the guesthouse. What to do? More to think about again later!
As we were staying so close, Mum and I headed out with the kids to the Petronas Twin Towers. Chris stayed behind as he was starting to get a bit of a tickly throat and felt tired. We were avoiding him. Please let it not be coronavirus!
We passed through the mall at the bottom and then wandered through the park outside. It’s not big, and consists mainly of a lake with fountains, a large kids only paddling area and the most massive playground I have ever seen! Add some trees and surround it with skyscrapers and it’s pretty cool.
We hung out here for an hour or so whilst the kids played, wishing we’d brought Evie down in something better than her large baggy trousers. They are really not suitable for paddling ☹. Mum and I entertained ourselves watching the park staff who charge around blowing whistles at any adults who dare to venture down the steps to the pool, or have a quick go on the swings. Kids only!
There’s a light show in the fountains at 8pm every night, so we headed upstairs before this to the food court in the mall. Not the cheapest place to eat, but we got some burritos from a Mexican place. It’s been at least 8 months since we’ve had Mexican food – yum!
We just had enough time to snap some pics of the towers at night before the light show started.
There was space at what seemed like the best place to view it, so we settled there; the kids on the front row, and Mum and I on the step behind. We weren’t expecting much, but it was actually really good. We were seated in the splash zone so ended up standing as every time the front ones twirled, we got soaked!
We were almost dry by the time we’d walked back, it was still so hot. After getting the kids to bed, it was time to rethink our decisions of yesterday. Maybe it is time to go home. To continue on to Sri Lanka risks becoming stuck in a country with shops, restaurants and guesthouses closed, where we don’t know anyone or speak the language and who have a poorer healthcare system than our own. Can we take that chance? Especially with the kids in tow.
In the end we decided that the stress of rethinking this decision every day based on the latest news will be awful. Whilst the countries we were going to go through still have very low cases, it’s really kicking off in other places on the world. Surely it’s just a matter of time?
So we’re going home. The only question is whether to jump on the next reasonably priced flight or to take advantage of the fact that we’re in Malaysia and explore more of the mainland for a week? Something to mull over…
Day 202 – The Petrosains Discovery Centre
As Chris was still not feeling good, we left him at home to chill (and avoid him!). We went to the Petrosains Discovery Centre. It’s part of the Twin Towers complex, so built by Petrosains as a STEM learning centre aiming to help you learn in a very interactive way about the sciences. We’ve been a bit lax on the kids’ education lately in terms of science so it seemed like a good place to head.
After buying tickets we were shown into a car on a track called the Dark Ride. Not what we were expecting, but it was the slowest ride ever, moving us along as they talked about science and its complete involvement in earth and a little bit of Petronas Propaganda. The first area was about Space. There was a lot of good information, pictures of nebulas and black holes and galaxies. Loads of things for the kids to try, like looking at infrared cameras. I definitely learnt some things, hopefully the kids did too. One of the most interesting bits was watching some videos from the International Space Station showing how they live up there, with food pouches, cleaning teeth and squeezing a wet cloth out – due to the lack of gravity, all the water sticks to it rather than falling to the floor!
After this we headed down through the dinosaur area, in which the path slopes down around the sides with info and there is an animatronic dinosaur scene on the floor. Next up was the Sparkz area, which is basically just tables and tables of games. There was also a random talk about Pi as it is National Pi day! Evie loves Pi, having learnt about it recently, but the talk was a bit odd and very fast! We’re not sure what the main idea was…
In a side room we got to fly drones and fight sumo robots. I left wanting to start building robots at home with the kids. We all know nothing about it so we can learn together – seems like something that the kids should know about in this day and age.
We could have stayed in here longer, certainly the kids wanted to, but it was sooo cold in this bit and Mum and I couldn’t stand it any more! We also had Chris at home waiting for us to get back for lunch so we moved on.
Next up was an area made to look like an oil rig platform. There was another great play place which the kids played at, and we set bubbles alight and proved Pi. The next room had lots of physics experiments involving forces and speed. There were rails with balls, wheels, tippy slopes, a moving F1 experience (Aiden was too small but Evie loved it). This place is crazy! Will we ever get out to lunch?
In a corridor area heading past the café, they’d fit a tube slide in so the kids had a few goes. The café was surprisingly small. You can’t bring your own food and drinks, but what do you eat if you’re in here for hours?
Still trying to get through it to return to Chris, we moved on to an area with lots of pressure and electricity experiments. Mum had to leave to warm up outside. We joined in part way through the 4D film about dinosaurs, rushed through a final area with some games and finally arrived outside after nearly 3.5 hours inside – and that was with rushing! Wow! If you’re looking for somewhere to entertain the kids for a day and escape the heat, this is it. Given the current times, they have handwash everywhere and are cleaning everything all the time to try to stop the virus. Crazy times, but nice to know that they’re making attempts to keep us safe and still having fun. Seems more in line with what WHO are recommending rather than crazy restrictions being put in place in some countries which will surely cause more harm than good? But then I’m no expert; I just can’t help thinking of the huge financial implications of all this and the huge numbers of people who will be in serious trouble after this. I hope the world is not killing more people to save a few. We’ll never know, but we’ve spent enough time in SE Asia to see how heavily dependent on tourism they are and how little spare they have. Hard times.
Before returning to Chris, we grabbed some bread, tuna and fruit for lunch.
We left Chris behind again and went out for dinner at an Indian buffet place recommended by our host. There are a lot of Indian restaurants here in Kuala Lumpur. The Biryani was good, and this was Mum’s favourite food of the whole holiday! We were very stuffed afterwards!
There have been more closures of borders, including Spain, Saudi Arabia and Guatemala. Some of these are countries with low levels at the moment so we can’t just assume that if we avoid countries with lots of cases we’ll be able to travel unrestricted. It’s the final straw and has cemented our decision to go home, and to just do it before we get stuck somewhere. Malaysia could close their borders any day. There are cheap flights on Weds, so that’s it. Flights home are booked on Wednesday! Three more days of this crazy adventure. It’s definitely sad that we’re bringing it to a close, but it’s only temporary. Or that’s what we’re telling ourselves anyway – we hope that we will go back out, we just have no idea when!
Day 203 – Batu Caves
Chris seems to be better today thank goodness. Who knows if it was some sort of mild version of Coronavirus (although no actual symptoms so unlikely), or just being run down due to the stress of the going home decision! But none of the rest of us are showing symptoms either so it seems unlikely. Phew – really don’t need to get ill just before we get on our flight!
Our plan for today involved heading to the Batu Caves in the morning when it’s still marginally cool. These caves are the site of a number of highly active Hindu temples, one of which is at the top of 273 stairs. We’d anticipated these being in the sun, but actually, having arrived at about 10am, they were still in shade, which made for a fairly pleasant climb 😊. We had read about the caves being redone in 2016 in a rather gaudy way, but we actually really liked all the bright colours of the steps and the temples. It really was like nothing that we’ve seen in all our time in SE Asia.
At the top of the stairs is the entrance to a massive cave, with a roof collapse at the far end letting in lots of light. A couple of other colourful temples sit within. We were expecting crowds on a Sunday morning, but it was just nicely busy, with many people praying to the temples and leaving offerings.
At the back, a troop of monkeys were hanging around for food, and climbing the rock walls. They are seriously good at rock climbing, and entertained us by leaping and chasing each other about on the steep rock face. Whilst we shouldn’t have been amused, it was funny to see them running off with bottles and food, climbing one handed and drinking from the bottles like people.
On the way back down we looked for the Dark Cave, another cave part way down the stairs that takes you on tours to see the wildlife of a cave. We found the entrance easily, but the gates were chained shut. When we looked online, TripAdvisor does say it’s been closed for over a year – how did I miss that?! In some ways it was a good thing, as we may not have come here otherwise; the reviews of the Batu Caves are not always favourable after the rework. We thought we would also not like the changes, but we did! It just shows that you can’t always be steered by reviews – sometimes you just have to try it out. Especially if it’s free!
Our trip here had been rather shorter than planned so we were home way before lunch. We ate lunch out, and then bought some pasta (who knows when we’ll next get any once we’re back in the UK wide pasta shortage!), yoghurt and tuna for dinner (one of my childhood favourites).
We spent the afternoon enjoying the last of our time with mum, and she packed, before getting in the taxi at 8.30pm for an 11.55pm flight. Fingers crossed the plane will be empty again so she can have a whole row to herself and get some sleep 😊.
Day 204 – The Petronas Twin Towers again
Our penultimate day of this adventure. We’ve got a lot of feelings, but I think the overall one is actually excitement. Mingled with some doubt about whether we’re doing the right thing, and some disappointment that we’re returning to such a rubbish version of home. We’re not that sad to be going home actually. Which I suppose is good! We’re just really hoping that we can go back out in a couple of months and continue exploring.
We’re not the only family in this situation and see everywhere on Instagram the other travelling families wrestling with the same problem we are. At least we have places to stay in the UK. Many cannot go home and are just having to hole up somewhere and hope they remain safe and can get food and a place to stay. Jordan has now closed their borders, so it’s looking very unlikely we could have stuck to our planned route home anyway.
With the impending lockdown (and higher prices!) in the UK, we headed to the Twin Towers again so Chris can get a look now he’s better and we can see some a new release at the cinema for £1 each!
The cinema was absolutely freezing though – even colder than the Discovery Centre – the kids had to sit on our laps by the end as they were so cold! It’s surprising that they keep it so cold here as the locals are more sensitive to cold than even we are. And it’s 36 degrees outside – what do they do? Carry a coat out with them when they are planning to go into these malls and the cinema?
Even though we were late in, the screen was blank. Which was rather odd for a seemingly new and modern cinema. I had to go and find someone to get the film started in the end.
We were alone apart from one other person a couple of rows in front so it’s not like we were part of a mass gathering at least.
Lunch was back to Jom Jom’s. We felt a bit bad about not trying somewhere else, but then it’s cheap, close and delicious. Why would we go elsewhere?
We chilled out in the afternoon, not keen to go out too much amongst other people – the numbers in Malaysia are climbing. There was an outbreak at a gathering on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur so it’s somewhere around us… It would not do to get sick before we get on our plane!
Day 205 – Petrosains again
Despite not wanting to mix with other people, the kids were desperate to go back to Petrosains Discovery Centre again, with parents with jackets this time so that they can actually play there. Knowing they have hand sanitiser everywhere there, question everyone going in and check temperatures, we gave in and Chris headed off with them. It seems this might be their last chance to do anything like this for a while as the UK has announced pretty much full lockdown, or has at least advised against anything other than essential travel and suggests not meeting friends and family. Schools are still open and people are still working for now though.
I fall into the ‘high risk’ category with my asthma so we need to think about where we stay when we get back and who we see. My immune system seems to be fairly balanced right now so hopefully I’m not more likely to catch it. I feel healthy, but having not done much running lately my lung fitness will be compromised and colds always make my asthma worse, so I guess we shouldn’t be too blasé about the risks.
It’s such a shame to be going home but not allowed to see anyone after so long! Whilst kids are still playing together at school, to let ours mingle with them when we can keep them away seems somewhat silly. We can’t risk them carrying it down to Dorset and my parents’ village. Perhaps we can help out whilst we’re down there as it’s predominantly an elderly population? When I say we, I mean Chris as I will be on lockdown…
Time to think about what new skills we can learn at home…robotics with the kids perhaps? I have my partly written fantasy novel that I can pick up (and finally finish??). Maybe I can find my old cross stitches which have been sat in the attic for years too. We will have a few days when we can get back in the house between tenants and raid the attic for our winter clothes and toys to entertain the kids thank goodness, but until then we will be borrowing warm clothes off whoever we stay with!
After Petrosains, I met the others in the mall with some sandwiches, which we ate in the park before heading back to the cinema again – armed with jackets, trousers and trainers this time. Except it was barely cold at all! Different screen this time.
Chris came out and immediately read the news. Everything’s picking up so fast – Malaysia are closing their borders tomorrow; no locals out and no foreigners in. Shops etc. will be closed. At the moment it looks like our flight is still going. Hopefully we’re getting out in time, but we’re starting to wish we’d paid a little more to get out of here yesterday instead. The UK are also reporting that this may go on for up to 18 months which is just devastating. We have so many plans and things we were going to do. Instead it looks like we could be homeless and unemployed for the longer term. Made me feel sick.
After returning to the apartment, we tried to turn our thoughts to packing for the final time and prepping for a 14 hour plane ride. We’ll be awake for most of it so we need some things to do. Both of us had headaches and felt exhausted by this point – yay to stress, so it was more of a going through the motions packing.
We took Chris to the Indian buffet restaurant again for our final dinner out here. It’s all a little sad really, with a lot of our previous excitement about going home smothered by the prospect of long term isolation and potential financial difficulties. In hindsight this was an awful time to quit our jobs and go travelling, but that’s the benefit of hindsight. The risk of something like this happening was so slim it didn’t get considered!
As we’re up at 5am, and the kids will be up for around 22 hours (we’ll try and make 24 and go to bed at 9pm in the UK), we got the kids down as early as we could. About 7.30pm. Then settled for an hour of mindless stupid comedies to distract ourselves before heading to bed ourselves; all fingers crossed that our plane goes.
Day 206 – Time to fly home…
After an early alarm at 5am, we chucked on our clothes, called the host to come and get the key and return our deposit, and got into a Grab taxi. All pretty smooth, except the taxi couldn’t find us and I had to chase it down the street as it turned around before it got to us for the second time! That’s why we always leave lots of time! Our flight still seemed to be going, we arrived to check the board with our hearts in our mouths.
We’re still on, but most aren’t. Despite this, there were still quite a few people at the airport this early. I guess the flights going are packed.
We had some bread with jam and peanut butter (not mixed!), to munch on in the airport as we’re all major breakfast people and the thought of waiting for the plane food at 10am was unthinkable! Which kept us entertained in the baggage drop of queue. Progress of many people was super slow, a couple of the desks had the same people there for around half an hour… not sure what was happening there. We were dealt with quickly though and through to a pretty empty departures lounge. In which we found a Rainforest Boardwalk in the middle – how random!
The atmosphere at the airport was weird. It’s always quiet in the mornings, but people are definitely eyeing each other with suspicion. A girl who was coughing in the queue was asked to leave, and sneezing gets you very dirty looks. We saw people wearing masks, swimming goggles and plastic macs. With the numbers of cases in Malaysia having risen a lot lately, especially around Kuala Lumpur, it’d hard to believe that no-one on the plane has it. Let the paranoia commence.
Our flight took off on time. It must be pretty easy getting a slot on the runway when only about 10% of the scheduled flights are going.
None of us had slept well, the pressures of an early up, and the need to sleep well as we’re going to get such a late night tomorrow, always have the opposite of the desired effect. The stress didn’t help. Being tired, the flight dragged. We watched films, ate some pretty decent food and had loads of legroom, plugs and drinks on tap. Really couldn’t fault Malaysia Airlines.
We landed an hour early, with great relief to have made it to familiar soil, even if things are even crazier around here. At least we know the system here, speak the language and have friends and family. The time difference really doesn’t help with keeping in touch. We’ve brought some hand sanitiser back with us, as it’s like gold apparently. Unfortunately, pasta and loo roll were also rather absent from the shops in Malaysia by the time we left. With their impending shut down people already stocking up.
Not how we expected to sign off but there it is. Our travels are over. We hope to continue them at some point, but for now we have no idea when that is. Our next adventure will be heading to the shops to try and get some food. Our cupboards are totally bare where we’re staying (my parent’s spare one bedroomed flat) so we can’t fall back on the odd things at the back of them – we need to hope for some actual food! We can at least get out and walk in the beautiful (and probably cold and wet) English countryside to stop ourselves from going insane in the flat. Bring it on! Stay safe everyone 😊.