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Malaysia, Feb. 2006

Our holiday in Malaysia, February 2006

On January 27 we left Seoul for a nice and warm holiday in Malaysia. Of course the customs at Incheon airport had to take a good look at our passports, so we sat down an waited patiently.

We had to wait a while before boarding but at 11.30 am we left the very cold Land of the Morning Calm to change it for tropical Malaysia.

As you see we had a very nice place in the aircraft and that made the trip a lot more convenient. Although it was only a six hour flight, it looked like 10 hours because the children did not sleep since it was a dayflight. We arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 17.20 pm, took the KLIA express to Kuala Lumpur Sentral Station and from there a taxi to the hotel. At 7 pm we dropped our belongings in our apartment and went down again for dinner at the hotel restaurant. It was a small restaurant and so was the menu, but we had a nice diner outside enjoying the warm weather. Of course Jitze took a Tiger Beer and made a plan to count the Tiger Beers he would consume during the rest of our holiday.

The next day, January 28, we woke up early and decided to walk to the Petronas Twin Towers after breakfast. By 10am we arrived at the towers and went quickly inside to see if there were still tickets available to go up to the skybridge. We had read somewhere that you have to be very early to get a ticket and that usualy by 10.30am all the tickets are sold out. But we were lucky and received our free tickets for a skybridge visit at 1 pm, probably because of the Lunar New Year holiday many people went out of the city instead of visiting the twin towers. Till 1 pm we spent our time with looking around in the Suria shopping mall telling eachother that many things had changed since our last visit to Kuala Lumpur, 8 years ago. By that time it was not possible to visit the Petronas Twin Towers and the shopping mall underneath did not exist. Also the park behind the towers had not been there and certainly another high building next to the towers has been built after our visit. I still wonder why they had to built that building so close, to me it disturbs the beauty of the Petronas Twin Towers. The only thing which triggered immediate memories where the sidewalks, not nice to walk on because the are not flat and they have high rims so you go up and down all the time. Especially now with a stroller it was not easy to walk around comfortably.

At 1 pm we entered a small theatre and saw a movie about the construction of the Twin Towers. By the time we were called to go up to the skybridge Vibeke was asleep and she slept while visiting one of the tallest buildings in the world. But we made some pictures to show her that she really has been there.

A nice family photograph of us standing on the skybridge. Going up with a group of 30 people has some advantages because there is always someone willing to take a picture of the whole family.

This is only one of the pictures we took of the things below us.Yde enjoyed looking down at the KLCC park, now he could see that there was a playground and a swimmingpool so after returning to earth we walked around in the park and had a drink on one of the terasses near the Towers.

Yde and Vibeke in Suria shopping mall. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall....
Yde was loudly repeating this nursery rhyme while riding this merry-go-round.

After all the fun we went back to the hotel for a cooling down at the swimmingpool. After Yde had his first swimming lesson we went for a walk again but now our goal was food. We walked for a while searching for a restaurant but due to Lunar New Year many shops and restaurants were closed. We ended up at a muslim restaurant and had our diner (for Jitze without his Tiger Beer). Buying the necessary drinks and cookies at the nearest 7-eleven and then back to the hotel because it is bedtime for Yde and Vibeke.

The next day we went to Jalan Petaling (chinese market) and we missed all the umbrella's. Nowadays the street is covered by a roof which is very convenient but the atmosphere is not the same anymore. We also visited the hotel on Jalan Bukit Bintang where we stayed eight years ago and Jalan Alor, a famous street for good hawker food.

On January 30, we went with colleagues and their families to Bukit Tinggi, a village which is a copy of the French village of Colmar. First we visited the rabbit farm, fun for all the children (8 in total). You can buy there also dry rabbit food but one of us was so smart to bring carrots. After all the dry bits they like a fresh carrot even more.....

Yde wanted to ride on a donkey.

Jitze wanted to look like a tough guy.

And the girls were just posing for a picture after our pizza lunch in Colmar Tropicale. Some of the children were doing a short workshop and painted a plate or a small statue, others were watching a show of russian dancers. Also the clown was very attractive because he made animals from balloons and gave them away for free.

Already during our lunch people in costumes were putting up some stands in front of our table. A little later a dragon dance was performed but the sound of the drums was so loud that we walked away and watched the performance from a distance.

It was nice to see the dragon dance but I did not envy the performers. It must have been very warm wearing the costumes.

At the end of the Colmar street was a bell tower and we all climbed up, disabled people can go up as well because there is an elevator. At the top level you had a good view over the main street of Colmar Tropicale with copies of French buildings on both sides.

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