Lazy Sunday afternoon

The flight  to Kuala Lumper (KL) took 3 hours  & once through passport control, finding the taxi advanced booking counter was straightforward & soon we were in a cab heading into the city driving on the left hand side of the road. That familiarity along with the lush green landscape made us feel a little  like we were heading home but it's not time for that yet.

We have been to KL before, 10yrs ago for a couple of days when went to China & were flying on to Langkawi & had liked it. We hadn't planned to visit as part of these travels so how did we end up here? Well we decided we wanted to spend NewYears Eve in a city & to treat ourselves & do some shopping - & KL is definitely all about that! 
We had splashed out on a nice hotel 800m from KLCC & were delighted when we got upgraded to a full suite – with kitchenette (including a washing machine that we put through its paces), a dining room suite & a sofa!!! It may sound odd to you getting excited about a sofa but most of the guesthouses/hostels we have stayed in don’t  have anywhere to sit other than the bed or a single wooden chair. 
We put the washing machine on & headed out. If you haven't been here before it's hard to describe but basically next to every shopping mall is another shopping mall many floors high, some connecting with each other. First stop was to get some new prescription glasses & prescription sunglasses. There are some great deals to be had here. Once that had been sorted, We wandered round from store to store, mall to mall for ages without any real plan returning to our suite later in the evening & cooked. There isn't much you can cook with one saucepan & a two ring hob but it was just great to be able to cook something for ourselves. We sat on our sofa with bowls of pasta on our laps & watched tv. A great night! 
New Year's Eve daytime we set off to try to visit the iconic Petronas twin towers. We had not been able to get in last time we were here & sadly that was the case this time too. We will just have to come back again. We had a walk around town and around the park on a sort of reconnaissance to see where we might position ourselves to watch the fireworks in the evening. Then we collected my glasses and returned to our hotel for a swim and to do more washing.  
 We headed out & I immediately regretted putting jeans on as it was so hot and humid. We found a corner spot in an Irish Bar “Healys” then joined the crowds walking to the towers. It was mad! So many people, lots of children and families everywhere, many people blowing hooters so the noise was immense. We didn't see any police or security but equally we didn’t see any trouble. Of the thousands of people there  we only saw 2 drinking alcohol (not us). Cars and bikes still packed the streets but there came a point when the traffic just ground to a holt. We positioned ourselves in front of the towers in the centre of both. There was No countdown, no announcement, no music being pumped out of speakers, so everyone was just looking at their phones. Then moments after midnight the fireworks started, appearing between the two towers in front of us. The cheers and yells of delight from the diverse crowd watching made it really lovely to be there. When it was over we made our way out, with the huge throngs of people, along the streets, with the hundreds of motorbikes & scooters trying to work their way through the crowd, revving engines & more aggressively than we had previously experienced but people power won this round and we walked on the road for most of the way back.
A lazy New Year's Day with plenty of sitting on our sofa & very little else. Exactly what New Years Day is meant to be about – especially when they fall on a Sunday.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to KL but remain in Malaysia. We are heading to Penang & a place called Georgetown. Sadly there is no room in our packs for our beloved sofa.

Happy New Year to you all!