Happy Birthday! 🎂

Our second full day in Kuala Lumpur was Lynne’s birthday. The previous day was spent recovering from the previous couple of days traveling. We had breakfast locally which was interesting as we had Roti (something like a flaky pastry that’s actually a kind of flat bread) and some kind of curry sauce. I asked for tea and found that they serve pulled tea made with condensed milk and sugar syrup that tastes so sweet all your teeth should drop out! I’ll be doing my best to avoid that in future. Having said that, the whole breakfast for three of us cost the equivalent of £2.50.

The rest of the day we took the train into KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Center) and wandered around the mall there which is right next to the Petronas Towers. I’m not a particularly big fan of shopping but there are so many Malls in KL and they all offer respite from the heat and humidity outside. It seems to me that if the weather outside was nothing like so hot, the footfall and general level of custom in the malls would probably drop radically! After this short visit to KLCC we decided we needed to ramp up the excitement a little so we got a taxi to Ikea! Yes! you read it correctly, IKEA!😡 Lynne had decided we need more coat hangers and it doesn’t get more exciting than that! If there’s anyone reading this who thinks “why on earth does this guy think we want to know about a trip to Ikea?” I’d like to remind you that this whole blog is primarily meant as a diary of events for our benefit but this whole published format serves as my motivation to get it done every day!🧐

So, after our first day in KL I was tired and leg-weary. I do think the heat has a way of sapping your strength and I was really feeling it. I’ve never been a big believer in jet lag but this time I was definitely feeling the effects. That night we had takeout and stayed in.

Which brings us to Lynne’s birthday, Sunday January 27. I was up at 8.00am in spite of the fact that Daniel and I had stayed up until 1.00am watching football. Villa struggling to beat bottom of the table Ipswich town 2-1, not the most exciting match. Lynne didn’t surface until 10.30am and immediately berated me for not waking her up. You can’t win can you, if I’d gone and woken her she would have berated me for that too! Dan only appeared just after Lynne and suggested we go out for breakfast which given the time turned out to be brunch. We took a taxi to a place called Bangsar Village. A quite affluent area judging by some of the cars we saw parked on the street. When you realise how much it costs to import a car into Malaysia its quite surprising to see Ferrari’s and the like cruising around. The cost of buying a European car is apparently unbelievably prohibitive but there are still lots of them about. Parking in the Bangsar area looked like a nightmare though and we were happy with the taxi service that dropped us at the door of the restaurant. Daniel had chosen a place called Antipodean which obviously had an Australian touch about it. After brunch which we finished at roughly 1.30pm (you could hardly class that as breakfast) we wandered through the area taking in a street food market and even popping into the local guitar shop. It certainly made a change from the big shopping malls we’d frequented so far on this trip, but hey, I spoke too soon because then we found ourselves in the ubiquitous mall. We didn’t stay long though and soon made our way back to Dans apartment to get ready to go out for the evening.

Dan had booked a table for 7.30 in a new Chinese restaurant called Yen in the W Hotel close to the Petronas Towers. Once again we arrived by taxi. It seems the best way to get around is by car. There’s a company called Grab, you have their app and set up an account and just call for a car anytime. No money changes hands in the car and there’s no need ever to tip. It’s all very civilised and makes you wonder why anyone living in or near KL would ever have a car of their own. Anyway, when we got to Yen there was only one other table occupied. We sat down and it quickly became obvious that this was a fine dining establishment. However, the young people serving appeared to be trainees which didn’t bode well. So the service wasn’t exactly on the ball and I could see Daniel starting to get irritated with them. I think its safe to say he doesn’t suffer fools gladly. Still, we were presented with menus and ordered a bottle of Cloudy Bay Sauvignon. We’d been sat down for 20 minutes or so when Dans girlfriend, Shanthya turned up which came as a total surprise to Lynne and I as he hadn’t said anything to either of us about her coming. It turned out that he hadn’t known if she would make it or not. She is a paediatric surgeon and had been on a 24 hour shift the previous day only getting home at 3.00am but still being on call till 8.00am. You couldn’t have blamed her for not making it but having now met her we were glad she did as she was an absolute delight.

We ordered all kinds of food with the intention of having it in the middle of the table and everyone share keeping in mind that Lynne is vegetarian. I was actually surprised she agreed to stay after seeing foie gras on the menu but she managed to contain her dislike of the dish having previously sworn never to eat anywhere that serves it! Unfortunately  Daniel ordered Dim Sum without realising it would include foie gras. Consequently Lynne and I ended up swapping so that she wouldn’t have foie gras on her plate and I had to eat two lots instead. I’d rather not have eaten it but I managed to put my own principles to one side and must admit it was delicious! There were certain things on the table I was slightly unsure about and the following picture shows one. I could see why this little fella might have been pissed off but with a face like that he was only ever going to be at the bottom of the food chain! The only other thing I didn’t like was that any time you order chicken in Malaysia it all comes on the bone. Trying to eat bony chicken with chopsticks is gonna take a lot of practice I’m thinking.

We had a wonderful meal and the wine and conversation flowed in equally enjoyable measures. By the time we finished there were 3 or 4 other tables occupied but it was still quiet and I think our laughter must have been quite disturbing for them especially when the waiter came up with a strange kind of birthday cake and we all sang happy birthday!

After we finished and Dan picked up the bill (phew😉) we went up to the 11th floor to the WET Deck. When we walked in we were taken to a table with an ok view of the city and I could see Shanthya and Dan asking for a better one at the side of the swimming pool which had a centre section with what I can only assume was dry ice pouring out of it like a permanent fog. Initially all the better tables were reserved but strangely as soon as we ordered a bottle of gin at a rough cost equivalent of £120 one became magically available. So we were finally sat looking out at the Petronas Towers. Its difficult to imagine having a better city view and we had a great time taking in the atmosphere.

All in all a magical night which I’m sure will live on in our memories for a long time to come. A fitting celebration of the birthday of my lovely wife who is as beautiful now as the day we met more than 30 years ago!😍😘