Jorney's End

Still Sweltering in Kuala Lumpur!

Our last day in Kuala Lumpur was spent with a look around the city, Although we were one down as Karen wasn't feeling well so staying in the apartment. We started at TRX a trendy shopping space with an amazing bookshop. They had books wrapped so you couldn't see the title just a few words giving a cryptic view of the book. This seemed a "novel" idea and James was pleased with his initially mystery book. The shop was huge and we eventually decided we had to leave to see more of the city. TRX also had an interesting art gallery but unfortunately shut for a private function.

Next we headed to the main market, El remembered this from her time here as being an upmarket indoor mall. However what we saw was a fun and shabby outdoor market! The confusion was solved 10 minutes later when we came to the posher in-door market! We then walked along the River of Life, where two rivers meet, to the main square. The was an impressive fountain and piazza surrounded by tall buildings some of which were covered by bright street art. By this time the heat had got to us, it was 35C, feels like lots more. So we headed back to the apartment and chilled. By now El was also feeling a bit dodgy so we cancelled our booking for a posh meal and ordered in McDonalds for tea.

Playing cards and having drinks with our burgers made it a fun end to the time in KL.

The next morning it was a case of heading to the airport for our flight home! KL with James and El has been a nice end of our trip.

Wow What A Great 11 Months

Looking back over the 11 months, we can't believe how quickly it has gone. We have loved it all and really impossible to pick out favourites. Memories of the places, peoples, tours, food and wildlife we have experienced will stay with us for ever.

Throughout the trip we have also felt welcomed by local people and never threatened or worried about where we are, this is one of the big highlights for me. The trip definitely exceeded all our expectations and we are so glad we made the decision to do it now. If we had waiting until after retirement there are lots we wouldn't have been able to do (springs to mind the number of times Karen said I'm trying to kill her off by forcing her to climb ridiculously high mountains). We have managed the 11 months and remained good friends throughout and very little arguments, even getting comments on the tours from other people on how well we were suited!

The mix of guided tours and self-planned sections was great and felt worked well. The cost was pretty much what we had planned and we didn't need to tap into our contingency fund.

Thank you everyone for reading, we will try not to go on about the trip too much when we catch up but please allow us to tell a few stories for the first few months. Thanks to Liz, James and El for joining as at different places. A big thank you to Karen for making it such a great shared experience.

That's us signing off for now.