Relaxing in KK

On our first full day in KK we didn't do a whole lot. We took a bike ride around the other side of the hotel grounds which lasted a whole 10 minutes due to the heat and humidity. The hotel grounds are really lovely with such a gorgeous sea view. The other thing that makes the grounds so beautiful is that it is so lush! I really have learned to appreciate greenery after living in Arizona for 10 years and Chengdu for the past 2 1/2 years.



Jonny and Angus



Gemma and Jonny with a great view!



One of the cool things we found in our room is a robe that is Gemma's size! She really loved it and has been wearing it every night. She had been dancing and practicing her Kung Fu in the mirror when I snapped this shot!

We have arrirved in Paradise!

We arrived in Kota Kinabalu on Sunday around lunch time. We were so happy to arrive at our resort about 10 minutes after we hopped in a taxi. The hotel was very beautiful and this was the view from our room.

We had afternoon tea and took a tour of the hotel facilities and grounds to see what we were going to do during our week before taking a quick dip in the pool. Here are a few pictures of our surroundings.



The boardwalk around the hotel was well built and very picturesque.



We took a peek of the pool through the beautiful tropical plants.



Their is a small private beach at the resort. The island is quite rocky by the sea so I suspect this is a made made beach, but still incredibly beautiful.

There are quite a few orangutans on the island and the other hotel actually has a Orangutans Rehabilitation Center which we are planning to visit during our stay. The water is quite calm here too, so we are going to take the kids out snorkeling for their second go at it. (The first time wasn't too successful!) We are also going to try and a day hike around Mt. Kinabalu. I look forward to sharing the pictures of this lovely place!

Petronas at Night!

In front of KLCC in Kuala Lumpur.

After all of our morning and afternoon activities we headed back to KLCC for dinner at Madame Kwan's for some Malaysian cuisine. Once again I chose the Nasi Lemak! Not only does this make a fine breakfast and lunch, it also makes an incredible dinner. If you have a passion for Indian and Thai cuisine you would absolutely love Malaysian food! It is probably one of my top favorite foods in the world.

It was dusk when we left the restaurant to go back to the hotel. I took a few shots up close of the Petronas Towers. They really look incredible at night.





Here is a photo from the 31st floor of our hotel.

Between the Towers and the Hotel...

Between our hotel and the Petronas Twin Towers there was a huge parkway with a great park for the kids. Even though it was incredibly hot and humid the kids insisted that they had to play on these great structures. Here are some pictures for our quick jaunt to the park.



Of course Angus the boy loved this structure!



King of the mountain!



Coming down the slide on the other side.



Gemma striking a pose! I love her toothless grins!



She was really, really hot!

Jonny and his hot kids!

Playing with a palm leaf.



A park view of the Towers. Could you tell I really enjoyed the Towers???

Beautiful KL and the Incredible Petronas Twin Towers

After our long journey we woke up to this view of the beautiful Towers with a backdrop of blue skies and sunshine. I guess since moving the Chengdu I always like to emphasize my love of blue skies and sunshine! We were so impressed with the Trader's Hotel that I am going to write an extremely positive review on Trip Advisor singing the hotel and staff's praises!

We woke up around 8 am and Jonny volunteered to head over to the Petronas Twin Towers to stand in line to buy tickets to go up in the Twin Towers and walk across the bridge. The kids and I headed down for breakfast and then back to the room to wait for Jonny to return. I was worried whether or not we would get to go up in the Towers as they only sell 800 tickets a day and it is an extremely popular site to see in KL. Jonny return about a 1 1/2 later with tickets in hand!

We had a 1:45 pm appointment to go up and see the Sky Bridge, so I headed over the KLCC to do a little swimsuit and sunglass shopping. The strangest thing about Asia is trying to find swimsuits. I found very few suits in Hong Kong last week and I was surprised again to not find a huge selection of suits in Malaysia.

After my shopping trip I met Jonny and the kids for lunch. We ended up not having enough time for a sit down meal, so we headed to the food court where they had so many Malaysian hawker type foods. I settled for the Nasi Lemak and Jonny and the kids just snacked on Malaysian style potatoes and fruit.

We headed to the Petronas Twin Towers and waited until it was time to go up. There was an informational exhibit and a short film about Petronas we saw before we headed up in the tower. We actually didn't get to go to the top of the tower, but to the Sky Bridge which is located on the 41st floor. The top floor is actually the 84th floor, but I guess it isn't open to the public. Here are some pictures from inside the Sky Bridge.







There is our hotel from the Sky Bridge. I am pretty sure our hotel has the best view of the Towers in the whole city!

Malaysia, Simply Asia, for real!

A view from our room of the Petronas Twin Towers.

We arrived at our hotel last night around 12:00 am and we were all exhausted. Our flights were all on time, but it took a ton of time to get our bags and get a taxi at the airport. The cool thing about the taxis at the airport is that you have to buy a ticket to your destination before hand and you don't have to worry about the taxi driver trying to rip you off.

Even though we were exhausted we were pleasantly surprised to open the curtains in our room and see the amazing Twin Towers. The main reason for coming to KL was to see this monstrosity. At 452 meters high it is the tallest twin towers in the world. I also believe it is the 3rd tallest building in the world next to a building in Taipei and then the Sears Tower in Chicago.

We are on our way up it this afternoon, so we should have some great pictures of the sky bridge which connects the two towers together.

A note about my blog titles....

I have now realized why the slogan for travel to Malaysia is "Malaysia, Simply Asia". It is an incredible combination of Asia. Where else can you have dim sum, curry, noodles, and rice for breakfast! The cultures here seem so intertwined it is quite incredible.

Malaysia, Simply Asia!

We are getting ready to leave for a the May holiday on our trip to Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. We have traveled to Penang, Malaysia before, but we have never been to these parts of Malaysia. Our favorite thing about Malaysia is the food and we are looking forward to more of that plus some beautiful beaches.

I hoping to share some pictures during our stay in both places. Stay tuned!

Hong Kong Week-end for Two!

This year Jonny has been traveling a ton and just last week he had to go on a trip to Hong Kong. He had this great idea for me to join him on Thursday and spend the week-end there sans the kids. I have always been pretty hesitant to do this, but I also really craved some alone time with Jonny. I went accepted and our wonderful ayi, Xiao Yang and my dear friend Cyndi helped out with the kids while we were gone.

The week-end was really wonderful and included lots of eating and sleeping in without interruption from the kids. Most of our time was spent inside malls shopping as the shopping in Hong Kong is incredible! We also went to a movie called “Escape from Huang Shi” which was really great and I highly recommend it.





As we didn’t do any site seeing we only have a few pictures from our trip which is of the Victoria Harbor with the Hong Kong skyline in the backdrop. We actually took it outside a mall in Kowloon.

I have to say it wasn’t as hard as I thought and I we have already planned to do this again in September!

Sleepy Sunday

Last night Gemma had a slumber party to attend and then another birthday party this afternoon. Jonny and Angus dropped Gemma off at the party while I stayed behind to organize the office. I heard them come back, but they never made it up the stairs. I brought a few things out to the garage and this is what I found. I guess the boys were tired.



I think this is one more Chinese cultural thing Jonny and Angus have picked up while living here. Sleeping sitting up!

For the second year in a row Gemma's Class has had the pleasure of a surprise visit from a real live leprechaun on St. Patrick's Day. He did about a half an hour presentation to very attentive 3-4 year old and 5-6 year old classes. He even did a solo of Molly Malone which I have to say was excellent and well received. The thing that kills me about this presentation is that he encourages the kids to tell their parents to drink Guinness! What school in the US would let that one fly!!!



Here he is making his grand entrance!



Gemma with her famous father. Gemma's teacher Mrs. Hoke is on the far left and very Irish looking. She is leaving to go back to the U.S. soon to have her baby!



The other half of Gemma's class.



The family Leprechaun!



My dear friend Cyndi just returned from the US last month with her new baby girl Katie. Here is a picture of me and Katie. She is such a sweetheart and also seems to fit in with the St. Paddy's Day theme.



Here is our resident leprechaun with Gemma, Angus, Maggie and her sister Katie.