Thursday, 18 August 2022

Wellington Point, Brisbane

 


Blog catch up time πŸ™‚

Had a good flight on Malaysia Air to Brisbane, arrived 8.40am Tuesday,   Paddy and Narelle met us and whisked us off for a slap up breakfast. The sun was shining, 21° degrees..... perfect  start to our visit in Brisbane.

Check out Queensland's oldest Banyan Tree below.


Wellington Point is the loveliest beach village with parks, coastal walking trails, cafes, launching ramps and amazing birdlife. Can't believe this is Winter weather!





Lots of white Egrets and Heron working the tide lines, beautiful.

 We have had stunning sunsets in the short time we have been here.


The Hibiscus flowers are gorgeous and flowering in Winter!


Brisbane adventures awaitπŸ‘πŸ™‚









Monday, 15 August 2022

Farewell Kuala Lumpur

 And we're off again.


Not before a final coffee in groovy coffee street.  






Next stop Brisbane, slowly heading for home 😊







Sunday, 14 August 2022

Perdana Botanical gardens

 


Selamat pagi, a beautiful morning on our last full day in Kuala Lumpur.  We had a terrific thunder and lightening show in the middle of the night but the sun had dried up all the rain so off we set with the Botanical Gardens our goal. 

We needed a coffee so stopped at one of  the new cafes that have sprung up, very groovy.

Check out this guy's mobile scooter kitchen - umbrella, pot, propane gas tank....good to go. 

Another super hot day and of course after 5 minutes out of air conditioned premises we don't look pretty. It was approx 30 mins walk and about the same time if we took buses and trains.....so ever the pilgrims we set off on foot ... we can handle the heat.....yeah right :)


There's always something interesting to see.


We saw a team of guys working on pebbling little globes, boy these guys were craftsmen doing a perfect job.



The entire area around Merdeka Square and the  Sultan Abdul Samad buildings has your eyes on stalks - gorgeous historic architecture.


The rain curtain installation was great, you could nip under the falling water and be in the cool core. It was so hot it was very tempting to just stand under the water. 


We realized we were slightly bonkers walking in the heat. We didn't see anyone else heading in our direction on foot until we were almost at the gardens entrance when  we finally saw one other couple heading our way.

Made it to the gardens entrance and was reading the map and looked down at my feet to see this critter.
He sauntered off to the rocks thank goodness.
 

The Perdana Botanical Gardens are beautiful. They are big with so much to see and bonus....... there are  lovely resting spots with shade covers. 







We found a kiosk that sold  cold drinks and we saw this cheeky fella helping himself to the bread supply - clawed a hole in the plastic bag and then yum, yum, yum :)


Time for our return walk, somehow it didn't seem so far and it had clouded over with a spot of rain so it was cooler.......did I mention it was hot and we were getting sticky :)

Sultan Abdul Samad building is a beauty.


We had an air conditioning stop at a new cafe that promotes healthy food and recycling. 


The fruit smoothies were cold and delicious!


The two young staff that made our drinks were super friendly and just lovely.



We had a few more miles in us so explored a different neighborhood near our digs. Right beside the gold and diamond streets which we explored a few days ago, we found the centre for fabric sales.....streets and streets of fabric shops and traders.


The array of fabrics was astonishing. There was silk as fine as tissue paper, heavy satins, embroidered brocades, hand blocked batiks......... beautiful!




I guess it makes sense to cluster the complimentary industries...gold for dowries and fabrics for the wedding attire. Weddings look to be big business here. 


We had finally run out of steam so bought some fresh fruit for supper and headed back to our digs for cold showers and putting up our feet. Whew, great day!

Saturday, 13 August 2022

Kuala Lumpur quick pics

 Another day exploring KL on foot and ducking into shops that have good air conditioning. LOKL is a great little cafe near our hotel. It's a new business post Covid lockdown with a young groovy team taking advantage of landlords keeping rents low to attract tennants - great spot.



Lots of stalls in Petaling Market selling everything from underwear, to fresh roasting coffee beans. So many sights and aromas. Thank goodness for the overhead cover as it was another stinker heat wise.





Haven't seen any electric cars or hybrids. The scooter is a major form of transport for so many folks here where the average wage is quite low and owning a private car is beyond the reach of many.


Many of the grand old buildings now host chic cafes and bars. 


The contrast between the old and the new is never more obvious than the Merdeka 118. When complete it will be the tallest building in Malaysia and second tallest in the world after the  Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Apparently  Merdeka 118 will have  Asia’s tallest observation deck which you reach  using  a glass-panelled elevator – which will be the tallest glass-panelled elevator in the world. Yikes, not for me as I'm a Sooky Lala with heights.



KL has done an incredible clean up job through Covid and the community is carrying on caring for their streets.
 


In our short visit it feels so much cleaner and the young guys and gals we chat to seem to have a real  'go-ahead'  spirit,  wanting to make up for time lost with border closures and they have such positive energy and attitudes.  Fingers crossed for themπŸ‘