Food tour Malaysia! Got the LRt out to the suburbs with minimum fuss. Got there really early so waited in the heat for everyone else. Our guide, Farah, picked us up in her Kia van and off we went...slowly, into very heavy traffic! First stop was a Chinese place by the side of the road, the sort of place as a westerner you would never be brave enough to go into but look wistfully in at all the locals having a ball. We had pork wrapped in bean curd and fried, with ...

KL whirlwind day! Lots of sightseeing with a group from the hostel including visits to the major Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu places of worship inc the pretty cool Batu Caves (though the 200+ steps in the heat weren't so cool). I leant 2 important things today: 1) sikhs in Malaysia don't have to wear helmets on motorbikes, instead relying on their super sturdy turbans and 2) I am freaking terrified of monkeys. Apparently this precludes me from going to Bali, India...

Why do people think it is ok to scrape communal condiment serving spoons all over the toast they've just manhandled onto their plate after having a good scratch of their nether regions? Maybe it's just those nations brought up under English reign that find this annoying

Just a quick note to acknowledge and celebrate the fact that this will be the last time I fly a reputable airline for awhile. Thanks, qantas. Too bad it's just down to Melbourne. Looking forward to a night in st k before flying out to kl tomorrow with good old air Asia. Yay!!

One more day of work! So...should probably be finishing my handover doc. I haven't taken more than 3 weeks off in a looooong time, pretty excited to have a full 5 weeks of adventure stretching in front of me. Last minute packing decisions still to be made: hiking shoes (leaning to yes due to increased number of treks I am planning to add to my joyful beach time). Long socks (recalling the leech experiences of Laos again think yes). Girly paraphernalia such as hai...