The Nerds at Number 10... KL Kapers

Well, the holiday was nearly over. Avoiding the heat to keep our travelling clothes as fresh as possible, we spent most of Sunday in Berjaya Times Square again. Both had a go at indoor archery - Nerdia didn't do any better this time - and then tenpin bowling in the vast 40 lane alley next door to the archery range. Nothing impressive about the scores but we had a good time. Nerdia decided against the indoor theme park after all...
Had two of the best ever pizzas at Pap John's Pizza place out front, then back in for a final wander before a relaxing read in the hotel bar.
And that was that!
Have finally uploaded some of the photos, mostly of food and a few more in the 'wrong' category.
Hope you enjoyed reading the blog!
Cheers from Plane Boy and Nerdia.

Plane Boy was still under the weather yesterday, so he stayed put at the hotel while Nerdia hopped on the monorail to have a look at the lovely old KL train station. We'd seen it on the way up to Carcosa and she was keen to get some photos of the old English colonial style architecture, but when she finally arrived (after another delay at KL Sentral) there was no good vantage point, nowhere to eat and thus no reason to stay.
After wandering aimlessly around KL Sentral for a while, deciding against heading off to the Batu Caves and resisting the fast food joints inside the station, Nerdia headed back towards the monorail station in Little India. Stopping in the first restaurant she saw, a yummy late lunch of vegetarian biryani served on a banana leaf was partaken - in true Indian fashion, sans cutlery. After much surreptitious (superstitious?) use of hand sanitiser.
Following this rather brave luncheon for borderline OCD somewhat fastidious Nerdia, a leisurely wander along the main shopping strip led to the purchase of two very nice Indian-style tunics.
Dinner was back at Sahara tent, where we were warmly greeted as loyal diners and fed another delicious meal. Nerdia had tabouleh and what would be called lamb skewers in Oz, while Plane Boy had more of those delectable kind-of-like-falafel-but-made-from-lamb-mince thingies plus a sort of lamb and tomato casserole. In addition to the usual Arabian tea Nerdia also went for Turkish coffee and a sort of custardlike dessert, while Plane Boy had yummo baklava.
Retired early ready for the final day - we've just checked out and shall spend the day in Times Square's delightful air conditioning to keep us fresh for the overnight flight back home.
Cheerybyenow from Nerdia and Plane Boy.

By Thursday morning, Plane Boy had started to come down with the cold Nerdia had before leaving home. Nothing major, but enough to put off doing too much that day. Thus Plane Boy settled down at the hotel with a book while Nerdia went for a wander.
A few streets away was Lot 10, an as yet unexplored upmarket shopping mall. Within was a welcome surprise: a National Geographic shop! Shelves of old magazines, tables by the window, time to spare - her idea of heaven. Several hours were spent lazily reading about Hanoi, moth photography and other nerdy pursuits.
When hunger pangs struck it was off to Tarbush, a nearby Lebanese chain restaurant recommended by a workmate (onya JT!). Yummo labneh! After a late lunch, Nerdia slowly wend her way back to the hotel... via Sungei Wang bargain shopping plaza. What started as a mild interest in tacky knick-knacks led to bad shirts, more bad shirts and even more bad shirts. Truly hideous, even by Nerdia's standards. Hurrah!
Once Nerdia had returned to the hotel and injured Plane Boy's eyes with the blinding ugliness of her purchases, both relaxed for the rest of the arvo before returning to Tarbush for a delicious dinner.

Friday saw Plane Boy slightly better but still not tip-top, so nothing too strenuous - just hours and hours of shopping at Times Square. An early highlight was discovering a Borders bookshop still open on the bottom floor, where (wonder of wonders) Nerdia bought more books than Plane Boy did. Most of the day was spent hunting souvenirs plus a particularly funny window display Nerdia had meant to photograph days ago. Plane Boy later retired to the hotel while Nerdia tried her hand at indoor archery (not TOO bad given how many years it's been since she picked up a bow). Then it was books and beer in the hotel bar until dinner time back at Sahara Tent, where we had another scrumptious meal. (Nerdia had gorgeous spiced chicken while Plane Boy had some new delicious lamb dishes.)

Today we've had a leisurely start, and Nerdia is about to head off sightseeing. Cheerio!

Post script for previous entry: while Plane Boy had an afternoon siesta, Nerdia jumped on the monorail for a bit of an explore.

So, yesterday we headed off for Sunway Lagoon, a gigantic Vegas-style resort (minus the casino). Inside was yet another huge mall - this time with an open ice rink at the bottom - but we weren't there for the high-price resort shopping, we were there for the theme park.
This turned out to be several big theme parks covering a deep valley behind the hotel - perhaps a former quarry? We skipped the top range roller coaster park etc, the main thing Nerdia wanted was the water park. Yay, water park!
Some of the tube slides were not available but there were plenty of other water-based amusements on hand, such as a speed slide (speedy indeed, shrieks aplenty) and a big pool with a wave machine - surprisingly fun with a big inner tube Giant tip-bucket tower for timed soakings etc etc.
Figuring we'd seen all of the 'water features', we wandered around a corner - and found a whole new section of the park with a much bigger pool. Beach Boys music blasting from the speakers, artificial beach, surf simulator (no, we didn't hang ten), long flying fox and bungee line above...
...and then the storm arrived. Within seconds it was dark, thunder rumbled right overhead and we were pelted with heavy, cold rain - great fun in the big warm pool, we loved it! All of a sudden it passed some secret threshold and the life guards ordered us all out of the pool, whistles 'pipping' everywhere. (A common sound in KL!)
Onto the beach we ran, lightning flashing directly overhead now and rain chucking down. Then apparently the beach wasn't safe either, and hundreds of us were herded under the huts on shore as the rain got even heavier. A couple of local blokes were most impressed by Plane Boy's stature (one was heard to gasp "Oh my God, giant hand!" when he went to shake), so a photo session amused us all for a few minutes.
And then, just as suddenly, the tropical deluge was over. Rain stopped, sunshine returned (though the stormcloud rumbled on for a while) and everyone went back in. Brilliant fun!
Water park done, we wandered through a surprisingly large wildlife park, containing everything from impressive black panthers lounging in trees to weird hairless guinea pigs in the pet exhibit. The forest section was really quite good, lots of birds wandering around freely and pretty decent enclosures for everything except maybe the mandrills, whose area looked much like Perth Zoo's ape enclosures used to do some 20 years ago. Sleepy tigers waiting for their show (we skipped that), ginat porcupines, tiny mouse deer, a huge tapir (those things are massive!) - and, to Nerdia's delight, a mongoose.
By this stage Plane Boy was just about done, but Nerdia insisted on checking out the milder amusement park included in the tickets, just in case there were any more water slides. The round canyon boats were quite good (if a little bit tame), and the log ride was actually a little scary in points, she hates to admit. Once she'd finally had enough, we headed back to the hotel.
Both pooped and Plane Boy a little under the weather, so it was room service for dinner (yummo beef rendang and laksa) then sleep.

Post script for previous blog: it was the Skybar at the Traders Hotel, by the way. And the food was scrumptious! Plane Boy had a sirloin sandwich and Nerdia had a lamb burger, both with crispy fries and salad. Beautiful!

Yesterday was a whirlwind of countries and cusines. First we took a surprisingly short taxi ride to Fahrenheit 88 (formerly KL Plaza), where Nerdia finally bought some clothes from Japanese outlet store Uniqlo. Lots of identical 3/4 pants in various colours, just what she was after. Took some finding, though - XL in the menswear section!

Early in the afternoon, we tried to hail a taxi for Carcosa Seri Negara - but the driver hadn't heard of it, so a hotel driver kindly took us there. He was great, a real expert on the place, and we spent the whole trip chatting about royalty (apparently Nerdia has Prince William's nose).
It used to be the residence of the Governor, then the High Commissioner, then the Queen stayed there with her entourage, and now it's a very exclusive hotel. It's a fabulous English colonial style house set in manicured gardens high on a hill overlooking the city (though most of it is hidden by the trees). We were waiting for Jumbo and Bunty to stroll out from behind a tree while ladies played croquet or badminton on the lawns and little girls skipped past in white full-length dresses. Five minutes on the verandah and Plane Boy was all 'guffaw guffaw' this and 'where's my swagger stick' that.
While waiting for the concert party from It Ain't Half Hot Mum, we were served high tea in china cups (perhaps not Royal Doulton since it was marked 'Versailles, Thailand') by several very dignified staff. Nerdia went for Earl Grey for the occasion but confesses she still doesn't really get tea. Oh well. Plane Boy had mint tea, which was very good. Accompanying this was a very British afternoon tea: delicate salmon or egg sandwiches, tiny trifles, strawberries dipped in chocolate, dainty little pecan tartlets and one scone each (with jam and cream of course - Aussie jam, in fact). Capital! They even let us wander around taking photos.

Back to the hotel for a siesta, then we finally hit the local restaurant strip for a late dinner at a place Plane Boy had been eyeing off since we arrived: Saraha Tent Arabian restaurant. Fantastic food in a slightly odd atmosphere, full of stuffed animals and tasseled curtains. Taboula and stuffed vine leaves to start, then Nerdia had a plateful of divine little vegetables stuffed with lamb mince, rice and spices - wonderful! Plane Boy's main was Arabian bread soaked in tomatoes, black lemon, lentils and spices, with a lamb shank on top. Very yummy indeed.

That was it for yesterday. We'll be looking for Arabian restaurants when we get back home!