Malaysia/Japan Holiday 2007, Day #1

Here we are in Kuala Lumpur, on the first day of our two week holiday. We stopped off here for a number of reasons: firstly, to visit old friends from our university days; secondly, to visit the church in KL; thirdly, we've never been there before; and fourthly, because it breaks up the lengthy flight to Japan, our ultimate destination. We took the overnight flight from Sydney to KL, which got us in before dawn; then a taxi to our hotel, and then straight to bed (definitely the ultimate remedy for upset body clocks). Up again for lunch, we met up with Penny and Oliver, and headed out in search for food and somewhere to chat. The searing heat and wilting humidity outside meant that we'd be spending the rest of the day in air-conditioned shopping malls or by the pool at the hotel, so there's not too much by way of touristy photos of KL. However, we did go out for dinner at the rather trendy Traders Hotel, which is directly opposite the Petronas Towers. We were rather outnumbered by the local Muslim population breaking their Ramadan fasts, but the food was excellent; a small shame that the rather snooty staff at the club on the observation deck upstairs wouldn't let us in because some of us were wearing open-toed sandals... By this time, Lauren was about to collapse with exhaustion (and had passed into her grouchy phase), so back to the hotel and drinkies in the lounge downstairs, while being serenaded with some live music - a rather eclectic mix of local Chinese pop favourites, Boney M medleys and ABBA. We might as well have gone to the karaoke bar across the way.