Day 130 – Bangkok shopping.

Chrissy’s alarm went off at 5.30am as her shuttle to the airport was leaving at 6. I woke up with her of course, to say goodbye. I then fell back asleep and woke up at about 10. I chilled out in the room for a bit before heading out to find some food. I got in a taxi to the MBK shopping centre, there are so many big places to shop in Bangkok I wasn’t quite sure which one to go to. I realized as I got to MBK it was the first of about 6 shopping centres on that road, which was great news for me! Unfortunately I didn’t find anything I wanted in any of them and most of the high street shops were the same prices or more expensive than at home. Just like the last time I was in Bangkok before a flight home I made my way to Tesco. I know it’s a weird thing to do but everything is cheap there and it’s a great place to get the last few things to take home along with finding somewhere to eat for dinner.

I got in another taxi to take me back to my hotel. The guy said he knew where it was, which is clearly a lie as he had to ring the hotel and ask some questions, he then went a slightly longer way than last time. He pulled up at the hotel and said I owed him 500B, this was not the case. He had put the metre on and turned it off as we arrived. I knew it said 260 and I had to pay for the tolls, which only made it up to 320. He said ‘Oh ok, 400B’. No. I gave him 520 and told him he needed to give me 200 back. Anyway, I stood my ground, wasted his time, got reception involved and actually came out 20B up after about 10minutes. Some may say it wasn’t worth it but it’s the principal and I’m not some dumb tourist who doesn’t know the difference.

I’ve packed up all my stuff and it’s not actually THAT heavy…well lighter than I was expecting anyway. I’m also impressed I managed to fit it all in the 2 bags I brought away with me. So that’s it, it’s 11.56pm and I’m about to head to bed, see you for the last post tomorrow!

Day 86 – Kuala Lumpur exploring.

I had a bit of a lie in after the long and early days but obviously got up just in time for free breakfast. I say free, you probably partly pay for it in your living cost. First port of call was to do some washing so I dropped it to a place a few roads down around midday and he said I could come and collect it at 6pm, same day service, winner! It cost me £3 to do pretty much my entire bag, bargain.

I then decided I should really go and see the Petronas Towers as I hadn’t quite made it there yet. The towers were opened in 1998 and were the tallest twin towers in the world at the time of opening at 452m. Taipei 101 then took over in 2004. The west tower was built by a Japanese company, whereas the east tower was built by a South Korean company. I discovered on arrival that they aren’t open on a Monday and I couldn’t even buy a ticket for tomorrow so I’ll need to see if I can get it online. The towers are surrounded by a big shopping centre so I had a quick look in there and got some lunch in one of the food courts. Most places I’ve been to in Asia do the best Satay Chicken, I don’t think you can get it as good at home; it’s just something else.

It started to rain again which ruined my plans of walking around the bird park and getting to the museum, so I decided to head to Midvalley to have a look at another little shopping centre. I didn’t really buy anything in KL but they are quite interesting to look at. There are too many Japanese shops around, everything is so cute!

I went back to my hostel and everyone who was in my room had now left and a Canadian guy had moved in, we got talking and we both said we planned to go to the Batu Caves tomorrow so we’re now going together, I also managed to book myself to go up the Petronas towers at 4.15pm! Score!

Day 68 – Sydney shopping & Yoga!

Valerie’s apartment is on the 12^th (top) floor giving her a really good view of Pott’s Point/Kings Cross. At night you can see the Coca-Cola sign flashing so I decided that was the first place I should go and visit. I don’t think Chrissy and I ever made it up this far last time as our hostel was right in the city centre. This sign was put up in 1974 and is the largest billboard in the southern hemisphere, apparently! It’s basically Times Square…

From here I walked along Darlinghurst Road (pretty rough), took a right and eventually ended up back on Crown Street. This street is lined with little boutiques, restaurants and bars, which brings a really good atmosphere to the area. I carried on my walk down Goulburn street until I reached the World Square shopping centre, this places fills up an entire block and by the time I got here it was lunch time! The first place I saw was Pie Face and how could I resist? Pies were good in New Zealand but you can’t beat an Aussie pie, if you haven’t had one, you seriously don’t know what you’re missing out on! I went for the chicken & vegetable curry pie, SO GOOD! I love curries and I love pies, what a magic combination. I walked around here for a while, trying on things and not actually buying anything, which is probably a good thing.

Next stop Market City! They describe themselves as the ‘ultimate shopping experience’ and they’re not far wrong. Paddy’s market is in the basement and they sell pretty much everything, although because of how popular it is now it’s not actually that cheap or good quality for how much you pay, I just went for a quick walk around before making my way upstairs. Now this is more like it, the other levels contain normal shops and most of them are outlets! WOO, this means bargain central. Market City is also based in the middle of Chinatown so there were a lot of little Asian shops, which I can’t help myself but to walk into, everything is so cute!

I took a similar route back to Crown Street because I was about to try some Bikram Yoga. For anyone who doesn’t know what this is, is doing yoga in a hot room pretty much. It makes you sweat loads and is just good for you really. It’s quite a big thing over here and I’ve heard people talk about it so thought I may as well try it. I really enjoyed it and could really feel the benefits from doing it, I used to really enjoy going to yoga when I was younger and I must get back into it when I’m home!

Day 21 – Queen Victoria Market.

7:30am - This has to be the earliest I’ve woken up since leaving Perth but it was all for a good reason and that reason was breakfast (and to see Valerie)! Valerie’s flight back to Sydney was at midday so we arranged to meet at 8:30. Eventually I found the right Crown hotel entrance (why make a hotel so big?!) and we were on our way.  We only walked around the corner to one of the restaurants on the southbank, it was a pretty chilly start to the day but it soon brightened up. After a lovely catch up it was time to say goodbye but I shall be staying with Valerie when I’m in Sydney in March so it’s only bye for now.

I walked back to Flinders Street where I jumped on the free tram to Queens Street to make my way to the Queen Victoria Market. This market runs 4 days a week and sells pretty much everything; fruit, vegetables, clothes, souvenirs etc. Shruthi had said about going to this market so she came and met me. When the market started to close, this is when it really came alive! People snatching up every last bargain they could and fruit being sold by the boxes for just a dollar or two. Absolute mayhem!

We still had quite a bit of the day left and we weren’t quite sure how to spend it. We had mentioned about going to the cinema before so we looked at what was on around us. The Wolf of Wall Street is the film of the moment so we decided to go and check that out at the Holgs cinema in Melbourne central. Although it was quite a long film (3 hours to be exact!) I’m not quite sure what to make of it, the whole thing was pretty crazy really.