{Team Somerville Travel} Kuala Lumpur

I woke with a start this morning at 6am (that's 5am Vietnam time!) to the sound of the morning call to prayer echoing around the city from a nearby mosque.

The fact that the sound of a morning prayer startled me to the point of wondering for at least 60 seconds what the heck was happening, led me to the sleepy realisation that this was actually a new experience for me.

I took my first international flight at the age of 21 (yes, I was a late starter!) and with all the places I have travelled to since, I realised as I lay listening to the prayers that Malaysia is the first country I've visited that has Islam as its predominant religion.

Despite the early call to prayer, the girls slept in so we had a late start to our KL shopping day.

Even without the lights, the morning view from our room was still pretty spectacular.

Twin Towers by day

Unfortunately Georgia and Mackenzie spotted the massive playground/park in front of the Towers from our hotel suite, so we left for breakfast with a promise to go there in the afternoon.



Georgia...breakfast at Traders

Our main destination for the day was the shopping area of Bukit Bintang. The strip has a number of malls catering to both high end and high street shoppers.

We took a taxi from the hotel to Pavillion - a sprawling 6 storey mall with far too many shops for us to visit with the toddlers in tow.

The girls did well, helped along by the numerous Chinese New Year displays to divert their attention when they got tired of shopping.


Chinese New Year dragons - Pavillion shopping mall

Mackenzie

With everything from Malay to western food, and some random items in between, the Pavillion food court was also a welcome diversion.

The girls and Rob ate Malaysian food, while I got enticed by the Subway outlet. A bad call...Halal salami does not taste so good!

What the?

We shopped until we dropped (almost) and kept good on the promise to take the girls to the park, despite a few spots of rain.

While Rob and the girls spent the afternoon at the park...

... I indulged in additional retail therapy at the Suria Shopping Centre at the base of the Petronas Twin Towers. A lot of the same shops as the Pavillion and then some. Definitely need to spend a few more hours there tomorrow!