A quick stop in Malaysia

Malaysia was probably my least favorite stop on this years vacation.  It was a really last minute add on since our original itinerary had us spending 4 days in Bangkok but then the unpredictable floods happened.  The travel advisory stated that only absolutely necessary travel to Bangkok was allowed.

Luckily Bangkok Airways refunded our tickets from Siemp Reap to Bangkok.  We were also able to cancel the hotel with no penalty.  I was definitely bummed because I had planned to see all the temples in the city, do some major shopping but most importantly visit Ayutthaya National Park.  I really wanted to see this :

We ended up flying from Siem Reap to Kuala Lumpur for 3 days before heading out back to Bangkok for 1 day.  No matter what, we had to fly to Bangkok because our flight to Bhutan left from there.

Hubby and I are what you called big time planners :)  Our South East Asia was planned 6 months in advance.  We were panicking and only had 2 days to reconfigure our itinerary without adding too much cost.  Malaysia was the cheapest destination.  

We didn't really know what to expect,  except that it was a big city and the major thing to do there was eat & shop.

When we arrived, the first thing we noticed was that it was DAMN hot.  It was around 36C but luckily without the humidity we experienced in Siem Reap.  It made it somewhat more bearable.  

We figured okay, let's go visit the famous twin towers.  Our hotel was a 5 minute walk from there.  The first thing we see is that the Petronas Towers are going to be closed until 2012.  Are you kidding me ???

Haha.  Oh well, at least we got to see the outside.  It was stunning both during the daytime and the night.

Attached to the towers is a pretty nice shopping mall.  It allowed me to get my fix on Asian cosmetics.  It's not anywhere comparable to Takashimaya in Tokyo (cosmetics heaven for me) but it allowed me to pick up a refill on one of my favorite foundations by RMK and try SkinFood BB Cream.  (BB or Blemish Balm is all the rage in Asia.  It's a combination skincare, sunscreen, and foundation formula. However it only comes in two shades.  Super white and light.  HAHAHA.  The sales lady convinced me that it will match my skin but when I put it on back at home, the cream casted such a grey tone on me - I felt I looked like a zombie;))

Skin Food : Their motto is " Urban food for the Urban sweety"

We also took a quick day trip to Melaka.  Everyone we telling us how amazing Jonker Street was.  I think we got there way to early in the morning.  The shops were open but Jonker Street was more famous for their street vendors that show up only after 5pm.  Ooops...

It wasn't all that bad though, we had the best lunch there.  We had the local Hainanese Chicken Rice.  This was definitely a highlight for the husband.

The restaurant didn't look like much, in fact it looked like a dump. But the food was TASTY!  No menus were required because they only served one item :)

We definitely picked the most popular joint for lunch because by the time we left, there was a huge line.

We know also finally have some art for our empty walls at home.  We found the cutest wood cut block printing art shop in Melaka - Hueman Studio.  We ended up buying 4 prints and had them shipped back to San Francisco. That will be one of our new years resolution tasks, to put up our prints.

The shop owner, Hueman recommended that we try their famous local dessert Cendol.  I'm not the adventurous type (nor am I a big fan of Asian desserts) so I just let my hubby try it.  He gave it two thumbs up. 

So that's it, our little recap of our mini adventure in Malaysia.