Week 10: Feb 20 to 26

It has been a quieter week this week.
I had a morning tea with some High Comm wives on Wednesday. Lachlan had his hair cut on Thursday afternoon, then we had Japanese afterwards and frozen yoghurt for dessert.
Friday I went to IKEA with some other ladies who live here at Dua, then went out with Steve for tapas and sangria for lunch. Friday night we had drinks with the New Zealand family by the pool and a snail came to visit us (check out the size of it in the photo!! that is an adult man's foot beside it)
We had a quiet weekend as Steve had some work to do and went to Times Square Shopping Centre with the kids in the afternoon on Saturday. Sunday Lachlan's friend Ryan and his two sisters came over for a play for most of the day.

Week 9: Feb 12 to 19

I am going to do posts on the week from Mon to Sun from now on, instead of splitting the weekend. So this one will be for the last 8 days.

Sunday we went to Chinatown again, my sunglasses broke last week and I wanted to get a pair from the markets. We met the New Zealand family there.

As I mentioned last week I had Bakat course this week. For the Malaysian wives it is compulsary, but we (international wives) are still expected to attend most of it. Monday was fairly boring and we left mid morning as it wasn't really relevant to us for the rest of the day. Tuesday was team building excercies and was actually fun. We did strategy, planning and team building games and get to know you kind of games. And some public speaking in the afternoon. Wednesday was mostly for the Malays, but we had ladies night Wednesday night. It was a masquerade with the theme 'red and black'. It was a fun night. Thursday was etiquette and event planning which would have been interesting, but the thought of getting dressed up in formal attire at 7:30 in the morning was not that appealing so Toni and I decded to skip that one too. Friday was just the morning with feedback and closing ceremony and was boring. In case anyone missed it on facebook I encountered a snake in a tree walking home from the shopping centre on Friday afternoon.

Friday night we had a cultural night for the course and all the international students and wives were guests of honour. On the course there are about 130 students and about 40 of those are international. Most of the international students are from Asia, and there are only 4 westerners, so we stand out a bit. It was a great night with lots of great entertainment. We also got to try some local delicasies like durian and local rice wine (nothing like sake).

Saturday Lachlan went to play with a friend he has made at school who lives close by. Danae ended up staying as well because he has a sister in the same year as Danae and another younger sister. Steve and I took the opportunity to have lunch together and we checked out a mall that we hadn't been to yet. It has a theme park inside and we wanted to sus it out without the kids. I think we will go back there soon, but we are keeping it up our sleeves as a bit of a surprise.

Sunday we went and had breakfast with the NZers at a cafe really close that has recently opened. The food was great! Then we went grocery shopping at BIG, a fantastic supermarket about 20 minutes away that has a lot of expat groceries. We have been meaning to go to Ampang Lookout for dinner (it is a few restaurants on a hill about 20 minutes away with great views over the city) but it has been really hazy here lately. Late Sunday afternoon the weather was perfect and I googled to show the kids where we were going, I found out it was closed last week. So we went for a swim and found the NZers at the pool, ended up having a few drinks and ordered pizza.

Here are a couple of videos from Ladies Night and the Cultural Night:

Week 8: Feb 5 to 11

Phew what a huge week we have had!
Sunday we were still having a fabulous time in Singapore. We got on the cable car from Sentose across to Singapore and caught the hop on hop off buses around the city. We went to Orchard Road, Marina Bay Sands and the Titanic Exhibition next door at the ArtScience Museum, we saw lots of old and new buildings and the Merlion, we did a river cruise and walked around Clark Quay, we went to a microbrewery and thai restaurant for an afternoon snack. Then we caught the bus back to Sentosa and had dinner at a drink at a restaurant right on the beach.

Monday we spent the day at Universal Studios. The highlight was definately the Transformers ride, we all loved it most (except Danae, who liked a flying ride over Jurasic Park best). Then we went back to Marina Bay Sands and went to Todai for dinner (it is my favourite restaurant and we went a couple of times in the US when we lived there). yummy

Tuesday we had a swim in the morning then breakfast, and started heading home. Just across the Malaysian border we stopped at the newly opened outlets at Johor Baru, the first ones in Malaysia. Then we got home a few hours later in time to attend a High Comm get together with some of the out stationed people around Malaysia.
Wednesday everyone was back at school/work and I had a quiet day at home.
Thursday I had a morning tea at the home of the Defence Attache's wife with some of the other ladies, then went at got beautified for that night. At 6 Steve and I went to a big Australia Day function at the Convention Centre. (yes I know Australia Day was two weeks ago, but it was during CNY so the function was held later). There were lots of VIPs and it was a great night. Steve hosted the very first Chief of Navy for Malaysia, and he was very interesting!
Friday I got my iPhone!! woohoo and Steve was home early so we had lunch together at the Pavillion. Friday night we had our regular drinks and pizza by the pool to catch up with what the others had done over the long weekend.
Saturday was pretty quiet. We went into Suria shopping centre (under the Petronus towers) in the morning to get my sim and did a little grocery shopping in the late afternoon, with swimming in between.
This week I have Bakat, classes all day all week on how to be a good defence wife. It will be interesting, but I am still not entirely thrilled, especially as I have to be covered from neck to feet all week in 35 degree heat..

Week 7: 29 Jan to 4 Feb

Sorry this post is a little late because we have been away for an extra long weekend, due to Prophet Muhammad’s Birthday which was on the weekend, but the public holiday was Monday, and Thaipusam on Tuesday. One of the great things about living in a culturally diverse place is all the holidays!

Another exciting week in KL.

On Sunday, we did the tourist thing around KL, we caught the hop-on bus around the city and went to the Bird Park.

The kids started school on Monday and caught the bus. We met two other Australian girls who live here and also catch the bus.

Tuesday night we had drinks by the pool, while Lachlan and Danae swam and played with some new friends (I think Lachlan has a couple of admirers ;)

Steve had the day off on Wednesday for Federal Territories Day, but the children go to school in a different state so they had school. So we took full advantage and went to Bangsar, a trendy suburb particularly popular with expats here. There are quite a few good cafes and restaurants here. We had breakfast at Plan b and wandered around some of the shops, but were too full to have lunch. We came home and had lunch at the café out the front of our building (Delicious) and shared a salad and macarons.

Thursday we got ASTRO and internet connected!! Astro is the pay tv, here you have a choice between Astro or nothing. Lachlan and Danae were very excited to watch kids tv again. Thursday night was very quiet as everyone went off and did their own thing.

Friday evening was again, drinks and pizza by the pool. 

Bird Park, getting ready for school, Bangsar, Lachlan & Danae @ the Bird Park, lunch @ Delicious

 Then Saturday we drove to Singapore. It took us 5 hours to get there with a lunch stop and we got a bit lost in Singapore trying to find the bridge to Sentosa. We stayed on Sentosa island at the Movenpick Hotel. It was very nice. We spent the rest of Saturday looking around Sentosa and going on a few of the attractions. More of our Singapore trip to follow next week…

Saturday afternoon and evening at Sentosa

 Now that I have proper internet connection, here is a video of a lion dance we saw last week for Chinese New Year.