Settling in

Wow, I don't know how it is possible that we've only been here two and a half weeks. We seem to have been here months... 
So much has been packed into such a short space of time, I'll use some photos to describe a snapshot of the last few days.

Essentially, the last two weeks have been considerably focused on food:). But this place, this is our favourite. Din Tai Fung is a Taiwanese dumpling restaurant that sells gorgeous pork dumplings and big plates of green veg that we have been craving!

Last week we took a trip to the Lake Gardens in the centre  of KL which is a big green space hidden away in amongst the sky scrapers and 5* hotels. 

It is like a little piece of untouched jungle, interspersed with a deer park, a bird park and botanical gardens.  

We headed to the KL bird park, the largest free-flight aviary in the world apparently. 

Amongst the thousands of feathered creatures we saw, here are some of the ones we have pics of. 

 

Some had less feathers, but more scales :).

Another day, last weekend, we headed to the Batu Caves, a very famous area of limestone caves that house some temples and Hindu shrines. 

After climbing up the 272 steps, inhabited by an extended family of macaque monkeys, we explored the famous cathedral-like chambers and then took a tour of the less-developed 'Dark Caves'. The Dark Caves were the home of thousands of bats, cockroaches, the rarest spider in the world (the trapdoor spider), cave snakes and 6 inch-long centipedes! We saw plenty of cockroaches and even the huge centipedes, as well as lots of bats, but luckily, the spiders and snakes stayed hidden in the shadows! 

 

Happily, we have found a place to live, although we don't move in until Tuesday this week (coincidentally the same day we are collecting the car and teaching our students for the first time.) There is nothing like doing everything on the same day!

It is what is called a link house which is a Malaysian terrace, decorated in a Balinese style (i.e. it has some beautifully carved wooden doors and furniture) and most importantly it has a garden for the cat! Hurrah :) However, inside it is almost entirely painted in a beautiful lime green colour... We have had it written into the contract that we can change this to white or cream if we get fed up of it!

It is close to school and in a nice green 'jungly' area, very close to shopping areas but away from too much craziness. Strangely, although it took at least 10 mins to drive there, we can clearly see the house room from our hotel window!   

                                                             

The garden

Finally, two lovely new friends and I, went on a fab exploration of the Little India area and decided to visit a mosque in the centre of KL. The mosque was beautiful, but by far the best bit was the huge Harry Poster-esque robes we were required to wear. Brilliant :)

Apologies for the way the photos are laid out in this post, I clearly need some IT support from Dave:)

New beginnings

We made it! After two long flights we arrived in Kuala Lumpur last Wednesday tired and dusty, loaded with bags and were greeted with big hugs and kisses from our new bosses. We were whisked off to our hotel, The Boulevard in the Mid-Valley district, south of KL central.

We are on the 16th floor, and as someone who isn't particularly partial to high buildings, I was very pleased not to be on the 28th like some of our colleagues were. 
Since arriving, the induction program has kept us busy visiting local residential areas and touring the 2 school campuses, going for dinner and taking advantage of the executive guest status we've been given which means free beer, wine and canapes from 5:30-7:30 every night! With 30 odd new teachers, we've been taking full advantage of that perk! 

The Executive Lounge at 'Very Happy Hour'.

The view from our window on arrival. 

This was clearly a sunny day but since we've been here, although the temperature has been consistently lovely and warm, we have seen some amazing rain storms, where the rain has hammered down with such force that within minutes the roads are 20cm deep in rushing water and a few seconds outside will leave you utterly soaked to the skin. I really like the way the storms roll in with hardly any notice and within an hour or two have left everywhere feeling fresh and cool. 

The school seems reassuringly organised. In the last 9 days we have had our medical insurance sorted, our bank accounts and cards issued, our new Sim cards handed out the moment we arrived, school laptops all set up... All in all, I feel we've really landed on our feet :). 

Since Monday we have been searching for a house to live in, which has proved a little tricky as ludicrously we have to bear in mind that this troublemaker is going to be joining us soon...

Is there enough outdoor space? Is the road too busy? Crazy, crazy. 

Hopefully the house dilemmas will be sorted in the next few days and I'll be able to post pictures of the new luxury cat-friendly pad! 



In the meantime, here is photographic evidence of some highlights of the last few days. 

 From L-R, D and I ate at a very local place in Little India, which was gorgeous but excruciatingly spicy! Followed by amazing noodles at a Penang restaurant and lastly a trip to Jalan Alor, a famous street food market, which was brilliant. You could have anything you wanted for next to nothing, plus we managed to get hold of some delicious pork - Not so easy over here.

Finally we visited a crazy bar on Wednesday which was a loopy experience. It's called the Heli-lounge and you have to travel up to the top (floor 34) of a sky-scraper in central KL. Now, I had issues with this bar just using the lift to get there. Luckily we were in a group of relatively new colleagues and friends, and not wanting to look horribly neurotic, I distracted myself for a minute in the lift and sure enough arrived in one piece on the 34th floor. After buying a drink, we made our way up a few more flights of stairs (more floors - sweaty palms!) and climbed out onto the very roof of the building which was a helipad. No barriers, no railing, just lots of people enjoying a drink and staying within the big yellow painted circle in the middle. I wasn't the only one who found the whole concept a bit strange and pretty terrifying, but the bouncers around the edge and the beautiful views made the whole experience much more palatable and I definitely think it's a must-see for our future visitors if they have a head for heights!