MALLS AND MOURNING

At last we were on our own, but was this a good thing? We flew from Bangkok into Kuala Lumpur and got ourselves to the hotel with no problem. Then we collapsed into bed – no, to sleep, we had no energy left for anything else! We’re both at that stage now when the spirit is willing but the body has had enough by 10 am.

Since they didn’t serve dinner at the hotel, we ventured out in the evening and had a long discussion on the pavement as to which way to go – DH always has to turn the map upside down, I don’t. I must have a revolving brain or something like that. As usual I wanted to go one way and he wanted to go in the opposite direction – all a bit stupid really as we only needed to get round to the other side of the block.

Now I think all those temples must have had a strange effect on DH as if we’re at home and I suggest going to the mall, he has a habit of grabbing the garlic and drawing pentangles around himself with salt. Here in Kuala Lumpur he was suggesting going to a mall! We found one called Fahrenheit 88 which was very smart, and I have to confess I dived into a large plate of spaghetti bolognese. I do love Far Eastern food, but this was just so delightfully familiar and my favourite comfort food, besides which, it was incredibly cheap.

Next day we made tracks back to the same mall for breakfast and to exchange the wrong power lead we’d bought the night before. This is the posh entrance I never saw, I think we sneaked in the back way.

We walked to Times Square and guess what? Another mall, even bigger and better. DH had obviously sussed out that there was a limit to what we could buy – suitcases, weight etc.

Next we took a taxi to the twin towers, it’s the must see of course. We thought the fare was going to be cheap but had to pay at a booking office which bumped the price up. Here there were no tuk tuks, rickshaws or scooters, we’d dipped our toes back into the developed world.

View from the shopping centre.

Pics of the twin towers next week – I have lots of those!

Queen Victoria goes into a complete decline after poor Albert passed on. I can imagine her consoling herself with that picture of him surrounded by those angels. She had worried herself for years about him he’d suffered from depression, frequently caught colds and suffered from nervous fevers. But at least he wasn’t around to beat the boys when they transgressed.

As Queen Victoria went into the deep mourning that was to last the rest of her life her children were : Vicky 21, Bertie 20, Alice 19, Alfred nearly 17, Helena 15, Louise 13, Arthur 11, Leopold 8, and baby Beatrice 4. Victoria herself was 42. Even though those kids still remaining at home did their best to persuade her to pop down to the Playboy Club for a bit of a knees up she flatly refused. She was too worried she might be targeted by an unscrupulous fortune hunter for her money if anyone noticed who she was.

Till next time.