Kuala Lumpur City Skyline (image from Google Images)
Last Saturday night/Sunday morning my husband and I left for Kuala Lumpur, this was my first trip to Malaysia, hubby has been a few times before for work. I was excited to go and to see a new place. I had heard the shopping was great and the sight seeing was wonderful as well. We were going over for my brother-in-law's wedding which was a traditional Hindu wedding, with a couple of days to relax and take it all in.
Our plane left Perth International Airport at 2:30am I don't actually remember take-off as I was already asleep. You see I did a 5km open water swim Saturday morning and a shift at work to come home around 8:45pm to finish packing and make our way to the airport. So I managed a restless 4 hours sleep on the plane (5.5hr total flight).
On landing in Kuala Lumpur (KL) we headed to my brother-in-law's hotel where we managed to help surprise him, the bestman from his Perth wedding was going to be at his KL wedding as well, it was a lovely surprise for him, everyone knew about the surprise except for him, a great start to a great week. We headed into the shopping centre at MidCity Mega Mall, on going down the escalator the first thing I see is a shop full of lollies (sweets), then near by was another shop with cakes, another was a bakery, then more and more of them all. My jaw was on the floor to just how much starch/sugar driven food was around me. Plus all the fast food outlets, like Burger King, MacDonald's and more. As we walked around I was noticing the incidence of over weight people, I thought that KL would be a place with little amounts of obesity and large amounts of good healthy foods, well I was wrong.
We all went to Little India to get our outfits for the wedding, I was to be wearing a Sari and needed to pick out the fabric for my blouse that goes under the Sari. My Sari was a beautiful peacock green/blue with gold trimmings, just stunning. The boys looked very much the part in their outfits which are so amazing, colourful and elaborate. Hubby and I got back to the hotel for a little rest before heading out again for a family dinner. The food that was prepared for us all was truly amazing and so flavorsome. I came to find very quickly the fruit in KL was so good, I love watermelon, but the ones in KL were so crisp and sweet and juicy, I actually sat with a plate of sliced watermelon in front of me and just kept eating. Well by the time we finished dinner we were so very tired, we headed back to our hotel
Monday was a sleep in, breakfast (fresh fruit, eggs, beans, and juice), after breakfast we headed outfor a little shopping, go look at the Twin Towers, have my jaw drop at the shops that are in the Twin Towers all 6 floors of shops and cafe's. The shops is what got me, Louis Vuitton, Dolce Cabana Gabbana, Prada, oh and the price of their products. I know they are expensive and as some who doesn't buy that kind of name brand, it was though interesting to see. We headed down stairs to one of the hotels restaurants, which is where we also have breakfast each morning. The meal was absolutely beautiful, a great finish to another great day. The Twin Towers as you can see in the photo to the right, looks amazing at night, this was a photo take from the floor of our hotel room.
Tuesday the, eve of the wedding. Hubby and I got a little more shopping done in the morning, I also got to have a swim session before we headed off my sister-in-laws parent's place which is in Klang about an hours drive from the city. We arrived at the house for a Blessing Ceremony for the Bride and Groom. The Ceremony was for the family to bless the couple with May this couple be blessed with: an abundance of resources and comforts, and be helpful to one another in all ways. May this couple be strong and complement one another. May this couple be blessed with prosperity and riches on all levels. May this couple be eternally happy. May this couple be blessed with a happy family life. May this couple live in perfect harmony... true to their personal values and their joint promises. May this couple always be the best of friends. The Groom is blessed first and then the Bride, the blessings are carried out by the female members of the family(s), which was a delight for me to be able to participate in this Blessing Ceremony.
The Bride The Groom
The Wedding day. It was beautiful, again hubby and I didn't have to rush around too much in the morning, so we managed to get a sleep in, some great breakfast, loving the fresh made omelettes and fresh fruit. We headed out for a little more shopping...yes shopping in KL is truly amazing. a few more items purchased. A lovely lunch from down in the eating hall of the hotel, then back to the room for a little rest and freshen up to head out to the meeting point and make our ways to our destinations to get dressed into our outfits. As I was going with the bride, I was blessed to be able to see just how close the ladies of the brides family are, so different to my own family. I placed my gold blouse on, then one of my sister-in-laws aunties put my Sari on me. A Sari is a piece of beautifully coloured fabric which is approximately 6 meters in length, and the colours of everyone's Sari's was amazing. The mother of the bride was in pink, an aunt was in orange, there was purple, and green, and just so many colours. Its not just the Sari and clothes that everyone wears that is so amazing, but the jewelry that the ladies wear as well, it is just such a grand occasion, and the jewelry matches with the colours of the Sari's. For example my Sari was blue/green so my bracelets were a mix of gold and blues. My necklace that I borrowed for the evening was so very grand, I have never worn anything like it before.
We are told that in a Hindu wedding the father doesn't give away his daughter to the groom as such, instead he gives his daughter to the grooms family, and we reciprocate with giving the groom to the brides family. Then we are all interlinked as one large family, which is such a beautiful tradition.
The Wedding Ceremony went for approximately two hours, and even though it was long (in normal Hindu weddings they go a lot longer) and with the heat and humidity it was such an amazing experience to be apart of the wedding ceremony and to receive on behalf of my husband's late mother and father a wonderful sister-in-law (daughter-in-law) and such a wonderful, caring and amazing family. After the Ceremony the family and friends were able to come up on to the stage and congratulate the married couple and give them gifts.
Hubby and I headed out to have a cold drink and something to eat and to socialise with the rest of the bride and grooms family and friends. Once the newly weds had their photos done and had something to eat, we all headed off to one of the cousins house for the milk and banana ceremony. This is where on a couch a lovely Sari is laid out over the back of the chair (lounge) and the married couple sit together and the bride feeds the groom warm milk that has sliced banana in it. She carefully places three teaspoons full of milk a banana into the mouth of the groom, and then the groom feeds the bride three teaspoons of the milk and banana mix. A little more mingling with family and friends and photos being taken, it was the end of the night for us and we headed back to the hotel again. Such an amazing experience to be apart of and will never forget.
Thursday was a day to rest a little and shop some more as we were leaving to head back to Perth on Friday, and a trip into China Town in the evening. We had breakfast and again loved the fresh food that we had. We headed out to the shops at KL Sentral, to pick up some gifts for our kids and some more items for ourselves as they are cheaper in KL than back here at home. As I am someone who has such a love for sport and fitness, I was looking in every possible sports shop I could find. We headed back to the hotel for lunch and a rest before getting ready to head out to China Town.
Ok for me I didn't particularly like China Town, as you get harassed by stall holders to go to their stalls and buy. This is one thing I don't particularly like when I am out shopping. We got our daughter her new purse and had a look around. We then headed out to see some of the architecture of the city, which is amazing.
Merdeka Square, KL
(Google Images)
As there was a storm brewing near by we decided to head back to the hotel and have some dinner before heading back to our hotel room to pack and sleep.
Friday our last day in KL, I was filled with mixed emotions of not wanting to leave such a lovely place, but was missing home, my kids, golden retriever and friends. We decided after we had breakfast that we would head out to the Botanical Gardens to have a look as we didn't want to roam to far from the hotel as we still needed to get ready to check out and head for the airport. We caught the train to KL Sentral and walked to the Perdana Botanical Gardens, which was such a lovely tranquil setting so close to the hustle and bustle of the city streets. The flowers that we saw were beautiful and the waterfalls were stunning.
Hubby and I enjoying our last day in KL
So its now Saturday night here in Perth as I type, it was an awesome week in KL and look forward to going back for a holiday some time next year and taking our kids with us so they can enjoy the surrounding, shopping and food of Kuala Lumpur. I now go back to work tomorrow and back to swimming training, which I have missed, even work, just a little.
Have an awesome week coming...
Hayley...
p.s. sorry this is such a long post :)
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