I'm leaving, on a jet plane.

So I’m leaving on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again...

Well that is only partly true. We might not get jobs and could be back in no time at all and Spikes brother is getting married in March which defiantly warrants being in New Zealand. So who really knows. But one thing we are pretty sure of this time is that it is farewell to Aotearoa as our home for a significant length of time. If not London then Sydney, or who knows where. But it is time to get our lives restarted again. The essence of the journey has changed significantly now.

Stop one is Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A short time to gather our thoughts, eat some good food and possibly a spot of shopping in preparation for the full on job hunt once we hit London.

Oh how I love you Dhal and roti

KL is a fantastic city. It is a strong mix of modernism and traditional culture. Everyone speaks English, which obviously is always a big up for making life that bit easier. There is a large proportion of Muslims, which means beautiful outfits and rich culture. And the food. There is no end to the food in Malaysia. The Indian influence runs strong here and we enjoyed a $1 breakfast of “Australian Dhal” as they called it (a more watery, easier to make Dhal) and rotis. Awesome, awesome, awesome. It is a lot cleaner than other places is South East Asia we have visited and when caught fresh the food is nothing short of the best.

The shopping is also fantastic. You are never more than a short monorail, walk or train ride away from one of Malaysia’s huge shopping malls. Sogo, the biggest department store in Malaysia has outfitted us with some treads required for the job hunt we are about to head into full steam. Great quality, great prices and helpful staff.

Sogo department store sale floor

Dragon at the tower

The only real sight seeing we did while in KL was a trip up the KL tower. It is 5 metres taller than the sky tower. We got a pretty cool view of the city and got a free “F1 simulator”, which turned out to see some crappy computer game which looked like something from the early 90’s. The tower, as a lot of KL is surrounded by rainforest. It is quite a pretty city.

The taxi driver who took us to the airport reflected our general experience of the Malay people, chatty, kind and open. He told us all sorts of stories about his travels, driving and even political views. I think my general knowledge on Malaysia increased 50% at least during that 45 minute journey.

As we prepare to land in Stanstead the flight attendants were instructed and consequently sprayed the plane with something in aerosol cans as required by UK health regulations... I don’t remember this experience last time I arrived here? Maybe those who flight Air Asia are high risk entrants?

We headed into our accommodation for the night, a housewarming/birthday party. It was a long time without decent sleep and a pretty intense couple of days. But we had finally arrived at what we now call home.