Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

My New Year’s was spent with my friend Milissa, her husband Del and Del’s family from the UK and Malaysia.  Milissa has been lucky enough to have known me for just over 40 years.  So whilst they were on holiday in Malaysia, I hung out with them and enjoyed their family holiday, which was amazing, they had a jam packed itinerary.

The places that we visited, I had actually visited before but as Del’s Malaysian family members were the guides I got to do, see and learn totally different things this time.

There was a heavy focus on food on the tour; lots of food.

Lots of sightseeing. The last time that I was in Penang I really wanted to go up to Penang Hill as the views are meant to be spectacular, and so we had a trip up there.  At the time there were some really bad storms in the South of Thailand and unfortunately some of the weather made it over to Penang so it was a little bit foggy, but still a fun trip.

We did find an old post box on Penang Hill from when Victoria was Queen.

In Penang there’s a snake temple.  Legend has it that one day a whole load of vipers turned up to the temple and stayed, apparently the incense that is burnt at the temple renders them harmless., but they have also been de-venomed.

There was an chance to have our photos taken with the snakes but Del was the only one who was brave enough to take up the opportunity.

Milissa’s holiday over to Malaysia also now means that I can now enjoy dairy again, as she brought some lactase tablets over for me, something that I’ve not been able to find since arriving in South East Asia (I did have a pharmacist try and persuade me that the lipase tablets that she had behind the counter would do a similar job; but I didn’t take her advice).

I usually do spend my New Years Eve round at Mil and Del’s so it was even better that I got to spend it in Kuala Lumpur with them.