We had done a lot of travelling over the last few days and had evidently been really quite tired, completely knocked out until about 9. We got out of bed and chatted to Thomas – we told him all about our customs drama and then had breakfast. Thomas joined us soon after and we chatted some more – for hours. It was just like old times, which made Claire and I light up with joy. Being from Singapore, it was interesting to talk about what we saw. Lupo, later that day, described Singapore as “the perfect gateway to Asia for tourists from the 1st world” and actually thats exactly what it is. We fell in love with the cleanliness and efficiency of the country, which, though slightly more expensive, offered many of the cultural (and culinary) delights of Malaysia. Was great to talk about the other side of the coin as well.
Lucie and Bertin then came down for breakfast too and so we chatted with them. We laughed and we talked even more – they are regular readers of our blog, which is nice to hear. Already we can think back to customs and immigration and laugh about it. They really helped us put it all in perspective! We had endless cups of tea and were sat in the kitchen till around 1! We didn’t even notice how hungry we were!
We left for lunch, heading all the way to Pavillion. It’s a walk we don’t even have to think about anymore – it comes so easily to us. Maybe though, we’re a bit more aware of our surroundings, we’re so excited to be back, so we keep noticing things we didn’t see before. Ironically, this is a little unsettling. Our walk across Jalan Bukit Bintang, past Lot10′s techno music and Zara’s amazing aircon is a walk we have done a million times before but then Farenheit88′s sudden appearance knocks us a bit… Anyway, I think I’ve probably complained about change enough now… We got to Pavillion and marched straight to Madam Kwan’s for some delicious Nasi Bojari – feels like there isn’t enough time to eat all our favourite foods before we leave…
Picked up a new diary for Claire to write in (we have filled two already), collected our laundry and finally got back to the Sahabat. We had completely lost track of time and didn’t want to miss Lupo. Thankfully, we had a few minutes to spare. Was so good to see him again. Could only chat for a little while, as we had arranged to go to the cinema with Lucie and Bertin. Lupo dropped us off at Pavillion and we were overjoyed to hear that he and Thomas would be joining us for dinner afterwards! Our little gang!
Bertin, it turns out, is a real fan of Resident Evil?! Who would have thought it? We would never have decided to watch this film ourselves so thought we would try something different. I really enjoyed the Tron trailer in 3D but the film was inexplicably bad… Can’t deny we enjoyed the ride though!
Our timing was great and we met Thomas and Lupo outside Lucie and Bertin’s restaurant of choice – Din Tai Fung. We shared some delicious dumplings and then had some La Mian noodles. My stewed beef was mouthwateringly tender and Claire had the nicest wantons in her soup. Lucie and Bertin seem younger and younger, the more time we spend with them and Thomas and Lupo also let their silly sides come through their professional veneers. We are such a strange collection of people but somehow it all seems to work. All four of them make us laugh hard (Claire complained all day that her mouth hurt from smiling so much) but they can also be so insightful. After our two months of travel experience, I think we both feel a bit more comfortable contributing converation but it’s difficult not to sit back in awe sometimes.
We moved on to Theobrama’s Chocolate Lounge for dessert and shared some chocolute fondue fruit sets. This went down a treat, though we all seemed to be making a little bit of a mess. Was a great way to end our meal. It was one of the first places we really enjoyed by ourselves in KL so it was nice to bring our friends to it at the end of our stay here.
Thomas and Lupo went home to tend to Sammi, whilst we had to brave it back to the Sahabat through the rain… Will miss the rain here… Some more cups of tea with Lucie and Bertin before we finally came to bed. We couldn’t have hoped for a better day.
