The Honeymoon

On March 15, 2012 I got married.  It was a quick Las Vegas – drive thru non-event that neither of our families attended with us.  Almost a year later we had a reception where we invited our families to celebrate our wedding with us.

We never had a honeymoon.

This year is our last year in Japan, we wanted to travel.  Thailand was high on the list of places to visit.  The husband was booking the trip and pulled me over to ask how I felt about a layover in Malaysia.  I said… where in Malaysia???  Kuala Lumpur.   Hell yes I want to stop there but a few hours isn’t enough time.  This was a secret bucket list destination I had never mentioned because I didn’t think it would ever cross our path.  So, we extended our layover to three nights and he booked a fantastic room with a view of the KLCC towers that knocked my socks off!

As we planned it we decided since we never had a honeymoon, lets do this trip up a bit and make it one.  We upgraded our Thailand hotel to a villa with a private pool.  I will tell you, we did spend a lot of time at the resort.  We paid a lot to have a fantastic suite and the resort had great amenities so I don’t have a lot of touristy photos of elephants or monkeys or whatever.  This trip wasn’t about that.

The photos below:  the formatting has changed on WordPress so if the photos are grouped and I put a caption you just have to click once on the photo for the caption to come up.

Day 1: Checked in at Phuket’s  Kalima Resort and Spa and were wow’d by the villa, jumped in our private pool straight away.  Had dinner at the resort restaurant.

We could roll from the bath into the pool.

Bedroom with slider to the pool

Our villa had three room all had access to the pool that stretched the length of it.

Day 2:  Tour to Phi Phi Island and snorkeling.  This was my first time snorkeling and it was really fun except after about 10 minutes I was starting to feel queasy so had to get back on the boat.  The water was so clear and pretty, colorful fish that swam right up to my face.  It was wonderful.  Met some Aussies on the boat that were fun and interesting and getting drunk.

Day 3:  Made our way into Patong for dinner (street food) and to check out the nightlife.  It was raining so we just grabbed a quick bite (meat on a stick and these stuffed mini pancake thingies) then started walking to the main street – Bangla, passing in front of a Muay Thai fighting arena that actually had fights scheduled for about an hour out so we decided instantly we were going to attend.  The moment we stepped onto the busy nightlife street, we were approached by a woman in a Mickey Mouse shirt try to get us to check out the ping pong show she worked for.  Every step down that street had someone trying to lure us in to their show.  It was unexpected, we thought we’d have to hunt one down but they were well advertised.

Don’t know the Patong Ping Pong show?  Without getting too graphic it’s basically a woman who pulls and shoots things out of her vagina.  ‘Nuff said?

Yes, of course we had to check this out!  We decided after the fights we would come back and find the Mickey Mouse girl (who was a great salesperson) and go check out the show.  It was…not what we expected.  The two “ladies” who were “performing” were older than us and not particularly attractive.  I won’t go into detail but will put out a few things and you can use your imagination…  darts, razor blades on a string, live hamster and a parakeet.  It didn’t take long for me to have concern for the animals used (abused?) in this way.  They aren’t harmed but it’s just … not right.

The fights were really interesting.  They have different rules and such than the MMA (mixed martial arts) we are used to watching.  The most shocking part of the fights were the first fighters up were 8 years old.  Next were I think 10 and then teenagers, then adults.  It was a little odd to see little kids kicking the crap out of each other.  There were men in the crowd taking bets during it all too.  It was an experience.

Day 4:  We lounged a bit then hired a car to go check out the Lemongrass House which I had spotted when researching things in the area.  This was a factory for lotions, oils, lip balms, etc.  On the way there, we asked the driver to stop somewhere so we could have a quick lunch.  He knew where to go and it was so good!  It was open air and had a very large menu.  I had a seafood soup that was amazing.  Then we arrived at the factory, which was quite small but had a lot of goods for sale.  We walked away with a nice haul, some gifts and some for ourselves.

Day 5:  Flight to Malaysia, check in to the room with a view at Traders Hotel.  Dinner reservations on top of the Kuala Lumpur Tower.  The restaurant is rotating and was a huge buffet.  It was really lovely and the views were spectacular.

Rainy day, but view from the room!

At the KL tower rotating restaurant

KL tower rotating restaurant view

Day 6:  Walk around the shops beneath the towers, this was a Muslim holiday so the towers were closed.  We came across a pewter store and walked out with some beautiful cups.

Day 7:  We had a tour booked that hit 3 different places and we didn’t realize the first place was the Royal Selangor pewter factory where our cups were made!  It was a surprise that was really kinda funny to us.  The factory was so interesting, I had no idea the pewter was hand carved and designed.  What craftmanship!  From there we went to a Batik silk factory where they hand draw and paint the silk scarves and clothes.  Then we were off to the main part of the tour which was the Batu Caves.  It was quite busy with people and celebrations because of the holiday.  This is a Hinde site and I tend to not take photos of religious sites so please see the link above if you’d like to see photos, I’ve added two from the husband’s camera.  The husband made the big climb up the very intimidating steps to the cave but I stayed behind because I had shorts on and they wouldn’t let me go with skin showing.  pfft.  When he got to the bottom again I asked the husband what was at the top (the cave) and he said … a flea market.  *disappointing

Pewter KLCC towers- this two stories tall.

Batu Cave Entrance – steps behind

Batu Cave

After returning from the tour, we stopped at the towers to see about getting tour tickets up.  This was super exciting for me.  Since seeing the movie Entrapment I have wanted to see the towers.  To actually go up to the bridge was beyond comprehension for me.  So, we got tickets and after about 3 hours we went up!

Yes, the cheesy tourist photo

Looking down from the bridge

The husband being silly

From one tower, looking at the other and the KL tower in the background

At the end of the day we went up to the Skybar at the top of our hotel which had cabanas set up for relaxing, drinking and snacking with a fabulous view.  We lounged there for a bit to end the night.

The fountain show below the towers was spectacular!

KL tower rotating restaurant view

Day 8:  Return to reality.

It was an amazing trip, we were more than satisfied with our rooms and the tours we went on.  There was a lot of relaxation, which was planned and oddly food was not a big theme.  We truly enjoyed the breakfast buffet at the Kalima and everything we ate was very good throughout the trip.  If we return to Thailand I think it will be more about trying more food.

We were a bit nervous about flying Malaysian Air but both flights were fine, no issues at all.

The husband is a stellar trip planner, I am blessed.

Next up… Ozzfest Japan 2015

Oh and big changes…. to be announced when I am able to.