Today we were up pretty early and headed out to try and get tickets for the Patronus Towers.   Apparently every day,1000 people are given a  free pass to go up to the tower.  We arrived there just before 9am and already all of the tickets were gone.  People must get there ridiculously early, so we planned to get up tomorrow at 7am to start queueing. Hopefully we’ll get a time slot in the morning as we were leaving for the airport around midday.

It’s stupidly hot today and after popping to the motorbike shop to sort out a few details we thought we’d go to KL tower to get some panoramic shots of the city.  After a short white knuckle taxi ride we arrived.  To the left of the entrance there was a crowd of people getting a 20 meter pony rides, how bizarre…  After climbing up the steps to the entrance, we queued and finally got the the ticket desk where they were charging a ridiculous amount of money to go up the tower but thrown in with that was a 20meter pony ride, a free go on F1 simulator (which was ‘Out of order’) and a nature walk where animals were enclosed in tiny cages and a free photo in front a a false backdrop of the tower with fireworks going off …Nice!!   None of that appealed to us in the slightest so we hopped on the free shuttle which took us down to the main road and headed back into the main shopping district.  We would have caught the skytrain but for some reason it had stopped running so we walked. 

Tired and very very sweaty, we reached town and looked around the huge maze of shopping malls, taking a quick look into the camera shops to see if we could find anything reasonably priced for Nathan.  No joy there but we did see some amazing 3D & 2D tv’s on display, the picture was incredible.  Feeling tired hungry and dehydrated we searched for somewhere western to eat as Simon had bit of a dodgy tummy.  You wouldn’t think that finding something vegetarian would be that hard, We tried Nando’s, who in the UK do a great falafel wrap but everything on the menu had meat in it, even McDonalds didnt have a veggie option.  So frustrated and so hot that both of us were about to pass out, we decided to go back to the hotel and make a plan.

Our hotel was next to a shopping mall just by the Patronas Towers so we cooled down, rehydrated ourselves and ventured out, well more like staggered out.  The lower level was a food mall with cafes serving meat, fish dishes of every description and cakes.  By this time Simon was very frustrated and just wanted me to choose something, so I stopped at an Indian stall and got a beef curry dish.  I must say it was tastey but I felt guilty and urged Simon to go off for another look.  He came back with a plain Naan bread ..argh!!!     It wasn’t all doom and gloom, as on our way out, we suddenly figured out that there must be a supermarket  (must be the heat that’s affecting us) and there was.  So we marched quickly there and got a basket full of cheese, crips, biscuits, chocolate, beer and wine  ..yes I know, not the most healthy of options but at least it was what Simon wanted.

Back in our hotel room, Si took a beautiful photo of the Petronus towers from our bedroom window and then we put on a movie and had a picnic in bed ;-D

So, struggling with sore throat and ear. I cancelled yesterdays dive, only to miss out on Jen seeing a whaleshark!

Gutted, we arranged the speedboat to go back to the dive site to see if it was still about. With camera in hand we searched but to no avail… needless to say, I was not a happy bunny.

Today, we returned to the dive site, where I took some nice clips, but what really gets me wound up is the following examples…

Sadly, I see this most days. Either they have not had good training, or they have ignored it… either way I am not amused. Excuse the profanity at the end…

Guess what, Si still woke around 7am and was typing away at the PC when I woke.

We both showered and got dressed and headed into town.  We decided this time to catch a taxi back one of the huge shopping malls as we had a couple of chores.

Alan & Heidi had a couple of faulty dive computers which needed taking back to a shop but unfortunately the few dive shops we tried didnt know of any Oceanic dealers/distributors.

Then next, was to look at camera’s with underwater housings for Nathan  ..we checked out a few and mailed him the makes & models.  Funnily enough, there’s not a massive saving at all, only a hundred pounds or so compared to UK prices.

Our penultimate chore was to find a motorbike shop as Si needed spares for his new bike.  We’d tried about half a dozen shops before stumbling on one that could supply the parts, which they’d then ship onto Koh Tao.  

By this time we were thirsty and very hungry so we decided to attempt to find the Vegi restaurant that we’d been to a few years ago.  We knew it was on the edge of Chinatown and not far from the market, so we strolled down a couple of streets and lo and behold we found it!

Nothing had changed, looked as drab as ever.  On sitting down, the old lady came over with the same ole, photo album style menu and we ordered.  Yet again, we ordered far too much.

Vegetable spring rolls, Beef (fake) strips in black bean sauce, BBQ’d chicken (fake) with vegetables and lastly, fried rice.

As we had hardly eaten since yesterday, we started to feel full after the spring rolls and made a pathetic dent in the rest of the food.  So instead of wasting it, we got it takeaway.

Feeling full and satisfied, we headed off to the Chinatownn market to see what bargains we could find.

Si bought a couple of Tshirts and cap and I bought some shorts and a vest top. You really have to be in the mood for bartering and Si did a much better job than I did surprisingly…

Full, shopped out and tired, we headed back to the hotel for a bath & bed.