A Whirlwind Tour
Well we finally made it to Singapore after an entire day of travel. How is that possible you ask? Being that Singapore is only a 45 minute flight from Kuala Lumpur? I’d like to know the answer to that question as well. Lets just say that we came to Singapore twice yesterday but only landed once. But I hate to ruin the great time we are having with negativity so I’ll save that for another day.
We checked in to the Mandarin Oriental in Singapore yesterday…it’s a basic hotel with a basic room. In Ali’s words he “Is not a fan.”
I guess coming from stays at the Peninsula and the Ritz-Carlton, nothing can really compare. But the view is great and is the only unique thing about our room.
After being on an airplane with no food for 8 hours we were starving, so we checked in, changed our clothes, and headed out to dinner. We were too hungry to go too far so we went with a nearby restaurant recommended by the hotel: Rang Mahal.
Beautiful restaurant, great service, and good food, but it was super spicy. I wouldn’t recommend it.
We headed to Clarke Quay to check out the nightlife, which was exactly when I fell in love with Singapore.
The lights and energy of this city reminds me so much of New York. There are hordes of people everywhere just hanging out and enjoying the ridiculous amounts of good food and the cooler evening temperatures.
Ali and I stopped for dessert/coffee at The Coffee Connoisseur. He had a very lady-like manly iced latte and I had a Nutello shot.
Just imagine coffee mixed with Nutella and topped with powdered cocoa and you have heaven in a tiny glass.
Afterwards we went back to the hotel and crashed for a whopping 6 hours. I’m not sure why we got up so early today but since we had to make up for a lost day it wasn’t such a bad thing. We hit the buffet breakfast which I will post pictures of later. I have to say it was probably the best breakfast buffet I have ever seen in my life and is definitely worth a few pictures.
We walked for 6 hours straight today trying to make up for lost time, and saw Arab Street, Bugis (flea market), Orchard Street, Chinatown, and then we collapsed for 1.5 hours at the Ritz-Carlton Millenia, just in time for tea service. I won’t post pictures right now because I am sure I’ve wasted enough of your time and bytes (per Ali) already, but trust me, the tea we had today is worth a post all its own.
Apparently rest time is over and we are now headed to Little India and an area called Holland Village. Nobody can accuse us of not utilizing every second of this vacation!
Room for Rent
Ali and I finally landed in Malaysia after quite possibly the longest layover in history. After a very long drive from the airport we checked in to the Ritz-Carlton, which is quite a bargain over here. Our first room was on the dirty/old side but when we requested a new room we were upgraded to the Ritz-Carlton Residences. There are no words to describe this gigantic place…a family of 10 could easily stay here without running out of space.
I’ll spare you more pictures of the hotel room but there is also a guest room and two more bathrooms. It’s like the hotel knew that even on vacation Ali and I can’t share a bathroom.
The service here is unparalleled. The staff is extraordinary and bend over backwards for your every need. I highly recommend staying here if you get a chance, just make sure that you request a room in the new tower otherwise you may be disappointed.
We took a very refreshing and successful swim yesterday, and by successful I mean I didn’t need to go to the ER for any ear issues.
Afterwards we set off to check out the city and hit a ton of attractions in the very short amount of time we had: Petronas Towers, Central Market, Chinatown, and Masjid Jamek which is the oldest mosque in Kuala Lumpur.
We tried to locate the National Mosque but between some very wrong directions and the horrible heat, we gave up! The weather here is like Las Vegas in the summer but with 85% humidity so it is very tiring to walk around too much at once.
Since it was 3pm and we were both getting irritable from lack of food, we decided to forgo lunch and headed back to the hotel just in time for tea service.
Prior to our trip, many people told me that Malaysians love to shop and eat, and they weren’t kidding around. The malls are beautiful and I seriously think there are more restaurants here than in Los Angeles. You can get anything and everything you want….Malaysian food, Beard Papas cream puffs, Vietnamese food, Thai food, Indian food, KFC, you name it they have it. And no matter what cuisine you go with, the food is fantastic (although I’ll pass on the KFC thank you very much).
Malaysia reminds me a lot of India…there are some really, really nice areas, and then some really, really bad areas, but what I love about Kuala Lumpur is regardless of their financial status, people from dozens of different cultures work and live together with no obvious conflict. I see Arabs in burqa, Malaysian ladies in head scarves, Malaysian girls in mini-skirts, and tourists in all kinds of scarily disrespectful ensembles. But aside from a few leering looks everyone seems to cohabitate peacefully.
We are off to eat breakfast and then are headed to the airport for our flight to Singapore. I am sad that the vacation is almost over but I think Maya will be more disappointed than anyone. Soon it will be back to the Din Bootcamp for her spoiled little self!!
I Jinxed Myself
So there I was yesterday, patting myself on the back for being so calm and collected on this trip…what was I thinking? I am not usually a superstitious person but I do believe I jinxed myself.
Minutes after I published my post yesterday, I realized that the water that made its way into my ear after my little jaunt at the swimming pool was there to stay. This has happened to me many times before and in the past I’ve just hopped over to my doctor’s office where she blasts it out with a syringe (sorry if that grossed you out). But with my doctor on the other side of the world getting blasted wasn’t really an option.
The Peninsula staff graciously offered to call a doctor over to the hotel at the bargain rate of $800, but at that price I figured I could live with the pain. But then Ali decided to investigate, saying he could fix the problem…he took a flashlight and some Q-tips, and a few painful minutes later the pressure in my ear was unbearable. I tried to stand up but got really dizzy and on top of that I couldn’t hear out of my ear any longer.
I told Ali to put on his thinking cap because there was no way I could go days or even minutes with the unbearable pressure that was steadily building up on the right side of my head. Ali immediately went into superstar mode – while typing away furiously on his iPhone he contacted the front desk to find an ER close to the hotel. Lo and behold we were in a cab and on our way to St. Luke’s minutes later.
Did you ever wonder what the inside of a Japanese hospital looks like? Well wonder no further:
Thanks to my hotel we received an appointment for 10:30am. By 10:40 I had a Japanese Health ID Card. By 10:55 I was at counter 35 waiting for the doctor. By 11:15 I could hear out of my left ear (didn’t even realize it was blocked). And by 11:20 the water was out of my right ear as well. 5 more minutes and $118 later we were on our way. I love the Japanese and their efficiency!!
With my hearing, equilibrium, and good humor restored, I was feeling particularly generous. I told Ali to pick any restaurant he wanted to eat at for lunch. I felt it was the least I could do considering I had him to thank for spearheading operation “Ameena Needs to Hear Again.”
Ali wanted Indian food so Indian food it was. (Yes Indian food in Tokyo. Again. Please don’t judge us too harshly). Dhaba India was on American Express’ list of recommended restaurants and had a line out the door it was so popular! And it didn’t disappoint! I had my first masala dosa in about 10 years and it was awesome.
Ali isn’t a fan of dosa so he had some kind of chicken salaan with naan instead. He said it was good but super spicy.
After that we walked back to the hotel, checked out, took a 1.5 hour shuttle to the airport, and a 7 hour flight to Singapore. We are now sitting at the Singapore airport waiting for our connection to Kuala Lumpur. I’m not thrilled about having to sit around for 6 hours but at least I am in the greatest airport in the world!
Koi pond? Check. Kid’s play structure? Check. Free movie theater? Check. 100+ restaurants? Check. Gucci, Cartier, Burberry? Check, check, and check.
This could be a dangerously expensive layover.
While I'm not going to win Mother/Wife of the Year Award anytime soon, I haven't killed anyone yet or shot myself in the head. And that, my friends, is how I calculate success these days. 
FANCY THAT FANCY THIS 
