I have never so far written a travelogue… so this is my first attempt at being narrative… and a little unstructured and evocative at the same time… :))

Had been planning a trip to Malaysia since one of my dear friends (Simran) shifted to KL… reason was not so much about me seeing this country but more because we were missing each other and wanted to spend some time together… we also (conveniently!) thought that our daughters (Naina and Nithila) adore each other and wanted to be together… eventually when it happened, it turned out to be a planned family vacation… here I must say that Ananda (Simran’s husband) planned this vacation very articulately… catering to our tastes and comfort… making it an effortless (all efforts put in by him only) and an unforgettable experience…

So we landed in Kuala Lumpur one morning and Sim’s home was about an hours drive in a cab… my first thoughts about this new city I was visiting were… “GREEN”… the more I saw it, the more greener it appeared !! all kinds of trees and plants around… and if the terrain was plain, it was covered with lush green grass… be it the residential areas dotted with tall buildings or bunglows… or the commercial areas glittering with neons, the color that would still hit ones eyes was green… so much of efforts taken in planting greens AND maintaining them… I am yet to see any brown colour in the environment except for the tree barks and dry leaves fallen off the trees… I am yet to see Malaysian soil in true sense!!!

That evening we happened to explore the Chinese market in KL… full of watches, handbags, glasses, cosmetics and many more accessories… any brand one could think of… but all fake… I personally think if I cant afford to buy the oiginal brands, I rather don’t deserve them… one can fool the whole world but not oneself… so whats the point of using fakes?... but this is my personal opinion and not many agree with this… which is why such markets thrive in all major cities today :))
Dinner was in parts… had roadside chicken satay (loved the Malay flavor)… and then some Vietnamese food (appetizing soup and battered prawns… yum)… am looking forward to explore more of the oriental food in coming days…

Next day we started for Kota Kinabalu (capital city of state of Sabah in east Malaysia)… its about 2.5 hours by flight from KL… the sight before landing was almost a heaven… forests, mountains, sea, lagoons all speckled across in bounty… a treat… an indulgence… and to add to the extravagance was the drive from airport to Nexus resort where we stayed for next three days… a road carving its way from between mountains on one side and sea on the other… taking to this grand resort with breathtaking seascape… I went crazy capturing these frames in snaps… will upload them shortly….

While at the resort, we spent lots of time at the beach… building castles, shaping up mermaids of our lovely daughters… taking them into the sea (and scaring lives out of them!!)… cycling around, kayaking, getting tanned (rather more tanned!!) and ofcourse treating our palettes to the fresh seafood… went to ‘Seafood Village’ in the city and was awed by seeing hundreds of types of live fish, crabs in small and big jars… of all shapes and sizes and colors… waiting to be picked up by people like us… spice them, sauce them, steam/fry them and gulp them down…

With an exotic set out of Kota Kinabalu and many lavish memories, we returned back to KL last night… today the whole day was spent relaxing (read: getting up late, swimming, massage, late lunch...)… and Amit’s vacation ended today, he returned to India…
Nithila and me continue to add to the energy and sparkle of KL… and bask in the warmth of our hosts :))… we will continue to stay here for few more days and agenda for these days is a complete focus on healing therapies… massage therapy for external healing and "shopping" therapy for internal healing !!!