Kuala Lumpur, in pictures

After being a TV star (sort of…) the company flew me to Kuala Lumpur in order to catch my rearranged flight home to Australia. I spent a couple of days in KL before I flew. Unfortunately I was there over a weekend and missed the swing dancing nights. I would have liked to thank the scene for advertising the Penang opportunity!

KL is a big Asian city, very modern and developed (a complete seachange from Cambodia) and held few attractions for me; I much prefer the jungles of Borneo. Still, I made the most of it and spent a day wandering around the downtown area. As it was the end of Ramadan many buildings were closed. I didn’t get to go to the top of Petronas Towers, once the tallest buildings in the world. They still look good from the bottom.

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George Town, Penang

In Borneo, I received some exciting news. Thanks to the power of Facebook, I got invited to be a swing dancing extra in a new British Channel 4 period drama. Indian Summers is set in 1932 and they needed some Caucasian swing dancers between the ages of 25 and 35 to join the cast for a party. The show was being filmed in George Town, Penang, which was on my list of places to visit. How could I refuse an opportunity like that?

It meant changing my flights to Australia but Air Asia only charge $50 for that and my dancing is actually worth something and I would get paid to be an extra. Despite the hard work involved it’s probably been my best temp job.

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Kayaking Sarawak

Back in Kuching I had just one more day for something else I really wanted – to kayak along the river, under the weeping jungle trees. George had to go back to work in the hostel but Tom decided to steal his Go-pro (I’m still waiting for edited video…) and join me.

First we had to head to a new laksa house for breakfast. This one is known as very traditional and quite spicy. We got a bit lost along the way and it was therefore further than I thought but completely worth it. It was delicious (if a little oily).

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A monkey stole my hotdog

Honestly, A MONKEY STOLE MY HOTDOG!

People should really pay attention to those signs about wild animals attack.

Bako National Park, sometime in the not too early morning

The animals are out in force before breakfast. Hundreds of long tailed macaques roam amongst the trees near park HQ, eating fruit from the grounds, the trees, wherever is easiest.

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