Happy New Year!!

How was your 2012? 

Mine was amazing! I travelled around Australia, visited Kuala Lumpur, Rome, Paris, Dublin and the UK. I made several new friendships that I hope will last a whole lifetime! I hope 2013 will be just as magical!

I saw a great idea on Tracy's blog, Pen and Paper, it's called the first lines meme. Want to join me? What you do is:

"Take the first line of every month's first post over the past year and see what it tells you about your blogging year."

January: Before I start telling you all about my holiday and stuff I thought I'd do a wrap-up of the reading challenges of 2011.

February: Continuation of last week's Sunday Stealing.

March: The highest tide.

April: Living with the carnivorous host family again after I turned vegetarian was a lot easier than I expected.

May: I arrived in Perth around 11pm, I had called Planet Inn Backpackers in advance to ask if they had free airport transfer, which they did, but as I arrived late it might not be available.

June: A Norwegian TV program is currently filming in the place that I'm from, Vestnes.

July: Do you know what's great to have when you have one present that's made up of loads of little things?

August: I'm heading to Paris in the morning!!

September: September has started, this being Norway, the snow might come any minute!

October: I've been wanting to try pumpkin soup for a while now, and when I saw some pumpkin at the local fruit and veg store I just had to buy some.

November: I always get in a bad mood when I get back to Norway after being abroad, probably because I don't actually want to live here.

December: Even before I worked for them I had always enjoyed XXL's ads on TV.

It's been fun to look back at my old posts, and I think you get a good representation of what my blog is: Book reviews, travel, reviews of places I've stayed, memes and the randomness that is my life.

Rome - Part 1

13.05.12

So after 23 hours of travelling I’m in Rome! I have to admit I’m a little disappointed that the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Cairo was at night because I would have loved to see what it looked like between those places since I’ve never flown that way before. I also really wanted to get out and look around in Bangkok and Cairo since I’ve never been to either, but it will have to wait until another time.

I have only been in Rome a couple of hours but so far I love it. I love all the old buildings, and how even the new ones are made to fit in with the old. I don’t understand the €2 culture tax people have to pay though. €2 per person per night in Rome… Can anybody tell me why that is?

One of the guys in reception was really nice and gave me a map and drew up a walking route for me for each of the three full days that I’m here so that I get to see all the sights, so look out for pictures in the next few days!

I only took a tiny walk today to check out the area around the hostel, it’s okay and there is a station nearby where I can get the bus, metro and train from so that makes things nice and easy.

Random pretty building opposite the station

 I was a little bit nervous about Rome, especially after everyone have been going on about pickpockets and stuff, but I’m really looking forward to the next few days! And I will only put one day’s budget in my purse, so that if it does get stolen then I know I’ve still got money and it’s not the end of the world. I also won’t bring my bank card with me, but I wouldn’t do that anyway.

I’ve heard Italian traffic is crazy, and seeing cars squeeze through really narrow streets that looks like they should be pedestrian is a bit strange, but after Kuala Lumpur it doesn’t really faze me. But I also think that the narrow streets looks like they should be pedestrian just because they look so old, but so does everything else in Rome so in a way I guess it’s not so strange that they squeeze through the narrow ones as well…

I met some of the people I’m sharing a dorm with, with exception of one boy we’re all girls, and I got along with all the ones I met, which is nice. I wonder what the guy in the dorm feel about sharing a dorm with 9 girls… I guess most guys would be all like “Oh yeah, I’m such a ladies man” or whatever in public, but I think it’s probably quite intimidating for him in a way, maybe. 

Free glass of wine and free WiFi at the bar next to the hostel. Don't mind if I do...

Cube Hotel Buket Bintang

In Kuala Lumpur I treated myself to a hotel instead of a hostel. The single room I got was about the same as a shared dorm room in Australia, so in a way I guess I wasn’t really treating myself!

The staff at the hotel all looked really young! But they seemed competent enough.

After all those dorms the room seemed really small, but I guess it’s probably standard single bed room in hotels, and of course it gets smaller because of the bathroom.

There is no window at all, and it gets really warm, but there is air con in the room. At least I don’t have to worry about any mozzies coming in during the night or anything. But it was annoying waking up and not having any idea if it was still in the middle of the night or not. It was also a bit annoying not knowing what the weather was like, although KL is warm no matter what.

There was a TV in the room. There aren’t many channels on the TV, and not many I can actually understand, but it’s nice to have something to watch sometimes, even if I did just keep it on the same channel all the time.

I really didn’t like the bathroom though. It was very small and the whole bathroom turned into a shower. The shower is right over the toilet so you have to remember to go to the toilet first unless you feel like sitting on a wet toilet. The shower also had so low pressure that it took me ages to wet my hair and rinse all the shampoo out.

It was a nice hotel though, the staff was nice, the reception was nice, modern and clean. They didn’t clean your room unless you asked for it, which I think was a good idea, no point getting a new towel or anything every single day. I just put my bin outside my door when it was full so that they emptied it for me.

The hotel is close to pretty much everything you need and there is a monorail stop right around the corner for when you want to see things that are in other parts of the city.

Cube Hotel

Kuala Lumpur - Part 5

11.05.12

I think I would have liked Kuala Lumpur more if I was travelling with someone. I don’t know why… And I think it would have been nice to see more of the non-touristy areas in Malaysia. I will have to come back together with someone sometime.

Today I walked to KL tower; the other landmark of Kuala Lumpur. On the way there I saw a building with a dromedary on it… I wonder if it lights up at night..? Seems a bit random, but maybe it had something to do with the building?

I also tried bubble tea for the first time… Not my cup of tea… It was just a bit weird. But at least I can say I’ve tried it.

I went back outside when it got dark and saw the KL tower lit up.

I also walked to the Petronas Twin Towers. They were really pretty lit up.

The fountain outside the Pavilion was lit up as well. It was quite cool, the flowers were changing colours.

I also saw a funny street artist. I like purple, and I like glitter, but his outfit was a bit over the top! Haha!

Have you been to Kuala Lumpur? What did you see? What did/didn't you like?

Kuala Lumpur - Part 4

09.05.12

Today I took the monorail AND the train! Impressive, right? It’s actually a nice way to get around. Kuala Lumpur is so big and so spread out and not very pedestrian friendly that it’s just easier and safer to just get the monorail or train. It’s also really cheap.

I went to Perdana Botanical gardens first. It was really nice, although, because of my map which isn’t to scale and also doesn’t have all the roads on it, I did miss out on a lot of the park. Maybe I’ll go back another day.

Getting from The park to KL sentral, the train station, was a nightmare! It seems I always have to cross the motorway, or at least a very busy road all the time in this city. And often I have to walk on the side of the busy road, which is made even more of a nightmare when I have to walk with traffic so that I can’t see what’s coming up behind me!

I did make it to the station alive however, and I jumped on the train to Mid Valley.  The trains are quite cool; they have 3 carriages, and the middle one is for women only!

What did I do in Mid Valley? Go to the big Delectable shop of course! If I ever get married I would love to get Su to make my cake!

I bought a giant macaroon and three cupcakes; Teddy, Lulu and Wendy. They were all very yummy! I think my favourite was Lulu. I wouldn’t suggest getting more than one if you’re going to eat them all on your own and don’t have a fridge though; they’re a bit sickly.

All I have left to do in Kuala Lumpur now is to get up early and go into the Petronas Twin Towers and to try bubble tea. I found out about bubble tea when Su wrote about it on her blog once, then I saw it some places in Australia. But I decided that since it’s Asian, I wanted to wait with trying it until I was actually in Asia. 

Kuala Lumpur - Part 3

Written on: 08.05.12

I’m still alive!

I decided to explore a different part of Kuala Lumpur today. So I got on the monorail and headed to China Town.

China town here is quite big and there are so many beautiful buildings here. I had a look inside a Chinese temple, I had to leave my shoes outside. It was really beautiful both inside and outside.

 I hadn’t had any breakfast yet so when I headed past a small stall that sold some things that I had never seen before I decided to try something new. I have no idea what I ate (the yellow thing), but it tasted okay.

 After wandering around for a bit I got to the Masjid Jamek (Jamek Mosque). It was beautiful as well. I had to wear a head scarf and a robe, and since I’m not Muslim I was not allowed to actually walk inside the mosque, but just walking around it and looking inside was enough.

 After wandering around some more I got to the Kuala Lumpur city gallery. Inside was a brief history of Kuala Lumpur, a nice 3D model of the city and “Arch”, a company that makes wooden things, like 3D buildings and just decorative objects, or just bookmarks. It was really impressive to see what they’re able to make.

 I strolled back to China Town and Central Market, which is a big building with food, clothes, art and crafts. It was fun to just have a look around, and I found a pretty wrap skirt there as well.

 I also bought a nice bracelet from a monk in one of the other streets in China Town where there were loads of stalls. It was quite strange actually; when you go down a street with a market in it you expect it to be only pedestrian right? Not here. There were random cars and motorbikes whizzing down the street so that they kind of push you into the stalls... Maybe they’re in cahoots with the stall workers?

 When I took the monorail back to the stop near the hotel I walked into the shopping centre at the monorail stop: Berjaya Times Square. It’s MASSIVE!! KL seems to have a lot of shopping centres, but this I think is the biggest one. I’m not sure if I would be able to see all of it in one day, because it’s so big. 10 floors! And some parts are kind of “hidden” away. My feet were too tired from all the walking I had done earlier so I didn’t spend a lot of time in Times Square.

Just a teeny-tiny part of Times Square!

 After relaxing at the hotel for a couple of hours I went back outside to get some dinner. I decided to go back to the Pavilion; even though it’s much smaller than Times Square I still hadn’t seen all of it. I headed down part of the top floor that I hadn’t seen, and there was Tokyo Street!

 It was really fun to just walk around that part and look at the shops; there are so many cool things in Japanese shops! In the end I did find somewhere to have dinner, in Tokyo Street. One of the few vegetarian options they had was spring onion fried rice inside an omelette. I’ve never had fried rice in an omelette before, but it was really tasty!

Oh! I finally found a Malaysian flag sticker today, now I just need a Kuala Lumpur one.

Kuala Lumpur - Part 2

Written on: 07.05.12

Today I got kind of lost…

I got on the monorail. First I managed to go the wrong way. I changed on the first stop and went the right way. Again I have a map that doesn’t show every little road, and it’s not to scale so I just headed down a road and hoped for the best. I had no idea where I was, but it is kind of fun to explore the city in that way. At least I knew I was heading in the general direction of back to the hotel, and there are so many police officers and security guards everywhere here in KL so I could always ask for directions if I needed it.

In the end I got to somewhere I recognised from my map: KL City Walk. It’s just a pedestrian street with a few cafes and restaurants and a few shops. It was nice to go down a pedestrian street as the traffic is crazy here, but I actually think I prefer the regular streets, the city walk was a little bit boring to be honest. Not much to see or anything.

I then got to a walkway that went over the streets and then under the city and took me close to the Petronas Twin Towers. It is the only thing I knew about KL other than Delectable by Su. It was cool to see it so close. Apparently you can get into it, but it’s closed on Mondays, and if you want to go inside you have to line up really early in the morning as they only allow 1000 people to go in a day. Maybe if I wake up early enough one of my days here I will go.

 After looking at the Petronas Towers I managed to find my way back to Bukit Bintang by going back to the walkway.  The walkway it nice since there is no crazy drivers in there, but at the same time it’s not so nice since I don’t get to see much. The walkway led me back to the Pavilion, the shopping centre I was at yesterday and there were some drummers standing outside… drumming. They were really good and there seems to be a lot of things happening around KL all the time, which the taxi driver actually did tell me yesterday.

 When heading back towards the hostel I walked into a shopping centre that was below street level. It was HUGE, and there were so many shops and little “streets” that I got lost again in there for a bit. I bought a wrist watch in one of the shops. It was only 10MYR and it just need to last me until I get home, just so I don’t have to carry my phone around with me to know what time it is.

As I was walking back to the hostel I also walked past someone that looked like they were filming a scene for something. They had like 3 cameras set up and there were quite a few people stopping and taking a picture of it, so I joined in.

 For dinner I walked down a little side street that my map told me had a lot of street food. And there was. But with the occasional car whizzing past me, with just a 10cm distance, I didn’t really feel like eating while I was walking, so I went to the first place with tables and chairs that asked me to look at their menu.

 I had fried vegetables with rice and a watermelon juice. It was really lovely. I might go back to this street, Jalan Alor, for dinner more times during my stay. It will be interesting to see what I feel like tomorrow though… There were ice cubes in the juice, and I also had a chocolate Frappuccino this morning… Which is made with ice cubes… It’s easy to remember not to drink the tap water, but remembering not to have ice cubes is worse, or things made with water… Oh well, I will let you know how it goes.

Kuala Lumpur - Part 1

Written on: 06.05.12

I got to Kuala Lumpur around 11am this morning after travelling since 12pm yesterday from Darwin. It took about an hour to get into the city with the taxi. The taxi driver was very nice and warned me about which taxis I shouldn’t take in the city and told me about some places to see.

I treated myself to a single room in a hotel in KL, although I’m not sure I can say I treated myself when it cost around the same as a hostel dorm in Australia. I will write more about the hotel in a post of its own.

After I had taken a quick shower and changed my clothes to “wash the journey off” I walked to the Pavilion shopping centre.

 The reason I thought of going to KL at all was because of this blog by Su. The main Delectable shop is in Mid Valley City in KL, but since it’s my first day I decided to just go to the small shop inside the Pavilion… Mmmmm… So many yummy treats!! I wanted to buy all of them! I decided on one of the giant macaroons, it was really yummy! I’ll probably buy some more treats when I go to the big shop in Mid Valley.

 As I had forgotten to ask for a map at the hotel I just walked around in the Pavilion and the shops on the street between it and the hostel, since I’m here for almost a week I’ve got plenty of time to explore the rest on other days.

I also bought an adapter as I was walking around the city. I haven’t got a working phone until I’m back in Norway, but I’ve got free Wi-Fi at the hotel, but that doesn’t really mean much if I can’t charge my laptop…

I had a quick look around in the souvenir shops when I was walking around the city, just checking the prices of postcards and looking for stickers for my suitcase. I want a Kuala Lumpur sticker, and also a Malaysian flag sticker, but I couldn’t find any stickers! I hope I find some when I have more of a look around the city in the next few days.

Darwin - Part 3

Written on: 03.05.12

I have been starting to get things ready before I leave Australia on Saturday today. I got some gifts for people, they’re souvenirs, but they’re “proper” ones, so I won’t be giving them away until birthdays and Christmas.

Since it’s Thursday the Mindil Beach Sunset market is on, they are only on Thursdays and Sundays during the dry season, so they actually only started back up again last week. I went there with a Scottish Girl in my dorm.

A few minutes after we got there it started raining heavily; luckily it only lasted for about 15 minutes. 

It was mostly food stalls at the market. The guide yesterday said it was about two thirds food, and it was probably true, maybe half instead of 2/3. The other stalls were okay, loads of jewellery and other typical market stuff; it was all really expensive though. They probably put the prices up because it’s such a popular market so they know they’ll sell some things anyway. I only got some food though. I got a vegetable spring roll, and then a nutella crepe for dessert. The crepe was nice, but very sickly.

We also watched the sunset at Mindil Beach. It was beautiful! There were so many people on the beach. I don’t know how many people there is on Mindil Beach during the day, but it almost looked like it was a typical Australian beach during the day with the amount of people that was there watching the sunset. And the atmosphere was just great. People had brought chairs with them and were sitting on the beach and the grass and just having a good time. 

The market just got busier and busier the later it got, so I’m glad we came early so that we could have a look around the stalls before it got too busy and then just chill out on the other side of the stalls, out of everyone’s way.

Tomorrow’s an exciting day… Laundry day!! Hopefully last load until I get back to Norway. It’s amazing how exciting laundry day is now that I’m travelling. I’m far too happy about clean clothes.

Written on: 04.05.12

So I did some laundry today. I wasn’t allowed to use the machine until 2pm, and there are only 2 machines. I got there a couple of minutes after 2 and another girl was doing some laundry as well. The machine that was left didn’t have any hot water… I know you can wash clothes in cold water, but I never feel like it gets clean in cold water. But because I didn’t want to risk losing the machine to somebody else and not get to do my laundry today I put it in the “cold” machine.

When I got the washing out I saw that I was right not to trust the cold wash. The clothes that had stains on them still had stains on them. But what can I do? I don’t want to pay to wash them again. I just hope that at least the sweat and stuff has been washed out of them so that I won’t stink. I HATE it when I can’t wash my clothes properly though! HATE IT! Maybe I’ll find some cheap clothes in Malaysia…

Kuala Lumpur and Rome

I have finally booked all flights and accommodation all the way home! All that is left to book is my flight back to Oslo after visiting my mum for a few weeks.

On the way home I am going to stop in Kuala Lumpur and Rome for a few days.

One of my main reasons for going to KL is thisblog. Is that sad? I’ve been reading it for ages and I just really want to see it with my own eyes, and try some of the cakes (Mmmm…. Cake…!). Someone has also told me that I should see the twin towers at night. Does anyone have any other ideas as to what I should see while I’m there? I think I’ll just stay in the city and only see free, or really cheap, things because of my budget, but I would love to get some ideas from you!

In Rome I want to see the Colosseum and I would also love to visit the Vatican. I think I’ll probably love Rome just because of all the old buildings. I know there are many other things to see in Rome as well, and I would like ideas for that too. Like Kuala Lumpur I think I’ll just stay in the city and see mostly free things. I would love to go to other parts of Italy as well at a later time.

Have any of you readers been to Kuala Lumpur and/or Rome? What did you think?