Kuala Lumpur - The Start of South East Asia

We finally completed our first SEA city after over 30 hours of travel from NZ. Kuala Lumpur was well worth the pain it took to get there :) Partly because when we got there, the Aloft accommodated our every request. Checked in at 3:00pm and checked out the next day at 9:00pm. Here's what we did in our ~36 hours in KL, followed by our advice, fun facts, and some favorite pictures.

• Stay at Aloft KL Sentral
• Chinatown daytime walking around
• Central Market walking around
• Lunch at Restoran Yusoof Dan Zakhir
• Hanging around KLCC with a view of the Petronas Towers
• Batu Caves
• Foot Massage at Shujin Therapy Zone Professional Reflexology Clinic
• Mohit's haircut at the Nu Sentral Mall
• Lunch at Nu Sentral Mall Foodcourt (I Love Yoo and an Indonesian place)
• Old China Tea House
• Chinatown nighttime walk around including dumplings and a beer
• Overnight train to Singapore (departs at 11:00pm and arrives at 7:00am)

Things to know if you visit

• The KLIA express train is fantastic. Though more expensive than the regular MRT (about $9 per person), it takes 30 minutes to get from the airport to KL Sentral, the main train station in KL.
• KL Sentral is a great location to access most of the city through the MRT, especially if you're short on time. There's four major hotels connected to the train station: Aloft, Hilton, Le Meridian, and Ascott. If you have SPG points, the Aloft is awesome. 4000 points per night and you get a great breakfast buffet if you're platinum or $15 if you're not.
• MRT is the way to go for transportation. Traffic looked like any major metro, meaning crappy. The subway, although crowded during business rush hours, is cheap, clean, and quick. It's also heavily A/C'd.
• The USD to MYR conversion rate is fantastic. Meaning you can get great meals for under $5 per person.
• Most places do not accept credit card so make sure to carry cash. Including the McDonalds.

Fun facts

• The language Malay is basically just Malaysian people speaking English. Lift is lif, restaurant is restoran, and police is polis. Although Fate is shaking her head saying Mohit's just being racist, Mohit thinks he's onto something and needs to do some linguistics research here.
• Every street name begins with the word "Jalan"... it probably means "street" in Malay but we're too lazy to look this up.
• We thought Kuala Lumpur was pretty clean... until we walked by a "river"... and Fate nearly vomited by the smells. 
• For some god forsaken reason, people love Auntie Anne's Pretzels. On a similar note, western restaurants named Manhattan Fish Market and Tony Roma's are always raging with people. 
• Texas Chicken totally stole Church's Chicken's logo... uncool.
• We saw a ton of Arabs on vacation in KL.

Summary Pictures

Infinity Pool that stopped working when Mohit wanted to step inside

Intense Chinatown.

The damn Colonel. 

Funky Dutch and Roman architecture.

Fate: I found my people's food!!!

Masjid in the middle of the city.

These folks are waiting for a tame light and water show.

They waste a lot of energy keeping these building totally light up in the evenings.

Giant Mall One.

Batu Caves, just a quick train ride away.

Just peacocks on the roof.

Excited for the 270+ steps!

Yayyy... it's smelly.

Mama love at Batu Caves

This deserves a big pic because of how tasty it was, laksa!

Egg Dog: what Asians think Americans eat for breakfast.

Giant Mall Two.

Lanterns in Chinatown at night.

This is a Hindu temple.

New Zealand - Final Post

Sadly, this is the last New Zealand post. The last nine days have been everything we could have asked for. This country is incredible. If it wasn't so far from the rest of the world, we would come back every year. Seriously.

Now, for a fun summary post.

The little blue circles show where we spent the nights of the last nine days. Every night except for 2, 5, and 9 were in the campervan. These three nights were in hostels / backpacker accomodations.

Statistics... some true, some fabricated, just as they should be

• Kilometers driven = 1,868
• Sheep spotted = 4,326,000
• Number of breakfasts of muesli = 8
•  Most popular campervan / motorhome companies spotted:
• #1 Jucy
• #2 Britz
• #3 Apollo
• #4 Maui
• #99 RoadRunner Rental (just us)
• Number of times we said "OMG, that's epic!"  = > 3x a day
• Money figures in case you were curious on bugetting a similar trip (note that the campervan prices fluctuate a lot on season, winter being much cheaper):
• Campervan rental = 430 NZD
• Campervan rental insurance = 150 NZD
• Campervan petrol (averaged 18 MPG) = 510 NZD
• Food (cooking breakfast and lunch, eating out dinner) = 360 NZD
• Accomodations (powered campervan sites + hostel) = 430 NZD
• Activities (just the one cruise) = 158 NZD

• Average Cost Per Person Per Day = ~115 NZD

Last New Zealand words of advice

• Car vs. Campervan
• I'd suggest campervan the first time just for the experience. It's really fun and adds flexibility to your trip. Especially in the summer time, it would be even more fun and comfortable. Price wise, I think they even out. Campervans are more expensive than rental cars but then you save on accomodation costs. Cars are obiviously cheaper on the rental price, insurance, and petrol but you end up paying for rooms everywhere. 
• One thing to consider is that backpacker / hostel accomodations are really cheap. Only 10-20 NZD more than a powered campervan site. So if you're okay with sleeping in bunk beds with five other people in the room, cars + hostels may work out best for you. Either way you get communal showers, rest rooms, kitchen, and lounge areas.
• Shopping carts are called trumblers. Doubt that will ever help anyone but we found the sign hillarious so there's that.
• Respect the green. Don't be the guy who buys extra paper towels when the rest of the country is trying to compost every little scrap.

Highlight reel - mainly because we can't live without pictures

Day 1 - Campervan adventure began

Day 2 - Hokitika Gorge

Day 3 - Drive from Franz Joseph to Wanaka

Day 4 - Drive from Wanaka to Queenstown

Day 5 - Drive from Queenstown to Milford Sound

Day 6 - Milford Sound Cruise

Day 7 - Hooker Valley Track hike

Day 8 - Timaru walk around town

Goodbye New Zealand. Hopefully we'll be back soon.

Thanks for reading our blog so far! Next up, some South East Asia fun. Hopefully we can keep the updates coming timeley :)

New Zealand - Days 7 and 8

Our last couple of days in New Zealand are here :( It's been an amazing place so far and we've gotten super lucky with the weather given that its the start of winter. On Day 8, we hit 70 degrees Fahrenheit in Timaru! Although the "epic" part of the trip is over, we still saw some amazing views on these two days of the roadtrip. Here's a quick summary of what we did on Days 7 and 8, followed by some things to know if you visit, fun facts, and some of our favorite pictures.

• Drive from Queenstown to Twizel
• Hooker Valley Track Hike in Mt. Cook National Park
• Night at Kiwi Twizel Holiday Park (Campervan)
• Hangout at Lake Tekapo
• Drive from Twizel to Timaru
• Timaru Town Walk
• Night at Top 10 Holiday Park in Timaru (Campervan)

Things to know if you visit

• Petrol (don't call it gas or they'll judge you for being American) is much cheaper, by like 20-25 cents per liter, in bigger cities. So try to plan your fill ups when you're in a bigger city.
• Mt. Cook has quickly changing weather and is super windy. So even if its 50 Fahrenheit, a windbreaker really helps. 
• Hooker Valley Track is a three to four hour round trip walk/hike. It's great to do with parents too because the elevation gain isn't too much, the path is very well maintained, there are facilities at the start of the hike, and there are tons of picture taking opportunities.
• Lake Tekapo is right behind the main town area so its a great place to stop for lunch, hang out, and just stare at the ridiculously pool-like blue water.
• Timaru has a well laid out path for tourists to walk on. It takes you all around the major sightseeing places including the beach, cliffs, and main shopping street. There's a cool aviary and rose gardens free to walk around in.
• You can get real fish and chips for $6.50 in Timaru compared to the $15 you'd spend in Queenstown. And you know its real when Asian people are making it :)

Fun facts

• Mohit had his first alcoholic beverage (Montana NZ Pinot Gris) in New Zealand on Day 7.  
• Timaru has four or five Indian restaurants (one is even called "Punjabi Indian Tandori Restaurant" this place is legit).
• You may think you want to walk inside the aviary in Timaru but you'd be signing up for up close and personal poop smell, and aggressive birds flying close to your head.
• Broccoli at grocery stores is really cheap in NZ.

Days 7 and 8 Summary Pictures

Lake Pukaki on the way to Hooker Valley Track walk/hike, 

It happened, a sheep crossing!

It was so windy on these suspension bridges.

A nice trail for the whole family but crazy picturesque.

He felt very LOTR here.

I'm on that bridge.

Sometimes we don't use the selfie stick.

Beginning of Day 2 at Lake Tekapo

Now at Timaru at Caroline Bay.

See? NZ can be normal looking.

Skipping pebbles.

A fish and chips shop where you only do pick-up and two can eat for $12 NZD. 

They created a huge park area near the bay.

Have birds always been this evil looking?

My nose paid a price for this shot.

Timaru town square/main st area.

Besides fish and chips and flavored canned tuna you also have access to lots of savory pies.