After a very pleasant stay at the Village in Uluwatu, marred by yet another monkey attack (decidedly, we're not friends with them), it's time for us to move on to our next stop: Malaysia! Our AirAsia flight from Denpasar airport is at 4pm but traffic being what it is on the island we leave at noon after a last bit of lounging by the pool - I'll never tire of this very lovely garden.
On the way to the airport, we pass a slew of fantastic-looking village temples, including one made entirely of white stone - rare on this volcanic island where the main building materials are dark lava blocks and red clay tiles. I'm a bit sad that we don't have time to stop as these look much more interesting than the rather disappointing Uluwatu temple which we saw a couple of days ago. Our driver is very friendly, speaking perfect English, and we learn yet a bit more about the island as he tells us about earthquakes and tsunami response (apparently Uluwatu is a prised location because it's geologically one of the safer spots on the island - far from the volcanoes and above the waves). We mention our monkey troubles and he explains that this peninsula used to be the macaques' territory before the tourist hordes came and built all over their forests: it makes sense that they are a bit resentful as apparently all of the fruit trees providing their food were felled during the resorts expansion.
It's a quick and uneventful drive to the airport, and we enjoy our last few glimpses of the wonderful Bali architecture - this was certainly one of the highlights of our stay here. Including the airport sports pretty pagoda-style roofs and carved gates and screens - not as glitzy as Singapore Changi, but it's a very nice building and there's been a real effort to decorate every nook and cranny with local art which makes for a great overview of the Balinese cultural scene. Unfortunately no explanations (as usual) so we'll just enjoy the display. We're early but we take it slow and grab lunch before going to the gate, and it's not long before we're flying off! I was hoping to catch a last glimpse of the island but we inadvertently scored emergency row seats - Ollie is delighted at the legroom but we are above the wings, so no view for me.
We both get a nap in on the three/four hours flight - we left a bit late, same as our flight in to Bali, so we actually get a nice long stint on the plane to rest. We're landing in Kuala Lumpur around 7pm and the airport isn't far from town, so I'm hoping we can get a little bit of sightseeing done this evening, similar to when we arrived in Singapore. Alas, this was not taking into account Malaysian passport control: we don't need a visa and there are no Covid restrictions any more but that doesn't stop us spending 90min in a queue along with all the other non-Malay passengers to get our passport stamped, gobbling up most of the evening. By the time we make it out of the airport proper and into the adjoining mall it is past 9pm and we decide our time is best used sorting out cash, data, and getting a quick dinner before heading to our hotel.
We find the mall's food court and get a cheap and surprisingly satisfying set menu of roast chicken, fragrant rice, soup and veggies from one of the stands. As in Bali, it seems very easy and common here to pay by card which makes the whole logistics a lot simpler for us as we get very good exchange rates from our banks (Revolut & Starling) when doing that, instead of having to worry about paper money and changer's rates.
After dinner, we're just in time to buy our train tickets (there is a tourist pass here like in many big cities which includes the transfer from the airport and two days of unlimited metro travel) and hop on one of the last trains to the city centre. I'm very glad our flight got moved - our original booking had us landing past 10pm which would have been a nightmare with everything closed. Once we get to Kuala Lumpur we take the monorail towards our hotel - as mild train nerds we're both very excited but really it's just a rickety aerial metro. It's still nice to get views of the city as we travel though!
We alight at the geographically closest station to our accommodation - still a 15min walk according to Google Maps but it's obviously not taking the optimal path. We manage to get a better time by exiting on the right side of the station which straddles an urban motorway, but there's a few other roads to cross before getting to our hotel and the pavement seems an afterthought in most places. Still, we make it and get into our little serviced apartment easily thanks to very detailed instructions from our host. We've got a whole two-bedroom, two-bathroom base here and a lovely view over the city from our ninth floor windows - it's definitely an impressive metropolis and we can't wait to see more of it tomorrow!
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