Klang-ing time

We had a short stop with Uncle Mejar and family in Klang, near KL. It was fun catching up and eating all our favourite foods  - Olive’s favourite roti canai with condensed milk (although the big uns prefer it with fish curry) and all sorts of delicious food from hawker stalls. 

Even the mango picked from the tree at the front of Mejar’s house is ridiculously sweet - we ate lots! 

Our favourite meal was the last night with tasty sweet and sour(!), ginger chicken and a dish that tasted of the anchovies they use in nasi lemak.

Johor Bahru

We spent all day crossing the border over into Malaysia. We could see the motorbikes streaming over the border - thousands do the journey every day to take advantage of the riches in Singapore. Apparently labourers get paid five times more in Singapore compared to JB.

We aren’t getting a SIM card for Malaysia as we are only here for a short while. We immediately felt it as I struggled to link up with the grab taxi I booked to get to our apartment - lots of running back and forth to kfc to use their wifi!

Selina’s Dad was born in JB so we have always wanted to come visit. It hasn’t disappointed. We have enjoyed it so much that we extended our stay to give us a ten day stretch here before we see family in KL and then fly on to our long term stay in Koh Lanta.

We have a spacious apartment right next to legoland which is out of town but the grab is cheap and doesn’t take long to whisk us to our desired destinations.

Our first job was to set up a timetable of daily lessons for Olive and Boo which we do each day after brekkie. I think we are all enjoying the structure.

We took in legoland for a day - the kids loved it. There were lots of different types of rides. Boo loved the bug bumper and Ninjango ride where you karate chop with your hands to score points. 

I also liked some of the funny Lego models they had dotted around. 

My favourite bit was the mini versions of different places all over the world. 

Another day we went to Petrosains science museum - an amazing place set up by the petrol company. Lots of cool different things to learn about science. 

We also spent a whole day catching the suns rays in a water park in a slightly deserted island district called Forest City. The slides were great fun for Olive and Boo. Olive managed to swim even further this time!

We fed fish and ducks with funny red bills at Emerald Lake and looked round the heritage area in town. 

We also had lovely catch ups with Ajmer and his family. Darsh grew up with Ajmer. They took us for the tastiest Seabream and crab - both cooked in a completely different way to how I am used to. We also went for Olive’s favourite - Roti canai with condensed milk. I also had a crazy Bru madras coffee which you mix yourself. 

We ended our stay in JB with a special visit to the Sikh Gudwara that Pop and his father used to go to. We always find Gudwaras so welcoming. This one was the same and we had a great time chatting to people about our relatives and what the place was like back in the day. Super fun. 

The neighbouring Hindu temple was also very impressive with its multicoloured sculptures. 

We are going to miss JB. We’ve loved our time here. 

2025 SE Asia adventures

We really enjoy travelling and we found it really rewarding spending time with other families world schooling their kids in our stints in Penang and Vietnam. We’ve managed to organise our lives so that we can spend a term back in SE Asia. 

We have handed over the management of our Airbnb rooms to a management company which will hopefully give us some spending money while we are away. We’ve already had a handful of bookings which is a great start. 

Our plan is to spend some time in Singapore and Malaysia before heading over to settle into the island of Koh lanta in Thailand - joining over a hundred other families of world schoolers who are already out there, including some friends of ours that we have spent time with before. 

First stop - Singapore. It’s hot and humid! We are staying in Little India. Accomodation is super expensive in Singapore and since we are away for so long we’ve plumbed for a dorm style bunk bedroom with shared bathroom. It’s actually a bit of fun. Both kids took the top bunks and it’s the first time I’ve ever been given a disposable plant based towel to use! 

We caught up with family (Boo dutifully handed out UK chocolate bars to everyone) and took in the obligatory night light display by Marina Sands Bay. I love the swirling waterfall in the shopping mall - I could stare at it for hours! Very proud of Olive as well for managing to swim 25m unaided - superstar 🙂