Day 133 Dec 14 2014 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Entrance to Batu Caves

View from stairs at Batu Caves

Interesting Statue

Inside of cave next to monkey god statue

Day 133  Dec 14 2014  Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

We were lucky that we had a ticket booked to Bali or once again we would not have been let onto the plane by the airline company and again the immigration people in Malaysia did not require it.  Our flight left Istanbul at 3 pm local time and arrived in Kuala Lumpur at 7:30 am local time.  It is a 13 hour time difference from Kincardine and 12 hours difference from Buenos Aires.  We could not take possession of the apartment till 1 pm and thankfully the woman we are renting from let us into the building so we could hang around the roof top pool until the previous renters vacated.  It was so much better than the airport.  This is probably the best accommodations that we have had to date.  The apartment is located on top of a mall providing easy access to groceries, shopping and restaurants.  We were all glad to be able to change our clothes as we had to wear the same ones since Buenos Aires.  Our luggage was checked through to Kuala Lumpur and we had assumed that we would have to collect it to go through customs in Turkey.  Evy at least washed her underwear in Istanbul but I did not want to take a chance that it would be wet in the morning so none of the rest of us did that.  It is amazing how funky smelling your clothes can get after wearing them continuously for several days straight.  

Day 132 Dec 13 2014 On a plane to Kuala Lumpur

Waiting to get into apartment in Kuala Lumpur

Going to put on a bathing suit

feels good after traveling for 3 days

happy kids enjoying a huge roof top pool

Day 132  Dec 13 2014  On a plane to Kuala Lumpur

We had a 17 hour layover in Istanbul so we purchased visas for $60 usd each and a hotel for $154.  The hotels in Turkey seem to be wierd, we would search for a room for 2 adults and 2 kids and most of the search returns would be for 1 double bed or 2 twin beds.  I found one that you could purchase a cot but there was a note stating that a cot would reduce the number of people in the room.  What do people do there, take turns sleeping, sleep on the floor or sleep across the bed.  We had the same results with expedia, hotels.com and many other search providers.  We ended up getting 2 adjoining rooms.  The kids and I had a very hard time falling asleep due to the time change.   I thought I would sleep well but could not.  The only one that did not have trouble was Evy as was evident by her snoring.  We woke up at 9:30 am, went for the hotel provided breakfast then took a cab to the airport at 11:30 am.

Day 131 Dec 12 2014 Istanbul Turkey

Istanbul |Turkey Airport

Happy the flight from Buenos Aires is over

Day 131  Dec 12 2014  Istanbul Turkey

We arrived in Istanbul at 9:35 local time after what I thought was a long flight as I did not sleep.  We were lucky and managed to grab some extra seats.  David had 3 seats to himself,  Evy and I alternated stretching out in another 3 seats while Isabel slept like a log in across another 3 seats.  When we told the kids that it was time to go to sleep in the hotel they were wide awake.  I made the mistake of getting a hotel transfer at the airport.  We ended up paying twice the value of what a taxi would have charged if we had grabbed one outside the terminal.

Day 130 Dec 11 2014 On a flight to Istabul Turkey

Day 130  Dec 11 2014  On a flight to Istabul Turkey

We sent a couple of Christmas presents to Canada today.  The cost to ship the presents was more than their value. We went to the planetarium in Buenos Aires but missed the 1 PM show by 20 min.  The next show was at 4 pm but we could not see it as we had to get out of the apartment we were renting by 5 pm.  Evy was warned by the doorman of the apartment as well as by a taxi driver to take her jewelry off and put it out of site.  It seem that it is quite common in the city for someone to run by and rip your jewelry off. We were also warned to be careful of the taxi drivers by several people even by a bum begging money in the street while we were riding in the back of a cab.  We did not have any problems with the taxi drivers, on the contrary most were very helpful and friendly.

Day 129 Dec 10 2014 Buenos Aires Argentia

Park near Recoleta 

A cool tree in the park

Statue of some dude on a horse

Day 129  Dec 10 2014  Buenos Aires Argentia

I decided to check the entrance requirements for Turkey and was surprised to discover that as of recently obtaining a visa at the border is no longer possible and it has to be purchased on-line before arriving in the country.   We were able to obtain our electronic visas for a 240 usd fee.  That could have been an expensive mistake.  When we left the apartment we went to a cyber cafe to print all our airplane tickets and hotel receipts.  Again we went for a fairly long walk around the Recoleta area and finally to a McDonalds for Mcflurrys and sundays.  The rest of the day was spent in the apartment making supper, doing more school work and streaming videos. 

Day 128 Dec 9 2014 Buenos Aires Argentia

Will the tooth fairy come to Buenos Aires?

Casa Rosada

Obelisco de Buenos Aires 

Perspective Display Museo Prohibido no Tocar

Day 128  Dec 9 2014  Buenos Aires Argentia

We started the day at the Museo Prohibido no Tocar which is a kids science museum Isabel and David liked it hopefully learned something.  While we were in the museum Isabel's wiggly front tooth finally fell out.  After the museum we took a taxi to the Plaza de Mayo where the  Casa Rosada is located.  The Casa Rosada is the Argentine version of the white house.  We walked around the area for quite a few hours.  There were streets that were only for pedestrians and the volume of people walking was impressive. The architecture of the city seems to favor France and is significantly different than the other Latin American countries we have been in.  The drivers are also much more civilized than the other countries as well.

Day 127 Dec 8 2014 Buenos Aires Argentia

Enjoying the Recoleta cemetery 

Buenos Aires Zoo

I don't think we have missed any of these signs yet

Milanesa for three (Recoleta cemetery in the background)

Day 127  Dec 8 2014  Buenos Aires Argentia

We went for a walk up the street to the Recoleta cemetery which is Buenos Aires first public cemetery which was founded in 1882.  Several of Argentina’s presidents, Napoleon’s granddaughter as well as many other famous people are buried there.  It was a very cool cemetery with the tombs being elaborate structures with a vault underground and room for more up top.  We could look into the tombs and see the coffins.  One of the tombs seems to have become a storage area and was full of cardboard boxes and other junk. The next stop of the day was the zoo which is located in the Palermo District of Buenos Aires.  It originally opened in 1875 and continues to this day.  It was interesting the original bear house compared to the new design enclosure.  It seems there was very little thought given to the needs of the animals back in the 1800’s.