I’ve had an enforced lazy Sunday today. It’s nothing to do with my back as that’s pretty much fixed now. The weather here in KL was gloriously sunny this morning so after finishing a few chores and nipping out of my more usual Roti Canai breakfast.

Afterwards I decided to have another look at a couple of monorail locations to see if the sun was in the right place for blue sky shots. The only problem was when I got the the monorail station my prepaid card claimed ‘insufficient credit’. The ticket office was closed and the only one of three ticket machines that was working didn’t recognise my prepayment card so I was unable to top it up. So, I trekked back across to Pasir Seni, my local MRT station where the ticket office was staffed, only to find out they were ‘offline’. I then trekked across to Masjid Jamek station to the North and found out the whole ticketing system was down! Deciding someone was trying to tell me something and I was fated not to travel today I gave up and went for a wander on foot. That part of town was very busy today as Sunday’s the only day of the week the Indian construction workers have off, so most of them were out shopping or hanging out with friends. The rest of the city centre (including Chinatown) was crammed with cars. The place was virtually gridlocked which actually made crossing the roads easier as long as you kept a wary eye out for the scooters weaving through the static traffic like minnows.

Making the most of a bad job I spent a few hours editing and captioning pictures which have now appeared in my Malaysian rail and travel galleries before going for a wander around Chinatown. With it being so busy it’s been a good day for people-watching, seeing the different communities (Malay, Chinese and Indian) mixing with tourists from East and West. There’s a mélange of cultures, skin-colours and religions all accommodating each other. Scantily dressed Western or Chinese women rub shoulder with conservatively-dressed Muslim Malay women who even have their hair covered, never mind anything else. Admittedly, not all Malays dress this way, which is what makes it all so fascinating. Everyone seems to get along and no-one’s stressed about the attire of others.

Wandering home and recognising the time difference between the UK and Malaysia (8 hours) I said good morning to Dawn via Messenger before making our regular weekly video call and catch-up. After all my decades of travelling when letters were the only communication being able to talk face to face seems such a luxury – and for free! This will be our last call as next weekend I’ll be back in the UK which seems slightly surreal as 2 months seems to have flown by! Dee’s coming down to London to meet me at Heathrow, which will be lovely. I’m not used to being met at an airport!

But before then, there’s still some travelling to do and people to meet. Oh, and weather to experience. We’ve not had any rain today but we have had hours of the most intense thunder and lightning storm. So, my picture of the day is actually a video, shot from the window of my hotel…

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