Central Market, Kuala Lumpur

Housed in a sky blue Art Deco building dating from the 1930s, the Central Market or the Cultural Bazaar as it's also known, was formerly the place to go to for the people of Kuala Lumpur when they needed fresh produced food. Today the market focuses more on shopping with Indian, Chinese and Malay ethnic arts and craft shops. Prices never seem unreasonable here but we were told that you have to put your game face on as haggling is necessary. We didn't shop much for ourself per se but we did dig up some great (we hope) finds for close ones back home.

Surroundings of our hotel, just round the corner from the five star Sheraton hotel and suddenly you are hit with these great contrasts.






Inside Central Market, paradise for bargain lovers


















On our way back to the hotel




Nelly playing hide and seek with a friendly waitress while mom and dad were eating dinner.

Shoping Spree in Kuala Lumpur

The trendy shopping district Bukit Bintang is to Kuala Lumpur what Orchard Road is to Singapore but with one major difference. Everything is cheaper in Bukit Bintang. So after a steady breakfast at the Pancake House we hit the new Pavilion mall. It was a successful raid for the whole team. Nelly got away with most stuff as usual, she is after all our MVP. But mom and dad also scored. Dad got a new sweater from Ted Baker and a shirt from Paul Frank. While mom invested in a brand new laptop from Samsungs N-series.

Swedish flag burning in Kuala Lumpur

As we're sure you know (cause apparently it's front page news in Sweden) a Swedish flag was set on fire outside our country's embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Friday. Protesters demanded action to be taken against cartoonist Lars Vilks and newspapers that published his caricatures of the Muslim prophet Muhammad.

Don't send the marines just yet though, we're safe from harm! But thanks for your kind heads up and shown concern. Here in Kuala Lumpur the event is not even reported by the news. If you try and search The Star Online which is Malaysias biggest newspaper you come up empty. All Swedish related news here are about Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

However it's good to know that the Malaysian government keeps a watchful eye on the media here. News that are not considered to qualify to be public knowledge do not appear in the papers and are not discussed on TV. We don't watch much Malaysian TV, but we spotted immediately that some Amercian movies are being censored here, for example the naughty classic "Sex and the City".

Nelly plus entourage on the move again

We have crossed the border once again, gone from Singapore to Malaysia. The trip went smooth, just under one hour. Nelly is such a good sport when we're on the move and travelling with AirAsia is a breeze, Lufthansa has a lot they could learn from them.

Singapore was great, we were sad to go. Really expensive though, that's the down side but apart from that we loved it. They have a nice mixture of old and new that harmonize well! People are kind, everything is clean and the whole town just run like clockwork.

Our hotel Sheraton Imperial in Kuala Lumpur is great which is a breath of fresh air cause we really didn't care much for the one we stayed at in Singapore, The Rendezvous.

Here at the Sheraton in KL we have for example a walk-in closet which we turned into Nelly's master bedroom. She's sleeping there right now at the time of writing this, exhausted after a long day. Another great thing about our room is the huge window that goes all the way down to the floor, perfect when traveling with a small one. The view from 27th floor keeps Nelly occupied, sometimes for over 5 minutes. It takes a lot nowadays to amuse her after two months of adventure in Asia.

Birthday girl

Happy Birthday Nelly also know as Plutt, a.k.a. Mini, a.k.a. Terror, a.k.a. Princess, a.k.a. Miss Lenngren, you are exactly one year old today! Your birthday was supposed to be on 9th March, but you were in a hurry to turn our world upside down.

Here in Malaysia most things feel upside down compared to safe Sweden. Cars are driving on the "wrong" side of the street, complete strangers are kind, the media coverage of the Winter Olympics is non-existing and the temperature is heavenly 30 degrees plus.

Still, life here is easy to get used to. Daddy doesn't have to go to work in the morning (mommy loves that too!), instead he can join the Lenngren girls and splash around in the pool, every morning and every evening. Speaking of pool, hope you like your present!

We think that it's amazing how fast you embraced our new lifestyle here in Malaysia (the Malaysian people certainly embraced you). You are a pleasure to travel with! On our three days journey to Kuala Lumpur you didn't complain or cry even for a second - always kept your curious look and cute smile, even when mom and dad lost theirs at the Bangkok airport.

At times you are real pain in the ass (you know that, don't you) but you make our world complete and we love you more than life. However, we would not mind if one day in the near future you would choose to sleep all through the night.

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

From hell to heaven

Kuala Lumpur was no hit for us. Not that I dislike the city, I'm sure it's great, problem is I was busy doing one of the following.

• worrying about my daughter
• cleaning up vomits
• talking to the hotel doctor

This morning when we're on our way to the hotel reception to check out and leave for the airport she threw up again. God I hope it was the last time. Poor little thing.

Anyway, long story short, we've traveled from Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi and checked in to Westin Hotel, and tomorrow we are getting married here!!! And this place is a big slice of heaven, I kid you not. Finally this is starting to feel like vacation! What a place Westin is, you really have to be here to believe it. Our villa is huge, (if tipsy one could probably get lost in the bathroom). It has it's own private pool, and from the pool we have a panorama view of the sea. And what's even more important, Nelly seems fine again. Please, please, please stay well angel. Tuesday and Wednesday are not days that Beata and I ever wanna experience again, they were tough! The luxurious surrounding that we are now enjoying at Westin feels very well deserved.

Nelly feels fine again!

Today was a great day. Nelly was feeling fine all day long, smiling as always and flirting with everyone we met. In fact, everything felt so back to normal that mom and dad could hire a baby-sitter for the evening and enjoy a nice late dinner at the poolside restaurant.

We didn't get to see much or do anything special in Kuala Lumpur at all, but what a relief that she feels better again!

The Frequent Flyer

This is our fantastic Nelly traveling! Picture taken at Arlanda while waiting for boarding.



She succeeded to charm everyone she met on her 3 days long journey to Kuala Lumpur.





In Frankfurt she made a new friend in Maxi.

Beata's friend Zielak and her husband Daniel, who live in Frankfurt (can you belive our luck!), took care of us when stupid Lufthansa failed to. Zielak and Daniel were fantastic to say the least, words can not express how grateful we are to them for everything they did for us under our 48 hour stay in Germany. We hope that 'll get the chance to reciprocate.

Unfortunately our little Nelly is still sick, 2nd day now. We're doing everything we can to make it go away as fast as possible. The doctor at Mandarin Oriental Hotel has been great, hopefully the medicine will start working soon so that Nelly will smile again like she usually does.