Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (October, 2013)

We had a little bit of a hiccup in Singapore at the Changi airport.  We were flying Jetstar, and had done so many times before.  I had neglected to put Zander and Cy on the tickets and was planning on doing them as 'infant in arms' with no charges.  We've done this before without a problem and done it with Jetstar.  This time they charged us ~$40 each to hold them in our laps.  It was a bit hard to swallow since we had only paid about $30 each for the tickets in the first place.

We stayed 2 nights at the Doubletree Kuala Lumpur.  We booked 3 rooms there using 4,000 Hilton Hhonors points + ~$37/night which was a steal considering how nice the hotel was.  Our Hilton Gold status got us lounge privileges which included appetizers from 5-7pm as well as a great buffet breakfast and free soda and water all day long.  For a group of 11 people, that's a pretty huge benefit.

Getting to the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) area where the Doubletree is located was a bit of a challenge.  The traffic is pretty bad, especially when we arrived and the public transportation is not integrated (there's like 7 different, separate trains that run through the city).  We set out from the airport to get to KLCC and 3 train transfers later we were close enough to get a taxi.  It was good because we got to get a feel for the city, but it was a little exhausting doing that travel with 5 kids.

We finally made it to the hotel and we were treated with the signature Doubletree chocolate chip cookies.  We were thirsty, so we plowed through like 20 sodas in the lounge as well.  We took a stroll around the hotel to check things out before heading off to bed.

The next morning we had our free breakfast buffet, then we made our way to KLCC and the famed Petronas Towers.  We wandered through the mall for a bit and then ended up at Petrosains Science Discovery Center.  It was pretty awesome for a science center.  Since it's sponsored by a Malaysian oil company, most of the exhibits revolve around industry and engineering.  The undertones of radical environmentalism and anti-capitalism were nowhere to be seen.  It was pretty refreshing to hear about technology and science in a positive light.  The kids were occupied with the interactive exhibits for hours and nobody was bored.

When we were done at Petrosains, we had some lunch at Chilis and then headed back out to the park behind the towers for a stroll and to snap some pictures.

We had dinner in the lounge and went to bed.  The next morning, another huge breakfast and mostly hanging out at the hotel.  The kids spent most of the morning at the hotel pool, and we had to leave early afternoon to make it to the airport for our flights to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The kids and Dad in an artificial wind tunnel that simulates what a tornado feels like.

Nash's internal project manager came out on this exhibit.  Once he figured it out, he was bossing all of the other kids around and telling them how to effectively get the dirt from one side to the other.

Nash, operating the tractor.

Walking across the bridge from the DoubleTree hotel to the train station.

Petronas Towers just before the rain chased us away.