Leaving KL,and the irony of floods

View of 7 floors of the Starhill Gallery mall

Our final night in KL was spent in the amazing hotel-cum-mall. The pictures do not do it justice. We explored it a little before dinner, on every level would be little collections of chairs like you find in a hotel lobby, but with a theme, like white leather and purple cushions, or old-fashioned mahogany and burgundy. On one floor was a little coffee kiosk surrounded by funky patterned tub chairs clustered around small tables on which lay games like chess or cards. Each level itself had a theme as well, like the 'Pamper' level full of beauty salons and cosmetic surgeries, and the 'Muse' level made up of art shops and galleries. The 'Relish' level was the undergroud 'food court', which is where we headed for dinner. We ate in a very trendy Indian restaurant, with the highlight as far as I was concerned being a round of bread with a similar texture to naan, only denser, with a topping of honey, coriander, garlic, and pepper. After dinner we had a drink in one of the bars, this one had massive columns of glass bottles going up to the ceiling which was also decorated in lots of coloured glass lanterns. It was staffed by young Chinese women in impossibly short black dresses which the older male tourists (and some younger ones...) seemed to appreciate, although in Australia they would be a sexual harassment lawsuit waiting to happen. You really noticed them especially given the high number of Muslim women wearing full hijab who were walking past.

Toby with his drink in the trendy restaurant, a coconutty, gingery thing with what looked like pesto on top. Mmmm, trendy.

Which brings us to probably the most overused cliche in travel writing - the 'land of contrasts'. It's an awful phrase but suits KL well. Take Bintang as an example, which was a lot like Surfers Paradise, especially at night, only with more Muslims. Which meant a conspicuous lack of little skirts and high heels, and a lot of flowing black and colourful headscarves which are clearly as much a fashion accessory as shoes or bags, carefully chosen to suit one's outfit. The scarves are treated like hair - girls re-do them in bathrooms and rearrange them before having photos taken. Another example would be the workmen we walked past after getting off the monorail one day, who were squatting on the ground below that multi-million dollar piece of infrastructure, patiently chipping away at the concrete footpath with chisels. Monorail? Check. Jackhammers? Only for wusses.

The next morning we left our lovely hotel and got a taxi to the airport, which is about an hour's drive away. Thus began our 20-hour journey to Heathrow, which for the most part was uneventful although riddled with frustrations as these are. Like the shops near our departure gate in KL not selling lollies, tissues or water. WTF? Poor sound on the flight, although the individual tv screens meant I could watch 5 episodes of Grey's Anatomy in a row. Missing the bus at Heathrow because the English don't believe in signs. We made it to Margaret's about 9.30 that night. It was a lovely summer evening that reminded us of home. Margaret fed us and we promptly went to bed.

And no, we haven't floated away down the Thames. The floods are obviously the biggest news item here right now. The media's loving it, especially the irony. Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink!!!! Today I read that Rhianna's 'Umbrella' is at the top of the charts, the longest number 1 since Wet, Wet, Wet. I don't know if that's true, but it makes for a good story. I'm not sure the people wading through their streets clutching bottles and buckets on the search for clean water are appreciating the irony.

Luckily the area of Oxford where we're staying is unaffected by the heavy floods currently soaking England. But the area where our bank sent our account information was. The corner of the road where the bank was had flooded. It was blocked off by bollards and there was a police van full of police sitting there, but I'm not sure what they were supposed to be doing - they certainly didn't try and stop anyone walking or cycling through the water. The lady behind the front desk at the bank was filling in for the usual staff, who apparently couldn't get in. So everything took quite a long time, but it's done now. Ready to earn some pounds, just as soon as someone hires me.

Man cycles through flood, determined to get...somewhere.

Today we came back into town for a wander around Christ Church and more internet cafes. I am typing this in Pie Minister where we ate rather overpriced pies (with mash and gravy, of course) but where the wi-fi is free. The prices in the UK are a disappointment, especially after KL. Everything costs the same in pounds as it did in ringgits, only instead of dividing by 3, you multiply by 2.4 to get the conversion. The trick I think is to just start thinking in pounds, otherwise we will get too depressed.

Gardens around Christ Church college.

I do like Oxford very much, I said to Toby it's a place that resonates with me. He thought that was strange but it's true. I feel very at home here. Unfortunately the rental prices here are way out of our range. Tonight we are buying Margaret some Indian takeaway, and then tomorrow we are off to Edinburgh for a week.

Margaret's lovely English house, in an English lane. Very Jane Austen.