The ups and downs of our trip to Malaysia. Plus rather a lot of steps for this week!

Today, Deepavali (also known as Diwali) is being celebrated here in Malaysia. It appears that there is a big enough Indian population here that it warrants an official public holiday tomorrow.

Today, like many days on our trip so far we walked in order to explore.

Today, our walking saw us navigating our way around Kuala Lumpur, the city itself. It was busy! And crowded! And colourful!

Today, I walked more steps than I usually do on an average Sunday at home. My mileage added to an already large step count for the week. I'm happy with these extra steps mostly because I sleep better when I do more exercise and at home there's always more to be done on the screen.

Today had its ups and its downs.

Walking around the city was awesome. Though, seeing Ferraris parked only a few blocks from people so poor they were sleeping on the street didn't exact make me happy. The contrast between rich and poor here is stark.

Seeing massive, awe-inspiring fig trees in the KLCC park was wonderful. Though getting caught in a deluge a few hours later was not so much fun.

Seeing hajib-wearing Muslim women, one after the other, return my smile with genuine kindness on their face was lovely. Seeing Indian men, one after the other, stare at me at not smile at all was intimidating and off putting to say the least.

Ups and downs, ups and downs. I feel like that kind of summarises our short stay in Malaysia.

And now the sunsets on our final night here. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we fly to Bali - our last short stopover before we go home.

Photo 1, of Brad and I, taken by a kind Malaysian woman who wanted to return the favour when we took her photo for her. Photo 2, is a screenshot taken my me of my Garmin Connect App step stats for the week. Photo 3, of the sunset out our hotel window was taken my me on my phone.