Day 12 - Malaysia, Sri Lanka

Travel day. We got up at 0-dark-30 to take a car to airport at 0530.  Kuala Lumpur International Airport (1 & 2) is approximately 40 minutes from the resort.  Although our driver was late, we still made it there with time to spare.
Anyone who has been to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL) knows it's 2 separate airports, KLIA1 and KLIA2.  Both airports have shopping malls.  I don't mean that little area of stores that some airports have before you get to the gates.  I mean a full fledged mall with shops and restaurants on different floors, that happens to connected to an airport.  If you have never been there, your first time may be a little disorienting/intimidating.  But it is surprisingly easy to navigate.  We found the check-in counter no time.  Immigration and security were quick.  We did a quick detour through Air Asia Red Premium lounge before going to the gate.  Shortly we were off to Sri Lanka.
The time difference between California and Sri Lanka is 12 and half hours.  We arrived in Sri Lanka without issue.  The wait in immigration wasn't bad.  kumi went before me in line.  When the immigration agent asked her the ever popular "Purpose of visit" I guess she explained our itinerary in excruciating detail.  Because when he got to me he literally said "I don't have to ask you any questions because she gave me more than enough information on what you're doing."  A short time later, we got our bags, met our driver,  and off we were to Avani Bentota.
It's about a 2 hour drive to the resort.  It is scenic in some places.  No traffic to really speak of.  When we arrived at the resort,  I must admit the entrance is not as impressive as others I have been to.  But that became moot when I saw how nice the resort is.  2 restaurants, 2 bars, 2 pools (3 if you count the kiddie pool) and it's on the beach. 
We loved our room.  Why it's not call a suite, I don't know.  83 square meters (893 square feet) and a very nice terrace.  (It's bigger than my first 1 bedroom apartment.)  A huge walk-in closet and bathroom with separate shower and tub combine to make us very happy with this "room."
We arrived early enough to get lunch.  We ate at Chatters bar which is next to our room.  Initially I thought this might be a drawback, but so far it's good.  We don't hear much noise from the bar and we can walk a few feet from our terrace if we want a drink or something.  (I am still evaluating the drink menu.  I will give a report later.)
After lunch we walked around the resort a bit.  Found out where a few things are.  We found the spa.  Scheduled a few appointments.  We also found an on-site boutique.  We did the touristy thing and bought stuff. 
The store owner was really nice.  We hadn't switched our currency yet, so we were going to come back later to buy the stuff.  He told us to go ahead and take it and pay later.
After shopping, we did a little more unpacking and crashed a bit.  Later, kumi went to a foot massage she had scheduled.  After which we went to dinner to Frangipani, one of the resort restaurants.  We really liked this place.  We were the only ones there.  Which really surprised us because it's a really nice restaurant and prices are good.
Anyway, after dinner we went back to our room.  The long day of travel plus the 2 hour time change (Malaysia to Sri Lanka) caught up to us.  We crashed.

Day - 8 Malaysia

Today we did an excursion to Kuala Lumpur. Unfortunately, it didn’t start out well. It was us and another couple on the excursion. And that couple was an hour late. Why our guide did not leave without them, I don’t know. Once they showed up, we began the trip.

First stop, and really the only thing I cared about seeing, the Petronas Towers. There are quite a few people there trying to get pictures of the place. A few locals know you can’t get a full shot of the towers without a wide angle lens… Which they just happen to have a few available to sell.

We went to a few other places, then stopped at the Central Market for lunch. I was so fascinated by the Central Market, I forgot to take pictures. Not even of the lunch we had, which was awesome and also cheap.

After market, we stopped by a few more places. Got caught in a thunder shower. Then, headed back to the resort.

Up until this time, the other couple had only been mildly annoying. They, particularly the husband, went beyond annoying on the ride back. He would randomly sing and whistle. He would play loud videos on his phone. Almost every time our guide would try explain something, the husband would interrupt him. We were worried when he mentioned an interest in joining our excursion to Malacca the next day. We’re hoping they don’t join us. But we will find that out tomorrow…

Day - 6 China, Malaysia

Travel day. Flying from Sanya, China to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Got up early enough to get a quick bite at Shi Yuan. Followed by a nice ride to the airport. Check-in, immigration, etc. relatively painless. Boarded the plane on time. The rest went seriously downhill from there.

I was flying China Southern airlines. They announced “Due to traffic congestion, our flight is delayed.” The flight from Sanya to Guangzhou is about an hour and a half. I had a 2 hour layover in Guangzhou. The plane sat on the tarmac in Sanya for 2 hours. When we eventually landed in Guangzhou, I had 10 minutes before my connecting flight took off. For some odd reason, China Southern gave me and another couple hope that we could make the flight. That in 10 minutes we could take shuttle from the plane to the terminal (No jetway); Go from terminal W to terminal A (It’s as far as it sounds); Go through 2 security checkpoints and immigration, then proceed a quarter of the way down terminal A to the gate… I made it to immigration before they told me the flight was gone. I went back through the checkpoints, found the China Southern supervisor desk and they put me on a later flight that boarded at 1700.

This caused a couple of problems. First, I scheduled a pickup with Avani Sepang and I had to notify them of the flight change. Second, I was meeting @kumimonster in Kuala Lumpur and her flight arrived earlier than mine. The original plan was for us to meet in Kuala Lumpur and take the car from there to the resort. Through an excellent combination of AT&T hotspots and Vonage, I managed to get kumi picked up earlier and my pickup rescheduled.

Of course, that couldn’t be the end of it. My scheduled 1700 boarding didn’t occur until over 2 hours later. 3 and half hour flight to Kuala Lumpur. I arrived at 2330.

Immigration was quick. I had a little wait at baggage claim. Breezed through customs. Avani was waiting for me (yay). Approximately 40 minutes later, I was at the resort. Checked-in. Went to the room. kumi was still up posting stuff. Went to bed.