Garden variety weekend

I've been following the weather reports in Chicago and can't quite decide if I'm jealous or overjoyed to not be there. On this end it has been hot - and I mean hot.  Yesterday, I made the mistake of walking out to the pool without sandals and nearly scorched the bottom of my feet.  I decided to go back and retrieve my sandals but stuck my feet in the pool quickly so I could make it safely back - I swear the pavement sizzled and my feet were instantly dry the moment they re-hit the pavement.

Taking advantage of the great weather and our four-day weekend, yesterday we went to explore KL's Lake Gardens.  The Lake Gardens are KL's answer to Central or Grant Park and contain (apparently the world's largest) aviary, there is a butterfly garden, orchid and hibiscus gardens as well as plenty of open spaces, jungle and plenty of mangy macaques to rummage through the bins.

We gave the aviary a miss as we were fairly certain it's something we'll end up doing with visitors at some point anyway.  The real highlights were the flower gardens, particularly the orchids.

They sell loads of the orchids that they plant there, so we thought we'd try our hand at keeping one alive and picked up a lovely purple and white one (like in the photo) for $2.00. 

It's another glorious day outside today, so we'll be off on further adventures.  The city is eerily quiet with the Chinese New Year celebrations on and all the Chinese shops and restaurants closed. It's nice during holidays here as each major holiday usually only pertains to a certain segment of the population; so although things certainly get quieter nothing ever completely shuts down and it tends to provide a great opportunity to beat the crowds.