It has become somewhat of a novelty having peaceful mornings whilst the kids sleep in; after having spent six years in Spain I can now appreciate the small perk of having small ones stay up at such an ungodly hour. I am amazed that we collectively suffered very little jet lag despite a seven hour time difference. I did try some homeopathic jet lag pills which had great reviews, and would go with the general consensus that they must have worked: I’m not sure how-it could well have been a placebo effect (I am such a sceptic). Unfortunately I will never really know unless I did the same flight again without them..

The plan was to go to Johor Zoo today. I knew in advance that it was not a patch on Singapore zoo where we are booked to go next week (our taxi driver spent ten minutes telling us how rubbish it was as he was determined to sell us his own set of excursions) but at just over one pound entrance fee for all four of us we could hardly complain. And it pretty much met my expectations: there was a decent range of animals from elephants to crocodiles, but for me personally the place was a little tired and the enclosures were small. I agree with hubby when he pointed out that it must be near impossible to renovate based on such a low entrance fee. It was also ridiculously hot and humid today as there was practically no cloud cover. Owen kept making periodic announcements as to where he was collecting the most sweat.

Lunch was the best meal of the day: you can’t really go wrong eating noodles in Malaysia. Referred to as Mee Pan Mee, you generally get what comes up as a deconstructed stir fry: my noodles came with roasted chicken, pak choy and a fried egg on top. Delish. What I do find weird is that it is mostly common to have coffee or tea as the accompanying drink at restaurants. Pizza and a mocha just doesn’t seem like a match made in heaven for me. Granted, alcohol is far less common out here presumably for religious reasons; it does make me realise how alcoholic the UK is in comparison.

And whilst alcohol is pricey, taxis are ridiculously cheap. We got four taxis today, which made me concerned about our opulence until I reminded myself that all four journeys combined cost about a fiver using their fab app. No haggling, no tipping, no explaining. You can tell that I am still relatively new to Uber, but after years of pricey cabs on the Costa del Sol I am all for a bit of taxi appreciation.