Singapore and more...

As we waved goodbye to Malaysia we find ourselves preparing for our first taste of western civilisation for 5 months.

Off come the dirty vest tops and flip flops, and on with the trainers and designer tshirts.

Singapore is everything like we expected; clean,  efficient and expensive. The streets are free of graffiti,  litter and homeless people. A fat cry from what we have witnessed in South East Asia's poorest countries. But with this clean utophia comes high prices. With beers rivaling London prices and restaurants charging table service at 20% we knew we were in for an expensive few days.

We choose to dorm out in Little India and walked into town each day, saving a few quid on private room rates and the tube! Little india is a buzz of markets food courts and places of worship. A curry here only set us back $5 as we ate in the food courts with the  indian locals.

In town its completely different, sky scrapers clash with artificial greenery as hotels,  bars, restaurants and business all cram into the CBD. It makes Canary Warf look like the middle ages. Again completely immaculate although quite claustrophobic. 

There are a few quirky streets dotted around. The Arabic quarter has dimly lit streets littered with bars cafes and boutique fashion outlets. Looks very similar to the East London, but not quite as trendy.

The centre piece of the town is the marina. Built spectacularly with bridges, modern dome like structures and even a purpose built wildlife sanctuary. Here high end fashion brands and roof top bars tempt the expats out after work!

Due to the cost of the attractions we decided to pick one must do activity in Sinagpore. We were recommended to try out the nigh safari at the National Zoo.

The evening starts at 8pm as you board a night tram that drives you around the zoo. You can get on and off at various attractions to see the animals uncaged at night. There is so much more activity to look at as they sleep most of the day. They come to life at feeding times and tend to be more active at night.

Our favourite was seeing the Asian tiger rip up his dinner 3m from our feet.

In total we had scheduled to spend 3 days in Singapore before catching our flight to Bali...

However it was only a matter of time before one of our flights was cocked up! Our flight service provider had recently been taken over, and we had not recieved notification of the date change to our fligh! Only delayed by a day, but when we had already spent a night in Singapore Airport it started to take the biscuit.

With hotels being so expensive we decided to sleep rough another night; nice and comfy as you can imagine!

So we lost 2 days in Bali, but did explore the worlds best international aiport of 2014! Swings and round abouts!

Finally we take off for our final Asian country in Indonesia, time to relax on tje beach! Back soon.

Maccers in Mallakas

After a pretty jam-packed itinerary through Northern and central Malaysia we found ourselves with a few days to spare in KL. With Singapore our next scheduled stop,  we couldnt really head early due to how expensive the city of Singapore is.

With this in mind we had a Google of where to head to in Southern Malaysia. Our search brought up the world heritage town of Mallaca/Malaka. With transport still being so cheap we embarked on a short bus journey and found ourselves in the Western port town of Mallaca.

The town is preserved "for all humanity" due to its amazingly unique architecture. Old school buildings with quaint houses and traditional arch ways lay inbetween churches,  antique shops and narrow cobbled streets. Wooden exteriors and deep red paint brightened up the houses catching the sun as it reflects off the towns water-ways and river.

The small shops all sold bespoke fashion and traditional products from tie-die shirts to hand crafted wooden animals and buddahs. Again the history is inherited from the British Empire, with English street names, and churches still standing today. That and the good all three pin plug socket; a great inheritance from its British past.

The sleepy town almost shuts on the weekdays. This coincided with a monsoon downpoor that we got stuck in. Luckily I had my trust sun parasol with me... however we still got soaked through! A night in the Hard Rock cafe made us feel a bit better!

The highlight of our time spent here was the Saturday night market. The whole town comes out to sell their produce. Everything toy could imagen was being sold, from pancakes and local foods, to wooden carvings and western toiletries! Locals also come out on stage to sing karaoke in front of the town, some are definitely better than others! The street food was good and very cheap! Satay sticks all the way!

Eating up a few days we are now ready to head to Singapore! Let the money burn! Oh and I didnt get to eat Maccers in Malaka...

A nostalgic Kuala Lumpur

UIt feels like ages ago we were in Kuala Lumpur, we have been to Singapore and we are currently in Bali so its going to be a bit of a memory jog to write this post. 

I remember getting the coach from that odd town called jeruntut. We arrived at about 10pm and checked into a very cheap hostel. It was in China town so in the heart of the backpacker area. The hostel was interesting. At first look it reminded us of a prison with grey painted walls, no windows throughout the building at all and no luxuries like aircon, loo roll and space. But, settling into this hostel it was actually ok, the lady cooking our breakfast on the roof was really friendly and the hostel was in a very good location.

The first day, as always, was an exploring day. We looked around central market and china town. We ended up cheating and ate in Nandos.

The second day was full on. We visited Batu caves in the morning. This is a temple in the caves and involves a climb up many steps. Its a little out of the city so we got the tube. We then walked from Putra to the twin (petronas) towers. Was a longer a walk then we thought so our feet were aching. 

At the petronas towers we looked a bit out of place in our backpacker fashion but decided to embrace it and go into the posh shopping mall underneath the towers. 

For the sunset, we paid to go up the telecom viewing tower (9th tallest in the world). It was nice seeing the sun set over KL and the lights turn on. 

After this, we cheated again (Cj's idea) and had dinner in Chillies (Cj's fav restaurant). We decided to have a biiggg dinner, and we did, but in the end the bill only came to £24. Unexpected as Cj had a beer and in Malaysia beer is very expensive. 

Day 3 was a nostalgic day for me. When i was 18, before uni, i travelled to Malaysia to volunteer in an Orangutang enrichment program. I stayed in Zoo negara for 3 weeks with 4 other volunteers. I volunteered at the zoo's ape centre. Cj and i went back to zoo negara so i could see the ape centre again and show Cj what i got up to. I saw my fav chimp Max, when i was volunteering he had a partner in crime called Joe, unfortunately Joe died about a year ago. I got Cj and i to clap our hands at Max as he used to react and join in. He still does this. He used to also back flip when you did this but i  don't think he does this as much anymore.  As part of the program i also went to Borneo rainforest and stayed with the Iban tribe, i would love to re-live this part of my travel but unfortunately we are not going to Borneo. 

(Max joining in our clapping)

Our last day was spent shopping, buying all our crimbo presents for family. 

(We found a man steaming rice in small tubes so we tried some. Its good. There is brown sugar in the middle of the tube)

Next stop is malaka. 

(Me 7 years ago at the ape centre in zoo Negara)

Canopy walking and winning on public transport (just about)

Tamen Negara was a confusing place to visit. We had a struggle figuring out where to stay which was cheap an easy to move onto Kuala Lumpur from. So, after alot of annoyingly confusing research i figured out that the bus drops us off from the cameron highlands and leaves to KL from a place called Jeruntut. This place also seemed cheaper (the hotels at the national park are quite pricey) and easy(ish) to get to the national park from. So, we booked a £3/£1.50 each a night hotel (there is only 2 hotels in this town) and decided to brave the public buses to try and get to the national park as the tour agents were charging a 35 ringit boat to the park (public buses were only 7 and quicker).

Our hotel, was as expected for £1.50 each, amazing. Joking, it was the hottest room ever, no bed sheets, a horrible obviously not washed mattress and the bathroom is a another story and i dont even mention the hobo next door. But we survived one night and we were only planning to stay one night as we left for Kuala Lumpur the next day.

We had a bit of a mare the morning after our 'lovely' nights sleep or a blessing in disguise as it meant less time in the horrid hotel. We pre-prepared our public bus journey to Tamen Negara the day before by getting the timetable from the bus stop man. As we were planning to get that evening bus to Kuala Lumpur we knew we'd have to blitz through the national park and get back in time for the bus. The bus stop man told us to get to the bus stop at 6:30am for the 7am bus. We got up at 5:45am, quickly packed and left our bags in the hotel lobby (we took our passports with us, as this hotel has no security). It's still dark and no one is at the bus stop except the taxi drivers telling us the bus doesn't come until 8am, not knowing what to believe we sat there until finally a lady comes along selling bus tickets to Tamen Negara. The bus didnt come until 8am but it was quicker then expected and cheap. We had planned to get the 3pm bus back to jeruntut from tamen negara to catch the 5pm bus to Kuala Lumpur. Alot of planning was riding on the public transport so we hoped our 'cheap' way of doing the national park would pay off. 

We arrived at about 9:30ish and headed straight to the famous canopy walk. This is about a 5k walk into the national park/rain forest. The canopy walk is good fun. Definitely a highlight of the national park. It is man made swing bridges that are high up in the trees. after this we walked up to Bukit Terisek hill. It was about a 2.5k walk up the park terrain. With the humidity and wearing trousers it was a hot and sweaty walk up but we made it and the views were amazing. You could see right over the national park. 

We made it back to the village where the bus stop is in good time, so we grabbed some lunch and waited for the bus to arrive. We were approached by a man in a mini van asking if we were going back to jerantut. He said he could take us in his mini van for 7 ringit and it was a lot quicker then the public bus so we decided to go in the mini van so we have time to shower before our bus to KL. 

We made it back for 3:30pm and quickly grabbed a free shower in the crappy hotel. The receptionist offered us the ground floor bathroom and it was so gross it made me gag so i ran up to the next floor to use that shower, the ceiling was falling off so i had to search for another bathroom. Cj, braved the ground floor bathroom and drip dried so he didn't have to carry his wet towel. Lol!

So, after all this cuffuffle we arrived at the bus stop again, ready for the 5pm bus to Kuala Lumpur. Of course, we are told the bus doeant get here until 6:30pm so we bought our tickets and decided to give in and head to KFC to drown our tiredness in chicken. 

And finally, i am writing this whilst on the bus to Kuala Lumpur. Hurray!  I have no idea how i am still awake after being up 14 hours with a crappy nights sleep in the worst hotel, having trekked through a jungle and up a huge hill. But we successfully managed to do tamen negara on the cheap with tight timing and we didn't have to stay in that hotel for 2 nights which was what we desperately didn't want to end up doing. 

Would you like a cup of tea?

After 5 hours in a mini van we made it to our new destination. Getting outside of the mini van Cj and I are freezing. Standing in shorts an a T-shirt i am shivering from the cold dampness outside. Our new destination is called Cameron Highlands and it's in the name as to why we are so cold. This place is very high up in the malay mountains. 

Our guest house (Father's guesthouse) is an enchanting hostel. The architecture here looks a mixture of British and Swiss. Some of the buildings look like cottage chalets and our hostel looks like a english village house, even inside the hostel has sofas, dining tables and rugs. 

Once we settle into our dorm room we dig down in to our bags to find our trousers and jumpers, then we brace the fresh air and explore the town. This town is very quiet, with only a few restaurants and shops. It's not commercial at all. 

The main reason to visit the Cameron Highlands is to see the tea plantations which was actually started up and is still owned by a scotsman (its now in the 3rd generation) 5 million cups of tea is grown, hand picked and fermented at the highlands. 

The next day we set off at 8:45am on a tour to see the plantation, tea making factory, butterfly farm and the mossy forest. We drove up higher in a jeep and saw workers hand picking the tea leaves. At the top of the highlands is the mossy forest. Many herbal plants are grown here. We trekked for about an hour around the forest and went to the top of the view point which looks over the highlands. 

On the way down we stopped at the tea factory to see the process after the tea leaves had been picked. We then of course bought a cup of tea and a cake in the cafe. 

Once the tour had finished we asked our driver to drop us off half way so we could see the temple and strawberry farms. The strawberry farms is another thing the Brits put here whilst we governed the land. Our walk back to our town felt very strange. With the english architecture, quaint cottages, highland country side surroundings, a posh looking golf course, strawberry farms and the cold raining weather we forgot we were in Malaysia and thought we were taking a stroll at home. 

Thailand to Malaysia- first stop Penang!

UWe finally arrived in goerge town, penang at 10pm after a long 12 hours of travelling in the most uncomfortable mini van ever. Crossing the border into Malaysia was very easy and quick.

George town is a heritage site and is very quaint and full of character. I loved George town. There isn't a lot happening here but the town is very interesting and has got alot of english history, the place really reminded us of home. We packed in our 3 days, it felt good getting off our beach bums and exploring some culture.

Day 1: We followed the map to seek out all the famous street art dotted around the town. This meant alot of walking but it was fun finding the street art. The street art was a project that started in 2012. George town commissioned artists from all over the world to paint murals on the buildings around the town.

The town has a huge Indian presence so instead of a chinese dinner again we finally managed to change up our diet and eat Tandoori chicken, Indian curries and naan bread. The food is so cheap here too. 

Day 2: We explored george town a little bit more and walked to the street art further away from the centre of town. George town has a museum about its history and some more street paintings that are 3D so we took in the local history and learnt all about British Malaysia before its independence. 

In the evening we visited the local shopping mall and watched the film 'Fury' (with Brad Pitt) at the local cinema. We were able to sit in double seats as a novelty. Penang is a quiet town at night, alcohol is very expensive as it's not the culture here so we had some evenings in. 

Day 3: we attempted the local bus service out of George town to see more of Penang. It was surprisingly easy to navigate and only cost us 2 ringet for a single (about 50p).

We got off the bus at Penang hill and went from the bottom to the top in a vertical tram. It was pretty fun and the view at the top was high. Apart from the view there was only a mosque, cafe and an owl farm at the top so we didn't stay up there long. 

Once we were down from the hill we walked across the town to see a huge buddhist temple up another thousand steps to the hill top. This temple had a really pretty pagoda and up another vertical tram there was the largest buddah statue we have seen so far. The views here were also pretty good. 

We had a stroke of luck getting the public bus back to george town as we flagged the bus to us when we saw it on the street, only to realise there was a queue of people behind us waiting to get on the bus too. We actually managed to subconciensly flag the bus down at a bus stop (we only got the bus to penang hill before so we had no idea where the bus stop was in the town).

Before we went to dinner we walked through a place called little India. George town is famous for it's architecture so the photos of the town look good.  

This was a very good chocolate fondu!