Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, Taiping

As I mentioned previously we were getting the same Coach back because we got child prices because both of us are “students.” Toni of Fine Art, and myself of Life. I’m joking, il say anything for discount. After the last shenanigans on the bus we expected the same. It was tough leaving Singapore but it had to be done, time to explore the relatively unknown to Toni and Myself; Malaysia. The bus journey was fine, no issues. It’d have been nice for the girl on the coach, luckily a different one, to give us an immigration entry card, so we wouldn’t have to fill it out when we got there but meh, it pretty much went off without a hitch. We travelled straight to KL. We knew we could get lots of information there from where we wanted to go, and what we wanted to do. After a five hour coach we arrived at KL Sentral and made our way to Chinatown, backpacker central because of the cheap food and dorms/accommodation. The good thing about travelling as a couple is that we split room costs so we can get a private double room for the price of two dorm beds in some places. We left our luggage in the room and then ventured round Chinatown. Loads of knock off Billabong, Quicksilver, Gucci, Prada, cheap electronics even Beats by Dre headphones. We decided that we would travel around on the different train lines, quite cheap and we would go to Batu Caves the next day and tour the town the day after. We did move rooms after one night to a nicer place with our own bathroom that wasn’t much more expensive.

Batu Caves was an interesting experience. It’s a series of limestone caves where people have built temples and other religious sites so quite a lot of people come to visit this place. It was only maybe 60p return on trains with free entry so it was worthwhile to visit. Leading up to the cave entrance there is a series of steps, quite steep but nothing like we had experienced in Nepal so it was easy enough and to the right of the Steps is a huge religious statue, I’ll be honest and say I didn’t know who of. The problem with tourist sites, especially religious sites has to be the monkeys. They are like the pigeons in Liverpool, horrible little shits. You basically have to hide anything inside a bag, because if it looks like food they’ll come after you, like the one eating the candy floss from the monkey temple in Nepal.

The Caves were quite good to see, there was a larger set of caves that you could walk through but because they were in a conservation site there was a price. We had seen enough bats in this cave and Singapore Zoo and we didn’t need to see any more so we didn’t bother. We went back to Chinatown. Toni decided that she wanted a Tablet so she could read her Uni work and get a program for it that could annotate PDF files. We had a look at quite a few but she decided that we would go see the Low Yat Plaza the next night to see if there was any better for the price in there. Not too expensive because you cant really take it back to the shops…

The next day we would see the Petronas Towers. This I did know about KL, but the sky bridge was undergoing renovations whilst we were there for about 3 months so we couldn’t go up but they were still amazing to see. As a first time visitor we got the train to the closest station then made our way up to the exit; a shopping centre. Brilliant. My favourite. We went outside and could see all the banking district buildings; but no Petronas Towers. Strange, I’m sure they are around here somewhere. You then step outside, turn around and they are towering above your head. We spent some time taking photos and messing around planking and owling, no batmanning, too dangerous. They really are just amazing structures and pictures just can’t justify how enormous they are.

Afterwards we went back into the Shopping centre to cool off in their air con and got some food. Toni then got a free makeover from quite an expensive make up brand in Malaysia. We then visited the Kuala Lumpur Art Gallery which wasn’t that impressive. The Singapore Art Museum was much better. We decided that we wanted to get out of the city that night so that night Toni bought herself a 7’’ tablet, made by a Malaysian manufacturer after we visited Low Yat Plaza and realised that everywhere was selling the same thing, and although some of the Samsung Galaxy’s and Ipad 2’s were genuine, we would have no come back or rights if it broke so Toni went for the cheaper and less risk model by HKV.

The next day we got up, had breakfast and checked out of our hotel. We planned to go north, to work our way forward to slowly but surely reach Penang/Langkawi, close to the Thailand border where we both had decided we wanted to spend our Christmas and New Year’s. Walking to the bus station we encountered a huge storm and we were literally soaked right through in 5 seconds.
We got the bus to Ipoh, the capital of Perak and spend a few days there. It’s nice knowing that we are not under pressure; we can come and go as we please and just do what we want. With India being pre planned, and working in Nepal, it was nice to be this free again. Ipoh is a much quieter city, with not a lot going on. We stayed in the Shanghai Inn, an old hostel but the hostel owner made it worthwhile and was very helpful in giving us tips and hints. We visited the Lost world of Tambun hot springs. 15rm entry, about £3 and spent maybe 3 or 4 hours bathing in 40C-45C pools. These made the air temperature feel cool for once. Malaysia is really humid and constantly warm. I forget what it feels like to be cold; with Annapurna and the Himalayan River a fond memory. At night all the pools are lit up, there was music playing with different types of pools including Jacuzzi’s, cave steam rooms and nice pools with water features.

Ipoh was another landmark in Toni and I’s relationship. We went to the Cinema for the first time. We have been together 16.5 months approx. and we have never been to the cinema before. We marked the occasion with popcorn and drinks and we seen Happy Feet 2 “I’m bringing Fluffy back.” Pretty decent cartoon, funny in places but I don’t think it was as good as the first one. We also got stuck in the shopping centre during a really heavy storm and decided to go to the cinema again to see Immortals. We both thought it was a really good film. It is similar to 300 and from the same director but 300 is still a benchmark film for that genre.

Unfortunately Toni started to feel a cold coming on, yes in this heat but we decided that we would move on and travel north again after 3 nights to Taiping. A small city, with beautiful lake gardens and that’s pretty much it, but we would stay for 5 nights until Toni felt better in a nicer hotel, Hotel Furama, with a large room and air conditioning.

Taiping is in a nice location, halfway between Ipoh and Georgetown, Penang, so it seemed like the logical step to stay here before the hustle and bustle of Georgetown. To anybody who has been to Malaysia they will see that we have basically missed out on the east coast, with the tropical islands of Tioman et al, but the East coast is currently undergoing its wet season and we have been told by quite a few people that it is taking quite a battering on a daily basis so we decided that we would leave the Beach holiday until Batu Ferringhi, Penang.

When Toni was feeling fit and healthy again we visited the lake gardens and you can see from the pics below that it is in a beautiful setting and worth staying here and relaxing.

Taiping’s location was ideal for a trip to Laketown Bukit Merah. This is where the Orangutan Island is located. This is an Orangutan Reserve that nurtures and sustains the dwindling Orangutan Population. There is also another in Borneo, on the Malaysian Islands. This was on my to-do list of Malaysia and it was well worth the trip. The Photo’s are poor because they used mirrored glass to prevent any flash getting through but you can see some below. As part of our entry we got to visit the Zoo there as well that had Crocodiles, Cobra’s, Vipers, Iguana’s, Squirrel Monkeys and Gibbons to name a few. The snake room was quite an experience. Being surround by tanks with deadly snakes, which no doubt some kid had been provoking just before I went in because the Common Cobra was in attack mode and the spitting cobra tried to spit at me the minute I came in the door which gave me a fright. It just set my heart racing.

Other than these activities Taiping was just a rest stop. After 5 nights we were off to Butterworth to get the Ferry to Georgetown where the is more happening so il leave it there folks. I hope you as usual enjoy reading this and like the photo’s I’ve uploaded. No doubt they’ve taken some time.

Adios Amigos.

Ocean Drive, Sentosa Cove, Sentosa Island, Singapore.

What a beautiful place we were staying in. The Azure complex with its own steam rooms, gym, large swimming pool, underground parking with lots of Maserati’s and Ferrari’s. The apartment we were staying in was beautiful, large living room and three bedrooms with two balconies. To think three months ago we were in Goa India living with bed bugs and now we’re in an apartment worth about 2 million surrounded by houses cost 10 Million plus; with their Lamborghini’s and Bentleys outside. My head and Toni’s head were absolutely pickled. It took us 5 days to get our heads round to things, we couldn’t think straight, the humidity was getting to us, trying to get used to what we were seeing, and staying on a small Island that has its own attractions never mind a Universal Studios…its all a bit much to take in.

We spent Halloween, it was on the Saturday over here in Café Del Mar in the swimming pool at a foam party. Last week I was eating rice and lentils…Get the picture?? Another highlight of the first 5 days was the Fish and Chips from Smith’s restaurant. Real fish and chips, wrapped up in paper with real malt vinegar. Yes I know you can get it anytime you want but I’m 8 hours ahead of you lot. Other than that we just spent some time at the beach and swimming pool, trying to get our heads right.

After the cooling off period, we decided it was about time to starting ticking off some of the things we wanted to do in Singapore. We decided to get the Singapore play pass, which allowed us to do around 13 activities on Sentosa island including Tiger Tower, large viewing tower where you can see 360 view of Sentosa, south China Sea and Singapore mainland; the merlion, Singapore’s symbol a large concrete structure half lion, half merman/mermaid. A 4d cinema showing a film ripping off Pirates of the Caribbean was the main attraction for me, which was brilliant, getting wet, stung by wasps etc and falling off cliffs, right from your cinema chair. There was also a 3d rollercaster which was quite good and a 3d shootout, of which I was nominated Sheriff after getting the high score.

A little ride on a segway makes me want to buy one, and hours bicycle ride which we struggled to fit in at the end. Bike had no lights and it was really dark. It was an action packed day and one we enjoyed very much. There was more planned for the next day; a trip to the newly opened Universal Studios. This was getting built the last time I was here, you could see the beginning of the rollercosters forming.

Obviously an early start was in order if we were only spending one day there and we got 20% discount if we paid our entry by mastercard. Any discount you can get in Singapore you take it with open arms. Money has a way of just disappearing here. It was an epic day. Running around like kids going on rollercoasters and watching live acts like Donkey from Shrek live. Although for kids it was quite funny. The monster rock show was brilliant, stage performance with singers and pyrotechnics but the best was Waterworld live. Live stunts by guys on jetski’s, explosions and fighting scenes depicting a famous scene from the famous flop Waterworld…”dry land is not a myth!!” We got soaked which was the point of sitting in the splash zone. One Indian guy had a problem with the language barrier and got soaked after he spent 10 minutes wiping down his seat before he would sit down. I thought that was hliarious because I sat and watched him do it, thinking “are you serious, or just oblivious to whats going to happen?” Either answer was funny.
Some of the rides were for kids but there were three hairy rollercoasters. One in ancient Egypt, and indoor rollercoaster was quite terrifying the first time, then there was Human vs Ceylon in Sci-fi land. Human was sit-down and Ceylon was suspended. Ceylon was the best of the two and with only 5 minute queues it felt rude not to wait that extra 1.5 minutes to get the front seats. Must have been on these about 10 times, well until Toni started to feel a little green. Fair play to her, she was a trooper and kept going until I was finished. Great day all round and the attention to detail was magnificent and worth the money to get in.

Over the next few days we spent it relaxing and we went to St James Power Station on Harbour front. This was on the mainland and at the end of the bridge to Sentosa. It was Ladies night so Toni got in free and got up to 5 free drink tokens on entry, lucky her, she got 5. There was a long queue for he drinks but it wasn’t surprising considering the price of alcohol. 5 drinks, 15 dollars per drink, 75 dollars, just under £40 free. We spent some time in Powerhouse, which was the club I got tossed out of two years ago for dancing on the stage. I must have set some precedent because your now allowed to dance on the stage. After we took a walk around the other 6 bars that were open in the complex and in a quiet one, Toni played dumb and managed to get another 5 free drinks plus a shot of tequila from the bar man plus a glass of beer for me. Toni got about £80 worth of free drink that night and needless to say, we didn’t do much the next day. It was a good night and it was our first clubbing experience since we left the UK. India and Nepal are not really known for their nightlife.

We also done the main “thing to do,” in Singapore, the Singapore Sling at Raffles Hotel in the infamous Long Bar. What a jip. The cocktail is a premade mix with not the best ingredients and it costs a fortune. I got the original and Toni got the Spring Sling. Toni’s was nice, mine was ok, the total price S$ 61.20. That’s over £30 for two not very strong cocktails. The best part of the bar is the fact you get free monkey nuts and its tradition to throw the shells on the floor. The bar is a tip. I think people only come here because it’s cheaper to litter on the ground in here than it is outside, and that’s not saying much. 500-1000 fine for littering outside. Needless to say I threw nut shells everywhere.

A trip to the Botanic Gardens was a nice walk in a really nice area. Nothing really special, just nice to see some grass when you are surrounded by skyscrapers on the mainland.

After all our activities we had some chill out time spending nights in having nice conversations with Christine and a few drinks staying up until sometimes three or 4 just talking. It was a good chance to phone home as well for both of us. Toni sent some stuff home and we decided where we wanted to be for New Years and Xmas because we knew places would start to get booked up. Plenty of time at the pool and in the steam room, just because we could. Sometimes at night there would be some fantastic thunderstorms, sheet and fork lightning lighting up the sky and very frequent; every few seconds on some occasions. I like thunder and lightning but not too close.

Claire and Mark Gannon and their son Liam arrived (Ron’s older sister) the day before Toni’s birthday. We decided that we would do something together before we hit the road again and went to the Night Safari. Singapore has one of the best Zoo’s and a great collection of animals from tiger’s to lions elephants to hyena’s, all well looked after by the staff there. Not like some of the freak show’s you see in Asia. It was a really good night and a great trip then went back to the apartment and had nacho’s and a few drinks. And Toni was pleased with her new stuffed pet tiger which she has named Barry.

The day before Toni’s birthday I need some time on my todd to get things prepared and sorted to make sure she had a good birthday. Needed to get her cake sorted, Jack Daniels and other little part bits and make sure the hotel was sorted for the next night. I booked us into the five star Festive Hotel in Resorts world, which she didn’t know about, so quite a bit of secrecy was needed. We had a party the night before with burgers and snacks, drinks then the next day we would leave Ron and Christine and the beautiful apartment in Sentosa cove and off on the road again, but not without stopping at the big hotel first. Toni was treated to room service, hotel spa and hair treatments all at her request and she told me she had an amazing day. There was an epic thunderstorm this day as well and I caught some of it on my webcam, I hope itll load up on this blog.

The next day we were off to Kuala Lumpur. Our wonderful trip to Singapore had come to an end, in a way I was glad. It was awesome to stay where we did and we couldn’t be more thankful to Ronald and Christine Foster for their hospitality and letting us stay at their home. It was a welcomed break but we were now ready to hit the road again and start living like paupers again, the high life was getting to comfortable and I think one more week there and I would have had to stay for good lol

We decided to wing Malaysia, take it as it comes, nothing pre booked or decided and we would just see what we would get up to. I think il leave it there people and Start Malaysia in a new blog. Thanks for reading. Just surpassed the 20,000 word mark…il have my MA in travel writing pretty soon.