Day 14 - Malaysian part of it
Boarder crossing
We were instantly pulled over by the police as soon as we crossed the boarder! They were asking us where we were going and we all just said Malaysia! Well obviously! Such a clever bunch we are! And then further down the road we were stopped for a second time but we kept our mouths shut so we didn't seem like idiots again!
Drive through the Malaysian countryside for hour. Couldn't fall asleep so I ended up reading an entire book from start to finish. Pretty impressive!
We crossed over the bridge to the Island Penang which, even though I had never heard of it before, was on the "yahoo top 10 islands to visit before you die" list. Can tick it off now!
Food prices in Malaysia are noticeabley higher! I had to pay a whole £1.50 for dinner rather than £1! I know it's not a lot but I was converting into Thai Baht (not pound!) and was shocked at how pricey the food court was compared to the others I've been too!
Had a nice little walk in the evening to Little India. Kept having to ask for directions as we were told "not far down that road" and a while later and having seen 10 prositutes we weren't sure we were right! Little Indian was very colourful though when we finally made it.
Bought some drinks on the way home and had a lovely evening chatting and drinking in our room. I was on the real hard stuff... While everyone else had a tiger beer I had fizzy strawberry juice!
Day 15 - Penang/ travelling to Cameroon Highlands
Had a wirl wind tour of the city visiting a temple, botanic gardens batik painting work shop, town hall, a jetty and little Indian! All before lunch!
The temple was dedicated to the Buddhist version of the Virgin Mary. In the botanic gardens there were monkeys and lizards that roamed free. The lizards weren't scary but those monkeys ran towards you screaming which was pretty scary!
Temple
Monkeys groaning
Lunch in a local Indian cafe
After lunch we set off on the windy road to the Cameroon highlands. Here there are loads of tea plantations :)
Had an awesome dinner but it was the most expensive one I've had in ages. A whole £3 and we had to cook it ourselves. It's called a steamboat and you basically get given a massive pot of clear chicken soup on a gas stove on your table. Then we were given 22 different things to boil in it to eat. This included the standard leafy veg, chicken, beef and noodles and the slightly more unusual jelly fish! Compliments to the chef that night as mine was stunning!
Day 16 - Cameroon highlands
Had a morning tour around the highlands. We walked up to the observation tower at the highest point on the highlands. Obviously it was really cloudy and all you could see was white until we got the the bottom of the tour when the clouds cleared. Typical!
Then we went for a jungle walk. It said trek on the brochure which I was super excited about, but it turned out to be a decked path that we followed! Not quite my idea of a trek.
We then visited a tea plantation and were able to see a tea factory. None of the equipment was working as there was a power cut but the smell inside was amazing.
Got I have the best cup of tea I've had in a while over looking the field the leaves grew in :)
Tea!!!!!!
Didn't get up to much in the afternoon. We were all pretty grumpy by the time we had lunch at 3pm. Its so funny how the mood of a group change once they have food in their bellies. Just mooched around the town for the afternoon. Walked around but there wasn't that much to see.
Day 17 - Kuala Lumpur
Travelled all morning to get from the highlands to KL. The roads were very windy which isn't fun when you're squashed in the back corner seat of the bus which no air con on you! I was so glad to get out of that bus at the first service station. Could have been a real problem otherwise!
Had a City tour once we got to KL. Being in a large group and having a car to drive you around definitely makes seeing everything far easier and quicker. You don't have to figure out the bus or the metro system and you never have to wait once you're done somewhere. You just get whisked off to the next place.
Saw so much on our tour; the palace, the national monument, the national mosque, a scale model of the city at the city information centre and the Batu caves. The only problem with doing a tour like this is that you are never quiet able to join up all the places and how things relate to each other in the same way if you were walking.
Changing of the guards at the palace
Wearing modesty robes at the national mosque.
The caves we pretty cool as they had lots of Hindu images and carvings there. And the temple was at the top of approximately 300 steps which were guarded by some rather grumpy monkeys!
Batu caves.
We were dropped at the Petronius towers and so we all got the tourist photo holding them apart and then had some dinner in the food court (where all the best meals come from) whilst it got dark. The towers are lit up at night and you can see there glow around the city!
Was feeling a bit worn out so whilst some people went out I chilled in bed with my Kindle and some chocolate and had an early night.
Day 18 - Kuala Lumpur
We had a free day so some of us decided to walk (in the heat) to one of the squares. Turned out to be a patch of grass that we had seen the day before!
We walked back to the hotel in a giant loop and then on the Times Square and the largest shopping centre in the world. So much nicer walking through KL than Bangkok! It's a much nicer capital city, even if crossing the road is still terrifying as red lights don't seem to mean anything to these drivers.
Tried to get a new dress but all the shops wouldn't let you try anything on which seems a bit silly and left me rather grumpy!
The shopping centre was so big it even had a indoor theme park. Went on the rollercoster twice before a tradition Malaysian MacDonalds lunch. Niklas managed to get stuck in the seat of one fof the rides and the ride operators had to call for back up to get him out!
Don't think we left it quite enough time before going on the rides post as I ended up feeling very unwell. Went completely white so rather than going to Chinatown shopping I had a lovely nap in the hotel!
Was able to visit china town for some dinner before Skybar.
Skybar
There were some amazing views from the skybar but the drinks were so expensive. Paid £8 for mine! It was like being back in the UK! Raved up the dance floor there then hit the KL strip where we found a bar with free cocktails for the ladies! Obviously we spent the night there dancing on the dance floor by ourselves!
Had the most disappointing KFC (8 wedges counted ad large apparently) on the way home and finally got to sleep around 430. The problem of having a room mate your really get on with is that you just carry on talking for ages and wake up shattered!
Day 19 - travelling and Melaka
Luckily we didn't have to meet until 11 today. Our tour guide gave us all a chance to relax and lie in which was much appreciated.
Spent a lot of the day travelling. Got a bus to the bus terminal, then after lunch (which was only an hour after breakfast!) we took a bus to Melaka. The bus was one of the comfiest buses I've ever seen. The seats were comfortable and there was plenty of leg room and I got to have a little nap :)
Got our 3rd bus of the day to the hotel. We've obviously been spoilt travelling in private minivans so far so I had forgotten how getting somewhere takes a whole day by the time you wait for the changes, even if direct it would only take 2 hours. Arrived at our hotel at 5pm, 6 hours after we had set off.
Went for a lovely trikshaw ride around the city to see the sites. There were massive speakers so it was rather strange being ridden around a world Hertitage town listening to pop music!
For dinner we ended up spending 3 hours trapped in a restaurant with a leaking ceiling whilst outside the biggest and longest lightning and thunder storm I've ever seen took place. Every time the whole room was lit up and then the boom went straight through you!
Day 20 - Singapore
We were up early to catch an early bus to Singapore. Nearly lost one of our group as he thought he was under the import limit but turned out had the equivalent of 1 cigarette too many and so was whisk away. He was very lucky as it was his first offence and so only got a warning and a $12 fine. Waiting around meant that we missed our bus so had to hang around for the next one.
For a lot of the people today was the only day they were having in Singapore so we had a whistle stop walking tour, a quick change into dresses for a Singapore Sling in Raffles, another change for the night Safari and then another change back into dresses to go to Marina Bay Sands hotel.
Slings
The night Safari was really cool seeing lions, tigers, bears, elephants, giraffes, rhino and a host of other animals. It was set in Singapore rainforest and you were able to see all the animals lit my lights that mimicked moonlight. No pictures though as all the ones I took just look black!
The marina sands club was really cool and we were so lucky that our running paid off and we were able to get the last MRT there. But we did get off at a stop too late so had a lovely 20 walk back! The club had a great view over the whole of Singapore!
Came home and had to say bye to the group which was really sad :(
Day 21 - Singapore
The three of us, Valerie, Matt and I had an explore of the city today. We looked around Little Indian and Fort Canning and basically just wandered until we had to dash into a cafe as the heavens opened up on us.
The sun and humidity came back with a vengeance so to cool down we headed into a shopping centre. Got a few bits and some new tops to replace the rather off coloured (but brand new when I arrived) one I had.
Chilled out in the tiny pool before Matt left and then Valerie and I got dressed back up to go to the Skybar at marina bay sands again.
Amazing night and we were able to see the light show from the top of the building with our free drinks :) not quite sure how we blagged to free drinks each but I guess getting there early and well dressed helps! I think the first guy had forgotten our bill so when we called him back he just waived us away! Amazing :) made it taste so much better!
Final night
Day 22 - Sinagapore
Valerie left this morning and so I had a free day to myself. Spent the morning hair dryer-ing all the clothes that I washed that hadn't dried yet and packing for the flight.
Left the luggage with the hotel and visited the 'Gardens in the Bay'. Absolutely stunning gardens, flower domes, cloud forest domes and aeriel walkway. The whole place is Eco friendly and produces or collects all the energy and water from the park itself.
There are huge futuristic looking trees that collect sunlight and all the domes help collecting and cooling the water. Inside the cloud forest dome there was a huge 30m waterfall that came as a bit of a shock!
Bio trees
Waterfall
Having wandered the park the clouds turned a shade of black I recognise all too well so I took that sign to head back to the hotel.
Threatening clouds
And I was right. When I came up out of the MRT it was chucking it down so I weathered it out in the food court with some lunch as I couldn't cross the road to the hotel because of the rain. It was raining so much some of the drain lids were spouting water out and rattling away.
Got to the airport over 5 hours before my flight took off to miss carrying my bag on public transport in rush hour. Changi is meant to be the best airport in the world! It seems pretty nice but 5 hours is a long time to spend somewhere....
Off to Australia. Let's see what happens next.... :)
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