Singapore

Day 1 – Another Country

Today we were leaving Malaysia heading for Singapore a stop off before we caught our flight to Australia.  We were picked up by our transfer around 11am and driven to the very small airport near Cherating.

Entering the airport it was very empty and looking at the boards there only appeared to be two flights leaving today, so being early no check-in’s were open.  We had to kill some time so we went for a bit of breakfast/lunch at their very sparse café, which consisted of a pot noodle (Glenn) and some Malaysian style samosa’s (Shell).

When the check-in’s finally opened we went through to the very basic departure gate where we waited until the plane that had just landed emptied and shortly after we boarded and were on our way.

Arriving at Singapore airport it was pretty hot, unfortunately we missed the transfer desk on the way through baggage collection so had to get a taxi to our hotel for the next two nights.  The hotel was pretty bog standard but it was handily placed in the centre of Little India.

After unpacking we headed out to find a drink and after getting directions we headed to The Prince of Wales backpacker pub. We knew that Singapore was going to be expensive, but it turned out that a pint of beer was £6 each and that was at a cheap bar!!  So we sat there for an hour or two nursing our pints.

Getting a bit peckish we headed across the road to an Indian café where we sat down and shared some quite cheap and reasonable mutton Biriyani before heading back to the hotel to get out of the heat and get some rest.

In the evening we had to bite the bullet and pay for some extortionate beers at The Prince of Wales.  We asked the bar tender (who was very helpful) for some recommendations for places to eat and he pointed us up the road to a couple of local restaurants that he said were good.

Finishing our beers we headed up the road but the restaurants that he recommended were one,  closed and two,  not found.  So we walked around for a bit until we found an open air café place with various Chinese food stalls around, so we sat down and dithered for a while on what to eat.  We decided to go for some pork rib & noodle dishes that were famous in the area and ordered one dry and one wet, which were very cheap.  The food was OK and we were pleased to find that the beers were slightly cheaper here.

Dinner done we headed back to the hotel for the evening in order for us to save some money!!

Day 2 - Sightseeing 

As we had not seen anything the day before and we were only here for one more full day we decided to try and go and see the sights.

After a quick coffee in a nearby café we headed down into the underground and headed by tube to a station that we thought was by the harbour part of the city.  

Exiting the tube station it was again very hot but we worked out the direction of the water and headed for it.  When we got there we got our first glimpse of the famous Singapore skyline so took a few snaps.

We then crossed a funky modern bridge to the other side where there was a large shopping centre, modern art building and some hotels (I think) with a large ocean liner construction (Roof Terrace/Bar?) along the top of the building, very impressive.

Taking a break after taking loads of pic’s we then headed around the side of the harbour with the intention of visiting Chinatown.  Along the way we saw some crazy people doing boxersize on the side of the pavement in ridiculously hot conditions, when we arrived at a junction, map in hand, a really friendly ex-pat businessman told us we should go a different route.  He told us that if we headed up a few blocks we would see the old Singapore buildings and a place called Club Street which was where a lot of the Chinese population used to live, plus some bars.  

Following the directions we soon found ourselves in a street that had older style building and loads of little restaurants that seemed very popular with the local business people.

Walking up this street we then found a very old pretty Chinese temple, Thain Hock Keng,  which we walked around for a bit. Taking photo’s there was a great contrast between the old and the new.

It still being stupidly hot we then headed for Club Street where we stopped at a bar in the shade and had one or two beers to cool off.

Moving on we then headed for Chinatown which was pretty touristy to be honest with loads of souvenir shops, food and juice stalls.  We walked around for a bit and then headed to food street where we got a dish of chopped Duck, Pork and Beef to share between us which was quite tasty and not that expensive.

After another quick drink in Chinatown people watching we then headed back to our hotel for a bit of a relax before going out in the evening.

Along our walk in the morning we had noticed that there were nightly laser shows over the harbour area so we caught the underground again and found a position facing the boat hotel and waited for the show to start.  At around 8pm some music started and then nearby building had coloured lights projected onto them whilst some very weak lasers were shone out of the top of the boat hotel, we waited for it to get more exciting or build to a crescendo but it didn’t, Jean Micheal Jarre it was not!!

Slightly disappointed we then headed back to club street where we stayed for a couple of hours for some drinks (and putting up with a slightly obnoxious drunk Singapore guy, he asked where we were from and we he told him he said “who gives a fuck”, Shell then asked him the same question, when he replied and she gave him the same rude response we think he got the message as he did attempt to apologise) before heading back to Little India close to our hotel.

We walked round for a bit then found a small little bar that had some friendly locals in that we started chatting to.  The bar owner, his friend (who was in the Singapore army) and another couple. We spent some time with them having a few beers and the couple offered us some of their local delicacy, a green glue like sweet that stuck to your teeth (won’t be investing in a box of those!!).

Unfortunately due to the prices we soon run out of our Singapore dollars so had to say our goodbyes and return home for the night.

To be honest we quite like Singapore, despite the cost of beer and can see why there are so many ex-pats working here as it is a very modern city with stunning architecture but also has some streets with old style charm.

Cherating

 Day 1 – Hippy Beach

Sad to be leaving, It was an early start today as we had to catch the 8am speedboat back to the mainland, so after packing we made our way down the hill, spotting some monitor lizards along the way, to coral beach and the jetty.

We were a bit too early as we didn’t want to miss our boat so we had to hang around whilst various other boats came and went, until the guy in charge told us which boat was ours.

The journey back was thankfully less bumpy and when we arrived at the ferry port we quickly found ourselves a taxi to take us to the coach station.  Arriving at the coach station early we found a nearby KFC where we went to grab some breakfast as our coach was not due for a couple of hours, I can safely say it was not fast food as I had to wait around ½ hour to get our food (which was not great!).

Returning back to the coach park, we waited and waited wondering whether we had missed our coach as it had not arrived ½ later than scheduled.  We got speaking to some helpful local who after asking around told us that it was late and was not due for another hour.  So we had to wait around in stifling heat until it turned up 1 ½ late.

It was around a 3 hour journey to Cherating, which was described as a hippy/surfer/backpackers town and beach.  Relaxing and reading for an hour or so we then stopped at a café for a break and bit of lunch, but the food looked as though it been there for a few days so we gave it a miss and just had a chilled coffee and made use of the facilities.

Back on the coach and when Shell checked on her phone where we were staying for the night and showed me it turned out we had booked a hotel in completely the wrong town (Shell not Glenn).  So after a quick bit of searching on Bookings.com we found somewhere in Cherating and re-booked.

Not sure where we were supposed to get off I spoke to the driver to let us know when we had arrived and an hour or so later he indicated that this was our stop so we got off and headed down the road in the general direction that we thought our hotel was.

After dragging our luggage down the road for about ¼ mile we stumbled across our accommodation for the next couple of night and went to check in.  The only issue was that it appeared to be cheaper on their tariff that we had been quoted, when we queried this we were informed it was their leaders birthday so it was a public holiday therefore it was more expensive on one day.

Our room was not great so we quickly unpack and headed in search of the beach which was just down the road.  The beach was a large sandy bay with a few ramshackle bars and restaurants dotted around it, but there was no sign of decent waves, apparently this was the wrong season, it was now wind surfing season. 

Looking around for a specific bar that was mentioned in our guide we gave up and just headed to a hippy looking bar (which turned out to be the bar we were looking for but just had a different name) that looked like it had been built out of driftwood.  We stopped there for a bit and had a couple of drinks and listened to their music, which turned out to be Steve Vai!!

We then thought we would check out somewhere else and walked to the end of the beach and found ourselves in a Rasta beach bar which was also a laidback affair and we had another beer there and then went native and got a small bottle of vodka and bought the mixers to go with it (far  cheaper).  We got speaking to the friendly owner and asked him where was good for food and he told us there was a cheap locals restaurant just up on the main street.

Finishing our drinks the sun had now gone down so we headed for the recommended eatery.  The restaurant was a very basic affair, a large area of put-up tables and benches under a large canopy but it was very busy. 

We grabbed a table and then were handed a very extensive menu, which under examination had Chinese, Malaysian, Indian, Thai and English dishes on it, all of which were very cheap at around £ 2.00. a dish.  Due to the choice we ordered up around 6 different Malaysian/Thai dishes to share and wondered if we had over ordered.  When the food arrived it was pretty good and we just about managed to wade through it all.

Full up we thought we would head back towards our hotel and maybe drop into a bar for a night cap along the way, as it was out of season most of the places were closed or closing and the one bar we did see was pretty empty so we gave it a miss and headed back home to bed.

Day 2 – Just Chillin

As we did not have breakfast included in our hotel we headed down the road and soon found a surf shack café where we order up some nice coffee and breakfast which for me was a full English with perfect scrambled egg whilst Shell plumped for the local Malaysian (and cheaper) breakfast which turned out to be some fish, anchovies, rice and chilli combo that she quite liked (Yuck!!!).

After breakfast we walked down the road and found some hotel that also did transfers so we popped into there and spoke to the ex-pat owner who we booked a taxi with for the next day (we had already arrange our flight to Singapore).  He was very helpful and explained that there were loads of sand flies on the beach and we should go to the beach bar on the front where we could use their rooftop veranda.

We decided to have a lazy day and relax before Singapore so we headed to the bar he recommended and bought a large water (we felt we should order something if we were going to stop there) and then headed up to the Veranda.

For most of the morning and afternoon we just chilled out on some mats reading and watching the sea and the people on the beach.  During the afternoon we grabbed a beer and were entertained watching a group of Indian tourist play beach games, which consisted of about 12 of them tying balloons around their ankles and running around in a marked out area trying to burst each other’s until only one was left.

The second game which was more amusing was about 8 couple who had to throw water filled balloons to each other.  Each round where the catch was successful meant they had to move further apart resulting in more explosions and people getting wet, until one remained.

The sun was starting to drop so we headed across the bay to the Rasta bar for a couple of drinks before returning to the restaurant from the previous night.

Once again it was packed so we had to wait a while before we tucked into another feast of about 5 dishes for the cost of a tenner before going back for the night, tomorrow another new country!!

Perhentian Islands

 Day 1- Hello sunshine, old friend

So once again we had very little sleep on our overnight coach and we were told by the driver that we had reached our destination, which appeared to be too soon as it was 4.00am in the morning.

Disembarking the coach we were met by a man pertaining to be a taxi driver who informed us that the port for the Perhentian Islands was around 17Km down the road, however we needed to find a cash point as we learned that there were no ATM’s on the island.  

We asked the taxi driver if there were any cafes open where we could get some food/drink but he informed us that the only place open was the 7/11, so we went there and got a chilled coffee and sat on the pavement drinking them whilst we decided what to do.

In the end we decided to trust the taxi driver and we jumped inside his rust-bucket of a car and he drove us to a number of cash points around the town, first one did not accept my card and the other two were not open yet, so we returned to the 7/11 and got out thinking we would have to wait until 9.00am until the banks opened.  I then thought I would try a different card in the first ATM and fortunately this worked and we now had funds for the Perhentian Islands, so we jumped back in the taxi and asked him to take us to the port.

Arriving at the port everything seemed dark and deserted (first boat didn’t leave until 7am) and our driver  who  told us he was an illegal cab driver so parked down a side street so that he did not get caught by the police.  He then led us to the port and just opened the deserted ticket office for us and gave his sister a call who as luck would have it ran the ticket office, so she promptly turned up and sold us tickets for the 7.00am crossing.

As there was about an hour to wait until we had to board we sat around whilst some fellow passengers started to turn up.  We got speaking to three Swiss girls who did not realise that there were no ATM’s on the islands so they then headed off in search of a bank, unfortunately for them none were going to be open until 9.00am so they were going to have to hang round until the banks opened and would have to get a later crossing.

6.30 came around and we were marched to the jetty and then put into lines depending on what island and drop off point we wanted, the boat turned out to be a large speedboat affair and soon we were powering out of the port.  It was a nice morning but the trouble was there was a bit of a chop in the sea which led to quite and uncomfortable hour crossing crashing up and down in the waves, which didn’t do anything for our aging backs.

Eventually we started to slow down and we reached the Jetty on the island of Kecil and we grabbed our bags and got off the boat.  The island looked beautiful with palm fringed white beaches that were quite moderately developed and behind a jungle interior, our first impressions were really good and we thought we would like it here.

Dragging our cases along the pier and a bit of the beach we then got directions to our hotel which was at the highest point in the islands, so after a bit of exercise uphill we found our hostel, which was in the middle of the jungle part of the island.  We were pleased when they said it was OK to check in early and they had upgraded our room, result!  All we can say is we were thankful of the upgrade as the room we were put into was no great shakes.

After unpacking we went to the reception area where we hoped to get a coffee, but they only had cold ones in the fridge so we had to go for one of those.  Whilst sitting there a guy, who turned out to be the owner came and started talking to us and offered to get us some hot coffee from his own supply.  We spoke, or rather should I say he spoke to us for an hour or so and it turned out that he was Mr Big.  Allegedly he owned a number of successful businesses, went to Cambridge university, was a qualified barrister, owned property in Mayfair, built the local police station for the island, set up a funding project to educate local youths and generally was a multi-millionaire who liked to boast about things, although he hated spending money and the shirt he was wearing cost £2.00.

Tiring of the manager we made our excuses and headed down to long beach which was the most popular beach on the island and most developed with bars, restaurants and scuba schools, in our book it said that it had been spoilt a bit and was now a bit dirty.  When we arrived there it seemed fairly clean to us and had beautiful crystal blue waters washing up on a white sandy beach – not too shabby.   So we wandered along for a bit before finding a restaurant to get breakfast whilst admiring the view.

Once fed we started to feel the effect of a sleep deprived overnight coach journey so headed back up the hill to our hotel to take a nap.  We most probably slept for an  hour or two before being rudely awakened by an incredibly noisy low flying airplane which literally sounded like it was crashing into our room, which resulted in Shell diving for cover alongside the bed whilst I curled up into a ball on top of the bed (Is that the correct procedure for impending doom??).

As we were now awake we thought we would go and have a look at coral beach where we had heard there was some decent snorkelling to be had.  Heading down the hill (we are going to start to hate the hill!) we found our way onto coral beach which is where we were dropped off by the boat.  We saw where the snorkelling area was and donned our masks and went into the water, which was exceptionally warm.  Once again we were transported into another world with lots of beautiful fish, although one or two were a bit too friendly for our liking, protecting their nests no doubt.

Getting out we looked for somewhere to dry off and relax and as it was scorching hot (makes a nice change from the rain in Lankawi) we looked for somewhere in the shade.  The trouble was because it was so undeveloped there were no loungers and umbrella’s here and any shade to be had was already bagged.  In the end we found a couple of palm trees to try and relax under, trying to ensure that we were not directly under any coconuts (one of the biggest killers in Asia!!), but after a while we could not relax due to this possibility.

So we decided to get a cold beer and after going to a couple of places that did not have any in stock we found a small wooden shack that did stock beer.  We stopped there for a couple and discovered that the man that ran it was also a good source of travel information, as well as being a bar, a second hand bookshop he also did travel tickets.  We grilled him a bit for information regarding our onward journey and he was very pleased to tell us all our options which was very helpful.

It was still too hot on the beach so we headed back up the hill to relax in our room before going out to check out the nightlife on Long Beach later in the evening.

Needing a torch as there was no street or should I say path lights on the island we made our way back down the hill to long beach.  We walked up and down the beach looking for a bar to have some drinks and finally ended up sitting down at a trance music type of the bar, despite there being an obligatory fire dancer in attendance and rolled out a couple of mats next to a low table on the beach.

To start with we had a couple of rather expensive beers and then notices that everyone around us were drinking buckets, so we decided to go for a bucket of the local looney juice, known as Monkey Juice which is a ¼ bottle of local rum? With coke which was only a fiver!

The only problem was after a couple of these I needed the toilet and the bars don’t have any, so I headed for a nearby scuba school.  After making use of their facilities and thinking I was at the scuba school we had liked the sound of on trip advisor (It wasn’t  I ‘d gone into the wrong one) I got some information for them on the dives and prices they did – only £12 a dive!!  So I said we would go back tomorrow and book something up if Shell liked the sound of them.

Returning to the bar we had a few more drinks, Shell went a bit AWOL going to the loo as I had given her the wrong name of the Scuba school, we had a sloppy burger on the beach before trekking once more up that bloody hill to bed.

Day 2 – Getting back into the swing – Dive 1

Getting up late, feeling the effects of the Monkey Juice we headed down the hill to long beach and found our way to the dive centre.  We explained that we were a bit nervous due to our last experience and were introduced to Victor, a French dive master that said he would look after us properly and take us on a nice easy dive in the afternoon to see how we got on.  Shell was happy with this and after paying for the dive and getting our sizes for wetsuits, fins and weights taken  we headed off to get some late breakfast/lunch.

We had some breakfast on the beach before returning to the hotel,  I went on to coral beach to sort out tickets for our onward travel while Shell did some hotel research and tried to sweet talk our friend the Billionaire owner into giving us our room for and extra night (we like it here) for the same price, unfortunately he wasn’t having it and we had to pay full  price.

After a bit of a relax and time for Shell to get her head round diving again we headed back to the dive school.  We were asked to check our equipment, tank, BCD, regulators, etc before Victor did his briefing session. During the briefing session Victor was really good and explained everything we were going to do in detail, even down to the fact there may be some fish that come up and nibble at you – nice!

It was boiling and we had to put on our wetsuits and tanks before walking down the beach to the boat that was moored up on the shore.  We were very happy when it started to move so we could cool down a bit.

Driving round the coast for about 15 – 20 minutes we arrived in  D Lagoon which was a pretty little sheltered bay and we were soon putting on the rest of the gear and rolling backwards off the boat into crystal clear waters, which I would say cooled us further but the water temperature was 30 degrees!!

First we descended holding on to a static line until we reached the sandy bottom (about 6 metres), where we knelt for a while whilst Victor checked we were happy with everything, we then set off along a sandy section with Victor regularly checking we were OK.

Swimming along we then stopped and all layed flat on the floor (which had been explained in the brief) and extended our fingers to this small plant/coral type thing, where there were cleaner shrimps that would come and chew the dead skin off the end of your fingers (a bit like one of those fish tank things but cooler).  You could not feel them but if you got your fingers too close to the plants thing in latched onto you which did give you a bit of a nip.

Once our fingers were dead skin free we scuba’d  for a while alongside a coral reef to about 10 metres and along the way we saw a Blue Spotted Stingray, which I was happy to say was swimming away from us.

We then headed over and through the coral reef where we saw the normal reef fish we have become accustomed to, but also we saw another Blue Spotted Stingray, Puffer Fish and some beautiful shoals of Triangle fish.

The dive was perfect and just what we needed to get our confidence back up and Victor was brilliant, almost as good as Manu who took us through our PADI course originally.  Both of us would have liked it to go on for longer but as usual I had gone through my air supply, although at 53 minutes  it was the longest I had lasted.

Returning back to shore we trudged up the beach with our gear and then washed it off at the scuba school before helping ourselves to a complimentary coffee whilst we waited for Victor to come and help us fill out our dive log.  Whilst filling out our dive logs with Victor we thanked him for a great dive and arrange to go on another one with him tomorrow, this time to 18 metres and involved swimming through rock arches – he said we were capable?!

After our dive we went next door to quite a cool bar that was run by an Argentinian and played Spanish music.  We had a few drinks there whilst we dissected the dive we had just done and had a similar buzz from when we first passed our PADI’s.  Whilst sitting there we bumped into the Swiss girls from the day before who were buzzing as they had just started their diving course. Also whilst we were sat there the girl who ran the diving centre came up to us to see how our dive went and invited us to their scuba party the next evening in celebration of one of their colleague that was just about to pass her dive master qualifications.

Having celebrated our dive enough we went up the hotel and then down the hill to just outside coral bay to a local restaurant that had been recommended to us where we had some pretty decent food that was fairly cheap before returning back up the hill to bed.

Day 3 – Into the murk!

Waking up at a decent time we headed down to long beach to have some breakfast on the beach, I must say their coffee is pretty rank.

Breakfast out the way we decided to have a relax on the beach before our afternoon dive and promptly found an umbrella to hire with a couple of mats to lie on.  We spent the next few hour just reading and jumping in and out of the water to cool off (and have a pee!).

Around 2.30 and it was time to go diving again so we headed to the dive centre to get ready and have our pre-dive briefing.  When we got there we found that there would be 6 others on the dive with us and that we would have two dive masters with us, Victor and the girl that was just about to qualify as a dive master.

After everyone had kitted up we headed for the boat and were soon heading out in slightly choppier water to the reef known locally as T3.  In turn we all got into the water and were told to hold on to the anchor line until everyone was ready.  We waited for quite some time until victor got in the water and told us that he had forgot his fins so had taken the qualifying girls and he alone would take us down.  If we hadn’t dived with him the day before we would not have been very happy about this, but he said that Shell and I would follow just behind him and the rest would follow in pairs behind us.

Again we descended on a static line to the ocean bed at 18 metres the only problem was as the sea was a bit choppy the visibility was only about 3 foot unlike any conditions we had dived in before (afterwards Victor told us to write ‘visibility shit’ in our dive logs). However as we felt quite safe with Victor we just to follow his lead.

As the conditions were not great it was really difficult to see anything of note, but after a while we stopped and were instructed to go through our first swim though.  In turn, we had to swim through a tunnel through the rock, low enough so your tank did not touch the roof and high enough so you did not kick up sediment from the bottom which would make the remaining divers view terrible.  I am please to say that both Shell and I made it through without any drama.

We swam around for a while but as I say it was hard to see any fish of note and as we had been diving deeper I went through my oxygen tank fairly quickly (the deeper you go the more oxygen you use). 

Back on the surface we swam around for a bit whilst we waited for everyone to get back on board, unfortunately there was a larger girl in our group who struggled to get back on board and nearly pulled Shell’s hand off when trying to help her (she fell back into the water).  Eventually she managed to get on board and we headed back to Long Beach.

After we had washed our gear down, had a coffee and completed our dive logs we headed back to the bar next door to do our own debrief and celebratory beer.  Although the conditions had been terrible we were pleased with ourselves for the way we handled it and put it down as experience gained, but it was a shame as the dive site seemed pretty funky and interesting and on a day with better visibility we thought it would have been really something special.

We then returned to our hotel to get ready for the party and after a quick turn around up & down the hill we arrived back at the dive centre.  The party consisted of the diving staff all taking part in party game and generally taking the micky out of the newly qualified dive master and trying to get her as pissed as possible on shots.  The culmination of which and the standard passage of right was that she had to drink a litre of cocktail through her snorkel…..to be fair she did her best but choked half way through.

The party then continued to the bar next door where Shell and I got a rum bucket to share and ordered some pasta (No Cheese Shell) and a Pizza for me.  As we were leaving the next day we sloped of home to bed pretty early whilst the party continued on…we must be getting old!!

Langkawi

Day 1

After a quick coffee we jumped into a taxi headed for the airport and found ourselves with another chatty Taxi driver who went into great detail about the sites of Penang (although we were leaving) and told us the food in Langkawi was crap, great!

When we pulled up at the airport there was a big prison van full of shaven headed convicts staring forlornly at us so we (Shell not Glenn) hastily made for the entrance and check-in.

Unfortunately we were allocated seats right at the back, away from each other and the flight had the worse turbulence experienced on this trip so far! I spent the entire flight with my eyes closed clinging to the back of the seat in front, sat next to an English couple with birthday hats on and snogging each other for the entire journey. I’m not sure what Glenn did to pass the time, my eyes were shut! Thank god it was only 30mins but I wish we caught the ferry!

Arriving at our lodgings around 11am we were informed that our room wasn’t ready so we decided to rent a bike and go into town as it looked a bit of a trudge from where we were. The guy who managed it also commented on how nice the weather was, it looked pretty overcast to us so we just assumed he liked the cover it gave from the glaring sun.

We drove around a bit to get our bearings and then headed for the beach to take a look, we were just deciding which direction to head in when we felt some spots of rain, quickly followed by a downpour so we rushed into the nearest restaurant for cover – now realising the hostel owners “nice weather” comment

We were greeted by a manic ex pat owner from France who was running around locking things down, organising her staff to bring furniture in etc. and generally getting into a tiz. She pointed out where the previous day’s storm had done some damage to the roof. I was quite enjoying watching the storm approach until then as she did worry me because I thought she would be used to storms in the monsoon season?

When the storm arrived it basically chucked it down and with a tin roof, you couldn’t hear yourself speak so what to do? We had a beer!

Now hungry we checked the menu, which was a list of overpriced western food, the Penang taxi driver was right! We ordered something non-descript and then headed back to the hostel to check in.

The room itself wasn’t bad, it was the cheapest we could find in the area so a little further out and overlooked a piece of wasteland but had a kettle, a fridge, warm water in the shower and the toilet which didn’t appear to leak. I settled in whilst Glenn went off on the bike to drop off overdue laundry, get some supplies and check out a couple of tourist places for our onward travel. When we are in a country for a limited time, we tend to spend the day of arrival planning our exit!

It rained throughout the afternoon and into the evening so when there was finally a break, we trudged into town. Langkawi is a duty free Island so we were surprised to see the beer was still quite expensive, we finally found one that was cheaper and had some very average food and drink before heading back through the puddles.

Day 2 – quick, the suns out!

The sun was out so we jumped on our bike and headed for a tourist office to book a bus to Perhentian Islands so that we could then get on with enjoying Langkawi. Unfortunately whenever we need to move onwards we seem to hit some sort of public holiday where seats are limited and accommodation prices go up! This was one of them, the bus was full on the day we had planned to go so we would have to stay an extra day. Never mind, the sun was out so we could spend the extra time to really explore the island.

As the agent said that it was a school holiday we thought it best to book our accommodation quickly. We headed to the beach, found a bar with internet and started looking. Not as easy as you’d think, the accommodation in Perhentian Islands was limited and extremely overpriced! After a couple of hours of research and sending off emails we gave up and headed for a Parasol on the beach.

We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling, reading and swimming until suddenly the wind picked up and a dark cloud appeared across the mountain. We grabbed our gear, jumped on the bike and headed to a local’s restaurant which the tour operator recommended.

We ordered a selection of food based on the pictures adorning the walls and it was pretty good. Not stunning though and not what I’d sold Glenn on how delicious the food was in Malaysia.

Another break in the clouds and we headed back towards home, stopping off to check out another beach along the way and pick up our laundry. We spent the late afternoon chilling and waiting for another break in the clouds so we could head out in the evening.

The nightlife in Langkawi is full of promise but all the bars and restaurants are pretty empty so we ended back at the cheapish bar and kept each other entertained recalling favourite childhood TV shows (conversation can get a bit limited when travelling together for so long). With a quick stop off for a kebab (Glenn not Shell) we headed home.

Day 3 – Snorkel and fins required

Waking up after torrential rain throughout the night we didn’t hold up much hope for today! Our room had a tin roof too but it was quite cosy to listen to the rain (like in a caravan).

Our bike, which we had rented for 2 days and hardly used needed to go back so when the rain finally stopped around noon, we hurriedly returned it and went for another average bite of lunch before heading back home.

The rain continued throughout the day, so we just lazed around, blogged and I finally managed to find some affordable accommodation in Perhentian. We were told the weather was much nicer there, we hoped they were right!

We headed out in the evening with our rain proofs, umbrella and a torch to find somewhere close to eat. It was an Irish bar owned by a Thai lady? Again food was limited but promised Irish home cooked delights (from a Thai lady?) so we settled in and Glenn ordered a chicken chop. Chicken chop? I never knew chickens had chops? When it arrived it was a very dry breast (we think) covered in breadcrumbs. After food we snorkelled back home in the rain.

Day 4 - Call Noah, any room on the Ark?

Thank god we were leaving today! Unfortunately we can’t share anything about Langkawi as apart from 2hrs on a beach and some bog standard bars and restaurants selling overpriced food, we didn’t see any of it!

Our Ferry wasn’t until around 5pm so we agreed with the owner to check out late. He was pretty accommodating but we were the only guests he had, everyone else had buggered off to the sun! This might be why he almost doubled the price when Glenn came to pay for our stay but he was soon corrected!

After the taxi dropped us off we had time for a quick Kentucky which was probably the best meal on the island, before boarding the ferry to the mainland.

The ferry was packed with locals who appeared to be returning from a duty free run from the mainland to stock up on supplies. Our seats were down in the hull of the boat with no windows and two tiny exits which was a bit disconcerting so we spent the 1 hour journey planning potential escape routes which involved clambering and clawing over the heads of women, children and duty free bags.

Successfully arriving at the port, we headed for the bus station to await our 8pm night bus which was to take us to another port for the crossing to the Perhentian Islands. When it turned up and we found we were the only two to board (the agent said it was full) we got a little worried but then decided that it looked as though we would be picking up people up en-route.

Sure enough after about an hour into the journey we stopped for 30 mins whilst locals boarded, faffed around, looking for seats and storing food supplies. The guy in front of me then decided it would be much more comfortable if he slept on my lap! He pulled his seat back so far that I was practically looking down at him in the eyes!  His friend tried to follow suit, but Glenn, after witnessing my crush did a nifty leg block thing which prevented the fella from moving it right back. To no avail though, Glenn got out manoeuvred when we got off at one of the 2 loo breaks where returning to his seat, found that he too would be sharing a human blanket!. It’s going to be a long long night!

Penang

Day 1 – Mikka Hakinen Part II

Up and out again early to get our Minibus to Penang at 7am, getting into the van we were joined by a French girl who was going our way too so not the usual packed bus we are used to.  It all started off fine through town and then we were coming down the mountain through windie S-Bends all the way which our driver thought was OK to take at 120kpm and overtake where ever he fancied.  Once again we were hanging on to our seats, closing our eyes and wishing we weren’t atheists!!

This carried on for around an hour or so until thankfully we got out of the mountains and ½ hour later we had stopped for a breakfast break, over a coffee we spoke to the French girl who was equally shaken up and worried about our driver.

Fortunately the rest of the journey was on nice straight motorways and was not so hairy and after another 3 hours or so we found ourselves arriving in Georgetown, Penang.

We got dropped off at our hostel, pleased to be in one piece and checked in.  The hostel wasn’t the best we had stayed in, the room did not have any windows and did not look that secure so we did our best to lock up our luggage and valuables before heading out.

Again it was boiling hot, but we did quickly stumble across a second hand bookshop where we managed to get a Malaysian travel guide AT LAST!.  Celebrating this fact we found a nearby bar where we stopped to cool off and have a couple of cold beers.

Next we decided to go and check out all the local, temples, mosques and churches which amazingly were all clustered in and around one or two streets.  So we wandered around for a bit taking photos before trying to get a bus (one route is free, luckily Shell had been here before so knew some tips) to another area.

The bus we caught took us to the bus station (not where we envisaged it ending up), so had to jump on another one to take us to an area known as little India.

We wandered through Little India hoping to spot somewhere to eat, but as it was the middle of the afternoon there did not seem to be anything really open, so once again we dived into a bar to escape the heat and had a couple of drinks there.

When looking at once of our town maps we could see there was plenty of street art in the area so we thought we would go and check it out and have a play with it.  We visited about a dozen streets and alleyways to find these Banksy style artworks and did our best to improve on it by adding ourselves to the compositions.

When we reached the last piece of art we ducked into a bar right next to it and sat down and got a beer whilst we watched other tourists playing with the artwork too (not nearly as imaginative as us).  Whilst we sat there we got talking to a group of English girls that were also travelling, some had just started some had been going for some time and one had just finished working in Hong Kong.  We spoke to them for an hour or so before heading off.

Returning to the area close to our hotel we found a Reggae bar where we spent the early part of the evening having a couple of beers whilst doing some people watching.

A while later with our bellies rumbling we decided to go and check out the hawker stalls (Penang is famous for these) so we walked down the street and found a number of these stalls.  We seated ourselves in some plastic seating next to these and were immediately descended on by someone insisting we had to buy a drink to sit there so we bought a couple of soft drinks. Once the drinks order was put in I headed to various food stalls and ordered some stuff, what it was I wasn’t entirely sure.  However what turned up was pretty tasty and I had not complaints from Shell.

After food, we left but after a few yards down the road we came across another stall where you could buy stuff on a skewer and cook it for yourself in some boiling water at the front of the stall (Fondue Style), so we grabbed a couple of dumplings on sticks and a bit of sauce and got stuck in.

It was now getting a bit late so we thought we would have one last drink in a place called love lane, which got its name as the local rich people used to house their mistresses in this area.  So we stopped for one quick drink before going home for the night.

Day 2 – Beach Day?

No breakfast at our hotel so we took a short walk round the corner where we found a bar that did a reasonable fried eggs on toast.

We had decided to travel up the coast a bit to find a beach, as Shell had been here before on business so we wanted to explore somewhere she hadn’t been.

After breakfast we caught a local bus which after around an hour dropped us in Batu Ferrenghi which is apparently one of the best beaches in Penang.

Arriving in Batu Ferrenghi we found our way to the beach, which was average but was scorching hot and pretty deserted.   As it was so hot we made our way to a nearby café where we had a soft drink (no beers on offer).  Whilst we sat there we watched a few tourist do a bit of paragliding the first of which came down with a hard landing.

As we were at the beach we thought we should make the most of it so we hired some deckchairs and umbrella’s and spent a couple of hours relaxing and reading.  We didn’t fancy a dip as the water looked a bit murky and there were netted area’s for swimming that suggested jellyfish.

Feeling in need of a cold beer we left the beach and walked into the town, briefly bumping into the English girls that we had met the day before.  After looking around for a bit we found a hotel that served buckets of beers so we stayed there for a couple of hours whilst we discussed our future travel plans.

Later in the afternoon we caught the bus back to Georgetown and returned to our hotel where we had a bit of a relax and sleep before going out later in the evening.

In the evening we headed to another area that was famed for its street food and once again we sat on some stools and ordered a number of dishes from the stalls around us.  We enjoyed the lamb Skewers and satay sauce so much we went back for seconds.

Having our fill we headed back to the Reggae bar for a couple of beers before going home to bed.

Cameron Highlands

Day 1 – Cream Tea for two

We headed out in the morning in our quest to find the elusive Malaysia travel book only to return an hour later empty handed. Grabbing a quick breakfast before heading out onto the street to flag down a taxi to take us to the coach station.

During our short journey to the coach station we found that we had the most chatty taxi driver on the planet, who regaled us with all the local politics explaining why Indonesia will never develop,  to his favourite guitarists past and present.

Twenty minutes later and we arrived at the coach station, which is one of the most modern and cleanest I have ever seen, with numerous restaurant’s one of which we grabbed a coffee in.  We then grabbed a few snacks for the trip before heading to board the coach.

The coach was extremely comfortable and we were soon relaxing watching the countryside go by only stopping for a quick comfort break.  After a journey of four hours we arrived in the lush green Cameron Highlands and the town of Tanah Rata where our accommodation was.

It was immediately clear when departing the coach that the temperature was a lot cooler, which was a relief after Kuala Lumpur.  We quickly found our hotel and checked in, the room wasn’t that great but it would do.  The only problem was we were back in mosquito-ville and spent the first 15 minutes hunting them down and lighting a mosquito coil in our room.

Once we had our fill of killing we went to the front of the hotel and ordered some tea (as it is Malaysia’s tea region) and believe it or not a cream tea!!  The scones and jam were very nice and even the dubious looking clotted cream wasn’t bad!

Tea & Scones finished we headed out to check out this small town, firstly stopping at a couple of tourist office in order to sort out our exit route to get to our next destination, Penang.

As per usual we then went and had a couple of beers whilst discussing our options, we opted to get a coach to Penang where we were going to spend a couple of days, then booked a flight from Penang to Langkawi as prices were similar to the ferry.

To celebrate having a plan for the next few days we thought we would splash out on a bottle of red (something we had been missing in Asia) and it turned out to be quite a nice drop.  Unfortunately this bottle should had cost around £10, but I was overcharged because I had not got to grips with the new currency/exchange rate.  Once I had realised I challenged the owner/waiter and he denied that he had charged me the money I had been asked for, therefore we ended up paying £30 for the bottle as it seemed pointless arguing with him.  First time I have so obviously been ripped off whilst travelling…..Doh!!! (I’m supposed to be an accountant!!)

Deciding we would not continue to drink at this establishment we walked a short distance and found some busy Indian restaurants with outside tables so we sat there to have some beers.  Liking what we saw coming out of the kitchen we decided to stay there for the evening and have our dinner there, a Tandoori Set (Shell) and a Chicken Jalfrezi (Glenn) both of which were really good.

We ended up chatting to a Canadian couple for a while and later in the evening Shell and I were the only people left there and the staff were busy cleaning up and packing up the chairs, it was only 10.30 so we thought we should leave.  With no other options in town we went back to our room for the night.

Day 2 – More Tea Vicar!!

We had checked out a number of day trips around the area which didn’t look that exciting and possibly a bit blue rinse for our liking so decided to rent a scooter and make up our own tour.  There were also a number of hiking options but we were feeling a bit lazy.

For breakfast we just had a coffee whilst we waited for our scooter to turn up, when it did I had a bit of problem starting it but after a short while of messing around kick starting it eventually started.

On the coach journey up we had noticed quite an impressive waterfall along the way so we thought we would first go and try and find this.

The ride was down through the tea valleys along a windy very potholed road, but the scenery was stunning,  a mix of Tea Plantations and Jungle. 

The waterfalls were further than we thought and after around 30km thinking they would be just around the bend we eventually found them.

Lata Iskander waterfalls were not on any of the tour itineraries that we looked at so we were quite pleased to find it.  The fall’s themselves were very pretty and we spent 20 minutes walking around them before finding a little café at the bottom where we had a soft drink before heading off.

Heading back the way we came we took more time to appreciate the scenery and take a few photos of the vista’s and local life along the way.

Next stop on our improvised tour was a bee farm (which was on the official trip) so we dropped into there to find out what happens at the bee farm.  You can imagine how interesting this attraction was and 10 minutes later we were back on the saddle again!

Riding along another windy road following directions through tea plantations on either side of us we took lots of picture before getting to our destination which was a tea factory.  Again this was a stop on the official tour but when we walked around we discovered that the factory itself was temporarily closed whilst it was being cleaned, deciding not to have a brew here we jumped back on the bike again.

We had noticed what looked like a nice tea cafe back towards town so we headed back up the hill until we found it.  Ordering a pot of local tea for two we found a nice table that overlooked a valley that was wall to wall tea plantations and made for some nice photos.

It was now 2pm and our tummies were rumbling so we drove back into town and parked up in front of the Indian restaurant from the night before.  We stopped here to get some late lunch and shared some delicious food and a beer, whilst deciding whether we could cope with the excitement of visiting a strawberry farm!! (It’s famous for its strawberries in this region).

As it was getting a bit overcast we agreed we would just go for a ride in the opposite direction from the morning, but after a short drive up the road it appeared that the rain was closing in so we turned tail and went back to our hotel to relax for a while.

In the evening we returned to the Indian Restaurant (Again this region is famous for its Indian food) for a few beers and some more gorgeous food, including a mutton curry clay pot dish before going home for an early night as we had to get up early the next morning to move onto  Penang.