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South East Asia - Arrived in Singapore 11th January 2011 - 7 hour flight from Sydney, Australia
11th - 14th January 2011 - Beary Nice Hostel, Chinatown, Singapore
We left Australia a week earlier than originally planned due to how expensive Australia was. It really did drain us for money and it was running out pretty quickly. So we sent STA an email and they changed our flights to an earlier date at a cost of £35 each. In the long run we were saving a lot more money by getting out of Sydney.
We arrived pretty late at night about 10:30ish and didn't really get to do too much other than grab a quick bit to eat at a Chinese takeaway right next door to our hostel. Wasn't the nicest of places but we didn't have too many options at that time of night. We shared a butter chicken which wasn't anything like what it is in England. It was pretty spicy even for Matt. It was like battered chicken pieces in a creamy spicy buttery sauce with chilli. We enjoyed it and I guess it was nice to try something different rather than a Burger King or a pizza! J
Even though we arrived at night it was still really humid and hot. Even though Australia was really hot, it didn't have the humidity like it does is Singapore. Luckily our hostel was perfect for us in this type weather. Air-con throughout the day and all night!! When we first arrived, we pulled up in a taxi we got from the airport and our first impressions were that it wasn't going to be as nice as it was advertised just by looking at the surroundings. But we were quite surprised when we got up to the top floor of the building and the first signs we saw were to remove our shoes before entering! The hostel was really nice and clean throughout and you could tell it was brand new. It was quite small and probably only slept up to 20 people (2x 10 bed dorms) but it has a cosy feel to it.
We spent 3 days in Singapore, first day we did a lot of walking around to see what was around and ended up taking a riverboat cruise which lasted about 45 minutes and cost $20 each! Wasn't quite worth the money but it was a bit of fun I guess! We met a nice couple on there who were leaving that day and heading to Brisbane. The floods have just spread to Brisbane now so they were really lucky that their flight hadn't been cancelled. Although they wont be having any nice weather as its still raining there.
That afternoon we started heading up to Little India, but half way there (bout an hours walk) it absolutely poured down so we decided to head back when we saw it wasn't going to calm down. We quickly grabbed a taxi and went to Clarke Quay and a meal at Hooters - Matt's choice of course! Lol!
The next day we made another attempt to walk to Little India (bearing in mind the weather here is sooooo hot and humid, so its quite a task - lol, made a stop at this really nice salad bar place which is like a subway - you choose what you want in your salad and they make it up right there and then!
We walked around Little India (and yes it was little!!) and when we started to make our way back we stopped off to have our first full body massage since we've been away. It was pretty cheap ($25 each for 30min), so we thought we'd give it a go. I didn't really enjoy mine - it was painful in some places like my calf muscles, but Matt enjoyed his. I don't know what she did but my calf muscle was really hurting afterwards which Im pretty sure isn't supposed to happen???
That night we went for yet another walk (Matt's getting very good at this walking malarkey now! - lol, considering he HATES walking!!) to see the Singapore flyer (big wheel). We were going to go on it but the prices weren't cheap and it didn't seem worth it. That's when we stumbled across the Grand Prix race track and got our pictures taken in pole position! Was really good that night. We could walk all around where the Pit Stops are for each car/driver and see part of the track. There was no gates or restrictions so we could just walk around where ever we wanted to! J
Overall Singapore was great - but it hasn't been our favourite. Its a busy city with lots of markets, tall buildings that look pretty at night when their all lit up and lots of places to eat along the water front. I guess its kind of like most other main cities. Not a disappointment though, just 3 days was enough to see and do everything we wanted to.
14th -16th January 2011 - Matahari Lodge, Kuala Lumpur
We got a coach from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur which took about 5 hours and was quite a nice journey. We travelled through some pretty run down towns and also some gorgeous palm tree fields/hills. Even got to see some monkeys in the tree's!! 2 days was what we spent in Kuala Lumpur. And again that's all we needed. It was similar to Singapore with the sights and things to see and do - Although Singapore was much much more cleaner. Im guessing the further we head up to Thailand the dirtier it's going to get. We hardly saw any rubbish on the streets in Singapore and everything was pretty clean. I guess those laws for littering actually do work!
Our accommodation was okay. It was located near Chinatown again and opposite the monorail station, which we never ended up using because we walked everywhere or got a taxi. We had our own room which had air con, but no window. We hardly spent any time in there though so it didn't matter too much. The bed was awful, you could feel every spring and was horrible when you moved. We spent 2 nights here and were glad that was all! Really missing our beds back home now!
Kuala Lumpur was great for markets. We did a bit of shopping and picked up some great bargains. We cant believe how cheap it is here and find it really hard to stop ourselves from buying stuff because we have absolutely no room left in our bags. Havn't paid full price for anything and have haggled for more than half the price on some stuff - ha,ha loving the haggling here! So much fun!! Matt gets embarrassed sometimes when I haggle, but you should hear about how cheap we've got stuff for.
Bought a purse that was originally MYR75 and I got it down to MYR25 which is like £5. (it's a really nice purse - he,he). As soon as you start walking away they pretty much run after you lowering their price until you agree! Its so funny playing to it sometimes. Yet the amount of times we have to say "No Thank you" is getting a bit boring. Were starting to just ignore them now.
We walked to see the famous Kuala Lumpur towers (Petronas Towers) on our last night which used to be the worlds tallest skyscrapers until 2004.
Both nights we spent in KL poured with rain and had lightning and thunderstorms. (Mom - you would have absolutely loved to have been here - better than the storms we got in Canada - lol.) The thunder was so loud and there was forks of lightning almost every 2 -5 minutes - it was amazing. We went out for dinner on one of the nights and found a place that we could sit outside just so we could watch the storm during our meal. Eating out for dinner here is so cheap. Most of the time were paying a bill for about £15-£20 for a meal and an alcoholic drink and that's for both of us. Yet apparently Thailand is much cheaper?! You can eat out even cheaper than that here but it depends where you eat. Some places you could eat as cheap as £1-£2 each for your meal and then another £1-£2 for your drink, but that's places like the hawker stalls and not so nice looking places. We've yet to try any food from the hawker stalls, it just looks too dirty and horrible to eat food from these places and the food hasn't smelt that nice either. Hopefully up in Thailand it might look a bit nicer??!
16th -18th January 2011 - Annie's Homestay, Batu Ferringhi, Penang Island
Arrived here yesterday by plane as it worked out much cheaper than getting a coach. Was quite a struggle getting out of bed at 5:30am to make our flight! Were both going to find it real hard to get up for work when we get back - lol!! Luckily we've still got another 6-7 weeks to not think about that, ha,ha!
Love our accommodation! It a homestay, and its tucked away down a nice street about 5 minutes walk to the main street where everything is. It's not the most modernist, cleanest or best place weve stayed. But we cant really think of anything negative about it either. It's nice that its like a home and there's other traveller/couples here too that we've got chatting to who are on similar routes to us. It makes a real change from the big, busy hostels we've been staying in which we have enjoyed too, but its nice to experience something different. The lady who runs the place (Annie) is really nice too - Very easy to talk to and very welcoming.
Our first day here we spent down on the beach - it looked nice, but smelt horrible and we soon discovered why. The sewage is dumped straight into the ocean from the beach. It was horrible to see such a gorgeous beach be ruined by it. The further we walked up the beach the nicer it got though.
That night we went out for dinner at a place called The Ship. It was a massive ship on the beach front which had waiters/waitresses in navy uniforms and the restaurant was set out like a ship - pretty cool! Matt had peppered steak and I had peppered chicken, which both came with vegetables and chips. Was quite nice - but very, very hot (spicy)!
Afterwards the main street that led to our accommodation, was filled with market stalls so we did a bit of shopping and haggling and got some more bargains. J
One thing we have really enjoyed here is the fresh fruit stalls. Nearly every 2 minutes you walk down the street there will be a fruit stall serving all different kinds of fresh tropical fruits, chopped up and ready to eat at really cheap prices. Were already regulars at the stall near our place, going there sometimes 2-3 times a day! J At least were eating healthy!!
The next day (which is today - 17th) we hired a scooter and travelled all around the coast, nearly half of the island. It was really cheap (MYR 40 which is like £8 for a full day) and only cost £1 to for a full tank of petrol, so we thought rather than catch a bus to see everything, it would be so much better to get a scooter - even though the drivers over here are crazy!! Everyone drives scooters here and they all weave in and out of moving traffic like crazy idiots! Don't worry parents - were still alive and have no bumps or bruises J ! Matt drove most of time as it was scary enough for me being on the back. We did nearly go up the back of a car though - Matt's fault!! He was trying to avoid a drain and some guy on a bike was in the way so Matt had to break really quickly! It was so much fun - reminded us of that Top Gear episode when Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May travelled to Vietnam and hired scooters ha,ha! We kept singing "Booorn in the USA!!" ha,ha,ha and "Im on the hiiiighwaaay to hell!!" ha,ha,ha! Yeah I know - what a bunch of geeks - but we were cool geeks at the time! LOL! J
The scooter was 115cc so it went pretty fast, well fast enough for me anyway. Maybe not fast enough for Matt! We headed to Georgetown first which took about 35 - 40 minutes to get to. This was meant to be one of the places to be if you were staying in Penang but we couldn't find anywhere nice to stay when we were looking for accommodation. Not really sure what the fuss was about for this place. It was a really dirty, scruffy, run down busy city that didn't seem to have anything too special about it to see. We drove all round Georgetown and saw the football stadium and various market stalls and shops but nothing much other than that. Maybe we missed something??
We headed out of Georgetown and decided to head in the other direction of where we were staying and once we got to a less busy area I then decided to have a go at driving!! J
This part of the drive was amazing! It went all long the beach fronts up into the hills which were filled with tropical trees and gorgeous views! We even saw a monkey carrying its baby, run across the road in front of us!! That was so cool!!
The road eventually led to a fruit farm at a top of a massive hill. The views were incredible from the top of this hill. We were able to sit and look out whilst drinking freshly made fruit juice on ice! Mmmmm . . . . They were soo good! J
After that Matt took over driving again and we headed back to give the scooter back. We could have kept it over night and for the next morning. but we'd travelled along both sides and had seen everything we needed the scooter for!
Now Im writing this blog and were probably head out for something to eat even though its just about gone 9:00pm. We ate earlier at the Hard Rock café about 3:00ish. Tomorrow were going to arrange how were getting to Phuket and where were staying. Only 1 day left here that we've arranged for. Oh and guess what I woke up with this morning???? A cold!!!! I cant believe it! Its been 4 months and neither of us have really been ill and now I catch a cold! Errgghhhhh . . . . . .
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