Time
has sped up, we're suddenly hurtling towards the finish line stamping
our feet and shouting no, no no! Slow down, stop, go back! Surely
it can't be time for us to return to our lives and responsibilities?
Well not quite, we have a few days remaining of our journey together
and are making sure that every day still counts. There are certainly
things we look forward to and are now thinking and talking about
more, catching up with family and friends, sleeping in the same bed
for more than a few nights, even the thought of wandering the aisles
of Morrisons is appealing to some.
We've
spent the last ten days enjoying Malaysia, firstly in the historic
town of George Town, named after Britain's King George III and voted
Malaysia's most liveable city. The colonial style 1926 Heritage
Hotel had a central swimming pool which we didn't find necessary as
it barely stopped raining during our time there. George Town was
founded in 1786 by Captain Francis Light, a trader for the British
East India Company. On land rented from the Sultan of Kedah he built
Fort Cornwallis on the north-eastern corner of the island, first out
of bamboo and later stone. Despite the rain it afforded great views
of the bay. Another lovely place to wander and look up at the
colonial shuttered buildings, some of which had seen better days and
others under repair or turned into boutique hotels, shops or art
galleries. Covered walkways protected us from the rain as we
wandered to the nearby Little India where we enjoyed some tasty
tandoori.
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| Georgetown |
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| Cher & Jody |
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| City hall |
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| Covered walkways |
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| Georgetown seafront |
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| Ornate and colourful buildings |
Crossing
Malaysia from West to East we spent a brief night in the small
fishing town of Kuala Besut before hopping on a speedboat the next
day for the Perhentian Islands. Pulau Perhentian Besar, which simply
means The Big Island, was our home for our last four beach nights.
We had a comprehensive welcome from host Rashidah and her team at the
blissfully calm and quiet Reef Chalets, a collection of wooden
chalets set around a small garden, with pet chickens, spectacle
rimmed monkeys, squirrels and the occasional monitor lizard creeping
through. We had a wonderfully relaxed time there and gathered for a
fresh fish BBQ on the beach one evening.
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| Arriving at the island |
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| Gill, Rogs & Hels enroute to the island |
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| Overlooking the beach |
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| Beach volleyball |
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| Cher looking exceedingly glamorous |
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| Crystal clear waters |
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| Shelagh, Jim and Julia setting off for a jungle walk |
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| Spectacle rimmed monkey |
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| Sunset in paradise |
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| Rogs has a go |
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| Pip |
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| John has a go under the watchful eye and instruction of Awe Sr |
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| Coconut success for John |
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| Fish BBQ on the beach |
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| Jeff |
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| Julia & Jim |
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| Mikkel being sociable |
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| Jody having a bit of fun |
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| Pet chicken in reception sitting on ten eggs |
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| More chickens at reception |
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| Which came first? |
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| Reef chalets |
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| Rogs clinging on |
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| Rogs persuading Ryan to try climbing the palm tree |
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| Rogs showing how it's done |
We
lucked out with the weather on the island having been warned it was
pretty grotty. Clearly the skies had rained themselves out in
Georgetown and we had barely a drop until the last day. With no
monuments, museums, or above-ground sights whatsoever (or even roads)
on the island we stuck to the beaches, played volleyball, wandered
the jungle trails and explored the magnificent marine life. The
Perhentians offer some great diving and excellent snorkelling. Our
day trip stopping at various bays and beaches where we could jump off
and go in search of stingrays, sea snakes, all sorts of fish from
zebra to parrot fish whilst dodging a fair few jelly fish along the
way. The harmless black tip reef shark was most elusive but persistence paid off and a few of us spotted babies and adults,
growing only to about 1.5m in length but menacing looking enough.
Probably most memorable were the huge green sea turtles, cruising
along on the sea bed feeding on tasty sea grass and every five
minutes or so surfacing for air, gliding through the water, their
little faces breaking the surface for a snuffly breath, then diving
back down, cutting through the water and moving as gracefully as a
bird. Betsy was able to capture some great underwater moments with
her special camera housing, getting shots from deeper still on a
scuba dive the next day.
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| Snorkelling |
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| Magnificent turtle |
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| Poisonous sea snake |
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| Rogs with a turtle |
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| Blue spotted ray |
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| Coming up for air |
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| Fish hanging out under the turtle |
One
lovely touch to our stay was breakfast. Not your usual Western fayre,
but a pick of various curry type dishes, tuna, chicken or anchovies
and egg with rice. We stepped out on to our balconies in the morning
to find little parcels of food, delivered quietly in the early hours
by a lady from the village, a bit like waking up on Christmas day to
find that Father Christmas had visited. Best not to leave it too
late to retrieve your parcels or the cheeky squirrels helped
themselves.
We
waved the Perhentians goodbye from our super speedy boat and were met
at the other side by a super VIP pink double decker bus! Luxury for
our last lengthy journey on the road to Kuala Lumpur. Arriving in
the evening we immediately got a feel for the City, tree lined
avenues, shining, modern office towers and a very clean, cosmopolitan
feel. Many took the lift up the iconic Petronas Towers, the tallest
twin buildings in the world, standing at 1,453 ft, and previously the
tallest buildings in the world. Since 2010 the Burj Khalifa in Dubai
has been the tallest manmade structure in the world at a staggering
2,723 ft, nearly twice the height of the Petronas Towers.
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| Farewell to the Perhentians |
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| A speedy return to the mainland |
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| Travelling to KL in style with our own pink super VIP bus |
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| Rogs takes the wheel? |
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| Nick, what's that you are reading? |
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| KL skyline - looking from the Petronas Towers to the KL Tower |
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| A glimpse of the Petronas Towers |
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| Brave window-washers |
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| Shopping central |
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| Group meal on the streets of Chinatown |
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| Rowan's supper came served in a pineapple |
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| Ryan being entertained by a magician and street seller |
A
fun afternoon was spent at the Berjaya Times Square Mall, Malaysia's
biggest shopping centre and also housing their largest indoor theme
park. We were drawn not so much by the thousand shops (which
included Marks & Spencers, Debenhams etc.) but the irresistibly named Supersonic Odyssey Roller Coaster, a multiple-inverted 800
metre long indoor roller coaster, if that means anything to you.
Translated as bloody fast (top speed 80kph), lots of upside down,
loop the loop and twisty turns, snaking in and around the top floors
of the shopping centre. The crew proved themselves to be the most
loyal and ride it no less than 7 times, it is no joke that
paracetamol was bought on the way home to relieve their headaches.
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| Heading up to ride the Odyssey |
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| Theme Park screamers |
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| The Odyssey (well, the rollercoaster version anyway) |
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| Chris showing you are never too old! |
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| Rowan, Betsy, G Rod and Chris enjoying themselves |
We've
now arrived in Melaka (or Malacca), our penultimate stop and yet
another UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Strait of Malacca connects
the Pacific Ocean to the east with the Indian Ocean on the west
making it one of the most important shipping lanes in the world. Our
beautiful Hotel Puri, and many other buildings on the street, are old
Peranakan style town houses. The Peranakans were descendants of
immigrant Chinese who had integrated and adopted the local Malay
custom. At one time or another Melaka has been occupied by the
British, Dutch & Portuguese as well as the Chinese settlers
making it a real blending pot of architecture, style and cultures.
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| Our hotel in Melaka |
With
just a couple of nights here before our final short journey into
Singapore, it's time to begin the end of trip celebrations. We'll
need a few days to prepare saying goodbye to each other and six
months of our lives. More reflections will follow in our next and
final blog, so until then...
