Well, on leaving India on 1st of May we swiftly arrived in Singapore and spent about 5 days basking in the air conditioned shopping centres and chilling out in our hostel. It was strange to be in a country where we didn't get stared at constantly and trains ran on time, and we loved it!!! Our time was spent hanging out with the orangutans at Singapore Zoo (where there was even one called Vera - sorry Mum!), taking a night safari and spotting elephants, lions, tapirs and too many others to mention and generally loving the spicy food (the night food markets rock) and cold beers!
(Ahh aren't they cute, the orangutans that is...)From Singapore we left for Malaysia, the third country on our tour of S E Asia. We arrived in the small colonial town of Melaka, which was really cool and laid back and where our hostel owners were a bit, erm, whacky/ hippy types but very nice all the same! The large Chinese population in Melaka meant great cheap food and some hilarious karaoke bars!
(Melaka's colonial buildings)Next, we moved on to the capital Kuala Lumpar, and dodged the thunder storms and flash floods, tried to climb the Petronas Tower but settled for the KL Towers instead which gave us an even higher viewing point of the whole city, so that worked out OK. As always we gorged ourselves on fab grub but gave the local speciality of Frog Porridge a wide berth!
(Petronas Tower, KL)For one night only our next destination was Kuala Selangor to take a look at the amazing show put on nightly by the thousands of resident fire flies. These wee creatures flicker and glow in the dark, and would put anyone's Christmas tree to shame with their fairylight-like sparkle!
Rather taken with the Malaysian greenery and their love of nature, we headed on next to Taman Negara, a 30 million year-old (and therefore the world's oldest) rain forest. This giant national park was a 3-hour boat trip down muddy and winding rivers from the town of Teremling, and was well worth the journey. Here we took another night safari by jeep, and spotted a few snakes, wild cats (and an owl of all things) but no tigers alas. We were also lucky enough to visit a Malaysian Aboriginal village (one of many in Taman Negara) and learnt how to shoot (or in Susie's case, send into the air and lose) the wooden darts the tribesmen make and use for hunting. We were well impressed to watch one villager make a fire from nothing but some bamboo and some nifty wrist action.
After all that fresh air and greenery we felt we deserved a break (!) and so headed (on Anna & Ian's recommendation, thanks guys!!) to the gorgeous Perentian Islands, off the Malaysian coast and near the border with Thailand. These wee beauties are thankfully car-free and as we were a bit out-of-season, were largely people-free too. We stayed at Coral Bay in a beach hut right on the sand and woke every day to the sound of the waves - that is, when we weren't woken in the middle of the night by rain coming in through our leaky roof!! Days were spent sunbathing and snorkling and being amazed by SO MANY species of tropical fish there. This was a great stop-off and most welcome after so many cities of late. So nice in fact, that we ended up staying on Coral Bay for 10 whole days - lovely!
And so that brings us up to about a week ago when we crossed the border into Thailand. Not too sure where to go, we spent a night in Hat Yai, at the establishment of the friendliest hotelier ever - his wife even got up at something like 5 AM to make sure our laundry was all pressed and ready for us when we left at 7 AM. Now that's service! Still not too sure where to go, we overheard some fellow travellers talking "full moon parties" and realised there was only one place we should go - straight to Ko Pha-Ngan, just in time for the monthly bash on the Hat Rin sand that is the Full Moon Party!!
And so here we are.
We'll probably stay another day or two here and then maybe check out some other parts of the island before heading back to the mainland. Or maybe we'll visit neighbouring Ko Samui and do some more snorkling there, who knows! Anyways, we'll be in touch again soon! Enjoy the photos as well! xxxx
5 comments:
MAke sure you don't get eaten by an elphant
Knowing Marty and Sue's appetites I'd be giving that advice to th elephants!!
those orangutans seem to be enjoying their day at the zoo - happy birthday Marty, lookin good Susie
hey martin, its gerard. Your dad has sent me on to leave you a comment sending his belated happy birthday. Its my fault that he wasn't able to send it on the day because i left him instructions but forgot to make them clear. but any who. happy belated birthday
marty you look like dad with the mustwang. but i love you both
Post a Comment