Malaysia
Back into uncharted territory and we took the very short flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, (although the airport is actually about a 45 minute drive from the city) and checked in to our room with a view. The traders hotel, a recommendation from friends whose photos we had envied, put us on the 13th floor (the hotel didn't have a 7th floor, but 13th is fine in asia) with a view both of the Petronas towers, and into the rooms on the other wing of the hotel.
The city itself was lovely, although getting around was most easily achieved via air conditioned walkways between shopping malls, and one time we tried to find an area with street food the whole outdoors of the city centre was full of smoke and ash from a car fire!
We browsed the malls (Lisa took a fancy to a rather nice Alexander McQueen handbag, which we discovered cost about £10000) and ate green tea ice cream and exciting curries in the food hall. On the second day there we went to the top of the towers, and across the sky bridge which made us both feel pretty wobbly, and we were quite glad that the ticket was for a limited time, and we were herded back down from the 88th floor.
The next day we used the subway, and a train to get out to the Batu Caves, a complex of temples utilising some spectacular caves in the cliffs we could see from the top,of the towers.
The first was full of life size models of the Hindu gods, and told various stories about waking a giant to fight in the war, and the monkey god not realising his tail was on fire.
The second was up a flight of about 300 steps (in 32° heat, with monkeys jumping all over people- at one point a monkey tried to jump on a lady's hat, discovered it wasn't solid, so bounced off her shoulder, leaving a tiny poo on her nose. She was not impressed. I laughed.
At the top it was like being in the bottom of a volcano, with open air above, and monkeys and chickens around, and some sweet little shrines around us.
A cornetto and a bottle of strawberry Fanta later, and we headed back into town. We tried to see the historic quarter of KL but it was surrounded by a building site so totally inaccessible.
The second part of Malaysia involved a plane to Penang, for a laze by the pool or on the beach, some reading of books and chilling out, and an enjoyable day trip to Georgetown, the old capital of the island, which is now a unesco world heritage site so protected to ensure it retains its colonial charm. Unfortunately, and for only the third time of the whole trip so far, rain stopped play, so we hid in a cafe and braved the storm, making a juice, an iced tea and a plate of (spectacularly good) waffles last a good hour and a half, with only the local cat to entertain us.
Eventually the rain subsided, and we happened upon a hairdresser called "son and dad" and realising this might be my last chance for a while, I allowed a man who spoke barely any English to have his way with my Barnet and beard. He did an excellent job, and I rounded the price up to something resembling what I used to pay for a haircut 10 years ago in Cardiff. Lisa was happy looking round the shops, and sheltering from some more rain.
We drank cordials and compared pokedexes with the old men who were camped out in the pokemon cafe, before eating some excellent Italian food (slightly randomly) and heading back to the resort on the 101 bus.
The final whole day we once again lazed around the hotel, only going out in the evening when we got hungry, exploring the night market, and eating curry from the hawker centre.
Friday, 31 March 2017
Monday, 27 March 2017
Singapore
Part three of the trip (in our heads it was always 1- New Zealand, 2- Australia, 3- Southeast Asia) began in a familiar way, with Singapore, one of only two places we had both been to before, but one we had unfinished business with from last time, so this time we made a bee line to the gardens by the bay, which weren't in our guide book last time we were there, and we only found out about them when we got back.
They didn't disappoint, with spectacular sky trees, each being a vertical garden in itself, connected with terrifying walkways, an added bonus was that they were surrounded by colourful animatronic dinosaurs. And hoards of children, but that wasn't so bad.
We ambled around there, then went into the huge glass houses (climate controlled to be nice and cool - my glasses only steamed up when I went out again). One was full of flowers, with the emphasis on the Japanese cherry blossom, and the other was more rainforests, with a 7th floor walkway around the inside (Lisa didn't partake).
It rained mightily while we had coffee and cake, but we didn't mind a bit. Got the tube back to find out luggage, and headed over to our friends Bert and Adrienne, and e settled into their beautiful 20th floor apartment.
After lots of wine and Mexican food by the river on Friday night, we were nicely prepared for the early start for Singapore's nicest parkrun (they have two) where we stumbled round, ended up as a pair of sweaty messes (Lisa beat me!) and had coffee and cake at Starbucks.
We showered and then headed out to little India, visited some temples, (one Buddhist, and one Hindu) and stopped for wine, then found an amazing veggie restaurant, where we ate masses of dosas and vadai and then we had more wine.
On Sunday morning, Lisa and Bert went running in the other (proper) botanical gardens, and Adrienne and I met them later on. We had breakfast, and then did some more exploring, finding the orchid garden, and a palmetum. It was lovely, and we found monitor lizards and chickens too.
They didn't disappoint, with spectacular sky trees, each being a vertical garden in itself, connected with terrifying walkways, an added bonus was that they were surrounded by colourful animatronic dinosaurs. And hoards of children, but that wasn't so bad.
We ambled around there, then went into the huge glass houses (climate controlled to be nice and cool - my glasses only steamed up when I went out again). One was full of flowers, with the emphasis on the Japanese cherry blossom, and the other was more rainforests, with a 7th floor walkway around the inside (Lisa didn't partake).
It rained mightily while we had coffee and cake, but we didn't mind a bit. Got the tube back to find out luggage, and headed over to our friends Bert and Adrienne, and e settled into their beautiful 20th floor apartment.
After lots of wine and Mexican food by the river on Friday night, we were nicely prepared for the early start for Singapore's nicest parkrun (they have two) where we stumbled round, ended up as a pair of sweaty messes (Lisa beat me!) and had coffee and cake at Starbucks.
We showered and then headed out to little India, visited some temples, (one Buddhist, and one Hindu) and stopped for wine, then found an amazing veggie restaurant, where we ate masses of dosas and vadai and then we had more wine.
On Sunday morning, Lisa and Bert went running in the other (proper) botanical gardens, and Adrienne and I met them later on. We had breakfast, and then did some more exploring, finding the orchid garden, and a palmetum. It was lovely, and we found monitor lizards and chickens too.
Tasmania
Hobart airport is tiny, and Hobart itself is pretty wee too, although not without a lot of charm. We spent the first evening wandering the hip waterside and battery point, finding things which it would be impossible to continue to carry round the world or send back (massive metal garden sculptures, that sort of thing. We admired the number plates, (they have thylasines on them) and generally mooching about. We ate by the waterfront and drank local wine and all was well.
The next day We did more of the same in the morning, then picked up the car (same Toyota Camry as before, but in white) and drove out to the museum of old and new art (Mona). We had heard good things and it didn't disappoint. Hewn from solid rock, we took the lift to the bottom, and were faced with four doors. Each took us into a different selection of works, and we could have spent hours and hours there. There were a few old favourites, and some new wonders, and experiments and theories being tested (I got to try a method for drawing/forging based on using a little mirror to copy an upside down photo, and produced a passable pencil drawing.
We had to leave earlier than we would like, and drove off to Coles bay, ready to do an epic walk the next day.
On Friday we did an epic walk. Do a google picture search for Tasmania, and you will get 200 views of wineglass bay. We did the walk to the top, met a friendly wallaby. Then carried on to the bay itself. The day was beautiful, the water was a crazy colour, the sand was pure white and we practically had the place to ourselves. Not fancying the really steep climb back up, we continued round the hazards bay route, taking a total of about 5 hours hiking in 30° heat (albeit in the shade for some of it). We got back thirsty and hot, but it was totally worth it.
A two hour drive to Launceston, and a glass of wine and a pile of food, and a hotel over a nightclub and Friday was done.
Saturday started with a lovely parkrun (Dave was fastest again!) and then we headed over to the east coast again. In a desire not to go over the same roads, we went the long way, and ended up doing about an hour on proper unsealed mountain roads. Oops. Glad it wasn't my car.
We spent Sunday around the bay of fires, and Monday in Richmond, the oldest town in Tasmania.
Monday night we were in a place in the middle of nowhere, where we ate mulberries off the tree, Lisa was attacked by the biggest spider in the world (it took a cereal box to evict it) and she met a tiny snake while running. After dark we went out with torches to spot the wildlife, and our airbnb host came out with a proper torch and showed us stuff, lots of wallaby eyes, and we could hear possum fights.
We spent the last two nights on Bruny island, which is a ferry ride, and a long drive south. We did some good walks, visited a vineyard, and destroyed the house's water supply (and the front bumper of the hire car), just as we were leaving. It only rained as we were driving back to Hobart on the final morning, which is probably a record based on what we had been warned about Tasmania, but we really warmed to the place.
The next day We did more of the same in the morning, then picked up the car (same Toyota Camry as before, but in white) and drove out to the museum of old and new art (Mona). We had heard good things and it didn't disappoint. Hewn from solid rock, we took the lift to the bottom, and were faced with four doors. Each took us into a different selection of works, and we could have spent hours and hours there. There were a few old favourites, and some new wonders, and experiments and theories being tested (I got to try a method for drawing/forging based on using a little mirror to copy an upside down photo, and produced a passable pencil drawing.
We had to leave earlier than we would like, and drove off to Coles bay, ready to do an epic walk the next day.
On Friday we did an epic walk. Do a google picture search for Tasmania, and you will get 200 views of wineglass bay. We did the walk to the top, met a friendly wallaby. Then carried on to the bay itself. The day was beautiful, the water was a crazy colour, the sand was pure white and we practically had the place to ourselves. Not fancying the really steep climb back up, we continued round the hazards bay route, taking a total of about 5 hours hiking in 30° heat (albeit in the shade for some of it). We got back thirsty and hot, but it was totally worth it.
A two hour drive to Launceston, and a glass of wine and a pile of food, and a hotel over a nightclub and Friday was done.
Saturday started with a lovely parkrun (Dave was fastest again!) and then we headed over to the east coast again. In a desire not to go over the same roads, we went the long way, and ended up doing about an hour on proper unsealed mountain roads. Oops. Glad it wasn't my car.
We spent Sunday around the bay of fires, and Monday in Richmond, the oldest town in Tasmania.
Monday night we were in a place in the middle of nowhere, where we ate mulberries off the tree, Lisa was attacked by the biggest spider in the world (it took a cereal box to evict it) and she met a tiny snake while running. After dark we went out with torches to spot the wildlife, and our airbnb host came out with a proper torch and showed us stuff, lots of wallaby eyes, and we could hear possum fights.
We spent the last two nights on Bruny island, which is a ferry ride, and a long drive south. We did some good walks, visited a vineyard, and destroyed the house's water supply (and the front bumper of the hire car), just as we were leaving. It only rained as we were driving back to Hobart on the final morning, which is probably a record based on what we had been warned about Tasmania, but we really warmed to the place.
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