Woken by Greg Slater at around 6am as he got back fom a night out. Loud music and chattering until 7am! Up at 9.00, then woke him up, ha ha, for a lift to the airport around 10.00. Finally got the chance to watch 'Australia' on the plane, it was brilliant, and a perfect goodbye to the country. We arrived in Singapore just before 6pm, and Stuart (Emma's dad) met us at the airport and we jumped in a taxi to his and Sue's apartment. Spent the evening drinking wine, eating lasagne and idly gossiping.
09/02/09
Up around 9am for a lush breakfast of fruit. muesli and toast. Caught the bus to the CBD and wandered along the river to Boat Quay, reaching it through various shopping malls. Had a walk around the 'Kampong Glam' area - Chinese/Islamic and Hindu influences, passing lots of fabric and carpet shops. Went into the Sultan Mosque - the biggest in Singapore. Had a look at Raffles Hotel but couldn't go into the lobby as we were under dressed. Back to Stu and Sue's late afternoon for a dip in the pool before getting ready for dinner. Went to the Boat Quay again for Indonesian food. Joy's choice from the menu wasn't available so she ended up with an average BBQ chicken. However, Greg really enjoyed his beef Rendang. Walked to Suntec City to see the light display at the worlds biggest fountain. After seeing the Bellagio, we weren't overly impressed and also wondered if 'worlds biggest' was an honest title. Walked back to Raffles and ordered an overpriced, but tasty Singapore Sling (it's the experience you pay for, not the drink!) Enjoyed our drinks whilst shelling peanuts and casting the empty shells all over the floor.
10/02/09
Lie in until 10am, breakfast and out on the bus to 'Vivo City,' a mall by the main port, to get the monorail to Sentosa Isand - Singapore's Island theme park. Not having the budget to go to underwater world, dolphin lagoon or the tiger sky tower, we did the luge, where the balance was restored in luge riding! (Greg disputes this as Joy used underhand tricks!) Did a nature walk, but the main things we saw were diggers and machinery as they were developing another resort on the island. We then walked along the man-made beaches and went to the southern most point of continental Asia before a chillax on the beach. Didn't venture too far into the water as it looked a bit murky. Not surprising as the multitude of boats and tankers weren't too far away. Dinner with Sue and Jackie (a friend of Sue's also visiting) at home so saving pennies, rounded off with cheese and biscuits before bed.
11/02/09
Up at 6.30 to catch a taxi to the bus station. Sue waved us off and gave us some provisions for our journey. It has been nice being looked after! Bus left at 8.30 and what a bus! Massive reclining seats each with its own monitor to watch TV and play computer games. The supposed 5 hour journey only took about 3 1/2 and we arrived at a huge bus station in Melaka at around midday. Bought our bus tickets to Kuala Lumpur for 12RM each (about £2.50). Got a taxi to our hotel and thought we were being fleeced by being charged 15RM but our hotel told us it was the correct fare, so we felt better about paying, but guilty for doubting the taxi driver. Our hotel was nice and had a good view of the river. Had a quick stroll then took a river cruise along the brown and murky water - definitely woudn't want to fall in. We then wandered around Chinatown and grabbed some lunch at a small cafe, the bill coming to 8RM in total - around £1.60! Walked through the lantern lined narrow streets, perusing the shops and sights whilst trying not to get run over as there were lots of cars and often no pavement. We then did a whistle stop tour of the historic city and enjoyed a can of 'Kickapoo Joy Juice!' on our way back to our air conditioned room around 5pm. One shower later and we were back out. Had a Jaz beer in a little bar/cafe on the riverside and enjoyed a tasty indian for dinner. 2 starters, 2 main, one rice, one naan and 2 very tasty mango lassis, all for a whopping £8 (sorry, we won't talk about the prices again after this!) Feeling stuffed we walked back to our hotel to crash.
12/02/09
Up for a cooked breakfast then chilled out in our hotel until 11am. Got a taxi back to the bus station and quickly checked emails and info on Kuala Lumpur in the indoor market. Hopped on the 12pm bus and arrived in the busy centre of KL at around 2.30pm. Didn't want to start to work out how to get public transport to our hotel, so we jumped in a taxi. The sprawling city is a mix of run down shops/cafes/houses and posh high rise hotels/offices and shopping malls. Our hotel was very posh and a nice change from our little hostels. Went to the shopping centre directly below out hotel for some lunch - some strange crepes and buns from a bakery which we ate in our room. Read our city guides trying to make some sense of the train maps which differed in each book. Worked out a way to get the Petronas Towers and dragged Greg away from looking whistfully at the hotel pool. Managed to get there in one piece - it was easy! Had a look and made our way back. Didn't have a map and didn't fancy working our way aimlessly across the city just for the sake of it. Got back to the Mega Mall and had a quick look around, having dinner in the Chinese/Thai/Vietnamese food court. Back to our room at 7ish for a lush shower and relaxing in our free slippers and enormous bed.
13/02/09
Woken up from nice sleep in the huge bed and dark room by the alarm at 7.30am. Had a lush brekkie - cereal, rice pudding, toast and some creme brulee! Saving the hot stuff for tomorrow. Picked up at our hotel just before 9am for our trip to Batu Caves. Before seeing the caves, our tour guide took our massive group - consisting of only the two of us, on a drive through the city seeing some of the different hosues, various embassies and sultan palaces. Visited a pewter factory and had a go at bashing patterns on a piece. Had a look in the gift shop, it was all nice, but a little expensive. Next stop was a batik factory where we saw how fabric was printed and watched a demonstration on how to wear scarves etc, then funnily enough, the chance to look in the gift shop. Although the lady followed us around, we didn't buy anything. We then battled the traffic - glad we weren't driving ourselves, as there didn't seem to be many road rules apart from push in and go. The fashion seemed to be to have dents in the car too. We finally arrived safely at the Batu Caves - a temple inside a cave at the top of 272 steps. There had been a big festival/pilgrimage the week before with 3 million people visiting and the clean up operation was still in slow progress. Inside the cave was lots of rubbish, a smell of waste and wee, and chickens pecking at the litter. Outside there were lots of monkeys, we kept our distance as their teeth looked big and sharp! So basically, it was not the cleanest of places, but nice to see and experience something different. On the way back to the hotel we were fortunate enough to be taken to a watch shop - just what we needed! Again we were hounded by the people inside, but we chose to ignore the wares in front of us and left empty handed! Stopped for lunch in the Mega Mall. Joy wasn't so hungry and opted for a 'curry puff' - chicken curry pasty, which for 30p, was deelish. Greg tried to line his belly with some random chinese style things - some looked deep fried, others ???! They were put in a bowl with water/soup and came with rice. Joy was glad she wasn't too hungry as it didn't get a glowing report from Greg who couldn't work out what anything was even after eating! So he too decided to go for a curry puff to take away the strange taste in his mouth. Spent the rest of the afternoon lounging by the pool, swimming and lazing. Had a little wander around the mall and ate a lush dinner of chicken pittas and chips in Nandos for £6 between us (sorry, couldn't resist), and watched 'Slumdog Millionnaire' for £2. Rounded off the evening with some tasty pastries and eclairs from a little bakery, yum yum!
