Penang

The sun set on our visit to Cameron Highlands and we caught the bus to Penang - where we have been told that you can get the best food in all Malaysia. Keen to test this theory, we started to explore.......

Before we start going on about the food, take a look at these photos of a grand mansion, we stumbled across, whilst wandering the colonial streets. Complete with a display cabinet for old trinkets that even Andrew's Mum would envy!
The photo of the family, is of the original owners, taken back in early 1900's. We'd also better explain the strange pose we are making in the photo of us..... All around the house are photos of the original owners through the generations, doing similar poses. So we thought it only right and fitting that we do the same.

More from Cameron Highlands

A few more pics that wouldn't fit onto the last post, but we thought you'd like.........

The last photo is the view from our room at sunrise.

Cameron Highlands

No not in Scotland!!

We left KL and headed up to Cameron Highlands; an oasis from the heat in the much cooler mountains of mainland Malaysia. It is famous for it's Tea Plantations and was founded by Scottich settlers many years ago. All the old buildings are done in a mock Tudor style and the Old English charm is carried on with High Tea or "Tiffin", consisting of freshly baked scones with Highlands strawberry jam and cream.

We also took in a tour, visiting a Butterfly Farm, Bee Farm, Rose Farm, Strawberry Farm, Buddhist Temple and Tea Plantation.

We have posted some photos of the highlights........
We didn't get a photo of the delicious Strawberry Ice Cream, as it was gobbled down far too quickly!!

If you look carefully at the photo of Shivani with a bracelet on you will see that it isn't actually a bracelet, but a millipede! She's so brave!!

Have a look at the mad monk meditating by the fish pond and Shivani jungle trekking in The Highlands. Which she loved right up until the point our guide; Raja, told her about the various animal tracks we could see, made by Monkeys, Wild Boars, Snakes - mainly Cobras and other animals that can kill!

Hawkers, Hearing Aids and Honeymooners!

Here is yet another photo of Andrew stuffing his face at a "Hawkers" food market, this time in KL. Yet again the food is fresh and cooked to order in front of you - delicious!

Next up is Shivani having "Ear candling"; a very bizarre beauty therapy that involves lighting a candle and sticking it in your ear. The theory is that as the candles burns down it draws out all the impurities - yeah right, sounds like another excuse to get money out of us! We're such suckers!! Although, Shivani did believe that her hearing was much better....


We then had the pleasure of meeting up with Sandip(Shivani's brother) and beautiful new wife Bhavini. For those of you not following this blog properly...... Their wedding was the reason we flew home to the UK for 3 weeks. We totally gatecrashed their honeymoon for a night and went and had dinner at The KL Skytower. Food was in the form of a buffet and was so so, but the company and views were great. We could see the Petronas Twin Towers, which were very impressive, as we revolved around.

KL- Mosques & Temples

Kuala Lumpur(KL) being similar to Singapore in that there is a real mix of people, including Malays, Tamils, Chinese and a few others, has it's fair share of Temples and Mosques. So we decided to visit a couple and here you see the photos, including one of Shivani being a "Muslim for a minute". Don't worry though, as we didn't convert! Inshallah......

Kuala Lumpur

We caught the bus from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur..... Well maybe that's a bit understated. We caught a luxury coach with reclining seats and TVs that was better equipped than most of the airlines we've travelled on. Crossing over the border at Malaysia was no problem, but it did involve getting off the coach twice. Within 5 hours we arrived in Kuala Lumpur and did some hotel hopping to get a good one. Once settled we explored KL and found it to be a grittier more down to earth version of Singapore, with a "China Town", "Little India" and "Colonial District".
Here are some photos of The Colonial District, including a cool McDonalds and Merdeka Square, otherwise known as Independence Square; the site where Malaysia declared it's independence in 1957 by lowering the Union Jack and raising the Malaysian flag.
The last picture is photographic evidence that Shivani is at the end of Andrew's rainbow!
Pass the sick bags!!!

Temples in little India

Here are some shots of the temples we mentioned earlier.

That's all you're getting of Singapore for now, as we'll be returning here later, just before we head off to India.

Exploring Singapore

This time we were in Singapore for 3 days and decided to do a bit more exploring of this amazing city.
The building in the 1st photo is of the controversial "Esplanades", home to Singapore's main theatres.
The 2nd photo is of the city's unofficial mascot; "Merlion". With the body of a fish and head of a lion, it spits out water all day. Ironic, as spitting is illegal in Singapore and punishable by imprisonment!
We later headed to Little India and saw some of the preparations for "Deepavali", as well as taking in some temples.
We also popped into the famous "Raffles Hotel", but only for a short while, not long enough to sample a Sinagpore Sling in The Long Bar. We'll save that and the photos we took for when we return to Singapore later.